In a special project named FUSE, Framestore Unreal Shot Engine, Framestore is producing a film entirely using a new type of VFX pipeline built around Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Directed by Framestore’s Academy Award-winning Chief Creative Officer Tim Webber, known for his work on ‘Gravity’, the film will progress from early concepts through to final pixel using a new large-scale pipeline designed to deliver high-quality VFX, all based on the Unreal Engine.
FUSE will test the conventions of modern filmmaking and lay the foundation for future projects. Throughout production of the film, Framestore will create, stress-test and develop features that will feed back into Unreal Engine, contributing to the wider VFX and game engine communities as they adopt the system.
‘Delivering projects that use such real-time technology is not new for the teams at Framestore,’ said Theo Jones, VFX Supervisor and the project lead. ‘FUSE will bring into focus how real-time systems can be rolled out further into a pipeline that will create a more efficient way of working, not just for us, but the whole industry. This is an endeavour that is about being able to scale across the entire business, not just niche divisions or use cases.’
Tim Webber said, ‘The notion of one team taking a project from the earliest stages of design, previs, scouting and virtual camera through to completion is one that I’ve thought was important for years now. In this project, we intend to re-design the whole creative process of filmmaking from script to final delivery, as we take advantage of the interactivity and flexibility of real-time in Unreal. It’s an exciting project for the team here at Framestore, and we believe the end results will be exciting for the film industry as a whole.’
Framestore’s work to date using a real time engine has encompassed a wide range of projects, from real-time mixed reality to productions currently underway that utilise virtual production techniques for film, episodic and commercials. Real-time projects include VR activations, real-time character animation, branded AR games and interactive theme park attractions that all use the engine tool kit to fully immerse audiences.
Framestore’s Pre-Production team is combining mixed reality with CGI and engine to put filmmakers inside digital scenes and allow them to make better creative choices earlier in the production process. For shot-based workflows, the Framestore engine’s use of GPUs enables faster rendering, allowing the team to deliver high-quality visuals more efficiently than before. www.framestore.com
