Ninja Theory showcases the power of Unreal Engine’s Metahumans at GDC 2023

Ninja Theory and Epic Games showcase the huge potential of their Metahumans tool for facial animations

At GDC, Ninja Theory showcased the power of Epic Games’ Metahumans tool and Unreal Engine 5 by demonstrating their ability to create fully animated animated sequences within minutes using freshly recorded video. The video below showcases the results of these techniques, a truly impressive showcase of Epic Games’ latest technologies.

During a demo, Epic Games showcased Melina Juergens, the actress behind Hellblade’s Senua, have footage of her face recorded though an iPhone, uploaded by a technician, processed, and turned into a fully animated sequence within the space of a few minutes.

Normally, motion capture like this would require expensive equipment, huge amounts of technical expertise and a a huge amount of time to achieve similar results. Now, thanks to Unreal Engine 5 and a new feature called MetaHuman Animator, this process can be completed within minutes and without a lot of expensive hardware.

The video below showcases the kinds of results that are now possible with Epic Games’ Metahuman Animator, when combined with talented development teams like Ninja Theory and an actress like Melina Juergens. Videos like this highlight the potential of current-generation gaming hardware and software, and paints a bright future for the gaming industry.  

While the showcase above is impressive, it remains unclear when Ninja Theory plans to release their next game. The studio revealed Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga back in 2019, but it remains unclear how close this game is to launch or if the studio have been working on any other titles that could perhaps release sooner.

You can join the discussion on Ninja Theory’s use of Real-Time facial animations with Unreal Engine 5 on the OC3D Forums.