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Sony Imageworks Animation Layout Workflow with Unreal Engine and OpenUSD

Jonghwan Hwang, Tzung-Da Tsai, Dan Ziegler

SIGGRAPHIndustrial2 citesRigging

Sony Pictures Imageworks rebuilds rough layout for feature films using Unreal Engine with OpenUSD export to other DCCs, reducing per-sequence export time from eight hours to five minutes.

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Abstract

This is an overview of the new rough layout pipeline at Sony Pictures Imageworks. In a notable departure from the legacy pipeline, sequence and shot-based work now begin in Unreal Engine. By exporting USD data out of Unreal Engine to share with other DCCs, we were able to reinvent the early stages of feature film production.

How to read this

Category: Production talk / pipeline breakdown
Contributions: Demonstrates a rebuilt rough-layout pipeline that begins sequence and shot work in Unreal Engine
Exports USD data out of Unreal Engine to share with other DCCs, reinventing early feature-film stages
Reports per-sequence export time dropping from eight hours to five minutes
Context: A studio pipeline talk grounded in OpenUSD as the interchange layer, building on Universal Scene Description: Open Source Release (Pixar 2016).Builds on: Universal Scene Description: Open Source Release
Correctness: Studio practice, not peer-reviewed; the workflow and the eight-hours-to-five-minutes figure are production-proven at one studio and tied to its specific Unreal and USD setup.
Clarity: Accessible to pipeline and layout staff; a single pass conveys the architecture and the payoff.
How to read it: One pass; focus on where Unreal sits in the layout stage and how USD export bridges to other DCCs, and note the reported speedup as a motivation rather than a benchmark.

Builds on

Universal Scene Description: Open Source Release 2016

Built upon by

Nothing yet.

Related work

A.C.M.E. Multilimb System 2021 / DigiPro
Building Scalable and Evolutive USD Pipelines on Distributed Architecture at Ubisoft 2022 / DigiPro
Demystifying OpenUSD: End-to-End Data Pipelines and Workflows 2023 / SIGGRAPH Courses
A Deep Dive into Universal Scene Description and Hydra 2019 / SIGGRAPH Courses

Keywords

usd openusd unreal engine animation layout pipeline rough layout dcc asset management layer management usdskel alembic character rigging

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