Epic Games launches Animation Week with release of The Animation Field Guide and celebration of Unreal Engine storytellers. The virtual festival runs until July 1. Participate!

As part of its Animation Week kick off taking place until July 1, 2022, Epic Games released the new Animation Field Guide, which explores the foundations of real-time animation pipelines with Unreal Engine, and features interviews with over 30 artists, producers and workflow experts. At over 100 pages, The Animation Field Guild provides a deep dive into creating animation in real-time using Epic’s game engine.

For decades, animation teams have followed a traditional, linear pipeline, leaving very little room for creative changes downstream. With a real-time pipeline, departments can collaborate seamlessly and iterate with more creative freedom. Download The Animation Field Guide now, and learn how Sony Pictures Imageworks, BRON Digital, Reel FX, and many others are using a real-time pipeline to bring their animated stories to life.

Along with the launch of the Field Guide, Animation Week is a celebration of the remarkable achievements in real-time animation by both established filmmakers and independent studios and artists from around the world. The week’s programming will offer a variety of free resources for artists including a new behind-the-scenes look (video above) into how MetaHuman and Unreal Engine were used to create the Love, Death + Robots “In Vaulted Halls Entombed” episode, and much more.

Projects built using Unreal Engine

Featured projects include “Malanca,” built entirely in the cloud from Untold Studios, a promo produced in real time for “Diablo Immortal” from Impossible Objects, “Mush-Mush & the Mushables” from La Cabane, the trailer premiere for animated short film “Blue” from Preymaker, and highlights from Epic Games’ Annecy presentations.

Animation Week comes on the heels of The Annecy International Film Festival and Market and the Tribeca Film Festival, both premiering Unreal Engine projects. Annecy featured several projects built using Unreal Engine: “Manhole” an Official Selection Annecy film directed by Abhishek Verma and Jayesh Pillai, “Bottle Cap” from Psyop, and “Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat” from DNEG.

Unreal Engine activations at Annecy also featured live demonstrations, presentations and panels from artists producing the most compelling projects using Unreal Engine, including Bron Studios, Chromosphere, Digic Pictures, Engine House Studio, Nexus Studios, Praxinos, Reel FX and Spire Animation Studios. The Tribeca Film Festival featured two short film projects created using Unreal Engine: the world premiere of Emma Needell’s “Life Rendered,” and the North American premiere of Paul Franklin’s “Fireworks.”

The Future of Animation

Along with promoting customer content and adoption, Animation Week will also showcase mastery of the tools, workflows and products in the Epic Games ecosystem including MetaHuman, Quixel Megascans, UE Marketplace and myriad free learning resources available to creators. Epic Games also supports animators through the Unreal Short Film Challenge programs in Australia, LATAM and India, and Short Nites in-game special events connecting short film creators with players around the world in Fortnite.

Learn more about how Unreal Engine is shaping the next generation of real-time animation by visiting the new Future of Animation landing page.