[MUSIC PLAYING]
SHAUN COMLY: In this visualization guide,
we're setting out to tell somebody exactly
how to do this sort of virtual production using Unreal Engine.
Visualization and virtual production is
where we take performance capture and virtual camera
and we string that together to make a storyboard.
KATHERINE HARRIS MOJICA: It's where the director, or the DP,
working with a team and the art department explore their ideas.
If that's the shot that they really wanted
or if it's even possible to do the shot that they really wanted.
SHAUN COMLY: So the challenge of visualization
when it comes to virtual production is
that you take a sophisticated game engine, like Unreal Engine,
you throw in multiple pieces of software, hardware, timecode,
and then you throw in film directors and try to make them all play nice
together.
KATHERINE HARRIS MOJICA: Visualization is difficult
because there's no one way.
And it's even more difficult because no one way is ever written down.
SHAUN COMLY: And that's when we started to go,
OK, we need to start to pull all this stuff together
to figure out how to get from A to B. So,
at Epic we are lucky enough to be in contact with a bunch of studios
who are leading the field in virtual production.
Once we told them what we were trying to do here,
absolutely every single one of them was more than happy to talk to us
at length about their processes, certain rules that they have,
things that work for them, things that haven't worked for them,
and their feedback is going to make Unreal Engine better and easier
to use.
KATHERINE HARRIS MOJICA: Having a lot of experience
on set throughout the years using Unreal,
we've really dug into the engine, including
working with Epic on a lot of our tools
and how we use them with directors.
LILY PITTS: Creating a process that's flexible,
allowing for adaptability by a director is really, really important
and hard to do.
Figuring out exactly where things go wrong
and how to fix them, even harder.
SHAUN COMLY: We went halfway down the path
and then realized that we had to way back up and figure out
what kind of slate we want to use, what our naming conventions are
going to be for our sequences, how we're going to tape record
things, how we're going to use sub scenes,
how we're not going to use sub scenes.
And what we're setting out to do here is
we want to go through and make all of these mistakes
and tell you exactly what happened and what
we should have done, and then go back and redo them.
If we've done it right, somebody should
be able to start from the beginning and go
all the way through to the end of the guide
and be able to start their own small visualization studio.
KATHERINE HARRIS MOJICA: I wish they had done this years ago.
[LAUGHS]
It would have saved me so much time, and energy, and tears.
SHAUN COMLY: We're refraining from calling this the best practice
guide.
This is more of a, if you don't have to do it,
this is a great place to start, and then you
figure out what works best for you and your studio.
But this is supposed to be a foundational piece.
This guide is being written for one person sitting
in their room that wants to get into this or a large studio that
wants to build up their own team.
We're listing different hardware at different price points, software,
and the same thing with body capture solutions,
face capture solutions, what buttons to push to democratize
this type of virtual production.
KATHERINE HARRIS MOJICA: One thing I love
about this whole process is that it allows for any creator
to get started.
LILY PITTS: Being able to look at a single source of information
and be like, yes, finally, a place for people
to approach Unreal Engine with confidence,
knowing that throughout the whole process,
they have a place to refer to.
SHAUN COMLY: As soon as you get your ideas into Unreal Engine,
it can be a film.
It could be a game.
It could go on to ICVFX wall.
It could go into Fortnite.
It could play a million different ways.
So hopefully, this is motivating people to get in the engine
and explore all of these different creative opportunities.