MARZA Revolutionizes CG Animation Rendering With Unity

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 16, 2016) - Tokyo based MARZA ANIMATION PLANET INC. (MARZA) will debut the Unity rendered short-film "THE GIFT" at the 2016 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. This short film was created using "MARZA Movie Pipeline for Unity," co-developed with Unity Technologies. The full short will be released on "THE GIFT" website: www.marza-realtime.com in April 2016.

A breakthrough in advanced technology for CG production, "THE GIFT" integrates MARZA's forte -- Hollywood style CG film production -- made possible by Unity's rendering engine. The new pipeline uses full, feature-quality character motions and shaders, and requires no "pre-rendering" via other programs. Moreover, contrary to the existing use of CPU for pre-rendering, Unity's use of GPU has led to increased rendering speeds allowing directors and artists to simplify and optimize their interactions.

Using the Unity platform in movie production will not only radically change the process of CG movie-making, but will make it possible to share data and more easily integrate with game production, VR and digital content development across multiple platforms. MARZA will keep evolving this workflow in collaboration with Unity Technologies.

"Sega has continually created amazing game experiences, and by creating MARZA, has brought video game technology into the film arena," said Shinobu Toyoda, Representative Director, Unity Technologies Japan. "We were excited to collaborate with them on the idea of making cinematic experiences come to life using Unity's platform in conjunction with the MARZA movie pipeline. "THE GIFT" is a perfect example of what can be achieved, and is a wonderful story for everyone."

MARZA Movie Pipeline for Unity -- Key features

Pursuing rich animation expression

• Alembic importer co-developed with Unity Technologies
• Reproducing rich animation expression and advanced, complex VFX

Implementing modern texture expression

• Skin Shader: Character skin textures reproduction
• Eye Shader: Character eye expression
• Fake Fur Shader: Character "fur" expression

Dramatic improvement for efficient visual creation through automatic shot scene creation

• All required assets, camera and animations are automatically read by the Unity platform, allowing for instant visual checking
• Asset updates after scene creation

Enhancing visual quality
From Unity to Composite Software

• Using Frame Capture, co-developed with Unity Technologies
• Capturing game view as a sequence of OpenEXR image files
• Using render pass system to output additional information as extra OpenEXR layers

Thanks to the collaboration with Unity Technologies, we are happy to announce that some of the key features in the "MARZA Movie Pipeline for Unity" are already available in open source, under the MIT license at github, for Unity and the CG community at large. 

• Frame Capture - https://github.com/unity3d-jp/FrameCapturer
• Alembic importer - https://github.com/unity3d-jp/AlembicImporter

About MARZA ANIMATION PLANET INC.
MARZA ANIMATION PLANET INC. (MARZA), a CG animation film production company of SEGA SAMMY Group, has its origin in the CG Image Production Department of SEGA® Corporation. Ever since SEGA®'s CG image production department became a separate company in 2009, MARZA has been focusing on the production of CG animated features. MARZA's CG production technology is highly praised both in Japan and abroad. SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK, the CG animation feature released in 2013, has won numerous domestic and international awards.

Currently, a new feature "Sonic the Hedgehog", co-produced with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (USA) is in development.

As a 3DCG studio aiming to achieve global success from Japan, MARZA continues to work aggressively in creating new expression and innovative technology with the vision to create exciting and inspiring entertainment for people around the world.

 MARZA representative works

• CG feature film "SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK"
  < Record of Awards >
  
  • VFX-JAPAN AWARD 2014: Best Theatrical Animation Film
  • International 3D Society, Lumiere Japan Award 2013: Gran Prix
  • 3D CREATIVE ARTS AWARDS: Best International Animated Feature
• CG Feature film "RESIDENT EVIL CG3"  (in-production / to be released in 2017)
• Feature film "Sonic the Hedgehog"  (in-development)
• Short film "MOOM (2016)" production
• Short movie "Night of the Werehog"
• Feature film "Assassination Classroom (2015)", handling part of VFX production
• Feature film "Japan's Longest Day (2015)" , handling part of VXF production
• Realtime CG Tech Demo "HAPPY FOREST"
  • VFX-JAPAN AWARD 2016: Best Pioneering Visual Effects