Short Film
Life of Buddha - The Film
Artists In Motion
Life of Buddha – The Film is an immersive animated short film created for the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, translating a sacred narrative into a cinematic experience for contemporary audiences.
The film follows the life of Prince Siddhartha from birth through renunciation, enlightenment, and Parinirvana, and was structured as a visually led narrative that balances clarity, emotional depth, and cultural authenticity. Developed in close collaboration with the temple’s monastic community, the project draws on limited historical reference to construct a cohesive and symbolic story world, where environments, architecture, and character design reinforce narrative progression and meaning.
At its core is a performance-driven animation approach. The primary characters were created using MetaHuman Creator, Unreal Engine’s cloud-based digital human platform, supported by a custom character pipeline that enabled the creation of fully bespoke MetaHumans using Maya and XGen. This workflow provided complete creative control over character appearance while leveraging the MetaHuman ecosystem’s extensive range of nuanced emotional expressions. Custom digital costumes and accessories were integrated through the same pipeline, incorporating assets from third-party applications including Marvelous Designer and other DCC tools.
To achieve life-like motion and facial performance, the team adopted a hybrid real-time capture workflow. Using Unreal Engine’s Live Link framework in combination with Xsens motion capture systems, full-body and facial performances were streamed directly into Unreal Engine, enabling real-time visualisation of animated MetaHuman characters throughout production. Animation was further refined using Unreal Engine’s Control Rig and IK solvers, alongside tools such as Flow Studio and Cascadeur, enhancing movement quality, body dynamics, weight shifts, and physical authenticity while maintaining a grounded cinematic performance.
A real-time production pipeline enabled immediate visualisation and iteration, supporting directorial control over framing, pacing, and performance. Virtual cameras replicated real-world cinematography through physically based lens characteristics, depth of field, motion blur, and realistic camera movement. Ray-traced global illumination enhanced realism through accurate light bounce and reflections, while a Sequencer-driven workflow enabled the seamless production of more than 30 complex real-time environments and over 20 custom MetaHuman performances. Together, these technologies created a cohesive visual language that integrated characters and environments while maintaining a high level of visual fidelity.
Designed for a 22m panoramic screen with additional floor projection, the film uses scale, composition, and spatial immersion to extend storytelling beyond the traditional frame. Supported by 7.1 surround sound and integrated lighting, cinematic techniques guide audience focus and emotional engagement.
By combining real-time animation, performance capture, virtual production, and immersive presentation, Life of Buddha – The Film demonstrates how advanced digital filmmaking can elevate a culturally significant story into a compelling short-form cinematic experience.
CREW
Artists in Motion team:
Richard Lindsay Head of Creative, Stella Carmody Managing Director, Ray Kristianto VFX Director and Animation Lead, Victor Limsila VFX Producer and Real-time 3D Generalist, Matt Lock Head of Motion, Richard de Souza Creative Technologist, Jamie Tufrey Creative Director, Leanne Tufrey Senior Producer, Olivia Beale Executive Producer, Hai Tran Technical Director.
Music by Michael Tan
SOFTWARE
MetaHuman Creator, Unreal Engine (Sequencer, Control Rig, Live Link), Maya + XGen, Marvelous Designer, Flow Studio, Cascadeur, additional DCC tools.