Layout w/ Unreal Engine

Layout is where a film’s shots are first built in 3D. It sets the camera, lens, staging and timing every department that follows will build on. Do it well and animation, lighting and compositing inherit clear, approved shots. Do it badly and every department pays for it later.

Over eight lessons you take a short scripted sequence from a page of script and a set of storyboards to an edited sequence of layout shots in Unreal Engine. Along the way you learn to:

• block environments and characters
• choose real lenses on a real filmback
• move cameras with intent
• cut in Sequencer
• hand off clean, versioned shots the way a studio pipeline expects

Every lesson asks the same question: does this shot tell the story, and can the next department build on it? By the end you can answer it for every shot in your sequence.

The course is built on long-standing layout practice from feature film and episodic work: continuity, coverage, the 180 degree rule, shot naming and editorial review. It is designed for animation, VFX, games and film students and working artists who want to stage and shoot in real time. No Unreal experience is needed.

Lesson 01: Layout in the Production Pipeline

• What layout delivers, and to whom: animation, lighting, FX and compositing
• How layout sits between story, previs, editorial and final shots
• Why real-time engines have changed layout, and what has not changed
• Exercise: a breakdown of the sequence script into beats, locations and a first shot list

Lesson 02: Unreal Engine for Layout Artists

• Navigate the editor with a layout artist’s priorities
• Organize a project: folders, naming, levels and sublevels for each location
• Import environment and character assets at correct scale
• Exercise: a clean, named layout project with the sequence’s set assembled and scaled

Lesson 03: Set Blocking and Staging

• Block the set for the story, not for the default view
• Stage characters for readable action, eyelines and screen direction
• Respect the 180 degree rule, and know when breaking it is a choice
• Exercise: a staged master scene with characters blocked through every beat

Lesson 04: The Cine Camera

• Filmback, focal length and focus distance on a real sensor size
• How lens choice changes perspective, space and emotion
• Composition, headroom and lead room
• Exercise: a lens study of one moment shot at three focal lengths, with a defended choice

Lesson 05: Camera Movement with Intent

• Pans, tilts, dollies, cranes and handheld, and when each one serves the story
• Rail and crane rigs, and keyframing a camera that feels operated rather than animated
• Matching movement to performance and cut points
• Exercise: three moving shots, each with a written note on why it moves

Lesson 06: Sequencer and Editorial

• Build shots as Level Sequences, and cut them in a master sequence
• Shot naming, frame ranges, handles and versioning
• Coverage, continuity and cutting for rhythm and clarity
• Exercise: a first cut of the full sequence, with a shot list that matches the edit

Lesson 07: Review, Notes and Iteration

• Present layout for review the way a supervisor or director expects
• Take notes cleanly, and track changes from one version to the next
• Real-time iteration: live camera adjustments, Take Recorder and virtual camera options
• Exercise: a revised second cut that addresses a set of supervisor notes, with a change log

Lesson 08: Layout Handoff and Shot Package

• Render review movies with Movie Render Queue
• Export cameras and staging for downstream departments, and check them on the other side
• Document each shot: lens, camera, frame range, notes and known issues
• Exercise: a final layout package with the cut, review movies, exported cameras and a shot sheet for every shot

What you leave with

• A cut layout sequence for your reel
• A clean, documented Unreal layout project
• A professional handoff workflow you can use in any studio pipeline