The KeenTools team released KeenTools 2022.2.0, in the new version we have many improvements to FaceBuilder with the addition of the MetaHuman compatible UV layout control, improving the KeenTools 3D nodes for Nuke and Blender.
In this version, the KeenTools team significantly raised the possible likeness level in FaceBuilder and also brought MetaHuman compatibility, offering probably the easiest way to transfer a real person to a game engine.
This release brings a groundbreaking improvement to FaceBuilder — a well-known easy-to-use add-on for creating 3D heads from photos. In the new version, changes to the model are applied in a smart way mostly to the nearby regions, leaving the unrelated facial parts unchanged. With this improvement, facial parts like lip corners, curved noses, and skin folds are not a problem now. As an outcome, 3D models resemble people from photos far better than before, increasing the variety of potential use cases for FaceBuilder.
Create MetaHumans from photos with FaceBuilder
One of them can be creating a MetaHuman out of a real person. That has become possible since Epic Games released the Mesh to MetaHuman add-on which can wrap any 3D model of a human head and create a MetaHuman character based on the wrapped mesh.
To make the possible likeness of the character made with the union of FaceBuilder and MetaHuman even better, in this release KeenTools added a new ‘MH’ texture map to FaceBuilder which is compatible with the texture layout of MetaHuman. It gives a way to significantly improve the MetaHuman texture by transferring facial features such as birthmarks or scars from photos with the help of the texture generated in FaceBuilder.
Speaking about Nuke plugins, apart from the refreshed FaceBuilder, users might be pleased to find updated transform handles (aka Axis controls) in all of KeenTools 3D nodes — their reliability was improved in 3D mode, and now they can be used in 2D mode too.
Finally, starting from version 2022.2, KeenTools plugins for Nuke 11 and earlier will receive only maintenance updates. All new features will be available in Nuke 12+.
The full list of improvements in FaceBuilder for Blender:
- FaceBuilder can reconstruct faces with finer details
- Added MetaHuman-compatible UV layout
- FaceBuilder now supports many heads in one scene
- Many minor fixes and UI tweaks
What’s new in Nuke plugins:
- FaceBuilder can reconstruct faces with finer details
- Added MetaHuman-compatible UV layout
- GeoTracker, FaceTracker: added transform handles in 2D
- FaceBuilder, FaceTracker: fixed automatic face alignment for anamorphic footage and translated cameras
- Nuke 11 is deprecated
- Many minor fixes and UI tweaks
Download the plugins from the KeenTools website. 30 days of fully-functional trial for new users included.