AWS Thinkbox Deadline adds final-pixel render support for real-time animation work in Unreal Engine 5

AWS Thinkbox Deadline 10.3, a new version of the batch compute render scheduler, is now available. This version introduces support for Epic Games’ real-time 3D content creation tool, Unreal Engine, and includes version updates for many other industry standard digital content creation (DCC) applications. Compatible across Windows, Linux, and macOS platforms, Deadline 10.3 supports over 80 DCCs out of the box, and can be used with on-premises, cloud-based, or hybrid render farms. Integrating Deadline 10.3 with Unreal Engine 5 allows users to leverage existing render setups efficiently or scale with cloud-based resources to accelerate final-pixel outputs. This allows artists to continue to focus on content creation workflows while offloading render and pipeline tasks to the farm.

AWS Thinkbox Deadline developers worked closely with Epic Games to build a new plugin for Unreal Engine 5 that connects Deadline with the Movie Render Queue sequence output tool in Unreal Engine. A single click in Movie Render Queue enables an artist to submit a job to Deadline and immediately continue their real-time creative sequence and shot work without context switching. The farm then handles rendering and pipeline automation in the background. When not in use by artists, on-premises resources, such as workstations with high-powered GPUs, can be integrated seamlessly into a larger pool, maximizing the compute available for rendering with Unreal Engine and other applications. With the new Deadline integration, Unreal Engine links directly into cloud infrastructure so studios can expand and scale as needed.

“We are excited to have an artist-friendly way to submit to our GPU farm from inside Unreal Engine with the new Deadline plugin.” – Peter Nofz, Visual Effects (VFX) Supervisor, Rodeo FX

Deadline 10.3, and many other Thinkbox tools, are available as a free download via the AWS Management Console’s AWS Thinkbox Download page. In 2022, to support visual content creators and make managing licenses easier, AWS made the entire collection of Thinkbox tools free.

New DCC versions supported in Deadline 10.3 include Adobe After Effects 2023, Autodesk Maya 2024, Autodesk 3ds Max 2024, Autodesk VRED 2023 and Maxon Cinema 4D 2023. Deadline 10.3 is shipping with Python 3.10 in alignment with the VFX Reference Platform, which will make it easier for customers to manage their pipelines with closer Deadline integration. For additional details, check out the Deadline 10.3 What’s New post.