Unreal Engine have just launched a new iPhone App called Live Link that enables real-time facial capture for Unreal Engine using an iPhone 10x or newer. The requirements are Unreal Engine 4.25 or higher as well as an iPhone with a “True Depth” front facing camera.
Details of the App from the Apple App Store:
Virtual production-ready facial animation in real time from your iPhone — Live Link Face for UnrealEngine.
Stream high-quality facial expressions to characters and visualize them with live rendering in UnrealEngine. Record facial tracking data that can be further fine-tuned in animation tools to achieve a finalperformance and assembled in Unreal Engine’s Sequencer. Shoot professional-grade performance capture with an integrated stage workflow.
Facial animation via front-camera and ARKit:
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- Stream out the data live to an Unreal Engine instance via Live Link over a network.
- Drive a 3D preview mesh, optionally overlaid over the video reference on the phone.
- Record the raw facial animation data and front-facing video reference footage.
Timecode support for multi-device synchronization:
- Select from the iPhone system clock, an NTP server, or use a Tentacle Sync to connect with a master clock on stage.
- Video reference is frame accurate with embedded timecode for editorial.
Control Live Link Face remotely with OSC:
- Trigger recording externally so actors can focus on their performances.
- Capture slate names and take numbers consistently.
- Extract data automatically for archival.
Browse and manage the captured library of takes within Live Link Face:
- Delete takes, share via AirDrop.
- Play back the reference video on the phone.
You can learn more about the new Live Link application on the Unreal Engine blog and learn more in documentation available here. Learn more in the video below.