

RTX makes all of the lighting more accurate and that is what my core user is looking for. It’s very early days, but we have a lot of excited users willing to be at the front lines. So we have the ability to turn on ray traced shadows, reflections, AO, translucency, and global illumination. That language makes programming so fast and even fun, that I was able to go from 0 knowledge of the engine to shipping a commercial early release build in less than a year.Īs we are a little further along now, we are about to release our first build with RTX Real Time Ray Tracing technology. It’s very similar to Resolve Nodes and Cinema 4D Xpresso. Matt Workman: Unreal Engine has a visual scripting language called Blueprints. The videos I posted of the pre-alpha game went viral, so I knew we had something that was at least novel.ī&a: This game is made with Unreal Engine – what things in Unreal were particularly beneficial to you in making it? Were you and are players taking advantage of particular lighting setups and abilities in Unreal to simulate cinematography? Once I figured those two things out, the rest was just a matter of grinding. Epic Games gave me some private one on one tutoring to get me going and my first project was to make a camera dolly that you could ‘drive.’ I also had a 3D scan of myself and I wanted to me a playable character. I had been developing plugins for Maya and Cinema 4D, but Unreal Engine is a completely different animal. Matt Workman: The first challenge was learning how a game engine works. The fun part is that I can combine the best of video games like Minecraft Creative and Fortnite Creative with the 3D applications like SketchUp, Cinema 4D, etc.ī&a: What were some of the very specific challenges of implementing different ‘systems’? For example, how do you implement a dolly with track to make it act like that, or how do you incorporate the realistic lights? In video games you use WASD and the Mouse or a Game Pad (we support both) and most children can figure it out in seconds. The simple task of moving a 3D camera around a viewport is not immediately intuitive. I’ve used almost every 3D animation program for previs and all of them have a steep learning curve. While it is technically a game made with Unreal Engine and sold on Steam, it is really an app that uses familiar ‘game mechanics.’

Matt Workman: My main goal with Cine Tracer is to make it simple to learn and fun to use/play.

After a few weeks of tinkering I was hooked with being able to work in real time and I spent the last year of my life dedicated to building what is now Cine Tracer.ī&a: Can you describe, from an overall point of view, how a player plays Cine Tracer? What things did you keep considering, as you’ve been developing it, to make sure it stayed fun, and like a game? It did really well, for a very niche market, but the high prices of the DCC kept it from being main stream.Ībout a year and a half ago Epic Games approached me and asked if I would be interested in porting Cine Designer into Unreal Engine. Five years ago I stared a company called Cinematography Database and sold a Cinema 4D previs plug-in called Cine Designer. One day I decided that I wanted to be able to my own ‘Production Previs’ and I started to work in SketchUp and Maya. Matt Workman: I worked as a commercial cinematographer in NYC for 10 years and by the end, I was working a lot VFX heavy projects. Here Matt outlines exactly what Cine Tracer is, why he built it, and why the ‘game’ is already being utilized for actual production planning.ī&a: Why did you make Cine Tracer? What was it in your previous work or wish list for a game that made you jump into it?
MAC CINE TRACER SIMULATOR
That’s what Matt Workman, the founder of Cinematography Database, has also done with Cine Tracer, a real-time cinematography simulator made in Unreal Engine and available on Steam. These tools and techniques are being directly used on television, commercials, and films – the best tools replicate the real-world cinematography experience. There’s a lot of buzz about virtual production and real-time game engines right now. #vfxtoolsweek is brought to you by cineSync. Get in there and visualize real-world filmmaking now.
