Unreal Fellowship: new perspectives on virtual production
Michele Bousquet
November 24, 2020Not long ago, we started to see a significant shift in the way films and TV series are made. Forward-thinking directors, VFX artists, and other creatives had noticed that a real-time workflow with Unreal Engine could enhance creativity and collaboration, and shorten production time.
Since then, Epic Games has been busy learning about the needs of this emerging industry, and figuring out how we can help creatives realize their vision with real-time technology. Along the way, we’ve seen all manner of applications in every phase of production: previs, stuntvis, and postvis with real-time iteration and changes; virtual scouting, where a director visits a fully CG location to plan shots; in-camera VFX that substitutes green screen with large LED screens in the background, eliminating the need for compositing in post; and real-time performance capture, where a live actor's movements are targeted to a CG character and rendered, right then and there.
Since then, Epic Games has been busy learning about the needs of this emerging industry, and figuring out how we can help creatives realize their vision with real-time technology. Along the way, we’ve seen all manner of applications in every phase of production: previs, stuntvis, and postvis with real-time iteration and changes; virtual scouting, where a director visits a fully CG location to plan shots; in-camera VFX that substitutes green screen with large LED screens in the background, eliminating the need for compositing in post; and real-time performance capture, where a live actor's movements are targeted to a CG character and rendered, right then and there.
The list goes on and on. On our Virtual Production hub, we discuss many of these uses through case studies, and in our Virtual Production Field Guide we explore what they mean for the industry. We've also published white papers on how to choose a real-time performance capture system, and how to project to multi-screen displays using Unreal Engine’s nDisplay plugin.
More recently, Epic Games launched the Unreal Fellowship, an intensive blended learning experience for select industry professionals to get them up to speed on Unreal Engine. Fellows come from a variety of disciplines from lighting to character animation and post effects. You can see what they have to say about the program in the video below.
More recently, Epic Games launched the Unreal Fellowship, an intensive blended learning experience for select industry professionals to get them up to speed on Unreal Engine. Fellows come from a variety of disciplines from lighting to character animation and post effects. You can see what they have to say about the program in the video below.
The Fellowship gives participants the opportunity to learn and try out the state of the art in virtual production for themselves, so they can bring leading technologies and techniques back to their own teams. Epic considers Unreal Fellowship participants to be partners, sharing our passion for the art of storytelling through new creative means.
In parallel with Unreal Fellowship activities, Epic held Unreal Build: Virtual Production, an online event to showcase the most innovative projects from film and television industry visionaries.
We’ve also recently announced the Virtual Production Primer, a collection of courses and presentations for those interested in using Unreal Engine for virtual production. The VP Primer consists of a video series specially curated for production professionals.
There’s never been a better time to learn more about virtual production. Check out the VP Primer and get started today.
We’ve also recently announced the Virtual Production Primer, a collection of courses and presentations for those interested in using Unreal Engine for virtual production. The VP Primer consists of a video series specially curated for production professionals.
There’s never been a better time to learn more about virtual production. Check out the VP Primer and get started today.
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