Mythcons
Greetings, my name is Peter Alexander. In this demonstration, I’m going to walk you through how you can leverage Character Creator 5‘s new ActorMIXER as a powerful stepping stone to create unique, stylized characters. We’ll use the CC Base Mesh as our foundation, and ActorMixer will provide the next layer from which to build, making professional character creation that much easier. For this demo, I’ll be creating a stylized version of Wolverine, using the Blender Autosetup pipeline, which is both cost-effective and efficient for creating characters and assets.


Phase 1: The Foundation in Character Creator 5
The first step is to establish the base form. Think about the character you want to build. Is it a caricature? I’m using a sketch of Wolverine as my guiding reference.
- Stylized Proportions: I start by using the standard CC tools to give the character a stylized body-to-head ratio.

- ActorMixer: After subdividing, I head to ActorMixer. The “wheel” I am using is the Caricature MIXER Pack, now available in Content Store. This wheel features a mixture of exaggerated options, providing a fantastic jumping-off point.


- Refining the Shape: My goal isn’t to finish the character here, but to get a solid base. I want a decent amount of muscle and a prominent jaw and head shape. Moving between the wheel points allows me to quickly shape the head and features.

- Exaggeration: Finally, I jump into the Proportion Editor to add more exaggeration to the torso. You can also achieve this with the morphing tools, which allow you to lengthen, shorten, and adjust various points on the body just by clicking and dragging.

Phase 2: First Pass in Blender (Sculpting & Hair)
After adding some basic clothing, I send the character to Blender using the Blender Pipeline Menu (found in the Plugins category after installation). Once loaded in Blender, I begin creating his signature hair.
- Hair Creation: I highly recommend using the Hair Tool add-on (or a similar dedicated tool) if you aren’t familiar with Blender’s native hair system. These add-ons are relatively inexpensive and make the process much easier. This tool allows me to draw out hair strands simply by holding ‘D’ and drawing lines.


- Initial Sculpting: After getting the hair in place, I enter Sculpting Mode to make adjustments to the face, mostly using the Grab brush. I find that adding detail to the face is easier after other features, like hair, are already present.

After some adjustments, light texturing around the face, and adding chest hair for that classic rugged look, I move on to his clothing.

Phase 3: Asset Creation and Texturing
I’ll create the shirt and pants directly in Blender. While CC5 has presets, this method offers full control.
- Modeling: Everything in 3D can be built from a single vertex or primitive. I start with a simple plane and begin extracting edges. Once I have enough geometry, I shape it around the character.

- Pro Tip: You should not create double-sided cloth geometry. Instead, either cap off the holes or extrude the edges to create the illusion of thickness.

- Texturing: To add texture details, I use a free add-on called UCUPaint. By importing images (like a belt buckle or fabric texture) and setting the Projection Coordinates to Decal, you can strategically place textures exactly where you want them on the mesh.




- Rigging: Once your assets are created, you can rig them by selecting the asset, then the armature, and pressing Ctrl + P to parent the clothing. If you’re not familiar with this process in Blender, an alternative is to export the clothing as an FBX, import it into Character Creator, and use the Transfer Weights function. Both are viable solutions.


Phase 4: Round-Trip for Expressions & High-Res Detail
With the assets complete, I send the character back to CC5 using the Go CC button.

- Facial Expressions: I’m ready to adjust his expressions in the Facial Profile Editor. For an exaggerated character, you can use Mesh Edit with Soft Selection to make adjustments. You can also dial an expression slider past 100 and bake it for a more extreme result.


- Troubleshooting: I notice the tongue is too small for his mouth, so I exit the editor to scale it up.
- Important: After making a significant mesh change like this, you should always run Auto-Position bones in the Adjust Bones menu.

- Polishing Expressions: Back in the Facial Profile Editor, I go down the list looking for issues like teeth poking through the mesh, and I use the sculpting tools to fix them.

Now, for a final detail pass, I’ll send the character back to Blender one more time. This time, I use the Go Blender Morph feature, exporting at Subdivision Level 2. This provides a dense mesh with enough resolution to sculpt fine details like muscle striations directly into the model.


When complete, the pipeline sends these changes back to Character Creator not as a new base mesh, but as a morph slider. This is a powerful, non-destructive workflow that lets me dial in the high-frequency detail precisely within the CC interface.


Phase 5: The Finishing Touch – Retractable Claws
Finally, I’m going to create the claws and make them retractable using Shapekeys in Blender.
- Create one claw in Blender and duplicate it.


- Animate the retraction by scaling the claw.
- Set the transform reference point by using an aligned cursor position and selecting ‘Normal’ as the transform direction.

- Turn on Proportional Editing and set it to affect only the selected mesh.
- Name the Shapekeys according to each claw’s position (e.g., L_Claw_1, L_Claw_2, etc.).
- Export the final claw set as an FBX.

After importing, you can transfer the skin weights. You will also need to manually weight each individual claw at 1.0 (100%) intensity to its respective hand bone. Otherwise, the claws will deform incorrectly with the fingers.


This hybrid approach truly opens up a new world of possibilities, blending the speed and powerful rigging systems of Character Creator with the deep modeling and sculpting freedom of Blender. The result is a fully-featured, animation-ready character, complete with custom assets and expressions, all built with an efficient and flexible pipeline.
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