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Epic's MetaHuman tech is available in early access

Epic's MetaHuman tech is available in early access

Fortnite maker Epic Games has rolled out its fancy MetaHuman software in early access.

In a post on its website, the company said that people can now create digital people and download them to use in their Unreal Engine projects. Epic says there are already more than 50 ready-to-go MetaHumans for people to download and integrate in their games via Quixel Bridge.

"MetaHuman Creator has been decades in the making," Epic wrote on the Unreal Engine site.

"Companies like 3Lateral and Cubic Motion have been pushing the limits of digital human creation for years. Now, as part of Epic Games, they've been able to push the technology even further—and make it happen in real time. Most importantly, they've made it accessible to everyone."

Epic announced the MetaHuman project in February of this year. This came in the wake of the company snapping up a number of animation companies, including 3Lateral and Cubic Motion.

“Up until now one of the most arduous tasks in 3D content creation has been constructing truly convincing digital humans," Epic's VP of Digital Humans, Vladimir Mastilovic, said when the product was announced.

"Even the most experienced artists require significant amounts of time, effort, and equipment, just for one character."


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.