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Character Creator

Most recently, I have been focused on revamping our entire character generation pipeline from the ground up. The previous system relied on a massive, monolithic file where every change required deep knowledge of an intricate, unstructured workflow. Artists had no way to efficiently iterate, and generating multiple characters was impossible—there was no way to export the character itself, only a rendered image. This resulted in a rigid, memory-intensive system that severely restricted scalability and real-time use in other applications.

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Old System

  • Performance Bottlenecks: The process was slow and highly memory-intensive.

  • Monolithic Structure: All assets and logic were contained within a single massive file.

  • Complexity & Maintainability: Modifications required deep expertise due to an unstructured, convoluted codebase.

  • The system relied on undocumented "magic files" (akin to arbitrary constants in Houdini) that no one fully understood but were critical to functionality.

  • Accumulated Technical Debt: Years of additions from various contractors resulted in an inefficient workflow.

  • Limited Usability: The system could generate only one character at a time and only in an HDR

New System

  1. Optimized Performance: 25x faster and half the memory

  2. Scalability: The system can now generate thousands of characters efficiently, rather than being limited to one at a time.

  3. Modular & Maintainable: A structured, clean workflow with well-defined components, eliminating dependency on undocumented "magic files."

  4. Flexible Integration: Full USD-based pipeline enables seamless compatibility with multiple platforms, including Unreal Engine and Omniverse.

  5. Characters can now be placed in fully assembled 3D environments rather than being restricted to HDRI backdrops.

Modules

I designed Character Creator from the ground up to have fully modular "workflows" which could be independently managed and easily maintained. All seamlessly fitting within the umbrella of Character Creator.

Modular Rigging

System automatically rigged a human regardless of body shape.

Wardrobe Creation

Created a system in which we could match a clients needs for varied garments

Outfit Fitting

Any Wardrobe Asset could easily be fit onto any person regardless of body type

Data Rich Landmark System

Multiple Systems supported such as:
COCO, MediaPipe, and more

Hair Combos

Complete control through a JSON spec of unique hair styles including eyebrow, vellus, facial hair, and head hair.

USD Packaging

All Humans were exported as USD and are compatible with a wide range of programs including Unreal Engine and Nvidia Omniverse

ML Anim Deformation

Deformations for animation were handled in our custom in house ML deformer.

Impact

Before Character Creator 2.0, generating a single character was slow and used a huge amount of memory, making it difficult to scale. With the new system, character creation is 25 times faster and takes half the memory. It has been used in major projects, including work for Honda and the United States Government. On top of that, the new setup is much easier to maintain, so artists can spend more time creating and less time troubleshooting.

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Our work caught the attention of SideFX, and we were invited to present at the Houdini HIVE 2024 talk in Toronto, where we showcased the advancements in our character pipeline.

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Full presentation available upon request

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