Development of Character Design Frameworks using Game Engine: Unreal Engine

The purpose of this study is to show how to improve the character design frameworks by using game engine, Unreal Engine ¹. The contents emphasized on 3 dimensional production processing of the project “The creation of Science fiction Character inspired from Ramayana” which was created by 4^th year student from Department of Animation and Game, College of Arts, Media and Technology, Chiang Mai University. This project decided to adapt the frameworks by integrating between digital animation and game technique to establish a new design process more capability. The source of development was based on the problem analysis while creating digital 3 dimensional character in the part of presentation or post-production which required a long term to progress such as rendering² and visual effect ³. Moreover, the issue of a new digital software technology also affected the design pipeline which made the process to be changed more or less. This study will provide a valuable information of a new concept frameworks that is more efficient, expedient and useful for digital artist as an alternative way.¹Unreal engine (UE) is a software to create a game developed by Epic Game Company. The first released on 1998 and the latest version is version 4.20 on 2018. It is a complete suite of development tools made for working with real-time technology. From enterprise applications and cinematic experiences to high-quality games across PC, console, mobile, VR and AR technology. (Unrealengine.com, 2018).²Rendering, in this case is a part of progressing digital 3 dimensional image which is in the post-production process.³Visual effect, in the case is means digital animation elements such as fire, water, smoke or wind that are generated by using computer software.