Animating the Metaverse: How Artists Are Creating Worlds in Real Time
Fig. 1 - The Metaverse offers an open, 3D landscape where animation happens live.
Long ago it may have seemed a distant sci-fi dream, but now the Metaverse stands for a growing digital universe where users interact, create, and experience content in real time. The beauty at the very core of it is a creative revolution – one where artists are building entire virtual worlds as interactive canvases rather than one being powered purely by machines.
Unlike traditional media, where the expression of an artist is often conditioned by format and screen size, the Metaverse offers something entirely different: an open, 3D landscape where animation happens live and evolves with every second of user interaction (Fig. 1). This profound shift from static, pre-rendered content to dynamic, user-driven experiences opens a new way of telling a story – in fact, it combines the independent forces of creativity, technology, and community engagement to redefine how stories are created and experienced together.
In this ever-expanding panorama, with brands and creatives shifting to immersive platforms, discerning this digital change becomes ever so important. As this blog post explores, interactive experiences are a force to be reckoned with, too. So much so that any digital marketing course today will include real-time engagement and Metaverse integration modules in its bundle – signalling an entirely new frontier where art and commerce meet.
What Is Real-Time Animation?
In the simplest terms, real-time animation is the process of rendering and displaying animated content instantly, as it is generated. Traditional animation processes require drawing or creating each frame with great precision, setting up paints and backgrounds that exactly match the drawings of that frame, arranging an object in position, and then photographing them over a period of hours or days; however, real-time animation happens dynamically by means of user inputs or system changes.
This innovation has mostly been driven by powerful software like Unreal Engine and Unity, which allow creators to design complex environments where light, motion, and textures are all evolving live on the screen. What was once considered a privilege of high-budget gaming has now become available for virtual concerts, brand storytelling, and immersive training experiences.
With real-time animation, creativity knows no bounds. Artists can experiment with concepts instantaneously, narrative arcs can be sculpted in response to audience feedback, and they can craft truly living environments. It is not just about speed; it is adaptability. And in a world where attention spans are shrinking and personalisation is prized, that flexibility is a game changer.
Brand Collaborations Fuelling the Movement
Fig. 2 - An immersive virtual experience within Nike’s 'NIKELAND' on Roblox, showcasing customisable avatars and interactive mini-games that let players engage with Nike’s world in real time.
In the expanding Metaverse, world brands are no longer spectators—they are hiring artists and creators to design engaging experiences that bring their brands to life in new, bold ways. These projects represent a paradigm shift where story goes spatial, social, and deeply immersive. Examples include:
Nike’s “NIKELAND” on Roblox transformed brand engagement into play. Users could customise avatars with Nike gear and compete in branded mini-games, bridging the gap between sport and social gaming (Fig. 2).
Gucci’s “Gucci Garden” offered a surreal digital installation where visitors explored themed rooms reflecting Gucci’s collections—merging fashion with art in a virtual gallery experience.
Wendy's Fortnite activation, which consisted of breaking open freezers to spurn frozen beef, became a cultural moment—winning a Cannes Lions award and demonstrating how brand values can be brought to life using real-time platforms.
Tools Empowering the Metaverse Artist
For Metaverse creators, artistic freedom might start with having the appropriate tools. The capabilities of the following software mean that not only can digital environments facilitate real-time rendering and interactivity, but such programmes also cater to collaborative, cross-platform narrative creation that evolves as fast as people’s expectations:
Blender – A free, open-source collection of tools for 3D modelling, sculpting, and animation that has become indispensable for independent creators and industry professionals alike.
Unreal Engine 5 – Enables creators to craft rich, interactive worlds of lifelike detail and dynamic lighting that pull users into the scene.
Ready Player Me – Not just an avatar creator, this platform enables users to build characters that can move seamlessly from one digital place to another. It’s transforming the way we approach identity in the Metaverse—placing self-expression squarely at the centre of every experience.
Today’s artists are not merely creating behind screens; they’re creating whole universes—live, breathing, and waiting to be discovered.
Challenges in Real-Time World Creation
The learning curve – Learning to work with tools such as Unreal Engine and Blender is not straightforward. They are highly capable, but there is a lot to master, and it may take months or years to fully get the hang of them.
Fragmented platforms – Another area of frustration for creators is that there is not a standard way of doing things on all of the various Metaverse platforms. What you do on one might not work on another, and this makes it more difficult to be creative than it should be.
The costs – To be able to build in real time, you must have high-capacity equipment and high-end software. Not everyone has access to high-end hardware, which creates an uneven playing field for individual creators.
Ownership and rights – As NFTs exploded onto the scene, there is confusion over ownership. As creators of these incredible virtual realities, the artists remain unclear about ownership laws, and keeping track of intellectual property is tricky.
Environmental impact – Real-time rendering and blockchain technology do consume a huge amount of power, which has raised questions about the environmental cost. As digital worlds expand, so does unease about their sustainability (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 - The image depicts the various factors influencing the creation of real-time digital environments, focusing on the complexities and considerations that impact the development process in immersive virtual spaces.
Conclusion: Where Art Meets Real-Time Imagination
Looking to the future, the artist's role has changed utterly within the most recent of digital revolutions. What was once limited to traditional media is now an interactive, real-time experience. Contemporary artists are defining how we play, learn, buy, and socialise in virtual environments, creating interactive worlds that involve us in a way we never have before. The Metaverse is not a fad—it's an entirely new way of experiencing creativity. The marriage of technology and art is redefining the storytelling tradition, and its effects will ripple across several culture, media, and creative industries.
It is important for designers, marketers, and tech professionals to stay abreast of these changes. As digital marketing continues to evolve, knowing how to maximise content within these immersive environments will be a necessity. Anyone seeking an edge could possibly take an SEO course in India to improve mastery of the combination of digital footprint and virtual environments. The Metaverse is pointing the way for a new phase of creativity, and it's an area where we should be paying close attention.
**Article published: June 13, 2025**
Biography
Nikita Saraf is a digital marketing professional at BIA and an MBA graduate in Marketing. With a passion for emerging industry trends, she enjoys crafting strategies that resonate—and unwinds by diving into fiction novels during her downtime. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-saraf-76508a206/.