Creative technology, end to end.
Evil Eye Pictures is a creative technology studio founded in San Francisco in 2004. Small senior teams design and build real-time animation, cinematics, AI pipelines, software and interfaces for games, sports, film and brands.
Creative technology
Creative technology is the practice of using engineering as a creative medium. At Evil Eye Pictures the same small team handles the story, the look and the code, so ideas that would normally be split across an agency, a production company and a software vendor get built in one place.
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- Concept, art direction and look development
- Real-time production in Unreal Engine 5
- Custom tools, plugins and pipeline integration
- AR, VR and immersive experiences
- Presentation graphics and launch content for technology brands
What is a creative technology studio?
A creative technology studio designs and builds experiences where the technology is part of the creative work, such as real-time cinematics, interactive installations, custom tools and AI-assisted pipelines. Evil Eye Pictures has worked this way since moving from visual effects into real-time production in 2015.
Who does Evil Eye Pictures work with?
Evil Eye Pictures has delivered work for Epic Games, Google Spotlight Stories, Psyonix and Apple, along with leading sports organizations.
Real-time production
Real-time production means building and rendering final images inside a game engine instead of an offline render farm. Evil Eye Pictures is an accredited Unreal Engine Gold Service Partner and has delivered more than 35 Fortnite cinematics and in-game events for Epic Games.
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- Unreal Engine 5 layout, lighting, look development and rendering
- In-game events and live season launches
- Virtual production, previs and techvis
- Niagara VFX, shaders and procedural systems
- Performance optimization for real-time delivery
Is Evil Eye Pictures an Unreal Engine partner?
Yes. Evil Eye Pictures is an accredited Unreal Engine Gold Service Partner, and received an Epic MegaGrant in 2020.
What real-time projects has Evil Eye Pictures worked on?
Projects include The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience, more than 35 Fortnite cinematics and in-game events, and Psyonix's Rocket League cinematic.
Cinematics
Evil Eye Pictures makes cinematics and launch trailers for games, working from script and boards through layout, animation, FX, lighting and final delivery. Most of our cinematics are made entirely in Unreal Engine, which lets directors change cameras, lenses and lighting late in production.
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- Story, boards and previs
- Layout and camera in engine
- Character animation and FX
- Lighting, rendering and finishing
- Agency and production-company roles on the same project
Can Evil Eye Pictures produce a full game cinematic?
Yes. For Rocket League's free-to-play launch, Evil Eye Pictures acted as both agency and production company, bringing in director Saschka Unseld and delivering a 90-second cinematic made in Unreal Engine.
Which franchises has Evil Eye Pictures created cinematics for?
Work includes Fortnite season launches and collaborations with Star Wars, Marvel, Pirates of the Caribbean, LEGO, Squid Game, Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan and Destiny.
Animation
Evil Eye Pictures animates characters for shorts, trailers and interactive experiences. The studio produced Pearl with Google Spotlight Stories, which won an Emmy, a Peabody and two Annies and was nominated for an Academy Award.
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- Character animation in Maya and Unreal Engine
- Motion capture cleanup and performance editing
- Stylized and photoreal animation
- Immersive and 360 animated shorts
- Live animation with FUTURE.STAGE
What awards has Evil Eye Pictures' animation won?
Pearl, produced with Google Spotlight Stories, won a Creative Arts Emmy, a Peabody and two Annie Awards, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short.
Does Evil Eye Pictures do real-time animation?
Yes. Most current work is real-time animation made in Unreal Engine, and the studio's FUTURE.STAGE platform supports remote, live animation capture.
AI pipelines
Evil Eye Pictures builds AI into production pipelines so teams can iterate faster without losing creative control. The focus is practical: tools that sit inside the engine and the review process, not experiments that live outside them.
- Generative imagery for concept and look development
- LLM tooling for production and pipeline automation
- Automated asset processing and validation
- Integration with Unreal Engine and DCC tools
- Security-conscious deployment for client work
How does Evil Eye Pictures use AI?
Evil Eye Pictures integrates generative imagery, LLM tooling and automated asset pipelines into its real-time and animation production, keeping artists in control of the final result.
Can Evil Eye Pictures build AI tools for our studio?
Yes. The studio builds custom tools and pipeline integrations, including AI-assisted workflows, for its own productions and for clients.
Software development
Evil Eye Pictures builds software that comes out of real production needs. FUTURE.STAGE, the studio's patented live animation platform, began with an Epic MegaGrant in 2020. Its software company, Evil Eye Labs, makes REC, a real-time capture plugin for Unreal Engine that records to file or streams live over RTMP and SRT.
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- Unreal Engine plugins and editor tools
- Real-time capture, streaming and playback
- Pipeline engineering and integrations
- UEFN islands and interactive builds
- Platform development from prototype to release
What software has Evil Eye Pictures built?
The studio built FUTURE.STAGE, a patented live animation platform, and a real-time streaming platform for professional sports with Viewpoint Pro. Evil Eye Labs, its software company, makes REC for Unreal Engine.
Does Evil Eye Pictures build UEFN experiences?
Yes. Evil Eye Pictures worked on JokeNite, a Fortnite island built with UEFN and produced by Trevor Noah.
Sports
Evil Eye Pictures creates athlete content for games and builds real-time technology for sports. The studio has made cinematics featuring Naomi Osaka, LeBron James and Shohei Ohtani, and built a real-time streaming platform for professional sports with Viewpoint Pro.
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- Athlete likeness and cinematic content
- Esports and game launch cinematics
- Real-time replay and streaming technology
- Broadcast graphics in engine
- Capture with REC from Evil Eye Labs
Has Evil Eye Pictures worked with professional athletes?
Yes. The studio has created cinematics featuring Naomi Osaka, LeBron James and Shohei Ohtani for Fortnite.
Does Evil Eye Pictures build sports technology?
Yes. Evil Eye Pictures built a real-time streaming platform for professional sports with Viewpoint Pro, and Evil Eye Labs makes software for real-time games, sports and film.
UI/UX design
Evil Eye Pictures designs the interfaces for the tools and platforms it builds, so artists and operators can use powerful real-time technology without fighting it. The same designers work on brand, motion and product, which keeps every surface consistent.
- Product design for creative and production tools
- Interfaces for real-time and live operation
- Design systems, branding and motion
- Prototyping and usability testing
- Multi-platform delivery, from mobile to large-format displays
Does Evil Eye Pictures do UI/UX design?
Yes. The studio designs interfaces and design systems for its own software, such as FUTURE.STAGE and REC, and for client tools and interactive experiences.
Questions we get
What does Evil Eye Pictures do?
Evil Eye Pictures is a creative technology studio that makes real-time animation, Unreal Engine cinematics, AI pipelines, software and interfaces for games, sports, film and brands.
Where is Evil Eye Pictures based?
Evil Eye Pictures was founded in San Francisco in 2004 and works as a virtual studio with artists, engineers and producers around the world.
Who founded Evil Eye Pictures?
Dan Rosen (CEO) and Matt McDonald (COO), visual effects supervisors who worked on Academy Award-winning films including The Matrix, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
What awards has Evil Eye Pictures won?
The studio's work has won an Emmy, a Peabody and two Annie Awards for Pearl, which was also nominated for an Academy Award. Its founders contributed to Academy Award-winning visual effects.
How big are Evil Eye Pictures' teams?
Projects are run by small, senior, tactical teams so the people shaping the story also understand the engine, the pipeline and the delivery schedule.
How do I start a project with Evil Eye Pictures?
Use the contact form at evileyepictures.com/contact or email info@evileyepictures.com.