Building a Custom Vampire Character from Scratch with CC5 and Unreal Engine 5.7
Hi, I’m Marlon R. Nuñez, Creative Director at Digito and the creator behind @mrnunez3D in YouTube. With over 13 years of experience in digital humans, real-time workflows, and stylized realism, I’ve worked across games, cinematics, and XR productions. This article breaks down how I built a fully custom vampire character using ZBrush, Character Creator 5, XGen, and Unreal Engine 5.7, testing the limits of CC5’s HD pipeline and real-time integration.
Over the past few weeks, I took on the challenge of creating a fully custom vampire character using ZBrush, Character Creator 5 (CC5), XGen, and Unreal Engine 5.7. This wasn't just about building a stylized character. It was about testing the limits of CC5’s new HD features, grooming workflows, facial animation, and real-time performance inside Unreal Engine. Here’s a breakdown of the entire process.
1. From CC5 blockout to ZBrush sculpt
I started by loading the default male avatar in CC5 as a base. Before even jumping into ZBrush, I used CC5’s powerful morph sliders to block out the overall shape of the character. This is a great starting point because it allows you to quickly define general proportions — like head size, neck length, torso width, and limb shape — all in a non-destructive way. Using morphs not only speeds up the design process but also helps establish a solid base mesh with clean topology, ready for sculpting fine details later on. From there, I exported it into ZBrush to begin sculpting.
Using a combination of Clay Brush and Dam Standard 2, I carved in wrinkles, secondary forms, and facial structure. This brush combo helped me stay creative and stylize the character without losing realism. Once the primary and secondary forms were working, I used Polypaint to start visualizing the character’s tone.
The goal wasn’t to finalize everything in ZBrush, but rather to set up a clean sculpt ready for HD detailing back in CC5.
2. Refining with CC5 HD Features
Back in Character Creator 5, I brought in the sculpted mesh using GoZ. The new HD morphs and subdivision tools inside CC5 let me refine anatomical detail without switching back to ZBrush.
I adjusted muscle definition, sharpened key features, and used non-destructive morphs to fine-tune the look. Since the final result would be used in close-up renders and real-time sequences, this HD detailing step was essential.
3. Clothing and CC5 Edit Tools
Because my focus was the face, I didn’t spend time designing clothes from scratch. Instead, I used the free styling clothing pack in CC5 to mix and match different items.
I tested several coats and pants to get a gothic, modern vampire vibe. Once I settled on a base outfit, I exported the clothing back to ZBrush to sculpt unique folds and break symmetry — especially at the bottom of the coat to give it a jagged, dramatic feel.
One helpful trick during this stage is using the Edit Mesh tools inside CC5. These tools allow you to make precise tweaks directly on the clothing or body mesh — ideal for resolving minor overlaps, adjusting silhouettes, or even fixing mesh clipping and light skinning issues. They're especially useful when parts of the outfit intersect with the body during movement or when you need to make manual adjustments to avoid mesh clashing in animation. You can sculpt mesh regions, move vertices, and fix problem areas without having to re-export to ZBrush, which is a huge time-saver.
4. Grooming Hair in XGen (Maya)
For the hair, I wanted something stylized but rooted in realism. I used XGen Interactive Groom in Maya to create both the hair and brows.
Once done, I exported the grooms as Alembic caches. These were imported into Unreal Engine and bound to the head skeletal mesh using the Groom component. Rotation and scale adjustments were needed during import (Rotation X = 90, Scale Y = -1) to match orientation.
You can also watch the full process for the hair here:How to Create Metahuman Hair in XGEN and Unreal Engine Tutorial
5. Setting Up in Unreal Engine 5.7
I imported the CC5 character FBX with Morph Targets enabled to preserve facial blend shapes. Then I used the Create CC Control Rig function to automatically generate a control rig and blueprint compatible with UE5.
One key note: I switched the character to CC5 HD mode before exporting from CC5 to ensure full facial rig compatibility.
6. Scene Assembly, Lighting, and FX
For lighting, I kept it simple: one spotlight, one point light, and a bit of color grading. To give the environment some energy, I added a Niagara fire effect in the background with a red tint, simulating a burning castle vibe.
This helped frame the character in a more cinematic way and added subtle motion behind the dialogue.
7. Facial Animation and Audio Sync
I recorded myself and exported the audio as a WAV file, which I used as the input for MetaHuman performance capture inside UE5.
Once the animation was generated, I disabled the head movement (to reuse the mocap animation) and combined the facial performance with the body motion.
Later, I ran into an issue with eye movement not tracking properly. The fix was enabling the Control Look At option inside the Control Rig and manually tweaking eye positions frame-by-frame for believability.
8. Solving Mesh Clipping and Skinning Bugs
In UE5, I noticed the coat mesh was intersecting with the body, even though this didn’t happen in CC5.
Using Vertex Sculpt tools inside the Skeletal Mesh Editor, I pushed the coat geometry to resolve the issue directly within Unreal. I also used animation curve editing to loop the walking motion and extend the sequence.
Final Thoughts
This workflow was a great mix of creative sculpting, technical problem solving, and real-time character performance. The CC5 HD features combined with Unreal Engine’s control rig tools gave me flexibility without sacrificing visual quality.
If you're building stylized or semi-realistic characters for games, cinematics, or virtual production, this approach is fast, efficient, and powerful.
FAQ
Can I animate ZBrush characters directly in Character Creator 5?Yes. With CC5’s GoZ Plus bridge, you can transfer your ZBrush sculpts, bake textures automatically, and animate them with body motions, facial expressions, and lip sync.
Do I need to retopologize my ZBrush sculpt before sending it to CC5?No. CC5’s neutral base mesh has clean topology and is animation-ready. You only need to sculpt details and then bake displacement and normal maps for transfer.
How does CC5 handle HD subdivision from ZBrush?CC5 supports adaptive subdivisions. You can send models back and forth at different levels (Lv0, Lv1, Lv2) and automatically generate optimized maps for each.
Can CC5 handle non-human characters sculpted in ZBrush?Yes. CC5 includes tools like Adjust Bones and Pose Offset to fix skeleton alignment, making even stylized or alien proportions fully animatable.
What animation features can I use once the sculpt is in CC5?You can apply motion capture, motion libraries, facial morphs, dynamic wrinkles, and voice-based lip sync to bring your ZBrush characters to life.
📺 Full video breakdown on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7zfJvWg4iqk
🏋🏻♀️ My Work: https://www.instagram.com/mrnunez
🔗 Brushes & tools available on Gumroad: https://mrnunez.gumroad.com/l/Hair_v2
📩 Questions or collabs: marlon@mrnunez.com