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Posts Tagged ‘Unreal’

Unreal Engine’s Project Spotlight uses LED walls for real-time in-camera visual effects

24 Aug

Epic Games has showcased Project Spotlight, an Unreal Engine-powered way to capture real-time visual effects in-camera. The company has detailed the work in a new video showing off the system, including its ability to track the camera’s position in space in real-time for a realistic and customizable background.

Rather than filming in front of a blue or green screen for post-production later on, the Project Spotlight system enables filmmakers to shoot in front of LED walls showing the virtual environment in real-time. Creators can digitally manipulate this 3D virtual scene when necessary and the LED walls adjust the on-set lighting for realistic ambient light.

‘No matter what the project is,’ Lux Machina chief technology officer Philip Galler said, ‘creatives always want to see the closest representation to the final product as early on in the creative process [as possible].’

Experts featured in the video explain that because the virtual environment can be adjusted in real-time, the project saves critical time that may otherwise be wasted waiting for changes. As well, people from different departments can work together to determine how the virtual world is portrayed.

The technology was demonstrated at SIGGRAPH 2019 by Epic Games in partnership with Magnopus, Lux Machina, Quixel, Profile Studios, DP Matt Workman and ARRI. Future plans for the system are unclear at this time.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Unreal Engine’s latest demo videos show just how photorealistic the digital world has become

23 Mar

At this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), Epic Games showed off a new pair of demo videos that show just how capable its Unreal Engine has become thanks to advanced ray tracing technologies.

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The first video, seen above, is titled Rebirth and showcases just how photorealistic scenes can be when developed with the gaming engine’s technology. The demo, designed by the studio Quixel, highlights how realistic the lighting technology inside Unreal Engine 4 has become.

The demo was created by just three artists who developed it all using a standard version of Unreal and real-world scans from Quixel’s Megascans Icelandic collection. The result is a stunning showcase of textures and details that rival reality, as seen in the gallery of screenshots above, captured from the 4K stream.

The second demo is a teaser for an upcoming movie titled Troll. Still in the works, the movie is a collaboration between Deep Forest Films and Goodbye Kansas Studios. The short glimpse we get of it once again highlights just how realistic the animated lighting is in the scene, with the face of a woman being dynamically illuminated by little fire fairies of sorts.

As for what this means in the world of photography, the possibilities are seemingly endless. Aside from the inevitable point in time when we can no longer tell a rendering from an actual image — if it’s not already here — the ability to replicate precise lighting situations could open up the door to new software and technology that could not only help to simulate lighting setups in the digital world before testing them out in the real world, but also open up the door to adding realistic lighting to scenes and portraits in post-production.

Keep in mind that unless you’re viewing the videos in Google Chrome on a 4K monitor, you won’t be able to see them in their 4K glory. Even in 1080 though, the videos look incredible.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Trippy Transformations: Makeup Artist Creates Unreal 3D Illusions

26 May

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

Makeup artist Mimi Choy slices, disjoints, stretches, blurs and otherwise radically transforms her own face in stunningly realistic optical illusions using nothing but makeup. No templates, prosthetics or Photoshop go into the creation of her surreal photos – she freehand them all, often using standard cosmetics from brands like MakeupForever and Kryolan theater makeup. The Vancouver, Canada-based artist shows off her trippy looks on Instagram alongside her more standard everyday makeup looks.

Mostly using herself as a canvas for her optical illusions, Mimi says, “To be honest, I never thought anybody would be interested in following my bizarre late-night creations a few years ago because it wasn’t ‘on trend.’ But I continued because illusion art is challenging and I like having to push limits each time. Later on, I realized it’s not about creating looks that are ‘popular’ or would guarantee likes/follows, it’s about creating our own trend and breaking barriers.”

Mimi says she rarely even has a specific plan in mind when she starts painting – she just goes for it, and allows the result to come about spontaneously. Check out her Instagram @mimles for lots more wild and intricate makeup creations.

Give Your Eyeteeth: Surreal Hyper-Realistic Lip Makeup

The word ‘eyeteeth’ has taken on a new meaning with a set of surreal and disconcerting images from Swedish makeup artist Sandra Holmbom. While most of Holmbom’s looks are much more conventional, …

Not Photoshopped: New Optical Illusions by Felice Varini

As you approach a curve in a parking garage, suddenly a large abstract object seems to float in space just ahead, as if overlaid on top of a static image rather than a three-dimensional setting. …

Dream Rooms: 14 Unreal-Feeling Art Gallery Transformations

You might have to pinch yourself to ensure that you’re still awake as you walk into surreal dreamscapes of billowing clouds, seemingly endless fields of stars and rooms that appear to bend and …

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[ By SA Rogers in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Architectural Fairy Tales: Unreal Structures Tell Strange Sci-Fi Tales

11 Feb

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

last day 2

These fictional structures seem to be ripped right out of the concept art for a sci-fi film, envisioning a world of architecture that’s totally out of scale with humans but fittingly grand for the environments in which they’re placed. ’Last Day’ by Ukrainian architect Mykhallo Ponomarkenko is the first prize-winning entry at this year’s Fairy Tales concept architecture competition, using classical painting techniques to tell stories of a huge artificial platform that uses anti-gravity engines to escape the laws of physics.

last day 1

“Landscapes have always inspired me to put something weird, unreal and out of human scale into them,” says Ponomarkenko. “Something not feasible and not practical that contrasts with the natural surroundings, but also exists at the same scale. These satirical interventions lead to new ideas and feelings about nature – they make the viewer more aware about the environment and our harmful impact on it.”

“We are flat surface creatures. Sometimes I feel that we crave it so much that the planet is going to be turned into pavement so cars can go anywhere, and our industries could continue expanding. The ‘Saturn Rings’ in my proposal represent these flat surface desires but in a more poetic, optimistic, and friendly manner.”

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Organized by Blank Space, an online architecture platform, the fourth annual Fairy Tales competition announced three winners selected from over 60 project submissions. Winners are awarded prizes of $ 2,500, $ 1,500 and $ 1,000, respectively, and select projects will be featured in the fourth print edition of Fairy Tales: When Architecture Tells a Story. Read the story that goes along with ‘Last Day’ and see the rest of the entries over at Blank Space.

last day 3

“The proposals put forth in the Fairy Tales competition create entire worlds of the imagination – they build their immersive stories as much by what they don’t say, as by what they do,” says Blank Space. “The winning entries in this year’s competition include oblique references to current events, mundane daily activities and human emotions that we all easily relate to – they make visible how we shape space, and in turn, how space shapes us.”

“The images and narratives are so wildly outlandish, and yet, so grounded that it seems like we could mistakenly stumble into any of them. They are personal and powerful – a testament to the power of architecture as a world-builder.”

Kiev Street Artists Paint Interesting Fairy Tales

Against the stark, pale background of Post-Soviet Ukraine, the vivid colors and fanciful images painted on brick, plaster, stone and wood are as jarring as they are cheerful, an unexpected jolt …

Architectural Fiction: 35 Impossibly Surreal Structures

Unbound by gravity, the need for structural soundness or any sense of real-world aesthetics, architecture becomes like a life form of its own, multiplying and mutating in strange and unsettling …

Grimm Abandonment: Derelict Australian Fairy Tale Park for Sale

Inspired by classical fairy tales, this deserted theme park recently opened its doors to an urban explorer and photographer, giving outsiders a glimpse into the current state of the place as well …

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[ By SA Rogers in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Unreal Natural Phenomena – Time Lapse by VideoSapien [HD]

26 Oct

Humans are part of the natural order. We’re risen apes that acquired language and learned to use tools. Skyscrapers and spacecraft may seem unnatural, but they’re just as much a part of the natural order as beaver dams and bird nests. Boring electrical lines hint at the energy solution of a mammalian species. Open your eyes to the world you’ve grown accustomed to, and rejoice in the fact that you can participate in the human project. @ReidGower – twitter.com/reidgower – youtu.be Music: Artist: DatA Song: “Blood Theme” Taken from the album “Skywriter” Courtesy of Ekler’o’shock Records and Naïve Editions facebook.com/0data0 Buy the song on iTunes: itunes.apple.com/ca/album/skywriter/id426310809 Shot on: Nikon D300 Canon 5DMII (courtesy of Victoria Camera Traders facebook.com/CameraTraders) GoPro Hero 2

 
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