Thursday, November 14th, 2024Posted by Jim ThackerUnreal Engine 5.5: discover 10 key features for CG artistshtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Epic Games has released Unreal Engine 5.5, the latest major version of the game engine and real-time renderer.Even by Epic Games standards, its a major update, with the release notes divided up into over 100 sections, many covering multiple individual features.The changes span every major toolset, including level design, coding and audio, but below, you can read our pick of the 10 key features for CG artists, as opposed to programmers.They range from headline changes like the MegaLights toolset to new character rigging and animation tools, by way of hidden gems like the Day Sequence plugin and Color Grading Panel.1. MegaLights: use hundreds of dynamic lights in real-time scenes (Experimental)Undoubtedly the most talked-about feature in Unreal Engine 5.5 although one still some way off being production-ready is the new MegaLights system.Billed as the Nanite of lights, it aims to do for lighting what the virtualized geometry system did for asset creation, enabling artists to work without having to think about in-engine performance.According to Epic, MegaLights makes it possible to use orders of magnitudes more lights than before and still maintain real-time performance: the demo above shows a scene with over a thousand shadow-casting lights running on a PlayStation 5.It provides an alternate direct lighting path, replacing shadow maps and ray traced shadows.Unlike standard deferred shading, in which lighting quality remains constant but processing cost increases with the number of lights, MegaLights have constant performance, but visual quality decreases with light count.The system uses ray tracing by default, and supports area lights as well as point and spot lights.2. Light Function Atlas: bake expensive animated light functions to 2D texturesAnother performance-enhancing lighting feature in Unreal Engine 5 is the Light Function Atlas.It bakes computationally expensive animated Light Functions into 2D textures that are projected onto the scene at runtime, reducing processing overhead.Although it has some limitations, particularly with Directional and Rect lights, it makes it feasible to use chromatic light functions in production.And while it has had less attention than the MegaLights system, the Light Function Atlas can be used with it, making it possible to use light functions with MegaLights.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241114_10KeyArtistFeaturesUnrealEngine55_Deformers.mp43. Control Rig: author animatable deformers and assign them to characters in Sequencer Unreal Engine 5.5 also features some major updates to rigging and animation workflow, including the option to author animatable animation deformers inside Control Rig.The deformers can then be applied to characters inside the Sequencer animation editor.An accompanying Animator Kit plugin provides a library of readymade Control Rigs with built-in deformers including Lattice and Sculpt that can be used as a base for custom rigs.Suggested uses include contact deformation and squash-and-stretch effects, as shown above.4. Modular Control Rig and Chaos Modular Vehicles (Beta/Experimental)The Modular Control Rig introduced in Unreal Engine 5.4 moves into beta in the latest release, and gets a number of feature and workflow improvements.They include new sets of modules for creating rigs for quadruped characters and vehicles as well as bipeds.Were focusing on the latter here, since Unreal Engine 5.5 includes another related new feature, the Chaos Modular Vehicles system, an experimental new vehicle simulation plugin.It enables vehicles, including cars, trucks and planes, to be built or destroyed at runtime.Unlike the existing Chaos Vehicle plugin, which requires a single, fixed skeletal mesh topology, vehicles can be built from sets of components, each with its own simulation set-up.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241114_10KeyArtistFeaturesUnrealEngine55_AnimationLayers.mp45. Sequencer: control animations with non-destructive animation layersSequencer gets a lot of usability improvements in Unreal Engine 5.5, but arguably the most important change is support for animation layers.The new workflow provides a level of control over animations typically only found in offline animation tools, dividing motion into independent layers that can be edited non-destructively.As well as adding, removing or muting layers, animators can set layers to have an additive or override effect, merge multiple layers into one, or assign animatable weights to individual layers.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241114_10KeyArtistFeaturesUnrealEngine55_MetaHumanAnimator.mp46. MetaHuman Animator: generate facial animation from audio files (Experimental)Another new animation feature albeit one outside the core application is support for audio-driven facial animation in MetaHuman Animator.Part of Epic Games free MetaHuman plugin, it streamlines the process of transferring facial motion from video footage to a MetaHuman character inside Unreal Engine.The new Audio Driven Animation feature provides an alternative workflow, using an audio file instead of video to generate facial animation.As well as automatically lip-sycing a character to recorded dialogue, MetaHuman Animator infers the movement of the upper face, resulting in more believable facial animation.It works with various voices and languages, and runs entirely on the users local machine.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241114_10KeyArtistFeaturesUnrealEngine55_Mutable.mp47. Mutable: generate character variations and runtime (Beta)Another interesting plugin that gets an update in Unreal Engine 5.5 is Mutable.Although the tool, created by third-party developer Anticto, has shipped with Unreal Engine since version 5.1, it moves into beta in the current release.It enables users to generate variants of assets primarily characters, but also creatures, props or weapons procedurally, varying their skeletal meshes, materials and textures.For characters, a key benefit is Mutables ability to handle layered clothing, using hidden surface removal and mesh and texture merging to prevent intersections and improve performance.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241114_10KeyArtistFeaturesUnrealEngine55_DaySequence.mp48. Day Sequence: automatically generate in-game lighting cycles (Experimental)Lighting artists also get an experimental new plugin, Day Sequence, which automatically generates an in-game 24-hour lighting cycle.Its individual components the sun, moon, stars, atmosphere and clouds can be adjusted inside Sequencer.As well as automating most of the work needed to create a basic day/night cycle, the plugin handles network synchronization, providing multiplayer support and POI creation out of the box.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/241114_10KeyArtistFeaturesUnrealEngine55_NFORDenoiser.mp49. NFOR Denoiser: temporally stable denoising in the Path Tracer (Experimental)Although the Path Tracer, Unreal Engines hardware-accelerated ray tracing render mode, officially becomes production-ready in Unreal Engine 5.5, it also gets experimental new features.One is the NFOR (Nonlinearly Weighted First Order Regression) Denoiser or more prosaically, the Spatio-Temporal Denoiser for denoising rendered animations.It denoises each pixel in a frame based on surrounding patches in both time and space to produce more temporally stable results.Its intended for high-quality offline rendering via the Movie Render Queue, such as architectural visualization, and isnt suited for shots with fast-moving objects.10. Color Grading Panel: better grading for all offline renders, not just virtual productionFor offline rendering, another small-but-significant change in Unreal Engine 5.5 is that the Color Grading Panel is now available for general use, not just for virtual production.Originally part of the In-Camera VFX Editor (ICVFX Editor), it provides a rich, artist-friendly interface for creative color manipulation.It is now available in the general Unreal Editor, and now also supports post-process volumes and color correction regions.Just some of 100+ new features in Unreal Engine 5.5The 10 features listed here only scratch the surface of the changes in Unreal Engine 5.Among the artist tools, there are particularly extensive changes to the new motion design toolset introduced in Unreal Engine 5.4, and to the virtual production tools.There are also significant updates to in-editor modeling and texturing, to simulation and VFX, and to procedural content generation. You can find a full changelog via the links below.System requirements and availabilityUnreal Engine 5.5 is available for 64-bit Windows, macOS and Linux.For non-interactive content, the software is free to users with revenue under $1 million/year. For larger studios, subscriptions cost $1,850/seat/year, including Twinmotion and RealityCapture.For games developed with the engine, Epic takes 5% of the gross royalties after the first $1 million generated.Read an overview of the new features in Unreal Engine 5.5 on Epic Games blogRead a full list of new features in Unreal Engine 5.5 in the online release notesHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsNekki releases Cascadeur MobileNew mobile edition of Nekki's AI-assisted character animation software is now available for iPad and iPhone users.Thursday, November 14th, 2024Unreal Engine 5.5: discover 10 key features for CG artistsRead our pick of the features in this huge update to the game engine, from MegaLights to character rigging, animation and rendering.Thursday, November 14th, 2024Blackmagic Design releases Fusion Studio 19.1Update to the 3D compositing app extends USD and OCIO workflow, and adds new options for toggling between inputs in compositions.Wednesday, November 13th, 2024Blackmagic Design releases DaVinci Resolve 19.1Discover the key features for VFX artists and colorists in the free grading and editing software and its $295 Studio edition.Wednesday, November 13th, 2024Get the Blender Studio's free Brushstroke Tools for BlenderNeat free extension lets you apply painterly brushstrokes to the surface of 3D models while texturing them, and control the strokes procedurally.Tuesday, November 12th, 2024Foundry releases Mari 7.1 in betaUpdated for Beta 2: 3D texture painting app gets new 2D painting mode for editing source images or creating custom decals.Tuesday, November 12th, 2024More NewsScene Group releases Cavalry 2.2Maxon releases ZBrush for iPad 2025.1Foundry discontinues ModoEpic Games to share new free assets on Fab every two weeksGet 100+ free modular airport assets for Unity and Unreal EngineReallusion adds AI Smart Search to Character Creator and iClonePoly Hammer unveils MetaHuman DNA add-on for BlenderAcademy Software Foundation adopts OpenAPVWRetargetTool is a versatile free Maya animation retargeting toolSketchsoft releases Feather 1.0Tutorial: Creating Cinematic Concept ArtGet ProductionCrate's three new free After Effects pluginsOlder Posts

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The Garden of Death,Hugo Simberg, 1896 Jenni Nurminen / Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art MuseumIn the late 19th century, artists were going goth. Works like Vincent van Goghs Head of a Skeleton With a Burning Cigarette (1886), Edvard MunchsBy the Deathbed (1893) and Hugo SimbergsThe Garden of Death (1896) exemplified a preoccupation with mortality.However, while their works were informed by the eras troubles, these painters didnt create such motifs in a vacuum. Now, an exhibition in Helsinki, Finland, examines how they looked to medieval art for inspiration.Gothic Modern: From Darkness to Light at theAteneum Art Museum places medieval and Renaissance art beside the work of modern masters, highlighting the Gothic themes that connect them. Per astatement from the museum, all the artworks on display deal with the big questions of life in a brutal manner and with dark humor.Dance on the Quay, Hugo Simberg, 1899 Aleks Talve / Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art MuseumArt history focuses on the flourishing scene in Paris, where Impressionism became Post-Impressionism, which led to Cubism, and then the birth of abstraction, as the New York Times Nina Siegal writes. But for many Northern European artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the center of culture was Berlin, which attracted artists interested in a darker, more spiritual interpretation of lifeoften inspired by prevailing themes from the Middle Ages.What comes from a medieval Gothic worldview, as this exhibition illuminates, is the passion of pain, the passion of yearning for the spiritual, for a greater meaning of the mysteries of a world, as exhibition co-curatorAnna-Maria von Bonsdorff, Ateneums director, tells theArt Newspapers Stephen Smith.Many renowned artists took inspiration from such morbidity. For example, van Goghs Head of a Skeleton, which depicts a skeleton with a cigarette between its teeth, lends a casualness to death. The Dutch artist painted it as part of an anatomy exercise, and some experts think he was just having a laugh, per the Times.By the Deathbed,Edvard Munch, 1896 Aleks Talve / Finnish National Gallery / Ateneum Art Museum, Sihtola collectionHowever, as von Bonsdorff tells the publication, the skull could also be a reference to the dance of death, the idea of deaths inevitability that was a frequent subject of European art during the late Middle Ages. Because it has a cigarette, and its grinning, it has this very modern attitude, von Bonsdorff tells the Times. Its death in a modern setting, death as the dandy.Munch, the Norwegian painter ofThe Scream, was influenced by German medieval art, while Austrian artistMarianne Stokes drew on medieval Gothic themes. These artists may have been responding to their periods industrialization, social turbulence and international tensions, with Europe inching toward World War I, as exhibition co-curatorJuliet Simpson tells the Times. According to the statement, the exhibition is unexpectedly relevant to modern crises: Curators began preparing it before the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. An installation view of Gothic Modern: From Darkness to Light," which is on display at the Ateneum Art Museum Hannu Pakarinen / Finnish National GalleryAs von Bonsdorff tells the Art Newspaper, young people today dont share the ideas of older generations of a fixed identity, belief in utopias, that the world is going to get better, or theres such a thing as heaven on earth. The modern artists featured in the exhibition were plagued with similar beliefsand they found meaning in past eras clearheaded focus on mortality.These types of images in Western art since the medieval period have served to remind the viewer of lifes brevity and of a painters skill in rendering that mournful dilemma, von Bonsdorff adds. We need rituals to guide us, to navigate the dark times, to make sense of livingnot with a view that tomorrow will always come, but in the power of the present.Gothic Modern: From Darkness to Light is on view at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki through January 26, 2025.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Artists, Arts, Death, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Finland, Gothic, Medieval Ages, Modern Art, Painters, Painting, Sculpture, Vincent Van Gogh, Visual Arts

A diver swims alongside the worlds largest coral colony, located in the Solomon Islands. Manu San Flix / National Geographic Pristine SeasResearchers have made a gargantuan discovery thats as large as two basketball courts, visible from space, at least 300 years old and brimming with marine life: Its the worlds largest coral, found in the southwest Pacific Ocean.Scientists and filmmakers spotted the massive coral in the Solomon Islands in October and announced the news this week. They had been filming near the island of Malaulalo for National Geographics Pristine Seas project, which aims to promote the creation of new marine protected areas. The team was working in partnership with the government of the Solomon Islands.Coral reefs are made up of many different, genetically distinct coral colonies. But the recently discovered organism is its own unique colony, consisting of millions of individual animals, called polyps, that are genetically identical. The polyps belong to a species called Pavona clavus.The newly identified coral is mostly made up of knobby protrusions in a drab brown colorbut it also has more vibrant areas of blues, reds and yellows. Scientists spotted fish, crabs, shrimp and other marine creatures using the coral for shelter and breeding.At about 112 feet wide, 105 feet long and 18 feet tall, the coral is enormous. Its so big that scientists initially thought it was a shipwreck. They also had to measure the organism in stages, because their underwater measuring tapes were not long enough to capture its colossal size in one go.The coral is longer than a blue whale, the largest animal on the planet. Its close to the size of a cathedral, says Manu San Flix, an underwater cinematographer and marine biologist who first spotted the coral, to CNNs Laura Paddison. Measuring the sprawling coral proved tricky. Manu San Flix / National Geographic Pristine SeasThe as-yet-unnamed coral takes the crown from the previous record-holder, an organism in American Samoa affectionately known as Big Momma thats around 21 feet tall.Based on its gargantuan size, researchers say the newly discovered coral is likely between 300 and 500 years old.When Napoleon was alive, this thing was here, San Flix tells Voxs Benji Jones. At first, the team thought the brown blob they spotted underwater might be a shipwreck. Manu San Flix / National Geographic Pristine SeasThe corals discovery was welcome news to the leaders of the Solomon Islands, who say this new claim to fame could help boost conservation efforts and funding, as well as attract the attention of tourists and scientists.We want the world to know that this is a special place and it needs to be protected, says Trevor Manemahaga, the Solomon Islands minister of environment, to BBC News Georgina Rannard.But, although it may be located in a remote, hard-to-reach part of the world, the coral is not safe from global warming and other human threats, says Enric Sala, a National Geographic explorer in residence and founder of the Pristine Seas initiative, in a statement. The coral is so big it can be seen from space. Steve Spence / National Geographic Pristine SeasThe sprawling corals discovery was officially announced one day after the International Union for Conservation of Nature revealed that 44 percent of the 892 known species of warm-water, reef-building coral are at risk of extinction. Coral face myriad threats, including rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change, overfishing, pollution and diseases.Weve known for decades that coral reefs are on the frontline of the global climate and biodiversity crises, and this new result only reconfirms this, says David Obura, a marine ecologist who co-chairs the IUCNs coral specialist group, in a statement. Without relevant decisions from those with the power to change this trajectory, we will see the further loss of reefs, and progressive disappearance of coral species at larger and larger scales.Still, the finding of this huge coral in the so-called Coral Triangle is reason for optimism. Its size and longevity suggest that some corals may be resilient to threats and adaptable to changes in their environment.The existence of large and old corals is a sign of hopethat its not too late to protect, conserve and restore the oceans while fighting against climate change, says David M. Baker, a marine scientist at the University of Hong Kong, to NBC News Peter Guo.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Climate Change, Coral Reefs, Endangered Species, New Research, Oceans, Pacific Ocean, Water, wildlife, World Records

Viz Pro of the Week Congratulations to Wellington Franzo (@franzao.f) for winning this week's "Viz Pro of the Week" on CGarchitect.com!His interpretation of the Beijing Daxing International Airport beautifully brings Zaha Hadid Architects design to life.https://tinyurl.com/vizpro03november2024Don't forget to check out their profile on CGarchitect.com to explore their full portfolio.#VizProOfTheWeek #CGarchitect #ArchViz #Inspiration #DesignInspiration #ArchitecturalVisualization #3Drendering #3D #Architecture #3dvisualization #render #3drender #3dmodeling #vray #coronarender #unreal #sketchup #3dsmax

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