Cinematics
Orion — MetaHuman Cinematic
A character-led in-engine cinematic combining MetaHuman performance capture, Control Rig animation and Lumen lighting.
Challenge
A narrative piece needed close-up facial performance at film fidelity, on a schedule that could not absorb overnight render iterations or an external VFX pipeline.
Objectives
- Deliver believable facial performance in close-up
- Iterate on shots within the same day
- Match the visual language of the wider project
- Reuse assets for gameplay and marketing
Technical Approach
Characters were built on MetaHuman and driven by MetaHuman Animator for facial performance, with body animation refined through Control Rig. Shots were blocked in Sequencer against a temp edit first, so pacing was locked before any lighting or polish time was spent. Final frames came out of Movie Render Queue.
Development
- MetaHuman creation and customization
- Facial capture processing with MetaHuman Animator
- Control Rig body animation and cleanup
- Groom, cloth and shading setup
- Sequencer shot layout and cinematic cameras
- Lumen lighting per shot and Movie Render Queue output
Key Features
- 01Close-up facial performance at cinematic fidelity
- 02Same-day shot iteration in engine
- 03Optimized gameplay variants of the same characters
- 04Reusable lighting and camera setups
Technology Stack
Unreal Engine 5MetaHumanMetaHuman AnimatorControl RigSequencerLumenNiagara
Results
- Cinematic delivered entirely in engine with no offline render pass
- Shot revisions turned around within a working day
- Character assets reused across cinematic and gameplay contexts
Have a project in mind?
Tell us what you're building and we'll help you determine the right technical approach.