FEATURE | S IGGRAPH
It requires a mindset change, as we’re now saying ‘fix it in prep’ rather than ‘fix it in post’
IMAGES Unity and Unreal are the two ‘big dogs’ of the game engine world
With the ability to design, light, shoot, edit and produce effects all in a game engine, it is reasonable to ask how traditional filmmaking and filmmakers fit into this new dynamic. CINE TRACER Cinematographer Matt Workman strives to maintain filmmaking craft and art in the digital realm. Workman created Cine Tracer, a real-time cinematography simulator, which gives users access to real-world based cameras and lights in Unreal Engine. “With Cine Tracer, I want to preserve and honour and respect the traditions of the traditional film industry,” Workman told the user group. “The techniques, the practices, I’m building all of that, especially regarding cinematography, directly into the core of Cine Tracer.” Producing in the virtual space saves time and therefore money, but it also brings together departments that have, traditionally, never worked together. Director and producer Jon Favreau used Unreal Engine and Unity for Disney’s 2019 remake of The Lion King and is using it on The Mandalorian , which he is producing for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service. “We do this on The Mandalorian in preproduction,” said Favreau at the Unreal Engine Users Group gathering. “We get to
make the movie, essentially in VR, send those dailies to the editor and we have a cut of the film that serves the purpose that previs would have. So you’re using it in The Lion King in lieu of layout, and in the case of The Mandalorian or other live action productions, in lieu of previs, but it allows for collaboration.” Epic Games announced at SIGGRAPH 2019 that Unreal Engine 4.23 is available now in preview. SIGGRAPH AWAY FROM THE ENGINE SIGGRAPH is the annual conference celebrating computer graphics as both art and industry. The convention centre, which covers over two city blocks near downtown Los Angeles, hosted this year’s conference. Additional events and programming took place at the nearby LA Live entertainment complex and JWMarriott hotel. In the 20 years since my first SIGGRAPH, some things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same. Attendance has declined, but a second annual conference in Asia has recovered a lot of the lost attendance at the US show. The event still has a great energy, like that very first week at university — lots to see and learn, but also a great sense of community. It is an over-used term that often lacks meaning or sincerity, but
any point during production. Once the environments and characters are brought into the engine, scenes can be played out and shot with any camera from any angle, and lighting can be changed on the fly. Traditional storyboarding gives way to 3D previsualisation. Since the previs is essentially happening ‘on set’, creative decisions, usually made during production, can now be made during what has been a preproduction process. Editing, FX and compositing are occurring at the same time as the previs, so producers now have preproduction, production and post- production all happening simultaneously in-engine. UNREAL PRODUCTION TOOL At the Unreal Engine Users Group event during this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles, Epic Games’ executives, partners and users praised the Unreal Engine as a production tool. Sam Nicholson, CEO and founder of Stargate Studios, explained: “A lot of shows we do are experimenting with how to move these things into principal photography. What can you do and what can’t you do by taking the power of an entire post-production visual effects facility, like Stargate Studios, and moving it onto set? It requires a mindset change, because we’re saying ‘fix it in prep’ rather than, ‘fix it in post.’”
IMAGES There was plenty of new capture tech at SIGGRAPH, including InviziTrak for cleaner keying
36 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 9
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