Abstract:

Game engines, such as Unreal or Unity, have been expanding its field of application and becoming a technology standard in Virtual Production (VP) for cinema, namely, shooting special effects with live acting in real-time. However, the computational power and resource hunger of VP concern us as teachers, as not all institutions and students, wanting to set a foothold in this area, can afford, or have access to appropriate hardware.
With these considerations in mind, this article aims to explore how these technologies, capable of supporting the simulation, iteration, and compositing of virtual spaces over physical spaces, may contribute to augmenting animation pedagogical practices. To do so, an inspection is being carried out on VP features, procedures and strategies, and as well, the technology’s limitations and challenges to build a theoretical ground for driving exploratory practices. Such practices are aimed at designing animation conceptual exercises that capitalize on three tentative VP immersive potentials: being drawn by compelling systems simulations, through the discovery of meanings underlying their narratives, and by a broad horizon of possible actions carried by their agents.
This theoretical and exploratory groundwork will pave the proposal and discussion of lean VP setups and enhanced exercise procedures for complementing teaching practices in the field of animation.

Keywords:

Education, Animation, Immersion, Virtual Production.