Join Epic Games at SIGGRAPH 2022
July 19, 2022
SIGGRAPH 2022 is coming up fast, and we’re thrilled to see you all in person again.
Also, what a year!
Real-time use is exploding across the entertainment world, and even casual observers are grappling with what a metaverse might mean for their lives and businesses. With so much happening, there’s much to discuss—and we plan to via a mix of tech talks, special sessions, and an open metaverse course.
So if you are interested in where the metaverse, MetaHumans, digital identity, and more are going, or even what our friends are doing with real-time animation, keep reading! Our entire schedule is down below.
Also, what a year!
Real-time use is exploding across the entertainment world, and even casual observers are grappling with what a metaverse might mean for their lives and businesses. With so much happening, there’s much to discuss—and we plan to via a mix of tech talks, special sessions, and an open metaverse course.
So if you are interested in where the metaverse, MetaHumans, digital identity, and more are going, or even what our friends are doing with real-time animation, keep reading! Our entire schedule is down below.
Building the Open Metaverse (Part 1, Part 2)
Required registration: Full Conference/Full Conference Supporter badgeThis is a no-hype introduction to what it’ll take to build the open metaverse. We’ll get into the current pillars and the possible paths ahead, touching on 3D-first computing, interoperability, game engine ecosystems, scaling users/worlds, how content creation might change, and more.
The speaker list is loaded with forward-looking thinkers and visionaries, including Neal Stephenson—the man who coined “metaverse” in his 1992 novel. The courses will be led by representatives from NVIDIA, Roblox, Unity, Khronos Group, OGC, Cesium, and our own VP of Unreal Engine Ecosystem, Marc Petit. Don’t miss it.
Wednesday, August 10: 9 AM - 12 PM PT and 2:15 - 5:00 PM PT
West Building, Room 211-214
Sessions
Required registration: Experience badge or higherThese sessions are virtual.
Image courtesy of Shape Shifters Creative
Pushing the Boundaries of Real-Time Characters with MetaHumans
Han Yang, Creative Director at Shape Shifters CreativeDavid Jiang, Head of Development at Shape Shifters Creative
Abhishek Joshi, Art Director/Visual Artist, Shape Shifters Creative
Join the team from Shape Shifters Creative to dive into the power of MetaHumans with a session focused on cinematic storytelling in real time.
Image courtesy of Quixel
Building 3D Worlds in UE with Quixel Megascans and Reality Capture
Galen Davis, Senior Evangelist at QuixelJordan Thistlewood, Product Management Director, Media & Entertainment at Epic Games
Luis Cataldi, Lead Evangelist at Quixel
Learn about how Megascans, UE5, and Reality Capture came together on a recent Ninety Days challenge project, with insights into virtual production content, democratizing world building, and more.
Courses
Required registration: Virtual conference badge or higherThese sessions are virtual.
Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games: Part I
Lumen: Real-time Global Illumination in Unreal Engine 5
Daniel Wright, Engineering Fellow, Graphics at Epic GamesKrzysztof Narkowicz, Technical Director, Graphics at Epic Games
Patrick Kelly, Senior Rendering Programmer at Epic Games
Learn how Lumen, one of Unreal Engine 5’s most popular new features, works. As you explore this fully dynamic global illumination and reflection system, you’ll go deep into software ray tracing with signed distance fields, virtualized surface caching, hardware ray tracing, final gathering, and more. We’ll even show you how Lumen solved indirect lighting challenges for the large-scale procedural city featured in The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience.
Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games: Part I
Ray Tracing Open Worlds in Unreal Engine 5
Aleksander Netzel, Senior Rendering Programmer at Epic GamesTiago Costa, Senior Rendering Programmer at Epic Games
In this talk, we will show you different ways to use ray tracing on large open worlds in Unreal Engine 5, using the development of The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience as our guide. This mega-city represented 1.5 million ray-traced instances, making it a perfect launching pad for discussions of inline ray tracing and ray traversal optimization.
Tech Talks
Required registration: Experience badge or higherAll of the tech talks will be held in Room 114/115 in the West Building. All days/times noted below.
Future Skills for the Metaverse
Julie Lottering, Director, Unreal Engine Education at Epic GamesMeet the companies that are successfully developing immersive 3D content, metaversal experiences, and imaginative ways to engage audiences—from strategy to execution.
Wednesday, August 10: 4:15 PM PT
MetaHumans & Digital Identity
Jamie Hurcomb, Education Producer at Epic GamesDigital humans are ushering us into a new era of self-representation which, combined with greater social engagement on game platforms, brings up myriad questions. We’ll share what we’ve learned in this unique look at design issues around digital identity.
Tuesday, August 9: 1:00 PM PT
Transitioning from Legacy Production to Unreal Engine
Brian Pohl, Technical Program Manager at Epic GamesUncertain how UE fits into your pipeline? We’ll take a look at Unreal Engine’s operational logic and its similarities to the traditional production workflow so you can start working in UE5 with confidence.
Wednesday, August 10: 3:00 PM PT
VAD: The Hub of Production
Panelists include:Joe Finlayson - Epic Games, Business Development Manager (moderator)
Daniel Paulsson, VFX Supervisor at DNEG
Sepp Sonntag, Virtual Art Department Supervisor at Pixomondo
Kristin Turnipseed, Virtual Production Supervisor at Lux Machina
Jim Geduldick - Director, Virtual Production & SVP Dimension North America at Dimension Studio
What happens during a paradigm shift? How do you blend the old with the new? In this talk, we’ll look at the rise of the virtual art department (VAD) and how it keeps virtual productions flowing as they transition processes from post to pre.
Wednesday, August 10: 1:00 PM PT
Creating an Animated Short in UE5
Daryl Obert, Senior Marketing Manager at Epic GamesLearn how to create a character-animated short in Unreal Engine 5 with a demo that covers the whole production from start to finish, highlighting the true power of real time.
Tuesday, August 9: 3:00 PM PT
World Building in UE5 with Megascans and RealityScan
Luis Cataldi, Lead Evangelist, Quixel at Epic GamesWorldbuilders rejoice, a new formula has emerged! Unreal Engine 5, Megascans, Quixel Bridge, and RealityScan—learn how these tools can help students, hobbyists, and developers start crafting the detailed/vibrant worlds of tomorrow...today.
Wednesday, August 10: 2:00 PM PT
Stylization in Unreal - Creating Stylized Looks for Environments
Sean Spitzer, Senior Instructor at Epic GamesCreate stylized fog looks and lighting for visually appealing shorts and animation using advanced techniques for control and editing.
Tuesday, August 9: 2:00 PM PT
Animating In-Engine - Real-Time Production Workflows
Kevin Miller, Instructor at Epic GamesExplore Sequencer and Control Rig’s animation editing capabilities through the application of real-time animation production workflows.
Tuesday, August 9: 4:00 PM PT
Creating Materials & Post-Process Volumes
Sean Spitzer, Senior Instructor at Epic GamesLearn to use post-process volumes and shaders for stylized visuals using advanced material workflows.
Wednesday, August 10: 11 AM PT
Sequencer Crossfade Creation & Mod Tracks
Kevin Miller, Instructor at Epic GamesExpand Sequencer’s editing capabilities through the application of CineCamera tools, and modification tracks for creating cinematic editing techniques.
Wednesday, August 10: 10 AM PT
Educator’s Day Sessions
Required registration: Experience badge or higherAll sessions will be held in Room 208/209.
Shaping the Future of Animation
Chris Gallagher, Chair of Animation at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)Explore a new era of storytelling made possible by real-time techniques in animation, including how iteration enhances creativity.
Monday, August 8: 12:00-12:30 PM PT
The Art of Real-Time Special Projects
Diana Diriwaechter, Education Lead at Epic GamesGo behind-the-scenes to see artists create special projects and cinematics at Epic Games. You’ll not only learn how they use Unreal Engine in their workflows to create next-gen experiences like The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience, but how their educational backgrounds and traditional filmmaking skills contribute to their success
Monday, August 8: 11:15-11:45 AM PT
Join us at SIGGRAPH 2022!
To attend SIGGRAPH and join our sessions, you’ll need to register. Any level, including Experience, is sufficient to attend the sessions, but the Building the Open Metaverse course requires a Full Conference badge. So sign up for what feels right and we’ll see you there!