OZYMANDIAS: Experimenting with EbSynth and Unreal Engine

Using EbSynth and Unreal, Virtuals has released a new short film directed by Alvaro Lamarche-Toloza, adapted from the classic poem “Ozymandias” written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1817.

This short film was created to showcase an experimental pipeline, using the Unreal Engine and a new tool, EbSynth in order to achieve a unique look and to drastically speed up the production of 3D animation. The goal is to flesh out new efficient and accessible workflows to further expand the boundaries of real-time filmmaking.

Our new short film, OZYMANDIAS, created with Unreal and EbSynth

EbSynth and Unreal Engine: tackling the limitations of real-time productions

OZYMANDIAS was created as a technical demo to prove the potential of an Unreal Engine – EbSynth workflow and to address a few shortcomings often found in real-time production.

Indie real-time 3D animation is a recent breakthrough in terms of production; in spite of its potential, it can be held back by the “video game” look that it carries as it relies on out-of-the box shading and inexpensive assets. While this was never a limitation for previz, it becomes crucial today to flesh out new pipelines that are able to make use of the production speed of real-time while still achieving results that are suitable for broadcasting, without relying on high-end assets and photorealistic rendering.

How Ozymandias was made

Alvaro’s short was created as a 3D scene in the Unreal Engine, exported as image sequences and processed with EbSynth, a new tool developed by Secret Weapons, currently in beta phase.

Using only one still at a time, graphic designer Estelle Chauvard created one wash drawing per shot, which was then applied to the image sequences exported from Unreal using EbSynth. The result is a 3D scene rendered in the style of a wash drawing, created from 7 paintings only in a matter of days.

Still from OZYMANDIAS, created in Unreal Engine and Stylized in EbSynth

What’s next?

We’re planning on releasing a complete breakdown of OZYMANDIAS, diving into the details of the production process and showing how others can use the tool for their own projects.

We will also release a series of experiments and will move on to new projects to push the capacities of EbSynth and show what can be done with this pipeline, exploring more complex forms of animation and storytelling.

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