MKE/∆23 is a conspiracy-style animated short inspired by the political paranoia films of the 1970s, The X-Files, and Jonathan Banks’ July 4th message, “Right v. Wrong.” https://youtu.be/-hnXf15qweA?si=OSmnj2szTVtx0kSw
I used it as an excuse to spend some time with Unreal Engine’s new markerless MetaHuman Animator workflow. Both the face and body animation were captured from the original video, with Jonathan Banks unknowingly serving as the performance reference.
The biggest surprise wasn’t the facial animation—it was how much difference a tiny amount of secondary skin motion made. It’s one of those details you don’t consciously notice, but without it, digital humans (MetaHumans in particular) can feel strangely rigid. I ended up building a custom facial animation Blueprint for the aged hero character that added subtle spring motion to selected facial bones, giving the skin just enough inertia to feel more natural.
As an experiment, it’s been incredibly encouraging. It feels like we’re getting closer to a point where one person, sat in a dark room with Unreal Engine, can make films that would have been impossible on an indie budget just a few years ago.
