We’re making a big push to educate people involved in 3D outside of games to learn more about the way Unreal Engine 4 makes for VR, games and cinematic production easy and powerful. As part of this drive, several members of the Epic team will be heading off to Stuttgart, Germany, in May to help spread the word during the FMX Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia, Europe's most influential conference for digital entertainment.
Epic will be involved in a panel on VR content that includes speakers from Microsoft’s HoloLens group and Industrial Light & Magic, a presentation on game engine pipelines and a closing talk on the convergence of Hollywood and games through the power of VR.
Here’s a look at Epic at FMX:
Wednesday, May 06, König-Karl-Halle, 10:30 - 12:00
Panel: Beyond the Hype: What it Really Means to Produce VR Content
Speakers: Kim Libreri (Epic Games), Sebastian Sylwan, Rob Bredow (Industrial Light & Magic), Alex Laurant (HoloLens Experiences, Microsoft Studios), Mike McGee (Framestore), Paul Raphaël (Felix & Paul)
In this panel, we will explore what it means to produce VR content in the real world. The panelists have recently completed productions in the VR space covering the entire spectrum of VR experiences and will discuss what the actual real-world challenges of producing content for the new medium mean and what the most common gotchas and the most surprising discoveries have been in the exploration of the new medium.
Wednesday, May 06, Meidinger-Saal, 18:00 - 19:00
Lecture: Game Engine Content Pipelines : The Challenges Of Real-time Entertainment
Speakers: Ray Davis (Epic Games), James Golding (Epic Games)
Making content that performs well drives so many decisions in game development. In this talk Epic Games provides an overview of the process for creating content for games and other real-time applications, such as VR and architectural visualization. Explore how scenes are planned, the different assets needed and tools used, what and how data is brought into the Unreal Engine, and how aspects such as lighting, animation and scripting are implemented. Get a comparison of Epic's pipeline with that of VFX and animation, and look to where things are heading in the future.
Friday, May 08, König-Karl-Halle, 16:30 - 17:30
Closing Keynote: VR: The Path to Convergence
Speakers: Kim Libreri (Epic Games) and Ray Davis (Epic Games)
People have long predicted the convergence of movies and videogames, yet in 2015 there is very little evidence of this in the way of true transmedia production. With the advent of consumer-viable virtual reality the ingredients for these two industries to come together are finally in place. VR will usher in a new era were cinematic storytelling and immersive interaction by leveraging the best qualities of both creative industries, and it will lead to a revolutionary new form of entertainment.
We’re betting big on the future of VR and investing a lot of resources to make sure that UE4 is at the heart of it. If you’re at FMX, make sure to come find Kim, Ray and James to say hello!