SAMG “Miniforce Animaltron” has received Epic Games’ Mega Grant.

• – Dramatically reduces production time and cost with Unreal engine technology Maximize competitiveness of next-generation content to be applied to Metaverse.
• – By next year, the production process of the Miniforce series will be 100% based on Unreal Engine, and the technology will be applied to other IPs.
• – “Competing game companies which have the best technology” “Will continue to strengthen competitiveness and profit model based on technology.”

SAMG Entertainment (CEO Suhoon Kim, hereinafter SAMG) announced on the 14th that its representative CGI animation “Miniforce Animaltron” has been selected as the recipient of ‘Epic MegaGrant’ from Epic Games.

Epic MegaGrant is a project in which Epic Games, a world-renowned game developer and game engine developer, funds companies that use Unreal Engine to produce creative and outstanding contents or to support developers that contribute to the development of open-source 3D graphics functions.

AnimalTron, which won the Epic MegaGrant, is the latest sequel to SAMG’s global popular animation “Miniforce” series, which has more than 30 billion views worldwide. At the time of its Korean release in September, it created the world’s first case of complete conversion to its production pipeline using Unreal Engine in follow-up animation series category, and it has been recognized as the best content by engine developer of Epic Games, and drawing attention from the animation and Metaverse industry.

More than 50% of the work process is involved with Unreal Engine, which greatly increases efficiency. By applying the Unreal Engine, the rendering process, which usually takes very long time, was carried out in real time and shorten the overall production schedule, and the cost of “post-production” such as rental of render-farm costs was also drastically reduced, further enhancing the studio’s cost competitiveness. Data worked with the Unreal Engine can be created more easily and optimized according to the characteristics of various Metaverse platforms, making it easy to expand business using various intellectual properties.

SAMG plans to convert the production process of the Miniforce series to 100% Unreal Engine by next year and apply the technology to other IPs of company. While strengthening technology assets by registering four related technology patents, it plans to maximize competitiveness of next-generation content by implementing new Metaverse business models such as digital idols and virtual influencer.

SAMG CEO Suhoon Kim said, “This program is meaningful that SAMG has been recognized for its competitiveness by being named the first animation studio to be selected as the recipient in this prestigious program, used to be occupied by the best technology game companies and CG studios. Based on Metaverse Tech competitiveness, we will continue to expand our profit models.”

Meanwhile, SAMG will participate in “Unreal Summit Online 2021” on the 14th and give a lecture under the theme of “TV Series Animation Production Pipeline.” In the announcement, SAMG will introduce the design and implementation process of the production pipeline of the 3D animation “Miniforce Animaltron” produced based on the Unreal Engine and share cases of applying special effects (FX).