Dress MetaHumans faster with the new plugin to help round-trip data between Unreal Engine and the 3D clothing fitting tool. Free in beta.

Saturday, June 14th, 2025 Posted by Jim Thacker Tutorial: Practical Lighting for Production html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" The Gnomon Workshop has released Practical Lighting for Production, a guide to VFX and cinematics workflows recorded by former Blizzard lighting lead Graham Cunningham. The intermediate-level workshop provides four hours of training in Maya, Arnold and Nuke. Discover professional workflows for lighting a CG shot to match a movie reference In the workshop, Cunningham sets out the complete process of lighting and compositing a shot to match a movie reference, using industry-standard software. He begins by setting up a basic look development light rig in Maya, importing a 3D character, assigning materials and shading components, and creating a turntable setup. Next, he creates a shot camera and set dresses the environment using kitbash assets. Cunningham also discusses strategies for lighting a character, including how to use dome lights and area lights to provide key, fill and rim lighting, and how to use HDRI maps. From there, he moves to rendering using Arnold, discussing render settings, depth of field, and how to create render passes. Cunningham then assembles the render passes in Nuke, splits out the light AOVs, and sets out how to adjust light colors and intensities. He also reveals how to add atmosphere, how to use cryptomattes to fine tune the results, how to add post effects, and how to apply a final color grade to match a chosen movie reference. As well as the tutorial videos, viewers of the workshop can download one of Cunningham’s Maya files. The workshop uses 3D Scan Store’s commercial Female Explorer Game Character, and KitBash3D’s Wreckage Kit, plus assets from KitBash3D’s Cargo. About the artist Graham Cunningham is a Senior Lighting, Compositing and Lookdev Artist, beginning his career as a generalist working in VFX for film and TV before moving to Blizzard Entertainment. At Blizzard, he contributed to cinematics for Diablo IV, Diablo Immortal, Starcraft II, Heroes of the Storm, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Overwatch 2, many of them as a lead lighting artist. Pricing and availability Practical Lighting for Production is available via a subscription to The Gnomon Workshop, which provides access to over 300 tutorials. Subscriptions cost $57/month or $519/year. Free trials are available. Read more about Practical Lighting for Production on The Gnomon Workshop’s website 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. Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by Gnomon. Latest News DreamWorks Animation releases MoonRay 2.15 Check out the new features in the open-source release of DreamWorks Animation's production renderer. used on movies like The Wild Robot. Sunday, June 15th, 2025 Tutorial: Practical Lighting for Production Master professional CG lighting workflows with former Blizzard lighting lead Graham Cunningham's tutorial for The Gnomon Workshop. Saturday, June 14th, 2025 Boris FX releases Mocha Pro 2025.5 Planar tracking tool gets new AI face recognition system for automatically obscuring identities in footage. Check out its other new features. Friday, June 13th, 2025 Leopoly adds voxel sculpting to Shapelab 2025 Summer 2025 update to the VR modeling app expands the new voxel engine for blocking out 3D forms. See the other new features. Friday, June 13th, 2025 iRender: the next-gen render farm for OctaneRender [Sponsored] Online render farm iRender explains why its powerful, affordable GPU rendering solutions are a must for OctaneRender users. Wednesday, June 11th, 2025 Master Architectural Design for Games using Blender & UE5 Discover how to create game environments grounded in architectural principles with The Gnomon Workshop's new tutorial. Monday, June 9th, 2025 More News Epic Games' free Live Link Face app is now available for Android Adobe launches Photoshop on Android and iPhone Sketchsoft releases Feather 1.3 Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026.1 Autodesk adds AI animation tool MotionMaker to Maya 2026.1 You can now sell MetaHumans, or use them in Unity or Godot Epic Games to rebrand RealityCapture as RealityScan 2.0 Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.6 Pulze releases new network render manager RenderFlow 1.0 Xencelabs launches Pen Tablet Medium v2 Desktop edition of sculpting app Nomad enters free beta Boris FX releases Silhouette 2025 Older Posts

The State of Unreal 2025 / News / June 3, 2025 / Unreal Epic Games State of Unreal 2025 is currently underway in Florida and the keynote has just concluded. There was game footage from several upcoming games including perhaps the highest profile upcoming Unreal Engine 5 release, the Witcher 4. Of the most interest to game developers however are the following announcements: Unreal Engine 5.6 Unreal Engine 5.6 is now available for download. It was first released in preview format back in May and adds several performance improvements, animation improvements and more. More details of the Unreal Engine 5.6 release are available here and we should have coverage up shortly. MetaHuman Now Integrated into Unreal Engine 5.6 Epic’s advanced character creation software MetaHumans is now integrated directly into UE 5.6, running in a hybrid local and remote server model. MetaHumans also received several new features and capabilities. Another key announcement is that MetaHuman content is now integrated on the Fab marketplace. Additionally, MetaHuman licensing has been changed enabling developers using all engines, not just Unreal Engine, to make use of them. Epic Game Store Announcements There were also several announcements for developers revolving around changes to revenue share, incentives as well as the ability to create an online presence/store via WebStores. Many of these changes were announced back in May if you are looking for more details. We have condensed the State of Unreal 2025 keynote from 2 hours down to under 15 minutes focusing on the details of most interest to game developers in the video below.

Unreal Engine 5.6 Released / News / June 4, 2025 / Release, Unreal Announced yesterday at the State of Unreal Unreal Engine has now been released. Released in preview back in the middle of May UE 5.6 adds a ton of new features to the popular game engine, with the highlight of this release being MetaHumans being integrated directly into the engine. In addition the terms of use for MetaHumans have been updated so that it is permissible to use characters in all game engines, not just Unreal. There are also several bundles running right now for Unreal Engine developers, linked below in the Key Links category. Highlights of the Unreal Engine 5.6 release include: Powerful, high-fidelity 60 FPS open worlds: Enhanced capabilities for creating large, detailed game worlds that run smoothly at 60 frames per second. Lots of focus on rendering optimizations to cut down on some of the performance issues plaguing Unreal lately. Accelerated animation authoring: Tools and workflows that speed up the process of creating and implementing animations. A large number of modelling and animation tools are being brought into Unreal and soon may not require an external DCC for many actions. In-engine MetaHuman creation: The ability to create and customize realistic digital humans directly within the Unreal Engine editor. As mentioned earlier licensing terms have also been updated so MetaHumans can be used in other game engines. Simplified UX/UI experience: Improvements to the user interface and user experience, making the engine easier and more intuitive to use. These changes can be toggled off if you prefer the earlier UI. Improved developer iteration: Faster build times and streamlined processes to help developers see their changes and test their projects more quickly. Faster worldbuilding with procedural tools: Advanced procedural content generation tools that enable quicker creation of complex game environments. This includes static geometry streaming as well as Nanite foliage support. Enhanced cinematic & performance capture workflows: Upgrades to the tools used for creating cinematics and capturing performances, leading to higher quality results. Key Links Unreal Engine 5.6 Blog Unreal Engine 5.6 Release Notes Space Nova Unreal Bundle (Use code SN70) Star Nova Unreal Bundle (Use Code SN40) Big Bang Unreal & Unity Humble Bundle You can learn more about the Unreal Engine 5.6 release in the video below. Using the links above to purchase bundles helps support GFS (and thanks so much if you do!)

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" The MetaHuman client reel. Epic Games’ framework for generating realistic 3D characters for games is out of early access, and can now be used with any DCC app or game engine. Epic Games has officially launched MetaHuman, its framework for generating realistic 3D characters for games, animation and VFX work, after four years in early access.The core applications, MetaHuman Creator, Mesh to MetaHuman and MetaHuman Animator, are now integrated into Unreal Engine 5.6, the latest version of the game engine. In addition, Epic has updated the licensing for MetaHuman characters, making it possible to use them in any game engine or DCC application, including in commercial projects. There are also two new free plugins, MetaHuman for Maya and MetaHuman for Houdini, intended to streamline the process of editing MetaHumans in Maya and Houdini. A suite of tools for generating and animating realistic real-time 3D characters First launched in early access in 2021, MetaHuman is a framework of tools for generating realistic 3D characters for next-gen games, animation, virtual production and VFX.The first component, MetaHuman Creator, enables users to design realistic digital humans. Users can generate new characters by blending between presets, then adjusting the proportions of the face by hand, and customising readymade hairstyles and clothing. The second component, Mesh to MetaHuman, makes it possible to create MetaHumans matching 3D scans or facial models created in other DCC apps. The final component, MetaHuman Animator, streamlines the process of transferring the facial performance of an actor from video footage to a MetaHuman character. MetaHuman Creator was originally a cloud-based tool, while Mesh to MetaHuman and MetaHuman Animator were available via the old MetaHuman plugin for Unreal Engine. Now integrated directly into Unreal Engine 5.6 That changes with the end of early access, with MetaHuman Creator, Mesh to MetaHuman and MetaHuman Animator all now integrated directly into Unreal Engine itself.Integration – available in Unreal Engine 5.6, the latest version of the engine – is intended to simplify character creation and asset management worklows. Studios also get access to the MetaHuman source code, since Unreal Engine itself comes with full C++ source code access. However, the tools still cannot be run entirely locally: according to Epic, in-editor workflow is “enhanced by cloud services that deliver autorigging and texture synthesis”. https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/250604_MetaHumanOfficialLaunch_LicensingChanges_UnifiedClothing.mp4 Users can now adjust MetaHumans’ bodies, with a new unified Outfit Asset making it possible to create 3D clothing that adjusts automatically to bodily proportions. Updates to both MetaHuman Creator and MetaHuman Animator In addition, the official release introduces new features, with MetaHuman Creator’s parametric system for creating faces now extended to body shapes.Users can now adjust proportions like height, chest and waist measurements, and leg length, rather than simply selecting preset body types. Similarly, a new unified Outfit Asset makes it possible to author custom 3D clothing, rather than selecting readymade presets, with garments resizing to characters’ body shapes. MetaHuman Animator – which previously required footage from stereo head-mounted cameras or iPhones – now supports footage from mono cameras like webcams. The toolset can also now generate facial animation – both lip sync and head movement – solely from audio recordings, as well as from video footage. You can find fuller descriptions of the new features in Epic Games’ blog post. Use MetaHumans in Unity or Godot games, or sell them on online marketplaces Equally significantly, Epic has changed the licensing for MetaHumans.The MetaHuman toolset is now covered by the standard Unreal Engine EULA, meaning that it can be used for free by any artist or studio with under $1 million/year in revenue. MetaHuman characters and clothing can also now be sold on online marketplaces, or used in commercial projects created with other DCC apps or game engines. The only exception is for AI: you can use MetaHumans in “workflows that incorporate artificial intelligence technology”, but not to train or enhance the AI models themselves. Studios earning more than $1 million/year from projects that use MetaHuman characters need Unreal Engine seat licenses, with currently cost $1,850/year. However, since MetaHuman characters and animations are classed as ‘non-engine products’, they can be used in games created in other engines, like Unity or Godot, without incurring the 5% cut of the revenue that Epic takes from Unreal Engine games. https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/250604_MetaHumanOfficialLaunch_LicensingChanges_MetaHumanForMaya.mp4 The free MetaHuman for Maya plugin lets you edit MetaHumans with Maya’s native tools. New plugins streamline editing MetaHumans in Maya and Houdini Last but not least, Epic Games has released new free add-ons intended to streamline the process of editing MetaHumans in other DCC software.The MetaHuman for Maya plugin makes it possible to manipulate the MetaHuman mesh directly with Maya’s standard mesh-editing and sculpting tools. Users can also create MetaHuman-compatible hair grooms using Maya’s XGen toolset, and export them in Alembic format. The MetaHuman for Houdini plugin seems to be confined to grooming, with users able to create hairstyles using Houdini’s native tools, and export them in Alembic format. The plugins themselves are supplemented by MetaHuman Groom Starter Kits for Maya and Houdini, which provide readymade sample files for generating grooms. Price, licensing and system requirements MetaHuman Creator and MetaHuman Animator are integrated into Unreal Engine 5.6. The Unreal Editor is compatible with Windows 10+, macOS 14.0+ and RHEL/Rocky Linux 8+.The MetaHuman plugin for Maya is compatible with Maya 2022-2025. The MetaHuman for Houdini plugin is compatible with Houdini 20.5 with SideFX Labs installed. All of the software is free to use, including for commercial projects, if you earn under $1 million/year. You can find more information on licensing in the story above. Read an overview of the changes to the MetaHuman software on Epic Games’ blog Download the free MetaHuman for Maya and Houdini plugins and starter kits Read Epic Games’ FAQs about the changes to licensing for MetaHumans 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.

This month’s drop of free Unreal Engine learning content spans everything from creating your first UE game to bringing facial animation to MetaHumans. Dive in and start sharpening your skills today!

Breakdown of using Vicon Motion Capture (MOCAP) and MetaHumans in Unreal Engine 5.5 to make a real time camera operator training simulatior. The app is called "Cam Op Simulator" and it's available on Steam for PC and Mac OS Silicon. 0:00 - Intro 0:40 - MOCAP Studio 2:27 - MOCAP Shoot 5:33 - MetaHuman Retargeting 9:11 - UE5 Sequencer Assemble 14:03 - Cam Op Sim Live Demo 17:49 - Conclusion

Look, up on the internet! It’s a clip, it’s a teaser… No! It’s the full Superman trailer we’ve been waiting for! After giving us bits and pieces, DC Studios has finally released a massive three-minute trailer for this summer’s Superman, written and directed by James Gunn. The sizzle reel finally gives a sense of the central conflict of the movie, in which Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) takes advantage of public opinion turning against Superman when he stops a war in foreign lands. We also are hinted that these actions create ripples within the Daily Planet newsroom and cause friction with the movie’s pseudo-Justice League. Also somehow Lex Luthor is able to invade the Fortress of Solitude where he wrecks things with a character called the Engineer! And if you don’t know who the Engineer is, boy do we have some details to reveal to you… “Ms. Lane,” 2025 Style For all the kaiju and extra meta-humans that he’s including in Superman, Gunn has always insisted that the movie is primarily about Superman and the triangle between Clark, Lois, and Lex. The trailer makes that point in its first scenes, which also call back to a beloved moment in the original Superman movie from 1978. Once again, we have Lois (Rachel Brosnahan) interviewing Superman (David Corenswet) to satisfy the world’s curiosity. But the tone is quite different from any version we’ve seen in the past. Owing perhaps to the already comfortable relationship between a Lois and Clark where she knows he is Superman, we see a feistier version of the Man of Steel. He almost gets defensive at Lois’ questions, with the hero insisting that he did good because it needed to be done, and that matters more than issues of international law. More importantly though, we get to see one of the most crucial parts of any Superman performance, the transformation between mild-mannered Clark Kent and the Man of Steel. That transition was pulled off beautifully by Christopher Reeve in the original movie where he became a totally different person within one unbroken shot. It is a favorite moment for many in that movie, including Gunn. Cut to 2025 and Corenswet does the same thing here, albeit it’s much more subtle. He’s slouched and sitting back when Clark agrees to let Lois interview Superman. But when it’s time for the interview to begin, he sits up and squares his shoulders. He gives a confident, hopeful look and drops his voice by an octave to begin. While not as pronounced as Reeve’s changes, the subtly matters. As demonstrated by the emphasis on Smallville here, with Pa Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince) giving an inspirational voiceover, a job usually reserved for Supes’s Kryptonian father Jor-El, this Superman is both a son of Krypton and a son of Kansas. Neither is a fake. Both are his real identity and thus the lines between them will blur. Photo: DC Studios The trailer underscores Lex Luthor’s role as the ultimate big bad. Driven by jealousy and refusing to respect an alien, Luthor thinks his mistrust has been proven correct when Superman stops a war. However, the well-groomed CEO has got a lot of other heavy hitters to help him out, including a woman in black leather whose hands turn into blades as they destroy the Fortress of Solitude. That is the Engineer, played by María Gabriela de Faría, and she takes some explaining. The Engineer first debuted in 1999’s The Authority #1, written by Warren Ellis and penciled by Bryan Hitch. Part of the Wildstorm Universe, a comic book universe separate from the DC stable, the Authority were a collection of heroes who set themselves to making a better world by enforcing their will. Under the pen of Ellis and other writers, including Mark Millar and Grant Morrison, the Authority applied amoral realpolitik to superheroes, something antithetical to heroes such as the Justice League. In fact, the famed Superman story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way” saw Superman stand up to and rebuke a team modeled on the Authority. However, when DC took full control of the Wildstorm line, they integrated the Authority into the DC Universe where they are heroes with questionable tactics. Judging by the trailer, Gunn plans to use the Engineer as more of a villain or at least antagonist. As in the comics, the Engineer has nano technology that allows her to change her body into a weapon, not unlike the T-1000 from Terminator 2. She’s clearly working alongside Lex here, but it’s hard to imagine that Gunn won’t have Supes teach the Engineer something about how to create a better world through inspiration instead of force. Photo: DC Studios Is That Ultraman? Bizarro? Joining the Engineer in the fight against Superman is a hulking male figure in all leather. We’ve seen this figure before, duking it out with Superman in a stadium. But this is the best look that we’ve had at him so far, and the best look we’ve gotten at the emblem on his chest. That “U” shaped design is familiar to comic book readers who recognize that as the emblem of Ultraman, the Superman of Earth-3. In the DC multiverse, Earth-3 is the evil dimension, in which Ultraman, Owlman, and Superwoman lead the Injustice League of America, taking the place of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman of the Justice League of America. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! However, Ultraman usually has no problem showing his face and often runs around in a blue and red getup, not this leather number. And he certainly wouldn’t take orders from a weenie like Lex Luthor. So who is that guy? Given his massive powers and his hidden face, smart money suggests that the figure is in fact Bizarro, a flawed but super-strong clone of Superman. It would follow that Lex would make his own version of Superman and, in a blow against his hubris, get it wrong. That origin has been used for Bizarro in the comics, and it would fit within the themes that Gunn seems to be exploring. Photo: DC Studios Rick Flag Sr. of the Creature Commandos One of the more confusing parts about James Gunn’s tenure as the co-head of DC Studios is that he’s doing only a partial reboot of the now defunct DCEU. Sure, Henry Cavill is out as Superman and it seems that the events of Justice League and Batman v Superman: The Dawn of Justice didn’t happen. But The Suicide Squad and Creature Commandos, or at least some version of them, did happen. Thus far the only bridge between these worlds is Rick Flag Sr., who is played by Frank Grillo. We first met Flag in animated form in Creature Commandos, where he was assigned by Amanda Waller to lead Task Force M. Throughout that series, Flag expresses sorrow at the death of his son Rick Flag Jr., who was played by Joel Kinnaman in Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad. Flag doesn’t get to do much in this trailer other than look very serious and escort Superman into custody, alongside the Engineer and maybe-Bizarro. But his sober expression suggests that he still has a mistrust of guys who take things into their own hands, owing perhaps to his anger at Flagg’s death at the hands of Peacemaker during the mission to stop the Thinker from exploiting Starro the Conqueror in Corto Maltese. Remember? Photo: DC Studios The scenes of Superman in custody apparently lead to images of him in a sort of prison made of cubed glass, reminiscent of Magneto’s holding pen in X-Men or the monster cages in The Cabin in the Woods. Initially we see soldiers beating on Superman within the prison. Later he seems to have gained the power to bust out. In between we get a shot of Metamorpho, one of the more highly-anticipated characters in the movie. Played by Anthony Carrigan, Metamorpho has the ability to turn himself into any element (including Kryptonite, maybe?), and we see a bit of that power at work when his hands start to dissipate in a strange way. Metamorpho is just one of the heroes who show up in the trailer, which also gives us better looks at Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) flying through the sky, Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) using his T-spheres, and the Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) using his power ring in a particularly jerky way. But we also see glimpses of other figures in the prison, suggesting that there are somehow even more metahumans than we realized. It’s hard to see any of the others, save for the woman imprisoned in the cube to Superman’s left. There we see a blond woman in a pink dress who reacts in horror. On one hand, that might just be a regular lady in a pink dress who, for some reason, gets sent to the same jail as Metamorpho and Superman. However, the outfit doesn’t look too different from the one worn by a C-list fantasy hero called Amethyst. Created by writers Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn and artist Ernie Colón, Amethyst first debuted in 1983’s The Legion of Super-Heroes #298 and was soon spun off into her own comic. Amethyst is the princess of a magical place called Gemworld where she has high fantasy adventures. Amethyst has carried her own series from time to time but doesn’t enjoy the same level of popularity as even Guy Gardner. But if Gunn’s going to delve into different genres for his version of the DC Universe, Amethyst is a great way to bring more fantasy into the world of superheroes. Superman flies into theaters on July 11, 2025.