Unreal Engine continues to evolve its virtual production toolset, with significant improvements to rendering, in-camera VFX, and performance capture capabilities across versions 5.4 and 5.5. Ryan Mayeda, Lead Technical Product Manager for Virtual Production at Epic Games, detailed these advances at Unreal Fest 2024, highlighting how they're making virtual production more accessible and efficient.
Why It Matters
As virtual production becomes mainstream in film and TV, these updates address key technical challenges that have historically complicated workflows and required workarounds.
Rendering Gets More Sophisticated
A major focus has been improving the Movie Render Queue with a new graph-based system that makes compositing more intuitive. The system now supports:
All asset types for render layers, including previously problematic elements like translucent objects and volumetric effects
Enhanced ProRes and Avid DNxHR output options with proper timecode support
Improved temporal denoising for path-traced renders
We've made a real emphasis and we're proud to say that essentially all asset types are supported for render layers
In-Camera VFX Improvements
The platform has achieved "production ready" status for its SMPTE 2110 implementation with Nvidia RiverMax, enabling more efficient LED wall workflows. This allows for:
Better resource allocation for in-camera pixels
Support for multiple hardware partners, including upcoming Matrox integration
Simplified level visibility management for operators
Performance Capture Takes Center Stage
Looking ahead, Unreal Engine is making a significant push into performance capture workflows.
Performance Capture is going to become a feature set that we want to elevate to the kind of in-camera VFX toolset level within the engine.
Key developments include:
Enhanced timecode support across the platform
New Live Link Hub capabilities for third-party plugin support
Upcoming dedicated UX for performance capture operators
What's Next
The team is tackling the challenge of shot management in Unreal Engine, acknowledging the complexity of scaling from small projects to productions with hundreds or thousands of shots. This initiative aims to create a standardized approach to shot organization and editorial integration.
Between The Lines
These updates reflect Unreal Engine's commitment to bridging the gap between traditional film production workflows and real-time technology, making it easier for studios to adopt virtual production techniques while maintaining familiar workflows.
