Wild Child Animation Shows Off Its ‘Piripenguins’ Unreal Engine Pipeline In New BTS Video

Wild Child Animation is offering an inside look at the hybrid 2D/CG production pipeline behind Piripenguins, its animated children’s comedy that premiered on CBeebies earlier this year and is now rolling out internationally via Banijay Kids & Family and PBS Distribution.

Produced by Eaglet Films with Red Monk Studio and Wild Child Animation, the series blends illustrated characters with fully realized CG environments, an approach that required the show’s crew to push Unreal Engine into new territory.

Series director and co-creator Massimo Fenati says the hybrid concept emerged from wanting to keep his original 2D aesthetic while avoiding flat, repetitive environments.

“I created the characters a few years ago as 2D,” he explains, “and I wanted to preserve the same streamlined design for its immediacy, but I feared that a 2D environment made of mostly ice and water could be too flat and repetitive… So my vision for the show was to create a 2D/3D hybrid and Wild Child responded with enthusiasm to the brief and delivered a perfect match to what I had in mind.”

To preserve the hand-drawn feel while leveraging real-time lighting and camera tools, the studio developed a custom Unreal pipeline combining CG bodies with 2D facial rigs.

Director Will Adams points out, “Every choice had to serve the illustrated aesthetic… What could have been a technical compromise became a deliberate visual signature, and added to Piripenguins’ distinctive style.”

Wild Child’s COO Ron Henry adds that their existing USD-based CG pipeline and Unreal expertise made such a stylized hybrid achievable: “We had a proven Unreal pipeline, the right tools, and the 2D experience to pull together something unique.”

The result is a 2.5D workflow that allowed the team to iterate quickly in real time, crucial for a quick-release series.