It’s unreal! A new tool from Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite, will make it easier for developers to come up with photorealistic digital humans for projects, including video games. The company has showcased the new tool in Unreal Engine that “lets you make a near-infinite variety of near-photorealistic digital people”.

The browser-based software tool called the MetaHuman Creator can deliver not just realistic human faces but also help power realistic body movements and facial animations. The company says that MetaHuman Creator can be used in combination with modern motion capture and animation techniques, giving way to scenes that can be included in video games, films and other formats.

Epic’s MetaHuman Creator makes it easier to come up with photorealistic digital humans for different projects. Epic

“Up until now one of the most arduous tasks in 3D content creation has been constructing truly convincing digital humans. Even the most experienced artists require significant amounts of time, effort, and equipment, just for one character…. Essentially the product that we’re launching now… is replacing hundreds of man-days that we typically need to invest into building a single asset, into a tool where people can do it themselves and literally within minutes get results that we would otherwise work for months to achieve,” Vladimir Mastilovic, vice-president of digital humans technology at Epic Games has told IGN.

“We aimed for photo-real, but not strictly photo-real. With these assets, we’re not claiming to have crossed the uncanny valley. We are kind of targeting that sweet spot of being stylized just enough. So, for example, The Last of Us 2, they’re not fully photo-real but they’re appealing digital characters,” says Mastilovic.