Serg Pedan
Showcase
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Real-time broadcast · Tony Awards, CBS News / Paramount

A virtual stage, live on air

A virtual set built in Unreal Engine 5 and composited live for the Tony Awards special “Broadway and Beyond.”

Client
CBS News / Paramount
Role
Senior Unreal Artist. Scope: visual concepts, virtual environments, lighting, camera and animation, then the finishing pass before air
Timeline
April 2024 to now · Austin / Remote
Tools
Unreal Engine 5, Cinema 4D, Photoshop, After Effects
Overview

One set, built for a single night

A marquee-lit proscenium and a Manhattan skyline, modelled and dressed in Unreal Engine 5, then handed to the broadcast as a live background: two hosts stand inside it, the camera moves, and the set has to hold up in real time, not just in a render.

Opening graphic · on air
The set

Built in Unreal Engine 5

The set, in Unreal Engine 5
The set, in Unreal Engine 5
Geometry and the truss rig, in wireframe
Geometry and the truss rig, in wireframe
Process

Materials and the render passes behind it

The material library, inside Unreal
The material library, inside Unreal
Render passes · normals, reflection tracing, Lumen surface cache
Render passes · normals, reflection tracing, Lumen surface cache
On air

Composited live, behind the hosts

Live composite · hosts on the circular stage
Live composite · the Playbill screen cues into a clip