Animate Facial Expressions for Unreal Engine using Live Link Face iPhone App

Recently Epic games launched Unreal Engine 5. They started a demo game with some single stage. But the details are in that game is fantastic. Especially Face expressions are the next level. They look real, and you can notice a lot more information in that particular demo. In games, when you put more details on the face, it seems more realistic. That’s why Game developers spend a lot of time and technologies for facial expressions. Due to the current situations, most people can’t gather in the studio, and some of them working from home. To make better game development with the best facial expressions, Unreal Engine launched the Live Link Face iPhone app. With the help of this app, you can capture facial expressions and convert them to your animated face for gaming.

Epic Games is one of the biggest game store and publishers of the Fortnite, the world’s most popular video games launcher which has 350 million players across the globe, has launched an iOS app for its unreal Engine with name Live Link Face.

What is Unreal Engine?

The Unreal Engine is a game development platform launched by Epic games in 1998. The first game with the name Unreal, which was a first-person shooter game, was coded using Unreal Engine. The Unreal Engine is written in C++, which gives its portability and versatility of multi-platform usage. The journey of the Unreal Engine passing the milestones of Unreal Engine 2 in 2002, Unreal Engine 3 in 2004, and the Unreal Engine 4 is the latest release in this category from the Epic game, launched in 2014 with a nominal subscription fee. Since 2015, Epic games made it free to download for developers. It is now a royalty-based model and asks for a 5% royalty of game sales from developers if they published the game in third-party sites. Again, free for those who post their games on Epic stores.

Unreal Engine 5

Epic announced the Unreal Engine 5 on May 13, 2020, with an expected launch by late 2021. Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) will be supporting all existing platforms like PlayStation 5 and Xbox series X. It includes the Nanite, an Engine which allows importing high-detailed photographic source into games. UE5 will facilitate the developers with the most detailed game work without spending excess time and effort. The digital expressions acquired from the Link Live Face app will be used to develop Real-time games using the Unreal Engine 4 and 5 platforms.

ARKIT

Before doing into app features, we should know the term ARKIT because Live Link Face utilizes this technology. So, You can better understand the concept if you know what ARKIT is. It is a technology using by Apple to create AR. ARKIT combining device motion tracking, camera scene capture, advanced scene processing, and display convenience provide a perfect augmented reality platform. Live Link Face app uses the ARKIT and right depth camera technology to create an ideal avatar of you. The use of a front and the rear camera gives you a variety of experiences.

ARKIT combines the following elements to give better and simplified AR Experience- Device motion tracking, camera scene capture, advanced scene processing, and display conveniences. With the help of ARKIT, We don’t need extra equipment to create AR Experience. With the help of the front and rear camera of your iOS device, We can produce many kinds of AR experiences. Google also has its AR Core experience. With the help of this, They can provide AR experience in Browsers also.l Recently, they launched Dinosaurs AR Experience in Google search.

Facial Expressions Animation for Unreal Engine using Live Link Face iPhone App (iOS)

Live Link Face is a production-based application designed to capture users’ face impressions, head, and neck motions to animate a real-time avatar on screen. This app is available online, and you can download it from the Apple store. It uses Apple’s real depth camera and requires iOS 13 or later operating systems to run. It will be useful for both professional game production company and Solo developer who develops the game on his desk. Rather than using the traditional motion capture (mocap) points, it uses the Apples’ ARKIT.

The Live Link Face app can synchronize the production with multiple devices using multicast platforms, which is useful in real-time multi-player games. This synchronized animated avatar of you will transmit to Unreal Engine. So, this app lets you create your avatar while playing a real-time multi-player game on the Unreal Engine with precise frame accuracy.

It is cost-effective for developers. Instead of creating the full motion capturing system which requires a considerable budget, now they can use an iPhone or iPad to capture. It will be helpful for developers to build new games within a low budget and effortlessly, resulting in cheaper games for users. You can download the Live Link Face app from the Apple store.

Will Live Link Face be available on Android too?

Bad news for 2.5 billion Android users, Epic launched this app for iOS only and didn’t indicate any Android app is coming in the future. Since this app uses the Apple-based function like ARKIT and True depth camera, so there seem no chances for Android devices to use it ever.

Wrap up

AR is becoming the future slowly. From simple AR Measuring apps to Gaming-Everything now captured using AR technology. Game developments always take time. If they include real acting and facial expressions like God of War, Uncharted, you may know how much time it can take. The developers always push their work for facial expressions. With the help of ARKIT and Unreal Engine, developers can easily capture the facial expressions of the person during this time. Live Link face app is a beautiful application for developers to create cheaper games effortlessly using high detailed photographic materials. Apple iOS restricts Android users to enjoy this app. Do tell us what do you think about this decision by Epic Games?

Source, (2)

Selva Ganesh

Selva Ganesh is the Chief Editor of this Blog. He is a Computer Science Engineer, An experienced Android Developer, Professional Blogger with 8+ years in the field. He completed courses about Google News Initiative. He runs Android Infotech which offers Problem Solving Articles around the globe.