Cascadeur is developing a dedicated Unreal Engine Live Link plugin. The plugin will let animators stream complete animation sequences from Cascadeur into Unreal Engine in real time, without the need for manual file exports. The work is supported by a $50,000 Epic MegaGrant. No release date has been announced.

From workaround to plugin

Since Unreal Engine 5.4.3, Cascadeur has had what developer Nekki describes as a “temporary solution” for Live Link support. The dedicated plugin is intended to replace this stopgap, providing a direct pipeline between the two applications. At press time, Nekki has not provided technical documentation on data formats supported by the upcoming plugin.

What Live Link actually does

Live Link is Epic’s real-time streaming system for Unreal Engine. It passes animation or motion capture data directly into the engine without the need for exported files. The system is often used to drive digital characters with live motion capture, but it can also transmit pre-authored animation sequences. This makes it useful for previewing, iteration, and interactive workflows, where waiting on file exports slows production.

Other MegaGrant recipients

Cascadeur joins a long list of MegaGrant-funded tools and studios. Epic has previously awarded funding to projects such as Blender (for continued development of the open-source 3D suite), and numerous independent game developers and VFX toolmakers. The MegaGrant programme, launched in 2019, has distributed over $100 million to support development that benefits the wider realtime and 3D ecosystem.

Current Cascadeur 2025.2

Cascadeur 2025.2 runs on Windows 10+, Ubuntu 20.04+, and macOS 13.3+. The software is available in three licensing tiers. The Free edition is restricted to the proprietary .casc format and is limited to non-commercial use. The Indie licence costs $12 per month or $96 per year. The Pro licence costs $49 per month or $396 per year. Nekki’s rent-to-own system unlocks permanent usage rights after one year of continuous payment.

Test before you deploy

The Live Link plugin is still in development and no public build is available. As with all new workflow tools, readers are advised to test the plugin carefully before integrating it into production pipelines.

The post Cascadeur Builds Proper Unreal Live Link Plugin first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

 

Reallusion (R): Hello Cesar, please tell us something about yourself.

Cesar (C): Hello, let me start at the very beginning. i started my journey as a filmmaker in 2004 with my first war film about the 1982 Falklands War, for which I produced VFX close-ups that seamlessly blended real images with 3D animation. I went on to direct my first documentary film on the same subject for the History Channel, which featured over 60 minutes of captivating aerial combat animation.

As part of my creative journey of discovery, I ventured into the area of fan films and gained worldwide attention with a production about Robotech. In Japan in particular, the film received a huge response with over 200,000 views within one day.

R: How did you come up with the idea of making the science fiction film “Nick 2040”?

C: Based on my previous experiences, I ventured into my own science fiction world, which I called “Invasion 2040”. This transformative endeavour took seven years. Along the way, I secured an Epic MegaGrant and our project caught the attention of Reallusion, whereupon we participated in their Pitch & Produce programme.

With “Nick 2040” I went one step further and raised the production to cinema level, I filmed with RED cameras in 6K. The post-production was meticulously rendered in 4K, completing the trilogy of short films. This last part serves as a proof of concept for an ambitious feature-length film, which is currently in the pre-production phase.

The prerequisite for this is that a large part of the VFX preparations have already been completed before shooting begins. At the moment I am actively involved in this preparation phase – every scene, character, animation and VFX test created for the short film will be seamlessly integrated into the full feature film. This dual role allows me to act as both co-director and VFX director.

R: Please describe your workflow using the Reallusion software?

C: Phase 1 – Creating realistic characters with headshot and dynamic wrinkles

I started by scanning the robot’s face with Reality Scan. At the same time, I created a face from a photo using Headshot. In parallel, I used ZBrush to connect the two models and create a mesh that closely resembled the target face. I then imported the mesh and texture created in iClone into the Character Creator using the Headshot plugin. Once completed, I transferred all the components into the Unreal Engine to generate the robot’s face in a metahuman framework. Additionally, I scanned the clothing to improve the realism of the final rendering.

I carefully worked out the antagonist, a tall giant, and designed the facial features down to the smallest detail. I was inspired by the facial expressions of the metahumans and went beyond conventional methods. Using Blender, I seamlessly merged an AccuRIG body with a metahuman face, which led to an amazingly impressive result.

The key breakthrough was creating facial animations with Dynamic Wrinkles. This allowed us to realistically render the protagonist’s face as well as the characters in the invasion scenes.

For some scenes, the actress’s face had to be recreated, which was not possible with conventional shooting methods. I scanned the actress’s face with the Headshot plugin and optimised the mesh with ZBrush in combination with CC4. I then animated it in iClone 8 and seamlessly transferred all the data into the Unreal Engine via Live Link, which led to a fantastic result.

With CC4’s advanced dynamic wrinkle features and the use of face mocap, I was able to create complicated facial expressions effortlessly in a matter of minutes.

Phase 2 – Animating the fight scene with iClone and ActorCore

The integration of iClone played a crucial role in the development of the transformation animation for Invasion 2040. This was particularly crucial as the character seamlessly stands up and places his hands on the ground as he undergoes a dynamic metamorphosis into a robotic form.

The invasion scene in “Nick 2040” was carefully crafted in the Unreal Engine with a mix of characters from different platforms – some from Metahumans and others from iClone. Using the handy and easy-to-edit Actorcore scans retrieved via iClone’s Live Link proved ideal for seamlessly integrating the various animations from the“Run For Your Life” pack and perfectly complementing the intensity of the invasion sequences. To create a cohesive scene, I cloned the iClone animations onto the skeletons of the Metahuman characters in Unreal.

Reallusion and iClone 8 allowed me to create complex animated scenes with epic battles between giants and robots. These scenes, which are at the heart of my films, are brought to life by the powerful features in my workflow pipeline. The possibilities offered by these tools, especially in the field of computer graphics and animation, play a crucial role in realising the vision and complexity of my cinematic creations.

Phase 3 – Immediate preview of results with Unreal Live Link

The Live Link extension is truly remarkable. The process of transferring animations to Unreal is both seamless and stable. Correcting a motion is a simple task – I make the adjustments in iClone and make sure I adhere to the start and end times on the timeline. Then I simply replace the animation with the Unreal Sequencer and complete the process with a few clicks. In a few moments, the updated animation is finished and ready to render.

Timecode Sync Rendering has also revolutionised my workflow. Now I can seamlessly transfer objects into iClone, animate characters and use these objects as references. The speed at which I can send the animation to Unreal is remarkable. It only takes a few seconds. This streamlined process has made animating incredibly easy and fast, which has greatly improved my efficiency and creative ability.

The final fight between the robot and the jumper was a two-step process. Firstly, I choreographed the movements of the two characters using Mocap, executed the choreography in person and perfected the hits in iClone to achieve effective results. These animations were then sent via Live Link to Unreal for rendering. At the same time, the fight scene was supplemented with additional sequences from the Reallusion Marketplace to increase the dynamics and intensity of the fight scene.

R: Why did you choose Reallusion?

C: We are currently finalising the storyboard, shooting, budget and VFX plan for “Nick 2040” – an important task that forms the foundation of our feature film. In a compact animation studio where the tasks are inherently complex, our small animation team has developed unimagined possibilities through this process.

• Stability: The entire process is characterised by maximum stability without crashes.
• Speed: Animations with more than 1000 frames are transferred to Unreal in less than a minute. It is remarkable that the processor and GPU are often not overloaded during this fast process.
• Organisation: I streamline my workflow by storing different animations in iClone’s Content Browser. This allows for quick retrieval and use in different scenes of the film, as virtually all the sequences I need are stored there.
• Practicality: Integrating animations from various sources, including Noitom Mocap, Mixamo animations and Unreal character animations, is a breeze. Simply drag and drop these animations from Explorer into iClone and they are seamlessly integrated into the project.

Nearing completion, the trailer gives a first glimpse of our work and we look forward to the release of the final short film.

Learn more

• Episode Nick 2040 created by Cesar Turturro
• Animating 3D characters and film scenes with iClone
• Create realistic characters with the Character Creator

The post Mech vs. Giant Slugfest mit iClone & Character Creator first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In nuce: Epic Games has released version 1.3 of its MetaHuman Creator – initially as Early Access. This is software that can be used to create 3D human characters. This is accompanied by another release – the MetaHuman DNA Calibration Library , which includes several add-ons for the MetaHuman Creator. The library is intended to simplify the customised editing of 3D characters in tandem with the MetaHuman Creator. The library allows access to a wide range of customisable assets (such as hairstyles or clothing) that can be used to equip 3D characters and is primarily aimed at technical artists. The library is made available via binary files for Windows and Linux.

MetaHuman Creator Early Access Out Now: Meet the Team | Unreal Engine

In toto: Below are just a few of the innovations that come with the dual release. In the almost five-minute video above, Vladimir Mastilovic, Vice President of Digital Humans Technology at Epic Games, Paul Doyle, Director of Product Management at Epic Games, and James Golding, Technical Director at Epic Games, explain what Early Access entails.

• Exporting .mhb files: This facilitates collaborative work on a 3D character. Once exported as a .mhb file, other users can import it into their MetaHuman Creator to work on the design of a character. Until now, characters created using the MetaHuman Creator were linked to the respective artist’s Epic Games account.
• The MetaHuman DNA Calibration Library is divided into DNACalib and DNAViewer. DNACalib can be used, for example, to rename character meshes, remove joints, facial blendshapes or LODs. DNACalib is a C library with Python bindings. DNAViewer, on the other hand, reads DNA files into Maya, creating a 3D head equipped with operable rigs. The rigged 3D head can be exported from Maya in FBX format.

Click further: All further information can be found in the official announcement on unrealengine.com . Interested parties can access MetaHuman via unrealengine.com/en/metahuman.

Sources: cgchannel.com ( message from Jim Thacker), unrealengine.com ( blog entry from Epic Games)

The post MetaHuman Creator 1.3 and DNA Calibration Library ! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Epic Games has released the latest version of its Unreal Engine – Unreal Engine 5.1 has been released. This is according to a blog post on unrealengine.com from 15 November this year. Unreal Engine is a game engine or render engine. Many of the newly added improvements build on the functions that were introduced with the release of the previous version, Unreal Engine 5.0. The corresponding blog post states that the update lays the foundation for games with Nanites and Global Illumination to run at 60 FPS – both on games consoles and on the PC.

In toto: Below are some of the most interesting new features that come with the release of Unreal Engine 5.1.

• VFX Editor: Aimed at creative professionals in the field of virtual production. It is a dedicated in-camera VFX editor that has been customised for VFX-specific workflows.
• The Deformer Framework is described as one of the most important newly added functions. Character rigs are created with the help of machine learning, eliminating the need to evaluate complex rigs. The Maya ML Deformer plug-in is used for this (see unrealengine.com/marketplace).
• Nanites: Two-sided materials are now also supported. This is joined by a programmable rasteriser that allows material-controlled animations to be created via World Position Offset. As an example of such a material-controlled animation, cgchannel.com mentions leaves blowing in the wind. Anyone who wants to know how Nanites work and how they can be used to create complex geometries in real time can access the free e-book “Nanite for Educators and Students” (Digital Production reported on 17 October this year).
• Lumen: Two-sided foliage shading models are now supported. This should make the lighting of plants look even more realistic. For an intensive training course on Lumen, we recommend taking a look at the three-hour course by digital content developer Charleston Silverman on The Gnomon Workshop (Digital Production reported on this on 5 September this year)
• World Partition System: According to the blog post, Large World Coordinates are now supported, which makes it possible to create huge worlds – without sacrificing detail. Furthermore, the Hierarchical Level of Details (HLOD) system has been enriched with the ability to render water.

Click further: All further information can be found in the blog post on unrealengine.com or in the release note on docs.unrealengine.com . We have taken the lead image for this news item from the same blog posting.

Sources: cgchannel.com ( message from Jim Thacker), unrealengine.com ( blog posting on the release), docs.unrealengine.com ( release note on the release)

The post Epic Games releases Unreal Engine 5.1! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Epic Games and Autodesk have announced a strategic collaboration. The aim of this is to “accelerate immersive real-time experiences across all industries, starting with Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC)”. The first step in this direction is free access to Twinmotion for Revit customers. Autodesk Revit is software aimed at architects, building services engineers and structural engineers. Twinmotion is a real-time software for architectural visualisation (Digital Production reported on the release of Twinmotion 2021.1 on 12.07.2021).

Epic and Autodesk join forces to accelerate real-time experiences

In toto: The self-promotion also states that the recently released version of Twinmotion enables the rendering of (moving) images with resolutions of up to 64K. It also states that the latest version of Twinmotion includes a new integration with the Sketchfab modelling platform (Digital Production reported on this on 23.07.2021 , when Sketchfab was acquired by Epic Games). Thanks to the Twinmotion Importer plugin, it should be easy for users to transfer assets from Twinmotion to the Unreal Engine. The self-description goes on to say that the aim is to improve workflows for creative professionals by removing barriers between software solutions. In the future, it is planned to extend the strategic collaboration to the media and entertainment (M&E) sector.

Sources: Blog entry on unrealengine.com, announcement on epicgames.com, news on gamesmarkt.de

The post Epic Games and Autodesk move closer together first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.