Explore three animated shorts from Fortnite’s film festival 

The project was the first that Chris had completed using Unreal Engine. He and his colleague Raf Anzovin had been working on a custom pipeline for creating stylized CG that involved multiple render passes and a custom rigging system. After hearing about the Epic MegaGrants program, they successfully applied for funding, which they used to migrate that pipeline to Unreal Engine.

“The Epic MegaGrant made all the difference on this project,” says Chris. “The resources we received from the MegaGrant allowed us to build an incredible crew and take the time needed to do the project the way we wanted to do it.”

For the first few weeks of lighting on the project, Chris worked the way he had learned back at Pixar over 20 years ago. “I would pick a representative frame, then tweak lighting settings until I liked what I saw,” he says. “And then I remembered: I could just hit play. So I did. And I started tweaking my lights while looking at final-quality renders in real time. No more needing to hope that the changes would work on all frames; I could see them unfolding before my eyes! In general, being able to make adjustments to camera, lights, and set without disrupting the pipeline is incredibly freeing, creatively.”
 

And as for himself, having had a taste of the benefits of real-time workflows for animation, Chris has become something of a convert.  “I’m actively at work on a series project right now that’s using Unreal Engine, and I hope to stick with real-time tools for good!” he says.
 

Two

Two is a poignant snapshot of the friendship between two robots as their one-way mission to the sun nears its end. The animated short film was created by director and cinematographer Emre Okten.
 

The film was originally a small side project. “I was a novice in the engine, so I knew I had to keep it simple if I wanted to complete it,” explains Emre.

That need for simplicity informed many of the foundational creative decisions, including setting the story in space, which enabled Emre to use isolated characters, limited environments, and robots as the principal characters, with no need to animate faces or fingers.

He has some sage advice for other animators and students thinking about experimenting with Unreal Engine for animation. “Game engines are an ocean, so it’s a good idea to have an idea, a specific project you want to make, that will give you direction and determine your learning path through the ocean,” he says. “Other than that, be aware of your limitations, use them to your advantage, and go for it!”
 

Mall Stories 

In documentary-style short Mall Stories, we meet the endearing staff of a fictional food court inspired by real-life eatery Atilla the Grilla. The animated film was created by Elizabeth Ito, creator of the Peabody award-winning hit Netflix series City of Ghosts, who drew inspiration for the main characters from real people working at a real Mongolian Grill in Burbank Town Center.
 

Kevin Dart is the Creative Director and CEO of Chromosphere, a design and animation studio based in LA. The studio collaborated with Elizabeth to create the short in Unreal Engine.

The project got off the ground with support from an Epic MegaGrant. “The MegaGrant afforded me an amazing personal opportunity to experiment with all the things Unreal can do, and to see what it was like to build and produce a whole project in Unreal with Chromosphere,” says Elizabeth.

The team built a complete mall set in Unreal Engine, with working elevators and fountains, which was then used for story development, layout, and shot planning. “This would have been too hard to conceive in our 2D boarding process,” says Kevin.
 

The characters and props were lit with materials to give them a flatter, more stylized look—using the same materials Chromosphere had built for Yuki 7—while the environment was lit to give it a more rendered, realistic look on things like chrome on the restaurant bar, or shiny neon signs.

Another first for Elizabeth was the unique experience of having her film make its world premiere in Fortnite’s Short Nite film festival. “It was fun to see my short being watched inside an extremely popular game,” she says. “Characters come bouncing in, change their costumes, create bean bag chairs for themselves, and all this stuff that is so entertaining to witness. It gave me the feeling of attending Comic Con screenings without having to be crammed in a screening room. I found it exciting and highly entertaining.”

Unreal Engine for animation 

Real-time technology and practices reduce barriers to making your animated story, while opening new workflows and opportunities to studios and indie artists. “I made Two mostly by myself in my bedroom,” says Emre. “My biggest lesson was that I don’t have to wait for permission, or a rare opportunity, or gather a ridiculous budget to make the films I want to make and see.

“Real-time CG is the true democratic revolution of filmmaking. It’s a far more efficient and lean way of making films—and it will only get easier.”

If you’d like to learn more about real-time workflows for animation, check out The Future of Animation, our celebration packed with real-time techniques, insider stories, case studies, a brand-new Animation Field Guide, and highlights from the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.