S IGGRAPH | FEATURE
START YOUR ENGINES WE LOOK AT THE RISE OF THE GAME ENGINES AT SIGGRAPH 2019 AND REPORT ON THE WIDER TECH INTROS AT THE SHOW
WORDS & PICTURES ROBERT TAK ATA
A s game developers released once proprietary game engines into the wild, users ran with them in all directions – and not just down the path to making more games. Users have found new applications in architecture, engineering, live events and education. The possibilities seem endless for anyone who can utilise visual, virtual and interactive media. Most visible are film and television producers. The two engines currently getting the most attention from producers are Unreal Engine and Unity. Unreal Engine began its life in 1998 as the platform for Epic
Games’ shooter, Unreal. Unity was created originally by Unity Technologies as a game engine exclusively for Mac OSX. BIRTH OF ADAM Engine use in traditional linear entertainment is relatively recent. In 2015, filmmaker Neill Blomkamp created his short film Adam with Unity, after which the company partnered with the filmmaker to create two more episodes. “I have just been obsessed with real-time graphics since I was 16,” says Blomkamp. “I love the idea of environments that you can explore at 60
frames per second. Real-time simulation, real-time lighting… Unity is what real-time virtual cinema is.” In 2018, Disney and Unity collaborated on three episodes of the short Baymax Dreams , a companion piece to Big Hero 6: The Series . The speed and efficiency of using the Unity game engine saved the Disney production somewhere between 40 and 50% on the budget. The biggest selling point for using game engines in film production is their ability to render virtually final pixel graphics in real time, allowing for final creative decisions to be made at
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