Overview
- Verbinski argued that widespread use of Unreal Engine has introduced a recognizable gaming look that hurts photorealism, calling it the "greatest slip backwards."
- He cited issues with light transport, subsurface scattering, and motion interpolation, saying these choices can lead to uncanny results in creature work and digital doubles.
- Epic Games VFX supervisor Pat Tubach countered that it is inaccurate to blame a single tool, emphasizing that aesthetic quality comes from artists, pipelines, and production choices.
- Tubach noted Unreal is primarily used for previsualization, virtual production, and only sometimes for final pixels, adding that artists on past blockbusters would have welcomed such a tool.
- Coverage points to extensive Unreal use across productions like The Mandalorian, The Matrix Resurrections, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Amazon's Fallout, as Verbinski promotes a new film that favors photographic elements and avoids generative AI.