The prospect of applying a real-time gaming engine in filmmaking: A short investigation

Abstract

The thesis provides my understanding of the CGI techniques development throughout the filmmaking history. Starting with something basic such as the first polygonal 3D animation, created back in 1972 by Ed Catmull and Fred Parke (A Computer Animated Hand), up to the point when the game engine can be used as the main tool for the VFX creation. The first chapter defines the Science Fiction films as the main impetus for the first usage of visualization and 3D animation technologies. My analysis of the several first software based on specific film creation pipelines has shown the visible weaknesses, such as time-consuming rendering and image quality among others. Even though, with time during the improvement of software a significant number of obstacles were solved, the main issue of the slow rendering remained the same. In the second chapter I make comparison of the newer filmmaking software to the real-time rendering, a tool used in game development. This helps us in visualizing a possible scenario of usage of a game engine as a filmmaking tool. Based on my experience the characteristics of the Unreal Engine make it seem as the most promising. In the last chapter I analyse the existing examples of modern experimental films that utilize Unreal Engine 4. Shows its strengths as a major tool for cinematic creation.