Pushing The Boundaries Of Possibility In Media And Entertainment

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF POSSIBILITY IN MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENTA report on the future of real-time technology byEpic Games and Forrester ConsultingScifi Corridor by Human Laboratory

Image courtesy of Eric Liu

Contents4Time to get real: The game-changing nature of real-time technology6A market view from Forrester Consulting7The opportunity in media and entertainment8How The Mill is harnessing real-time technology10The future of real-time technology in media and entertainment12Introducing Unreal Engine15Research methodology3

Time to get real:The game-changing natureof real-time technologyEpic Games has come a long way since we launched UnrealTournament in the late 1990s—and the pace of change has notslowed. Today, Unreal Engine is used by thousands of peoplearound the world to develop cutting-edge visualizations, not just ingaming but for business applications, too.“We are working with architects, manufacturers, media andentertainment companies, and designers to transform theirbusinesses through real-time technology.“The opportunity is huge, so we’ve partnered with leading globalanalyst Forrester to explore where things might be heading—and how real-time technology is already being used to fuelcreativity and drive efficiency.Marc Petit,General Manager, Unreal Engine Enterprise4Image courtesy of Porsche, Epic Games and NVIDIA

Real-time technology for media and entertainmentREAL-TIME ENGINES HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO REINVENT THE MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, BRINGING:ABILITY TO REVIEW ANDAPPROVE IN REAL TIMEREAL-TIME SUPPORT FORVIRTUAL PRODUCTIONVIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTSCOUTINGHIGH-QUALITY AUGMENTEDREALITY SOLUTIONSCENTRALIZEDPRODUCTION HUBFINAL-QUALITY BROADCASTPRODUCTION VALUES,READY TO AIR5

A market view fromForrester Consulting1The pace of change continues to accelerate. Over the last few years,real-time rendering solutions have emerged as a vital componenthelping to overcome the complexity, sophistication, and demand ofenterprise workloads.Significant innovation in interactive graphics software has beenfundamental to this change. These advances are bringing abouta new age of visualization, where game engine technology isbeing used to produce photorealistic virtual experiences prior toexecution of designs.Today’s designers and visualization specialists are moving awayfrom slower, iterative, traditional offline methods of renderingin favor of adopting real-time workflows. The result has beena game changer for many industries, driving efficiency andboosting creative choices.Taken from the Forrester Consulting study “Real-time rendering solutions:unlocking the power of now”, commissioned by Epic Games1What is real-time rendering?The ability to produce media such as animation,designs, or graphics instantly. That meansmaking tweaks to a design and seeing theresults immediately—without having to wait forrendering time.59%of decision makers saythey are likely to adoptreal-time technologywithin the next 12 months.83%of firms are saving at least25% of time compared toprevious processes.669%agree that the growth andcomplexity of computingworkloads means morecomputing power is needed toget their jobs done.65%say that due to thehypercompetitive market,the need to reduce the timetaken to create high-fidelityrendered images/animationsis greater than ever before.Image courtesy of The Future group

The opportunityin media andentertainmentImage courtesy of The Future groupWhich of the following business imperatives would drive yourorganization to adopt real-time rendering solutions?37%28%Previsualizing shots more effectively40%18%Integrating special effects into moviesVery strong driverStrong driverSlight driverWeak driver28%3%4%35%4%3%Not at all driverThe media and entertainment industry isincreasingly using real-time technology toreinvent production pipelines. Where oncecomputer-generated imagery (CGI) wasreserved for post-production, forwardthinking creative businesses are able toinclude CGI both before and during thefilming process.Forrester’s research found that the needfor real-time rendering solutions is beingdriven by a desire for better previsualizationof scenes and the ability to integrate specialeffects into productions. For previs, 93% ofrespondents said this was driving uptake ofreal-time solutions, while 93% also said thiswas true for adding special effects.How important is the use of real-time technology in the following?46%16%Previsualization19%Production rendersCritical requirementImportant requirement44%33%Nice to have32%Not important5%1%3%1%Not at all important7

The Mill is a visual effectsand content creation studiocollaborating on VFX, digital, anddesign projects for the advertising,games, and music industries.Consistently recognized bypeers and clients for deliveringoutstanding work—earning morethan 1,000 awards in its 28-yearhistory—it offers creative solutionsacross studios in London, NewYork, Los Angeles, and Chicago.The Mill’s showreel features workfor some of the world’s biggestbrands including the likes of Nike,Guinness, Adidas, and BT, whileits legacy film work includescredits on blockbuster moviessuch as the Harry Potter series,Gladiator, and Les Misérables.Here, Joji Tsuruga, real-timesupervisor, discusses howthe studio is using real-timetechnology to expand theexperiences it creates forclients, and the advantagesbrought by Unreal Engine.How The Millis harnessingreal-time technology8Image courtesy of Epic, The Mill, and Chevrolet“At The Mill, we use real-timetechnology for a wide range ofcontent including AR/MR/VR,experiential, and experimentalprojects. Depending on the typeof content, the developmentplatforms vary between gameengines, off-the-shelf realtime software, and even writingour own custom software.“We began to see a shift in theindustry with a desire for moreinteractive content, especiallyin the VR and AR space, andreal-time technology enablesthe audience to experiencecompletely unique content. Thisis something we simply wouldnot be able to create without it.“The future of all content willbe adaptive, reactive, andinteractive, and we’re alsoseeing a significant shifttowards using virtual productionon all VFX-related shoots.“The inevitable extension beyondthis is to deliver finished filmsin real time. This will completelychange the way we experience filmsas, once it is fully real-time, it opensthe content up to interactivity.“We take pride in our high-qualityvisual content and, when we firststarted using Unreal Engine,we were amazed by its abilityto produce beautiful renders—similar to what we were usedto seeing using traditional VFXmethods—all in real time.

“One huge advantage of UnrealEngine is its ease of use forartists that have transitionedfrom traditional VFX backgrounds.The Blueprint system is veryfamiliar for artists that areused to node-based workflowsas well as visual scripting.“And, once content is ingestedinto the engine, the rest of theVFX pipeline lives within a singleenvironment. Everything fromlayout, look development, camerawork, simple compositing, editing,audio, and output can all bedone directly out of Unreal.“There are times when clientsmay request a very large listof deliverables that are simplytoo time-consuming or costprohibitive to be done efficientlyusing traditional methods. We’vefound that, by implementingreal-time technology intocontent creation, we can notonly manage the workloadefficiently but also exponentiallyexpand the possibilities of thecreative and deliverables.“It’s been such a success thatThe Mill now has a CreativeTechnology department—a teamof technical artists and developersdedicated to working with UnrealEngine and other real-time andsoftware development tools.”The Mill in numbers28 YEARSA leading VFX studio for 28 years1,000 More than 1,000 awards for outstanding work9Image courtesy of Epic, The Mill, and Chevrolet

The future of real-time technologyin media and entertainmentMedia and entertainment companies currently use real-time rendering for:15%14%Production tingStoryboardingAnimation design79%say real-time technology hasrevolutionized how they aredelivering to customers77%say it has revolutionized the waythey collaborate74%say customers and stakeholderswant to experience projects or setsusing immersive technology like VR72%say customers and stakeholdersvalue interactive experiencesthat allow them to easily exploredifferent views and make changesThe real-time applications media and entertainment companies are most interested in:Very interestedCreating interactive experiences on desktopor mobile for brands or franchisesInterestedNeitherNot interestedNot interested at allAccelerating or replacingoffline rendering solutionsCreating interactive experiencesusing AR for brands or franchisesPresenting concepts to stakeholdersCreating immersive experiencesusing VR for brands or franchisesHigh-fidelity interactive experienceof previsualizing shots with real-timemotion capture (if relevant)10

Image courtesy of The Future Group / The Weather Channel11

Introducing Unreal EngineA comprehensive real-time3D creation platformCreated by Epic Games, Unreal Engine is the world’s most open andadvanced real-time 3D creation platform. While it continues to serve itsoriginal purpose as a state-of-the-art game engine, it has evolved toserve additional industries including film and television, broadcast andlive events, architecture, automotive and transportation, and trainingand simulation.Today, it has been production-proven on over 80 major motionpictures and episodic television shows, defining virtual productionworkflows and finding a role in all parts of the pipeline from previs tofinal pixels.Find out more and sign up for free atwww.unrealengine.com12

“We’re changing the landscapeof what can be done withbroadcast.mixed reality isproviding the ability to tell newstories, and it can be used byany business that wants toengage their audience withmore emotional stories.”Rob DeFranco,VP Sales and Development, The Future GroupImage courtesy of Marc Achkar13

14Image courtesy of Eric Liu

ResearchmethodologyThese findings are drawn from a study conducted by ForresterConsulting on behalf of Epic Games in 2018.The study involved an online survey of 168 decision makerswith a knowledge of real-time engine technology across keyindustries including media and entertainment, manufacturing,and architecture in the USA and UK. The findings provide anationally representative view of the adoption of real-timetechnology in these markets.Image courtesy of Eric Liu

Epic Games, Inc.620 Crossroads Blvd.Cary, NC 27518USATel 1 919 854 0070Epic GamesWestbury House15a Bury StGuildford, SurreyGU2 4AW, UKwww.unrealengine.comCopyright 2020 Epic Games Inc.Scifi Corridor by Human Laboratory

entertainment The media and entertainment industry is increasingly using real-time technology to reinvent production pipelines. Where once computer-generated imagery (CGI) was reserved for post-production, forward-thinking creative businesses are able to include CGI both before and during the filming process.