After years of supporting different game developers in seeing their projects become reality, Unity is now trying to break into animated film making for one of their future projects.
Unity is using its technology for VFX and CG Animation. This type of animation has traditionally been inaccessible to many people due to the lack of optimization such as slow processing, being hard to collaborate with and the inability to change many directorial choices.
Unity however is specializing in a type of animation called ‘real time animation’. This involves recording an actor with motion capture technology that is then used as a base for a 3D animated character. As the name suggests, this is done in real time and shots can be retaken if need be. Unity believes that the use of real time animation gives animators more room for experimentation while also saving time, money and resources. This sort of technology has often been used for cutscenes in video games by developers like Epic Games and Ninja Theory.
They have already presented examples of the technology in action.
They have started their jump into the animation business with a series of shorts titled ‘Baymax Dreams’ based on the Emmy Awarding winning Disney Animation movie Big Hero 6. The shorts will be directed by Simon Smith (Bee movie, Penguins of Madagascar) and Creative Director Adam Myhill who is head of Cinematics at Unity Technologies.
Unity has also premiered a new original animated short called ‘Sonder’ about a young man lost in a mysterious land. Furthermore, during SIGGRAPH’s Computer Animation Festival (CAF), Unity presented two films that make use of their technology. These were Adam: The Mirror by Oats Studios and their own Book of The Dead by The Unity Demo Team.
Both of these projects will be powered by Unity’s virtual production platform to aide film makers in making more immersive projects. These will make use of full multi user collaboration and live manipulation of environments and character which will be demonstrated in Book of The Dead.
Who knows, perhaps will be watching a summer blockbuster powered by Unity sometime in the future.
