MSC Cruises Large Format Graphics
KEYWORDS: 3D ANIMATION, VFX, REAL-TIME RENDERING, LARGE FORMAT SCREENS
PROJECT TIMELINE
1 YEAR
TECHNOLOGY USED
- Unreal Engine 5
- Cinema 4D
- Adobe After Effects
- Davinci Resolve
iBelieveinSwordfish created a series of videos spanning a variety of subjects in Unreal Engine 5 for the MSC World America and MSC’s new Miami Terminal. I was responsible for developing the looping systems which allowed us to render these deterministically and looping. Some of the systems I implemented included a heavily modified Ultra Dynamic Sky system with custom cloud maps, looping spline based animation rigs, particle systems and custom material functions. I was also responsible for managing the final output from UE.
REAL-TIME DYNAMIC SPLINE SYSTEMS
Our client wanted the scenes with animals and nature to feel alive, so we needed a fast, flexible way to animate large amounts of animals. I utilized the flexibility of Unreal's blueprint system to create spline based animation rigs that could be looped and added to the sequencer for linear animation. I achieved this with both FBX models animated in Maya as well as Niagara particle systems which we used for fish and bubbles.
LARGE-FORMAT RENDERING ON SMALL-SCALE MACHINES
We delivered content for two different screens, one aboard a ship and one in MSC's new terminal in Miami. The screen on the ship required 9K renders and the screen in the terminal required three 13K renders. In previous projects for this client we used cloud rendering which worked, but cost over $100k to render all the shots we needed.
With Unreal we were able to render over 50 9K videos and 3 13K videos each 9000 frames long all on 4 PCs locally with a combination of single 2080 TI and 4090 cards. Using this method, we were more efficient and able to make more minute revisions which didn't cost our client thousands each time.