Monogram Creative Console Announces Integration with Unreal Engine for Virtual Production Workflows

Monogram Creative Console announces integration with Unreal Engine, giving virtual production creators familiar, tactile control of virtual cameras, lighting, and more to bring back a hundred years of traditional filmmaking knowledge to new virtual worlds.

Excited by the potential for Monogram’s analog tools to bridge traditional filmmakers’ skills to the vast digital worlds in the Unreal Engine, Epic Games awarded Monogram an Epic MegaGrant of $50,000 to kickstart the development of Monogram’s Unreal Engine solution.

A Familiar Filmmaking Process with Innovative, Modular Tools

Creative Console provides familiar tools to filmmakers and crews to tell their stories in a variety of virtual production environments. 

Intuitive controls allow for non-technical team collaboration so previs, tech-vis, cinematographers, directors, real-time production operators, post-production operators, and many others can collaborate easily without the need to learn new and complex software. Here's what Creative Console will be able to do out-of-the-box:

1. INTUITIVE AND DIRECT CONTROL OF KEY VIRTUAL CAMERA PARAMETERS 

Directors and production crew can leverage the precision of familiar filmmaking processes thanks to Monogram’s tactile tools and get “behind the camera” even in new virtual production environments. Control focus, zoom, aperture, and camera movements with Monogram's tactile and modular tools. 

2. LIGHTING CONTROLS FOR A SMOOTHER ON SET EXPERIENCE

Creative Console modular design allows you to add layers of control, optimizing even a simple console setup to accomplish many different production tasks. Below, another profile is created to adjust intensity, pattern, and colour of virtual lights for a smoother experience on set. Synchronize virtual and digital lights with access to the DMX plugin. 

3. CONTROL TRANSPORT AND SEQUENCER IN UNREAL ENGINE

Previs and real-time production operators can seamlessly control on set recording and on-set playback. The Sequencer controls for Creative Console are intended to provide basic transport and edit functionality, to quickly add camera cuts, shot tracks, and to toggle recording on/off.

4. GLOBAL TRANSFORM AND TRANSLATE 

Control location, rotation, scale of any actor in Unreal Engine. See how the Creative Console integration works in the demo below:

 

Powerful Developer Tools For Custom Plugins 

When you need to go beyond what's available out-of-the-box, Monogram’s Blueprints API lets Unreal Engine developers connect their own custom plug-ins to Monogram’s controllers or enable any one of Unreal Engines almost limitless controls to be assigned to one of Monogram’s tactile modules. The API allows developers to accommodate controls for individual use-cases and customized Unreal Engine environments to meet even the most challenging production demands. 

 

Trusted By Industry-Leading Virtual Production Professionals

Monogram worked with world class studios to deliver the best features for virtual production in filmmaking, opening the door for creative freedom and unparalleled customization for virtual production’s unique needs. Here is what some of them had to say: 

“Monogram’s customizable hardware controller can unlock powerful tactile experiences in virtual worlds created in Unreal Engine. Monogram's API will give creatives even greater freedom and control to deliver engaging content, interactive experiences and virtual worlds.”

David Morin, Epic Games Industry Management, Media & Entertainment
Epic Games

 

“Monogram gave us the ability to customize intuitive controls for a tactile experience that felt familiar to directors and cinematographers. It simplified the on-set experience, making it one of the crucial tools to our virtual production workflow.”

AJ Sciutto, Virtual Production Producer 
Magnopus / Lion King project 

 

“Monogram gives filmmakers precise and intuitive control over virtual cameras and lighting in Cine Tracer. For Unreal Engine Virtual Production users and developers, the Monogram Creator app and UE4 makes integration seamless and easy through the Blueprint Scripting system.”

Matt Workman, Virtual Production Cinematographer and Developer
Cine Tracer

 

"In assisting filmmakers to adopt new technologies in virtual production, we didn't want to abandon decades of filmmaking knowledge. Tactile tools like Monogram will help us pave the way for merging the familiar tactile experiences of filmmaking with virtual worlds in Unreal Engine. The result is a new and interactive experience where both technical and non-technical crew members can easily and actively participate in the filmmaking process."

Gary Marshall, Creative Technology Supervisor | Visual Effects Designer
The Third Floor

 

“Creative Console offers operators a highly flexible control solution, and the ability to pick and choose modules and change them as needed is very elegant. Creative Console is a very easy-to-use and intuitive system that’s perfect for broadcasters working with Ross Video’s UX control platform and Voyager graphics rendering solution.” 

Gideon Ferber, Ross Video’s Director of Virtual Solutions
Ross Video

 

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Get in Touch with Monogram 

Interested in learning more about how modular, tactile tools can enhance your filmmaking workflow? Subscribe below and we'll send you more information and updates on our Unreal Engine integration.