Author: Keyi Cheng

The ruins of the stadium, representing Valandur, returned to the scene from years ago. Using ballet preparatory steps as the visual introduction, the close-up of the flowers was shown simultaneously, and there was no one in the background to add a sense of mystery.

The normal shooting in the gym ensures that my camera shots include gradually zooming-out scenes to capture the quiet environment, and the close-up camera follows the hand movement, which can showcase the beauty of the movements. etc. At the same time, it also avoids the problem of light leakage.

Cut to the car driving into the mountains. This is where Valandur first arrived at this place. Also, a shot of the environment is provided.

Starting from the introduction of the dancing part in the classroom, the upward pull and leg lift movements with plant coverings are performed in coordination with the music.

Valandur pointed to Luken’s seat among the red flowers.

A close-up shot of the sky is followed by a view of the outdoor environment.

The frame size began to change. Here, Luken was using a camera to shoot, which also added more personalized Camera Movement.

This scene transitions to a stylized ghost-like scene. In this scene, Valandur has her usual straight hair and is distinguishable from when she is dancing, indicating that this is a more realistic portrayal. Through the changes in frame and color tones, one can sense the transition between the real scene and Luken’s camera lens, as well as the shift in atmosphere from being dangerous and chaotic.

Intentional shots are interspersed.

After I have completed the blueprint, I need to create animations for it.

Fortunately, in UE5, it is very convenient to identify the bones of the animation and make replacements. Once you find the desired replacement action, right-click on “retarget”, and then find the replacement bones to generate a new animation. This feature is particularly prominent when using Metahuman, as its bones are based on the default settings of UE.

I found a set of ballet motion capture animations online and replaced Valandur’s body bones in them.

In addition, I also found several sets of assets for schools and gymnasiums, including the normal version and the ruins version, as well as a set of stylized ghost grass assets. These were adjusted for the scene and lighting before being used for post-production filming.

This week, I first revised the script and character designs based on the achievable content.

In order to distinguish Valandur’s image in the performance from her usual appearance, I wanted the Metahuman character to have different hairstyles and outfits. So, I purchased new hairstyles and outfits on Fab.

This hairstyle is in line with the character design for Valandur. However, the clothing cannot be resolved due to memory issues. Every time it is put on, it causes a crash. Therefore, during the rendering process, the initial clothing design was used.
This hairstyle has a problem of distortion at the top of the head. It might be due to the weight issue. When the character moves downward, a bald-like effect occurs, resembling a bald head. I need to try to eliminate such situations in the subsequent shot editing.

After importing the model into UE5, the positions of the facial features need to be determined in the Identity section to form the DNA seed of the Metahuman. At first, I separated the eyes in the traditional modeling method, but this often caused bugs in the Y-axis when Identity recognized the model. Because the recognition of Metahuman Identity primarily relies on AI judgment, manual adjustments only play an auxiliary role.

Later, I went back to Zbrush to add and merge the modeling of the eyeball, and refreshed the recognition results multiple times for adjustment. Finally, I obtained a relatively normal result.

This is the preview of the Metahuman Character that I created:

During this stage, I customized the hair, eyebrows, skin color and body shape. The model also had some minor issues such as wide eyes and overly high brow ridges, but these could be largely ignored under the Rembrandt lighting and natural light.

Next, the automatic binding of bones and generation of blueprints by metahuman is very convenient. However, due to insufficient video memory, when metahuman is dragged into the scene, bugs and severe lag often occur. In the subsequent process, I need to extensively use the unlit mode to save video memory and prevent UE5 from crashing.

After reviewing the relevant video tutorials, I found that the custom facial editing function of Metahuman has a relatively limited adjustment range, which does not match the effect I wanted for the character model. After asking Serra’s guidance in the class, I learned a way to achieve a stylized Metahuman. This is the most convenient method for beginners that I have learned. Import the model into UE, create the Metahuman Identity, and then use this Identity to create the Metahuman Character.

In order to prepare for the creation of Metahuman Identity, I delved into the details of the model and placed the model at the collarbone of the character to facilitate the identification by the internal plugins of UE5.

This week I explored how to carve head portraits in Zbrush. This was an exercise to expand my knowledge, but I hope to use my own designed character image in the final piece instead of using an asset pack.

Regarding the process of the sculpture, I collected a large number of skulls, studied their postures, and made sure it was as close as possible to the original painting while adhering to the correct principles. Just at this stage, it took me approximately 12 hours.

At this same time, I realized that my time and energy were limited, and it was difficult to complete the modeling, texture painting, clothing design and animation binding of an entire character. Therefore, I considered whether I could use the Metahuman plugin in UE5. I had once watched a related demonstration video on Bilibili, where the face and body of the virtual figure could be customized by adjusting parameters, and real-time facial motion capture could be achieved through a link with iPhone’s live link.