Max Planck spin-off draws Epic Games to Tübingen

Meshcapade is a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen and develops solutions for the creation and animation of digital humans. The start-up was founded in 2018 and was awarded the inaugural Max Planck Startup Award by the Stifterverband in 2022. The technology developed by Meshcapade is based on the Institute’s SMPL (Skinned Multi-Person Linear) body model – a realistic 3D representation of the human form trained on thousands of 3D body scans. Licensed through Max Planck Innovation (MI), the Society’s technology transfer wing, the SMPL model has become the de facto standard for 3D human representation across both academia and industry.

"This is truly remarkable," says Max Planck President Patrick Cramer of the developments surrounding one of the Society's leading AI startups. "It shows how quickly insights from basic research in this field can find their way into practical applications – with global impact." Going forward, he added, Europe must ensure that not only the founding but also the full commercialization of technologies like SMPL continues to take place here.

The Meshcapade team will be joining Epic Games, which will be opening a new office in Tübingen. This will give Epic a presence in Cyber Valley, a leading European AI ecosystem. "This acquisition is a clear signal that 'AI Made in Germany' can scale locally and compete on a global stage," says Bram Wijlands, Managing Director of Max Planck Innovation. "For Meshcapade, this represents a major step forward.” The core Max Planck technology remains available to both existing and new customers: "MI will now directly take over the licensing of the SMPL technology, which has already generated substantial license revenue for the Max Planck Society in recent years," Wijlands said.

Meshcapade’s technology enables digital figures to move with a fluidity and precision typically found only in high-quality animated films – only these are fully realized in 3D with AI using just video input. Human movement, including facial expressions and gestures, is simply too complex for most AI-based systems to recreate convincingly. Beyond physical motion, it is this non-verbal expressiveness that makes an AI generated figure feel genuinely human. Co founders Naureen Mahmood and Talha Zaman, together with Michael J. Black, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems developed the technology to capture exactly that. “From the beginning, Meshcapade’s mission has been to make developing digital humans easier, more expressive, and more accessible for creators," says Mahmood.

Leveraging machine learning and advanced graphics, the team succeeded in modelling human appearance and movements with far greater nuance than conventional AI applications. In addition, their model allows 3D human motion to be “captured” not only through expensive traditional motion capture technology, but also directly from standard videos. This ability to produce high-quality moving avatars more cost-effectively and quickly caught the industry's attention. Soon, interested parties were knocking on their door – without any formal marketing effort. “Our client portfolio actually grew almost entirely through word of mouth," says Zaman, "and the Meshcapade booth at industry events soon became a star attraction for animators from leading game and film studios.."

"Much of today's generative AI is centered on text, images, or video," explains Michael Black. "However, the physical world is inherently three-dimensional. Modern games are built in 3D, robots operate in 3D, and for digital humans to be believable, they must exist and move in 3D. Meshcapade develops foundational models that understand the structure, motion, and physics of the 3D world – translating that insight into assets that developers and artists can use straight away."

“We want to lower the barriers to creating believable, expressive digital characters and make them usable in real time across a wide range of experiences,” said Kim Libreri, Chief Technology Officer at Epic Games. “Bringing Meshcapade's talented team and industry-leading technologies to Epic will help give creators across gaming, film and virtual production industries new specialized tools for developing digital humans.”

“Meshcapade’s team has already standardized and automated some important aspects of digital human production which will immediately bring value to creators around the world. Even more importantly, we believe that they have the right long-term research and development strategy in this space which strongly complements our existing goals and ideas,” said Vladimir Mastilović, VP, Digital Humans Technology at Epic Games. “We are very excited to join our efforts in this complex multi-disciplinary field.”

From its inception, Meshcapade has been supported by Max Planck Innovation (MI). As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Max Planck Society, MI serves as its dedicated technology transfer organization. It advises and accompanies researchers as they bring their innovations to market. "The Meshcapade founding team impressed us from the very beginning," says Florian Kirschenhofer, Start-up and Investment Manager at Max Planck Innovation. "We are proud to support our scientists in launching and scaling a company with the impact of Meshcapade."