I imagine this will be used for stuff outside of games primarily. My understanding is that Unreal is now used a lot in specialized domains like film-making (globe fly-bys in the news and documentaries?) and sort of general "dashboard"-y stuff.
I'm sure someone could think of an "interesting" game built off of this data but I highly doubt you go through all this engineering effort on that idea alone.
> Unreal is now used a lot in specialized domains like film-making (globe fly-bys in the news and documentaries?)
It goes further than that now. For The Mandalorian, they famously set up a "20-foot high, 270-degree semicircular LED video wall"[0] to use as a backdrop for the shots, and that wall was rendering the desired environment using Unreal Engine. No need to chroma key an alien planet in post, when you can make it a part of the scene (and now the actors can see it too as they play!). More at [1].
From what I read about it previously I think they do actually re-render the backgrounds in post
But the LED video walls serve two purposes: ensure the lighting and reflections on real objects in the scene match up with the CGI, and give the actors a visualisation to work with.
> From what I read about it previously I think they do actually re-render the backgrounds in post
All the videos and reels I've seen on this talk about "capturing the effects in-camera", so while I wouldn't be surprised if there's some integration and cleanup work to be done (particularly where the wall meets the set), it does sound like what is on the LED wall is what we see in the final footage and it's not just placeholder or pre-viz.
I think the biggest wins they get from it are that the actors can see what they're supposed to be standing in front of and that they get realistic lighting on the actors and other props from the environment
I think you're right. They use terms like "final pixel" when they talk about it, which leads me to believe they're capturing the background and not just rerendering in post.
> My understanding is that Unreal is now used a lot in specialized domains like film-making (globe fly-bys in the news and documentaries?)
It's also used to create TV studios [0]. In the UK, BBC soccer punditry programmes such as 'Match of the Day' are filmed in a green-screen studio with the pundits, desk and chairs, and a virtual studio created using Unreal Engine. Different programmes can get a totally different look by using different Unreal environments.
It can also be used as a starting point to "rough in" your layout and then clean up and refine by hand..
If you were trying to build a virtual version of a real-world location, I would imagine the time savings in starting from real landmarks and buildings would be significant.
I'm sure someone could think of an "interesting" game built off of this data but I highly doubt you go through all this engineering effort on that idea alone.