PRODUCTION/POST
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION: THE FUTURE
what we, at disguise, are aiming to resolve by synchronising the camera and camera tracking systems, LEDs, media servers and capture capabilities through our Extended Reality (xR) workflow and get them all to work together reliably, repeatedly and at scale,” he adds. “Suitable cameras need to accept
genlock, which can restrict choice, particularly for those filming on a budget,” says McKenna. “Having more automated communications between LED processing, Sync Gen and cameras could save time on set and give greater freedom to shoot at different frame rates on the fly.” “In the camera/capture space, an
end-to-end production data pipeline is still something I think could be greatly improved, including camera tracking, sync with the display, lens information, and more standards in general in how we’re compiling important data,” says Perkins. “And some of this can also factor into latency issues, which we’ve been able to dramatically improve. We’re looking at ways to improve scalable workflows to give the larger content creators more confidence in scaling up both in complexity and shot numbers, knowing that the production data is appropriately captured and
72
televisual.com Winter 2021
tracked. That said, I think there’s still plenty of room for more improvement to the data flow, both for production and to continue to shave frames off of latency.”
Colour conundrum “Every digital film camera in the world
records colours slightly differently, depending on the sensor, hardware and software they use,” says Plowman. “Content creation tools - producing image and movie assets - all produce output in different colour spaces in a variety of file formats. The colours on the LED wall where the content is displayed can slightly change depending on your point of observation. Then you’re introducing physical set items as well, like people and objects in the real world, which are lit by physical lighting. Hence the need for standardisation. The disguise Designer software
comes fully integrated with the ACES colour management pipeline, “allowing for full-colour control while unlocking the potential of all colour sources, whether it is pre-rendered, live camera or video streams from content engines”, says Plowman. “You have to know that the content being created is colour accurate not
only in the digital space but also that it’s colour accurate with the physical components of your set because the physical and virtual must be seamless,” says Perkins. “When we start getting into some of the limited colour ranges inherent in the current state of the art on LED stages, it becomes even more important. This even extends to clearly understanding signal flow, making sure you’re tracking exactly where any LUTs or colour profiles are being added or updated. At Epic we’re prioritising support for OpenColorIO in Unreal Engine, something critical for consistency from content creation all the way through to the final pixel.”
Democratisation for the
virtual nation “We’re committed to breaking down the barrier of entry to this revolutionary workflow,” says Plowman. “We have just come out of a UK Government- funded research project, that allowed us to devel-op our xR workflow into a more integrated, comprehensive solution for virtual production that is scalable to any production size and technical needs. This, paired with our commitment to offering free access to our software platform and our free eLearning platform covering all
disguise workflows, will allow us to make virtual production even more accessible.” Recently announced, the Final
Pixel Academy will run courses at all levels across the virtual produc- tion workflow, including creating Unreal environments optimised for virtual production and teaching the skills needed for an on-set virtual production crew. Perkins says Epic is already
seeing results from a significant focus on training and education. “Cur- rently most components of virtual production are readily available for anyone wanting to employ them,” he adds. “Unreal Engine is free, Quixel assets are free, and you can go into the Unreal Marketplace and buy things for very little, allowing filmmakers to pull from existing libraries to create the worlds they want to tell stories in.” “These workflows should
evolve to be accessible to as many filmmakers as possible to allow them to tell new stories and create new creative challenges for us to tackle,” says Alexander. “The hope is we are continuing to move towards a place where the time between creative ideation and execution is shorter than ever.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
