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Animation & VFX · MS elective · 3 credit hours · 16 sessions

Real-Time Animation with Unreal Engine

Render times are a thing of the past. This course trains animators in the “Virtual Production” workflow using Unreal Engine. Students will learn to produce high-fidelity cinematic content in real-time. The curriculum covers the Sequencer (timeline), Control Rig (animating directly in-engine), Live Link (facial capture with iPhone), and the lighting power of Lumen, bridging the gap between game dev and filmmaking.

§ 01 By the end you can
  1. Master the Unreal Engine interface for cinematic production
  2. Utilize "Sequencer" for non-linear editing and animation layout
  3. Animate characters directly in-engine using "Control Rig"
  4. Implement "Live Link" for real-time facial and camera motion capture
  5. Render final cinematics instantly using the Movie Render Queue
§ 02 Sixteen sessions

The whole semester.

  1. 01Introduction to Real-Time: The Paradigm Shift
  2. 02Importing Assets: FBX & Alembic Pipelines
  3. 03The Sequencer: Cameras, Cuts, & Tracks
  4. 04Control Rig: Animating without Maya
  5. 05MetaHumans: Creating Photoreal Characters
  6. 06Blueprints for Animators: Triggering Events
  7. 07Motion Blending & State Machines
  8. 08 · MidtermMidterm Examination
  9. 09Facial Mocap: Live Link & iPhone
  10. 10Retargeting Animation to MetaHumans
  11. 11Lighting with Lumen: Real-Time GI
  12. 12Virtual Cameras (VCam): Filming with an iPad
  13. 13Niagara Basics: VFX for Animators
  14. 14Post-Process Volumes: Grading & Bloom
  15. 15Movie Render Queue: High-Quality Output
  16. 16Final Project: The Real-Time Short Film

Midterm around session 8. Final project briefed at session 8 or 9 and developed in stages until the juries.

§ 03 Final project

Final Project: The Real-Time Short Film

How it’s judged

Recommended reading
  1. Unreal Engine 5 Character Creation, Animation, and Cinematics by Henk Venter
  2. Virtual Production: A Manual for the 21st Century Filmmaker by Bild Studios
  3. Real-Time Filmmaking (Epic Games Whitepapers)
  4. The Filmmaker's Guide to Virtual Production by Noah Kadner
  5. Mastering Unreal Engine 5 by Kibaria
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