Reallusion pushes back release of Character Creator 5
Originally posted on 10 April 2025, and updated with the new release date and features.
Reallusion has unveiled Character Creator 5, the next version of the 3D character creation tool.
The update, now due on 27 August 2025, and currently available via a pre-release offer, introduces HD character bases, support for cavity maps in the skin shader, and an updated facial animation system.
It will be accompanied with new Auto Setup plugins streamlining export of characters to Maya and look development software Marmoset Toolbag.
A powerful, intuitive commercial 3D character creator for games, animation and VFX
Originally released in 2015, Character Creator is a 3D character creation tool for game development, animation, motion graphics, previs, VFX and visualization work.
Users can quickly create characters – primarily humanoids – by customizing a readymade base mesh with intuitive slider controls, or by importing and converting an existing model.
The software includes a detail human skin shader, and toolsets for creating hair and clothing, augmented by paid asset packs from Reallusion’s online content store.
Characters have a full-body skeletal rig and blendshape-based facial rig, and can be exported in FBX or OBJ format, or transferred directly to iClone, Reallusion’s animation software.
There are also an increasing number of official plugins to streamline export to other DCC applications and game engines, including 3ds Max, Blender, Unity, Unreal Engine and ZBrush.
Character Creator 5: new HD character bases
The biggest update to the software since Character Creator 4 in 2022, Character Creator 5 features updates to the base characters, shaders and facial animation toolset.
Its new HD character bases come with two more subdivision levels than those in Character Creator 4, and “offer up to 16 times more mesh detail” for close-up renders or 3D printing.
The base characters’ eye structure has also been reworked, with attachable eyelashes and high-resolution tear ducts.
Characters can be customized with an “all-new HD Morph system”, although Reallusion’s blog post announcing the update doesn’t go into detail.
Updates to the skin shader and facial animation toolset
In addition, the skin shader now has “full support” for displacement maps, for big surface details, plus cavity maps for fine pore and wrinkle details.
For facial animation, the revamped HD Expression Profile has each expression driving a greater number of facial morphs, and a new Constraint System limits expressions to anatomically plausible ranges.
The update also introduces non-linear facial animation capabilities through “advanced curve-based motions and mesh elasticity”.
Alongside the core app, Reallusion is introducing new Auto Setup plugins for Marmoset Toolbag and Maya, and there will be updates to the existing Blender, Unreal Engine and ZBrush add-ons.
According to the online FAQs, Character Creator 5 will be backwards-compatible with Character Creator 4 content and plugins, and with iClone 8.
Updated 21 July 2025: Reallusion has pushed back the release of Character Creator 5, originally scheduled for July, to 27 August 2025, and announced more new features due in the update.
New ActorMixer system creates new 3D characters by blending existing ones
The main new feature to be announced is ActorMixer, a new system for blending between up to six existing 3D characters to create new looks, as shown in the image above.
The system will work with entire bodies, entire heads, or individual facial features.
Although the base functionality will be part of Character Creator itself, more advanced features will only be available via a $199 paid add-on, ActorMixer Pro.
Pro features include one-click randomization, the option to “make any character mix-ready”, and the option to package custom characters for sale as mixer-ready assets.
Pro users will also get access to the ActorMixer Core library of over 40 readymade 3D scanned heads to use as sources for character mixing.
Better workflow between Character Creator characters and Unreal Engine MetaHumans
In addition, Character Creator 5 will improve workflow between the 3D characters the software generates and MetaHumans in Unreal Engine.
Character Creator 5 will support “skeleton export geared for UE4 and UE5, with bind pose presets optimized for MetaHuman and UEFN” (Unreal Editor for Fortnite).
The software will also be able to import facial animation data generated by MetaHuman Animator (MHA).
The existing free plugins for transferring and posing characters, Auto Setup for Unreal Engine and Character Creator UE Control Rig, will be updated to support the CC5 character format.
According to Reallusion, it will also be possible to “upgrade” CC3+ characters with the CC5 HD facial profile for “full compatibility with MHA animation data”.
Now available via a new pre-release offer
Reallusion has also updated its pre-release offer: originally, that anyone spending over $399 in a single order on Reallusion’s online stores would get Character Creator 5 for free on its release.
Anyone who qualified for the previous offer will now also gets the ActorMixer Pro plugin for free.
The new pre-release offer is open to anyone buying a Character Creator 4 product bundle between now and the release of Character Creator 5, and also includes both CC5 and ActorMixer Pro.
At the time of writing, the prices of Character Creator 4 product bundles start at $399.
Price and system requirements
Character Creator 5.0 and ActorMixer Pro are due for release on 27 August 2025. Character Creator 5 has a recommended price of $299; ActorMixer Pro has a recommended price of $199.
The current stable release, Character Creator 4.54, is compatible with Windows 7+.
Read an overview of the new features in Character Creator 5 on Reallusion’s blog (Newer post)
Read an overview of the new features in Character Creator 5 on Reallusion’s blog (Original post)
Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.