Since Epic Games debuted the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) and Creator Economy 2.0 tools in March 2023, the company says creators have published more than 80,000 UENF islands, and Epic has rewarded creators with more than $320 million in engagement payouts. Now Epic is adding more core features to UEFN: MetaHuman Creator and MetaHuman Animator, which enable the creation and animation of non-playable MetaHuman characters. Epic’s UEFN 2024 roadmap, presented at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, includes more camera options for the player-made game platform, including a first-person perspective. Continue reading MetaHuman and Animator Now Available to Fortnite Creators

Epic Games is releasing MetaHuman Animator, which lets developers create nuanced facial animation by capturing an actor’s performance using an iPhone or stereo head-mounted camera system and a PC. The system eliminates the need for manual touch-ups, according to Epic, capturing “every subtle expression, look, and emotion” and replicating it onto a digital character for a faster performance capture workflow that allows more creative control. The new feature set uses a 4D solver to combine video and depth data with a MetaHuman representation of the performer. The animation is produced locally using GPU hardware, providing final results in “minutes.” Continue reading New Tool from Epic Simplifies High-Fidelity Facial Animation