Scenario Unreal Cinematics

Cinematics in Unreal Engine 5.8 (Sequencer and Movie Render Graph)

Expert level here means the cut is checked as data before anything is built and a render is judged on its files and frames, not the viewport. The core stance: plan offline, build in one transaction, lock timing against the music before animating, light from approved masters, render per shot through one template graph, hand linear EXRs, an edit and a color note to the grade. If a sibling skill named here is missing from your available skills, ask the user to install it (npx skills add scenario-labs/skills --skill <name>); unattended, proceed from tool schemas and flag the gap.

REQUIRED BACKGROUND: scenario-unreal-expert (channels, review loop, 5.8 traps).

Status (2026-09-24): scripts/ue_cine.py and scripts/cine_render_callbacks.py are not yet run in Unreal; offline tests pass (counts: references/sources.md). In the engine, run tests/code/unreal-cinematics/job_00_probe_cine.py first.

Stance (the expert delta)

• The master is an edit; shots own the content. Cameras, characters and keys live in shots, per-discipline subsequences (lighting, FX) inside shots, so re-pacing moves sections, never animation (Sir Wade, ywtvn1uncZo [00:07:32]; Glitch, uzTo5vQchkk [00:35:24]). Per-shot things are spawnables, the set is possessable, so the cinematic plays in any level (yOcgYMcxr3Q [00:07:53] [00:13:50]); a possessable animated in one shot snaps back after it; Outliner visibility is not saved, Levels panel visibility is ([00:10:34] [00:02:23]). Duplicating a master shares its shots: "someone tweaks lighting, it changes seven shots" (Epic CAT, S4Iyzbl-oaE [00:41:34]); experiment with a New Take.
• Structure is templated and scripted, never clicked together. Display rate, start frame, bias, naming and folder template are set once in DefaultEngine.ini under revision control (S4Iyzbl-oaE [00:15:22] [00:21:52]); CAT 5.8 schemas nest and can give each shot its own level (VP 5SJA1FfRPWs [00:19:07] [00:20:44]). Every tool is one ScopedEditorTransaction around a ScopedSlowTask, because "long running Python codes, they look really similar to a frozen engine" (SPI, moQTQzAOFVA [00:16:16]).
• Lock timing before animating. Board with constant keys, music on its own track, stingers exactly on cuts; "you don't want to spend time working on frames that will never make it into the final film" (Toonen, mAMp6qCt7kc [00:15:04] [00:15:36] [00:04:55]). Retiming must carry intent: keys move with their shot, spanning subsequences are chopped and each half gets its own asset (moQTQzAOFVA [00:14:04] [00:24:19]).
• Warm-up is three fixes, and end frames are exclusive. Idle CPU simulation: Engine Warm Up Count above 30; temporal history: Render Warm Up; anything moving at frame one: animation and camera cut extended before the start with camera-cut warm-up, which evaluates the lead-in instead of holding frame one (tips doc; Comly/Hoffman, demystifying MRQ). A 0 to 50 range renders 0 to 49.
• Samples buy motion blur and anti-aliasing, nothing else. Noise goes back to its source (demystifying MRQ; Faucher, fVg5ihB8Wdc [00:09:15]). Temporal only, odd counts with Frame Center, or Blur's 24/48/64 with Frame Close (AAAhD5tEUBs [00:39:32]); AA None above 8 samples; zero console variables until a named shot problem needs one (fVg5ihB8Wdc [00:03:00]).
• Grade outside from linear EXR, and say how to read it. Tone curve off gives linear sRGB, about one stop darker than the viewport because UE's tone curve is "ACES flavored, but not a true ACES" (Faucher, 2Q3CybANHKE [00:04:31] [00:09:39]). Resolve's ACES Transform: tone curve on, sRGB (Linear) to sRGB Texture; off, Linear sRGB to sRGB; ACEScg (only for a vendor), ACEScg to sRGB ([00:08:30] [00:09:05]). Light and review through the viewport's OCIO Display set to that view ([00:10:28] [00:11:00]).
• The shot is the render unit. "The smallest unit of distributable work in Unreal Engine is a single camera cut" (MRQ command-line doc): one job per shot, one template graph, per-job variable overrides, never edits to the shared graph. Plain MRQ needs babysitting and a crash loses the shots, so unattended multi-shot renders go through a farm manager (Glitch [00:40:14]).
• Lighting scales by process. A temp camera light from day one; then one or two signature shots per lighting scenario, locked with the director; then per-shot _LGT subsequences derived from them, graded by distance from their master (Glitch [00:27:18] [00:28:51] [00:29:23] [00:31:32] [00:36:59]).

Establish first

Workflow

import ue_cine as C (skill scripts/, with scenario-unreal-expert's scripts/ on the path). Full code: references/procedures.md.

1. Scaffold (once per project). Production defaults recorded once (CAT Production Setup or Project Settings) and copied into plan["production"]; folder template, shots in steps of 10; with CAT 5.8, shot schemas holding the _LGT schema, a level per shot when shots need unique set states (P2). Check the MCP SequencerTools toolset first [verify]. GATE: C.check_production(plan) no fail; audit_sequence seq.rate and seq.start.
2. Plan the cut as data (python3). Shots, sizes, lenses, camera and subject positions, motion, flags, cast (joints, meshes), stingers, lighting scenarios. C.check_plan(plan): length, lenses, framing, 180-degree line, screen direction, jump cuts, DOF, pre-roll, exposure, cast, stingers, lighting groups (P1). GATE: no fail; every warn fixed or answered in the plan.
3. Build in one transaction (editor). C.build_from_plan(plan): master with Shots and music, a spawnable Cine Camera per shot (lens keyed, Use Field of View for LOD on), camera cut from pre-roll to the exclusive end, pre-rolled performers, <shot>_LGT with the temp light (P3); never overwrites. GATE: C.audit_sequence no fail, bind.override answered; C.empty_level_test lists only set pieces.
4. Board and lock the cut (latent editor). C.board_generator(..., preroll=True): first, middle, last frame per shot plus each shot's first pre-roll frame read in isolation (GUI: Evaluate Sub Sequences In Isolation); ue_review.image_checks, contact sheet (P4). Retime (C.retime_shot), takes (C.new_take), own tools inside C.editor_tool (P5). GATE: no all-white or all-black frame, the sheet and the cut with music judged, C.ready_to_animate(plan) passes.
5. Performance and camera polish. Rack focus as keyed Manual Focus Distance (P6), camera moves as base plus offset plus shake layers (P7); Accumulation DOF only on DOF-centric shots. GATE: re-board; keyed focus equals subject distance; no pop at section boundaries.
6. Lighting (with scenario-unreal-lighting-rendering). Temp light renders unblock everyone; C.lighting_masters(plan), render only those (render_jobs(plan, only=...)), director approval into plan["lighting_approved"]; then per-shot rim and kick lights in _LGT, lit through the viewport OCIO Display (P7b). GATE: C.ready_for_final_lighting(plan); luminance continuity and approval against the masters; stat unit or an Insights trace if a shot is slow.
7. Draft render and review. The review graph or the 5.8 Basic config; C.review_movie_cmd with the music (P10). GATE: C.check_render_output, C.first_frame_pop, C.cut_flash, then watch it with sound.
8. Final EXR. Template graph per P8 with the CineWrittenFiles Execute Script (Editor Only); C.audit_render_settings(C.normalize_graph_snapshot(C.graph_snapshot(graph))); C.render_jobs(plan, sequences=C.active_shot_paths(master, plan)), C.render_orchestration, then C.render_generator (executor held globally) or C.mrq_command_line per shot (always -notexturestreaming) (P9). GATE: settings audit pass; C.check_manifest, C.exr_checks per sampled frame; after a crash, re-render C.shots_to_render(...) whole.
9. Deliver. EXRs per shot, C.edl(plan), review MP4, C.delivery_note(plan, settings) (Resolve interpretation), JSON reports; notes split technical or creative, three creative rounds, then a live session (Glitch [00:32:37] [00:33:40]) (P11).