Virtual Production
Trilogy Studios was developed as a cutting-edge virtual production facility designed to support film, television, automotive, commercial, and branded content creation. Rather than building a single LED volume, the team behind Trilogy Studios envisioned a comprehensive, multistage environment that would provide content creators with the flexibility to produce a wide range of projects within a controlled and highly immersive production space.
To bring this vision to life, Trilogy Studios partnered with virtual production systems integrator
LED panels are a key component of the LED volume walls that form the backdrop for virtual production, an increasingly popular technique used in feature film and television production. This emerging technology enables productions to recreate the look of fictional worlds, far-flung or difficult-to-access locations, or multiple real-world sites in the controlled, safer, and more comfortable environs of a soundstage. Crucial specs to look for in an LED panel include a low pixel pitch of <3mm (high-density pixel count), high brightness levels,
Lighting hasn't really changed in the past few decades. Sure, new fixtures, faster cameras and lenses, and shooting styles may change, but the essence of lighting really hasn't changed. The look of the scene is still driven by the DP and still created by the lighting designer; it is still all about ratios, and no matter how technology advances, lighting is a powerful tool for putting realism and drama on screen.
What Is Image-Based Lighting?
Simply put, image-based lighting (IBL) is using lighting fixtures to mimic the effects of natural
Your virtual production (VP) system isn't just playing back high-resolution video in the background. To work as believable 3D your system must be able to render in real-time and in high frame rate realistic 3D environments. To create and playback these environments you need creation software.
What Is Unreal Engine?
Simply put, it is an advanced real-time creation tool that powers your virtual production. It is based on 3D computer graphics gaming engine, and I remember playing Unreal as a multiplayer first-person shooter game, way back in the
The goal of this article is to provide you with an introduction to motion capture, its uses and requirements. As with any journey, it begins with the first few steps.
Motion Capture (MOCAP)
MOCAP is the process of recording high-resolution movement of objects or people and capturing it into a computer system. It has numerous applications, including military, sports, medical, and, of course, for entertainment. While you could trace the roots of motion capture all the way back to the seminal motion capture experiments like Muybridge’s exposures
Virtual production (VP) is a professional video technique that combines live-action footage with computer-generated imagery (CGI) in real time. Virtual production typically happens on “volume” stages where seamless interlocked LED panels display rendered photo-real backdrops that change and adapt as the camera moves. This creates impressive in-camera virtual effects (ICVFX) that require little to no post-production work. Let’s jump into the exciting capabilities of
On-set virtual production (OSVP) is the real-time mixing of live-action footage with computer-generated imagery to create amazing in-camera visual effects (ICVFX). These days, most OSVP happens on a volume, a studio space with seamless LED panels (or cabinets, as they’re known in OSVP) grouped together to display rendered images that are then captured live in-camera alongside human talent. These cabinet configurations can be as simple as a flat backdrop stacked from the ground up, and as complicated as a full curved 360° wrap hung from trusses
With all the time and effort it takes to set up a virtual production volume, it’s vitally important to schedule regular maintenance on your LED panels to ensure they stay clean, calibrated, and ready to be used at a moment’s notice. Knowing how best to repair, store, and transport cabinets is also an important part of lengthening the lifespan of these hefty investments. The number one resource is always going to be the documentation that came with your OSVP panels, whether that be a manual, an online database, manufacturer best practices, or
Optimal imaging for virtual production (VP) requires certain camera functions that are not integral to all video cameras. A global shutter (or fast readout speeds), genlock capability, and timecode input are key factors to look for when selecting a camera for your VP video capture. Let’s review these specifications and highlight several cameras that incorporate these key specs.
Global Shutter Sensor
Most video cameras are designed with a “rolling” shutter that successively scans each row of photosites (the physical embodiments of pixels) on
A media server is a key step in the on-set virtual production (OSVP) pipeline, sending assets like background plates, LUTs, and tracking data over a network so that they can be used to create unique real time in-camera virtual effects (ICVFX). Whether it be a rendered set from Unreal Engine or an uncompressed prerecorded background plate, the media server is what stores and transmits these virtual pieces to the LED walls and processors. Let's dive deeper into what these servers do.
What's Important in a Media Server?
Media servers for virtual
XR (Extended Reality) and VP (Virtual Production) are two terms you’ll hear used to describe professional video capture on special stages equipped with LED volume wall backgrounds. In consultation with the experts in The Studio B&H, here we review the components needed to set up an XR stage and break down some of the specifics of this VP capture technique.
Extended Reality vs. Virtual Production
XR and VP stages both use
Large-scale LED signage display walls have been a boon for retailers, sports broadcasts, and live events, providing clear viewing and immediate content updates. The LED volume walls used for OSVP (On-Set Virtual Production) take these massive displays a step further, upping multiple specs to produce stunningly lifelike, high-resolution video that serves as an immersive backdrop for capturing live talent and creating
This article is an introduction to virtual production using photogrammetry and lidar. In this article I will discuss what photogrammetry is, and how advances in lidar scanning allow you to use it in pre-viz as well as production.
What Is Photogrammetry?
Simply put photogrammetry is the process of creating a 3D image, or gleaning 3D information about a location from 2D images. Essentially you use a series of 2D images to create a 3D “map” of a surface, area, or room.
Why Use Photogrammetry?
Photogrammetry enables you to make realistic and
Sony has announced their first ever camera tracking system, the OCELLUS (ASR-CT1), which consists of a sensor unit, processing box, and three lens encoders. The system can be used with a wide variety of cinema and broadcast cameras, providing marker-free tracking through a host of infrared LED sensors. The captured tracking data can help with virtual productions, augmented reality overlays, on-set compositing, post-
