A new tool for the Unreal Engine is capable of generating ultra-realistic 3D digital humans and it could be a major leap forward for everyone from product photographers to game designers and programmers.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve covered 3D modeling possibly replacing traditional photography in some segments. If you will recall, Swedish home goods store IKEA is pursuing this kind of strategy with their marketing in some countries.
But whether or not this will become mainstream remains to be seen. That said, the MetaHuman Creator is one of the more impressive things we’ve seen lately.
And, as PetaPixel points out, we are already starting to see some movement towards this future in other ways. We reported on Shutterstock’s acquisition of TurboSquid for its 3D rendered assets some time back. One thing we highlighted in that article that is coming up again with the MetaHuman Creator tool is how much cheaper this method is for companies and, given the results, it would be nearly impossible for the average person to detect a difference between a rendering and the real thing.
CEO of Shutterstock Stan Pavlovsky said of the new market: “The growth of 3D, AR and VR content and the potential to engage consumers with this disruptive technology is at an all-time high, and TurboSquid’s industry-leading platform allows us to make the distribution of 3D accessible to Shutterstock’s community of creators and marketers across video, gaming, e-commerce, and beyond.”
Naturally, that can’t be good news for photography as a profession as you don’t need the expertise, training, or equipment (not to mention on-site expenses) to take pictures anymore.
You can check out a tech demo over on YouTube at this link right here.
Do you think ultra-realistic 3D modeling will take the place of product photography and human models? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments below.
Check out some of our other photography news at this link right here.
