Unreal Engine Powers Film & Television Production

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Overview

More freedom—from beginning to end

Courtesy of Comadran Studios, Paul Sirats, Julen Urrutia, Xabier Urrutia

Immediate feedback

Why wait? Real-time rendering enables immediate feedback that helps teams test ideas and make decisions in the moment. What you see is what you get.

©NHK DOUSURU IEYASU 2023

Same asset, longer life

Use the same assets from first concepts to final frames, eliminating waste across every phase of production. Use them again on your marketing, interactive, and location-based experiences. It’s the future we wanted.

Courtesy of Framestore

Industry-approved

Epic has been working with filmmakers and studios, developing features used by the industry’s most ambitious projects. With constant input, we are creating the most powerful (and free) virtual production platform in the world—together. For creators, by creators.

Digital humans that will stand up to close‑ups

Need some photorealistic digital humans? MetaHuman is a complete framework that gives anyone the power to create, animate, and use highly realistic digital human characters in their Unreal Engine projects.

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Key Features

From first idea to final frame

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Next-level virtual production toolset
Tell better stories as an entire team, with an extensive virtual production toolset for collaborative filmmaking that includes ICVFX tools, virtual scouting tools, tablet-driven virtual cameras, multi-user controls, and more. Visit our Virtual Production Hub to find out more, and download both volumes of The Virtual Production Field Guide, our comprehensive primer, for free today.
Courtesy of Cory Strassburger
Nonlinear real-time cinematic editing and animation
Unreal Engine includes Sequencer—a fully nonlinear, real-time cinematic editing and animation tool built for collaboration. Define and modify lighting, camera blocking, characters, and set dressing on a per-shot basis. You can even record animations from motion capture linked to characters in your scene and from external tracked sources direct to Sequencer for future playback.
Courtesy of Adam Valdez
Final pixels in real time
With real-time photorealistic ray-traced rendering, real-time compositing, film-quality post-process effects, and advanced particles, physics, and destruction, Unreal Engine delivers everything it takes to create final-pixel output for both live-action and animated content. With the ability to see your changes instantly, you can iterate at the speed of your imagination and make creative choices when it matters most.
A perfect fit for your pipeline
Support for the most widely-used formats and protocols in film and television production like FBX, Alembic, USD, C4D, OpenEXR, and OpenColorIO means Unreal Engine is ready to integrate into your pipeline. And with Python and Blueprint visual scripting, a robust API, and complete C++ source code access, you can create the custom hooks and interfaces you need to make Unreal Engine a seamless fit.

Industry-tested, director-approved. There’s a reason why our features are used across modern production, from virtual production and animation to short-form content. We get there through rigorous tests, both internally and with studio partners. We then give the breakthroughs back to you as built-in tools—including source code—for free.

Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN)

Bring the audience into the world of your story with experiences they can play in Fortnite, built with UEFN.

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case studies

Used on over 550 major motion pictures and episodic TV shows

Courtesy of Andrew Svanberg Hamilton

Case study

Award-winning short film The Voice in the Hollow takes real-time animation to dark places

Blending real-time 3D, 2D elements, and motion capture, The Voice in the Hollow reimagines the Cain and Abel story as a fantastical African-inspired movie short created by a small team of professionals.

Sony Pictures Imageworks creates a real-time thriller for Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots

Love, Death + Robots | Courtesy of Netflix

Case Study

Sony Pictures Imageworks creates a real-time thriller for Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots

Courtesy of Paramount+

Case Study

Why PXO created a real-life "Holodeck" for Star Trek: Discovery

Courtesy of Paramount+

Case Study

Why PXO created a real-life "Holodeck" for Star Trek: Discovery

Case Study

Sony Pictures Imageworks creates a real-time thriller for Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots

Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

Case Study

Taking Big City Greens from 2D to 3D animation in Unreal Engine

Case Study

DNEG creates The Matrix Resurrections’ dojo scene with Unreal Engine

Case Study

DNEG creates The Matrix Resurrections’ dojo scene with Unreal Engine

Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company

Case Study

Taking Big City Greens from 2D to 3D animation in Unreal Engine

05

Resources

Learn how to use Unreal Engine

Whether you’re just getting started and need some basic guidance, or you’re a seasoned pro who’s pushing Unreal Engine to its limits, there’s a range of options to help you succeed.

Documentation

Artists' quick start

Learn how to get started as a content creator with Unreal Engine.

Online learning

Getting started

Your First Hour in Unreal Engine 5.2

This course will introduce you to the high-level basics of Unreal Engine 5 and the editor used to work within it. We’ll look at how to add assets, create lighting, make Blueprints, and even share your project.

Learning path

Technical Guide to Linear Content Creation

This collection of curated resources is for producers, supervisors, technicians, and artists who have a background in linear content creation, are new to Unreal Engine, and are transitioning to creating compelling visuals in a real-time pipeline.

Real-Time Explainers

17-minute read

How to get started with Unreal Engine for filmmakers

Ready to start creating film, TV, and animation content with the Epic ecosystem? Read this guide and find out how to get set up with Unreal Engine, MetaHuman, RealityCapture, and more.

Courtesy of Framestore

19-minute read

What is virtual production?

Find out about virtual production technology, including previs, pitchvis, techvis, stuntvis, ICVFX, postvis, virtual scouting, and more in this Real-Time Explainer.

Sample projects

ICVFX Production Test

Used by cutting-edge filmmakers to test out the virtual production toolset first released in UE 4.27, the In-Camera VFX Production Test project is a real-world example that demonstrates the full suite of possibilities for live-action filmmaking with LED walls and Unreal Engine.

City Sample

The City Sample is a free downloadable sample project that reveals how the city scene from The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience was built. The project consists of a complete city with buildings, vehicles, and crowds of MetaHuman characters.

Get started

Free download—includes every feature!

Get Unreal Engine

Free for creating linear content!

Unreal Engine comes fully loaded and production-ready out of the box, with every feature and full source code access included. It's free to use for creating linear content like films, TV series, and commercials.

Talk To Us

Other license options

Looking for premium support, private training, custom terms, or a direct relationship with Epic Games? Talk to us about an Unreal Enterprise Program license or custom solution.

UEFN: The power of UE for Fortnite

Film & Television

Storytelling reimagined

Power your productions with the same tools making headlines for House of the Dragon and Barbie. Need everything in camera? Top-notch visualization? Episodic animation? Welcome to the playground.

Hot & happening

How to get started with Unreal Engine for filmmakers

Virtual Production Visualization Guide—Chapter 2 now available!

Virtual production reaches new levels across the entire M&E industry

Check out the latest M&E productions using UE!

Overview

More freedom—from beginning to end

Immediate feedback

Same asset, longer life

Industry-approved

Digital humans that will stand up to close‑ups

Key Features

From first idea to final frame

Next-level virtual production toolset

Nonlinear real-time cinematic editing and animation

Final pixels in real time

A perfect fit for your pipeline

Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN)

case studies

Used on over 550 major motion pictures and episodic TV shows

Case study

Award-winning short film The Voice in the Hollow takes real-time animation to dark places

Case Study

Sony Pictures Imageworks creates a real-time thriller for Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots

Case Study

Why PXO created a real-life "Holodeck" for Star Trek: Discovery

Case Study

Why PXO created a real-life "Holodeck" for Star Trek: Discovery

Case Study

Sony Pictures Imageworks creates a real-time thriller for Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots

Case Study

Taking Big City Greens from 2D to 3D animation in Unreal Engine

Case Study

DNEG creates The Matrix Resurrections’ dojo scene with Unreal Engine

Case Study

DNEG creates The Matrix Resurrections’ dojo scene with Unreal Engine

Case Study

Taking Big City Greens from 2D to 3D animation in Unreal Engine

Resources

Learn how to use Unreal Engine

Documentation

Artists' quick start

Online learning

Your First Hour in Unreal Engine 5.2

Technical Guide to Linear Content Creation

Real-Time Explainers

How to get started with Unreal Engine for filmmakers

What is virtual production?

Sample projects

ICVFX Production Test

City Sample

Need a helping hand?

Authorized Service Partners

Unreal Connectors

Epic Developer Community

Get started

Free download—includes every feature!

Get Unreal Engine

Free for creating linear content!

Talk To Us

Other license options

Stay Connected

Get updates on industry innovations and the latest free assets for your industry

Get updates on industry innovations and the latest free assets for
your industry