Digital character creation is about to be more efficient and manageable in film production. Unity Wētā Tools has just released a new tool to aid artists in character creation.

Wētā Tools (now owned by Unity) is a platform for artists needing tools for 3D character content. The purpose is to help artists collaborate and create 2D and 3D creations. These tools can be used for film and video game character content.

The company describes the platform as “Unity Wētā Tools for character artists simplifies workflows by reducing medial tasks and accelerating iteration cycles. This optimization allows artists to concentrate more on their creative execution.” Artists can create stylized or true-to-life characters using “Zika VFX.”

The director of Ziva Character Tools & Workflows, Crawford Doran, aims to help artists reach their end goal without giving up their creative control: “Characters are highly complex, and the demand for creative is increasing. Existing approaches need to adapt and assist artists to meet expectations for both visual fidelity and scalability.”

The company states, “Our goal with these advancements is really to help artistic creativity flourish, not to interrupt it… At the end of the day, filmmakers and artists want to know how technology like ours is going to help get more shots out the door, and that’s at the core of today’s updates. We’re bringing the functionality once reserved for top-tier VFX houses to all creators to help them get closer to their creative visions.”