VFX in the Era of Real-Time: What It Means for the Industry
By Real-Time & Gaming, Uncategorized

So you’re a VFX artist and you’ve been hearing a lot about real-time lately. Real-time rendering, real-time workflows, real-time this and real-time that. Maybe you’ve started seeing job postings mentioning real-time skills and are wondering if you need to learn something new. The short answer is yes, real-time is changing the VFX industry in a big way. Real-time rendering using game engines like Unreal and Unity is enabling new creative possibilities on set and new efficiencies in post. It’s allowing directors to see final pixel shots on set, giving compositors interactive and iterative toolsets, and creating new roles like real-time supervisors. While real-time isn’t replacing traditional CG, it is becoming an essential part of a VFX pipeline. This article explores what real-time rendering means for the VFX industry and how you as an artist can prepare for this exciting new era of visual effects. The future is real-time. Are you ready?

The Rise of Real-Time Rendering in VFX

Real-time rendering using technologies like Unreal Engine and Unity is transforming VFX. As a VFX artist, real-time tools are revolutionizing how you work and the types of projects you can take on.

Faster Iteration

Real-time rendering allows you to see the results of your work instantly. No more waiting hours for scenes to render to review changes. You can tweak materials, adjust lighting, or recompose shots on the fly and immediately see the results. This faster feedback loop means you can iterate more and perfect your work.

New Opportunities

Real-time VFX opens the door to new types of work. You can do virtual production for film and TV, creating digital sets and environments for actors to perform in that update in real time. Real-time VFX is also used in location-based entertainment, bringing virtual worlds to life in theme parks and attractions. Even live events and concerts are using real-time VFX to create immersive visuals.

Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

Working in real time requires collaboration with game engine programmers, lighters, and environment artists. VFX artists have to understand new tools and techniques to optimize their work for real-time rendering. This cross-pollination of skills and knowledge across disciplines is expanding the scope of VFX work. Real-time VFX is the future of the industry. As a VFX artist, embracing real-time tools will open you up to new, exciting opportunities. While real-time VFX requires learning new skills, the rewards of faster work, new career paths, and collaboration make it well worth the effort. The future is real time – are you ready?

How Game Engines Like Unreal Are Revolutionizing VFX Workflows

Real-time rendering using game engines like Unreal Engine is revolutionizing VFX pipelines and workflows. Instead of waiting hours or even days for final rendered frames, VFX artists can now see their work instantly. This means:

  • Faster iterations. Make a change to a model or texture map and see the results right away. No more guessing how something might look after a long render. You can tweak and refine in real time.
  • Easier troubleshooting. Spot issues with lighting, textures, or geometry right on the screen as you work. Fix bugs and other problems on the fly instead of having to re-render an entire sequence.
  • More collaboration. With a real-time render, VFX supervisors, directors, and clients can all view and provide feedback on work in progress. This makes it much simpler to get alignment and sign off on the creative direction.
  • New creative possibilities. Real-time tools open up options for virtual production, including virtual sets, virtual scouting, and previs. Cinematographers can frame and block shots in VR, and VFX artists have more flexibility to improvise and explore.

While real-time rendering won’t replace final renders for film, it is changing the day-to-day work of VFX studios in exciting ways. By accelerating feedback loops, enhancing collaboration, and enabling new forms of virtual production, tools like Unreal Engine are helping VFX artists focus on the creative parts of their jobs. The future of VFX is real time.

Real-Time Tech Enables Iterative Creativity and Faster Turnaround

Real-time rendering tools like Unreal Engine and Unity are enabling VFX artists to iterate and experiment in new ways. Rather than waiting hours or days for final renders, real-time tech allows you to see the results of adjustments instantly. This faster feedback loop fosters creativity by making it easy to try new ideas, tweak parameters, and push the boundaries of effects.

Faster Iteration

In the past, making small changes to a scene or effect could mean re-rendering the entire sequence, which might tie up computing resources for a long time. With real-time rendering, you can see the results of small tweaks, modifications or entirely new effects right away. This tightens the creative feedback loop, allowing for more experimentation. Multiple options or versions of a shot can be mocked up, evaluated, and the most promising ones developed further.

Creative Freedom

Real-time tools give VFX artists more creative freedom. They can explore new ideas or unconventional approaches without worrying as much about render times. This makes it easier to discover innovative techniques or effects through experimentation and play. Risk-taking is encouraged, leading to fresh visual styles. Real-time rendering also allows directors and supervisors to provide live feedback and input, collaborating with VFX artists to push shots in new directions.

Faster Turnaround

With real-time tech, VFX shots can be developed and finalized much more quickly. This speeds up the post-production pipeline, allowing projects to be completed on tighter schedules. Directors have more opportunities to provide feedback, request creative changes or pursue alternative versions of shots. Real-time tools facilitate an iterative design process that can significantly cut down on turnaround times while improving the final result. For the VFX industry, real-time rendering is opening up new creative workflows and speeding the development of visual effects. It enables the experimentation, iteration and collaboration that leads to new visual styles as well as faster turnaround on complex shots and sequences. Real-time tech is poised to fundamentally transform how VFX artists work and the types of effects they can achieve.

The Changing Role of VFX Artists With Real-Time Tools

The role of VFX artists is evolving with real-time tools. As game engines become more advanced, the line between pre-rendered and real-time graphics continues to blur. This impacts VFX artists in a few key ways:

Expanded skillsets.

VFX artists now need to develop skills in real-time rendering, lighting, and shading in tools like Unreal Engine and Unity. Real-time VFX requires thinking about how effects will function interactively and react dynamically. Artists have to consider things like particle systems, vertex and fragment shaders, and physics.

Tighter iteration cycles.

Real-time rendering shortens feedback loops, allowing VFX artists to see the results of their work instantly and make quick adjustments. They can experiment more freely without waiting for renders. This agility allows for more creativity.

Cross-departmental collaboration.

With real-time VFX, there are more opportunities for VFX artists to work with game designers, programmers, and animators. VFX are deeply integrated into the overall experience, so close collaboration with other departments is key.

Jobvfx.com

At Jobvfx.com, we regularly feature real-time VFX job openings for those interested in this growing field. While pre-rendered VFX will continue to be crucial for high-end visuals, real-time skills are becoming highly valued. The future of VFX involves a fusion of talents across rendering techniques, tools, and workflows. VFX artists who can adapt to the changing dynamics of the industry will have a competitive advantage. The role of VFX artists won’t disappear with the rise of real-time—it will evolve. Real-time tools present an opportunity for VFX artists to expand their skills, work more collaboratively, and gain valuable experience that applies to VFX in any medium. The future of VFX is real-time.

The Future of VFX in an Era of Real-Time Rendering

The future of VFX will be heavily influenced by real-time rendering. As game engines continue to push the boundaries of realism and rendering power, VFX studios will adopt real-time tools and workflows. Some potential impacts include:

Faster iteration times. Real-time rendering allows artists to see changes instantly, speeding up the feedback loop and allowing for quicker iterations. This can significantly reduce the time required for look development and shot production.

Instead of waiting hours for images or clips to render, real-time tools provide instant previews. This lets VFX artists experiment more freely and achieve final looks faster.

New creative possibilities. Powerful real-time engines open up opportunities for interactive and virtual VFX. Artists can create immersive experiences, virtual sets, and digital humans. Real-time tools also enable new workflows like live linking between game engines and VFX software.

Using real-time in conjunction with traditional VFX tools gives artists more creative control and flexibility. Real-time rendering won’t replace traditional CG but rather complement it.

Broader talent pool. Expertise with real-time tools is in high demand. VFX studios can tap into a wider talent pool by hiring staff with experience in fields like gaming and virtual production. These artists bring a unique skill set that strengthens a studio’s capabilities.

Real-time rendering is the future of VFX. Although still in its infancy, real-time technology will continue to shape VFX in the coming years through faster workflows, new creative opportunities, and a broader talent pool. VFX studios that embrace real-time early on will be poised to benefit the most from its rapid advancement. The future of visual effects is real-time. Buckle up – it’s going to be an exciting ride!

Real-time Rendering used in various movies

Real-time rendering has allowed VFX studios to preview shots faster and make quick creative decisions on set. With real-time rendering, you can see rendered VFX shots within seconds rather than minutes or hours. This speeds up workflows and allows for more experimentation. Some recent blockbusters have used real-time rendering in production, like The Lion King (2019), which was entirely computer-generated but styled to look like a traditional 2D Disney film. The VFX team used real-time rendering to preview and tweak shots on the fly. Real-time tools like Unity and Unreal Engine were used to create and render the environments, characters, and virtual cinematography.

  • The Mandalorian (2019) also used real-time rendering and game engines (Unreal Engine) to create immersive LED volume sets. The actors were able to see and react to the environments in real time, which helped their performances.
  • Avengers: Endgame (2019) implemented real-time rendering to preview shots and make quick creative calls on massive, complex scenes with hundreds of characters and effects.

Some benefits of real-time rendering for VFX include: •Faster iteration and experimentation. Teams can try different ideas and see results instantly. •Improved collaboration. Various departments (animation, lighting, composting, etc.) can view the same real-time rendered shot together. •Cost savings. Less time rendering means lower compute costs. Real-time tools are also more affordable than specialized VFX software. •Flexible workflows. Real-time rendering works with live-action footage, CGI, virtual production, and more. Teams have options to use whatever techniques suit each shot or sequence best. While real-time rendering won’t replace traditional VFX rendering completely, it is enabling new creative possibilities in VFX and on-set visualization. The future is bright for real-time in film production.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Real-time rendering is shaking up the VFX industry in a big way. The tools and techniques that were once only available to big budget films can now be leveraged for TV, streaming, VR, and beyond. As game engines continue to push the boundaries of visual fidelity and realism, VFX studios will need to adapt to stay competitive. For many, that may mean building real-time departments, hiring staff with experience in Unreal or Unity, or even acquiring smaller real-time studios. The future is real-time, and if the last few years have shown us anything, it’s that this new era of VFX will enable visual stories to be told in exciting new ways. The possibilities are endless. One thing’s for sure – with real-time rendering, the best is yet to come. The future of VFX looks very bright.