★ — Glossary
The vocabulary
of photoreal humans.
A working dictionary of 51 terms used in MetaHuman, digital-double, virtual-influencer and AI-agent production — from ARKit blendshapes to Audio2Face. Written by working artists, for clients briefing CG work.
Core Concepts
Core Concepts
8 terms
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MetaHuman
MetaHuman is Epic Games' photoreal digital-human framework, runnable in real time inside Unreal Engine 5.
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Digital Double
A photoreal CG recreation of a real actor — used for stunts, de-aging, period drama and feature VFX.
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Virtual Influencer
A photoreal CG persona that posts, partners and earns like a human influencer — IP-controllable, multilingual, never ages.
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Virtual Idol
A photoreal CG performer built for stage and screen — common in K-Pop, J-Pop and music-video work.
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Photogrammetry
Reconstructing 3D geometry from a series of photographs — used for digital-double scans.
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ICVFX (In-Camera VFX)
Shooting LED-volume / virtual-production stages where backgrounds and digital actors render in real time on camera.
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Virtual Production
Real-time LED-volume / on-set CG workflow — pioneered by The Mandalorian, now industry standard.
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De-Aging VFX
Using a digital double to make an actor appear younger or older — used in feature films and TV drama.
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AI / Voice / Lipsync
AI / Voice / Lipsync
6 terms
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AI Agent Embodiment
Giving a conversational-AI agent a photoreal face with sub-100ms streaming lipsync.
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Audio2Face
NVIDIA's neural-network-driven facial animation from audio — real-time, sub-100ms.
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NeuroSync
Open-source neural audio-to-facial-animation alternative to Audio2Face.
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ElevenLabs
AI voice-synthesis platform widely used for production-grade voice generation and cloning.
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TTS (Text-to-Speech)
Converting text to spoken audio — used to drive virtual presenters, AI agents and broadcasters.
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Lipsync
Synchronising character mouth movement with spoken audio — critical for any talking digital human.
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Pipeline & Engines
Pipeline & Engines
7 terms
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Unreal Engine 5 (UE5)
Epic Games' real-time engine — the native home of MetaHuman and the LED-volume virtual-production standard.
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Autodesk Maya
Industry-standard DCC for character rigging, animation and pipeline integration.
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Blender
Open-source DCC — increasingly used in indie, games and ad pipelines.
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USD (Universal Scene Description)
Pixar's open-source scene description format — the cross-DCC pipeline standard.
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NVIDIA Omniverse
NVIDIA's USD-native real-time collaboration platform.
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Unity Engine
The dominant mobile / XR / mid-tier game engine.
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LODs (Levels of Detail)
Multiple geometric/texture resolutions of an asset — swapped at runtime by distance to optimise performance.
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Simulation (Hair, Cloth)
Simulation (Hair, Cloth)
4 terms
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SideFX Houdini
Procedural simulation engine — used for cloth, hair, FX and high-end character work.
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Xgen Interactive Groom
Maya's photoreal hair-grooming system, the cinema-grade alternative to MetaHuman preset hair.
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Cloth Simulation
Physics-based wardrobe motion — adds realism to flowing, draped or tailored garments.
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Marvelous Designer
Industry-standard tool for modelling and simulating realistic clothing.
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Distribution Platforms
Distribution Platforms
7 terms
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Apple Vision Pro / visionOS
Apple's spatial-computing platform — RealityKit-driven, USD-native, ideal for embodied AI agents.
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Roblox Avatar
Cross-app avatar system used inside the world's largest UGC gaming platform.
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Ready Player Me
Cross-app avatar SDK with stylised aesthetic — used across hundreds of metaverse apps.
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Spatial
Spatial.io — virtual-event and metaverse platform for creators and brands.
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Metaverse
Umbrella term for persistent virtual worlds and identity systems — Roblox, Fortnite, Spatial, Decentraland.
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Decentraland
Web3 / blockchain-based metaverse platform used for brand parcels and DAO meet-ups.
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WebGL
Browser-based 3D graphics standard — runs MetaHumans on any modern browser.
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Rigging & Facial
Rigging & Facial
3 terms
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ARKit Blendshape
Apple's 51-blendshape facial-rig standard — drives Live Link Face and most modern face-capture pipelines.
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Live Link Face
Epic Games' iPhone-based real-time facial-capture pipeline for Unreal Engine.
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Character Rigging
Building the bone, control and deformation system that lets a 3D character animate.
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Motion Capture
Motion Capture
7 terms
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Mocap Retargeting
Mapping motion-capture data from one skeleton onto another so it animates correctly.
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Performance Capture
Capturing an actor's body, face and voice in one synchronised performance — used for hero VFX work.
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Motion Capture (Mocap)
Recording the motion of a performer for application onto a digital character.
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Vicon
Industry-leading optical motion-capture system used in AAA games and film VFX.
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OptiTrack
Optical motion-capture system favored by indie studios and virtual production stages.
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Rokoko Smartsuit
Inertial mocap suit popular with indie creators — wireless, no camera setup needed.
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Xsens / Movella MVN
Professional-grade inertial mocap suit used in film, games and biomechanics.
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Rendering & Color
Rendering & Color
6 terms
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PBR (Physically Based Rendering)
Modern shading model that simulates real-world light interaction for cross-engine consistency.
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Sub-Surface Scattering (SSS)
Light penetration through skin / wax / marble — essential for photoreal humans.
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ACES (Academy Color Encoding System)
The film industry's color-management standard — used for consistent grading across cameras, displays and visual effects.
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Apple ProRes
Apple's high-fidelity video codec — the broadcast / film delivery standard.
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Nanite
UE5's virtualised geometry system — runs cinema-grade meshes in real time without manual LODs.
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Lumen
UE5's real-time global illumination — enables fully dynamic indoor/outdoor lighting.
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Licensing & Business
Licensing & Business
3 terms
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Commercial Usage Rights
The legal grant to use a CG asset in commercial work — included with every EquipVerse package.
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Broadcast Clearance
Additional usage grant for TV broadcast, theatrical release and streaming — included in Cinema and Studio tiers.
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NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement)
Confidentiality agreement available on request for confidential briefs and unreleased projects.
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