Unreal Engine 5.3 Virtual Camera

My Role & Contributions

During my three-month contract embedded within Epic Games' Virtual Production team, I focused on significantly enhancing the usability and functionality of the Unreal Engine 5.3 Virtual Camera interface. My key contributions included:

Ear Menu System Architecture

I spearheaded the complete frontend overhaul for the left and right "Ear" menus within the VCam plugin, which serve as the primary interaction hubs for core VCam functionality. My work here involved:

• Modern Frontend Development: Architecting and implementing a new UI system in UMG for the ear menus.

• Backend Integration & Scalability: Collaborating closely with senior engineers to integrate a new blueprint-exposed tree-view backend, ensuring the system was highly expandable for future features.

• Scalable Animation System: Developing a modern, scalable animation system within UMG, allowing engineers and designers to easily add new submenus and layouts without concerns of breaking existing UI states or complex animation implementation.

Takes Browser Implementation

Working alongside Epic's designers and engineers, I helped scope and plan the integration of the new Takes Browser feature. I then took ownership of its implementation:

• Frontend Development: Implementing the entire UMG frontend for the Takes Browser directly into the VCam plugin.

• Intuitive Interaction Design: Creating intuitive touch and swipe interaction systems specifically for tablet use within the Takes Browser.

• Enhanced Workflow Features: Building in the ability for users to browse Level Sequences, load them for review or as a base for new takes, and efficiently manage takes (start, flag, NG) directly from the VCam interface, streamlining production workflows.

• Polished User Experience: Incorporating satisfying, polished animations to enhance the overall user experience of browsing and managing takes.

User-Centric Approach

Leveraging my prior experience developing previous VCam iterations and working directly on virtual production sets, I consistently approached design and implementation challenges from the end-user's perspective, ensuring that the UI/UX decisions were practical, intuitive, and directly addressed the real-world needs faced by crews during production.