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Glassbox Technologies Releases DragonFly 3.0

Updates to the cross-platform virtual camera solution include more seamless integration and support of Unreal Engine 5; new features streamline the creative workflow and accelerate the virtual production pipeline. 

Glassbox Technologies has released DragonFly 3.0, an upgrade to its professional, cross-platform virtual camera solution. New features streamline the creative workflow while accelerating the virtual production pipeline. 

“Virtual production can be a very resource intensive, technical process, which was one of the biggest issues preventing its widespread adoption,” commented Glassbox Technologies CEO Norman Wang. “Our aim with DragonFly 3.0 was to simplify as many time-consuming tasks as possible and ensure a more creative true-to-life camera experience, that makes it easier than ever for both creative and technology teams to get to the final shot, fast.”

Check out what’s new:

True-to-Life Camera Simulation

New camera and lens simulations resemble real-world scenarios, and the dedicated rendering pipeline integrates with Unreal Engine’s standard viewport rendering. Reproduce physical cameras and lenses virtually, from lens distortion and anamorphic lenses to the exact ISO, shutter speed, frame rate, ND filter strength, and aperture. The new editor window to modify “Profiles,” allows users to control image resolution and color space output, live, on the camera view, or via a checkerboard, achieving a true-to-life-look.

Mixed-reality Simulcam Mode

The virtual camera has been made more versatile with “Simulcam” capabilities for real-time compositing. With seamless on-set visualization, DragonFly's new Simulcam model overlays Unreal Engine scenes with live-action media plates simultaneously, letting directors preview CG and live performances immediately. DragonFly Simulcam is enhanced by a 1-click timecode and Genlock set up, visual status troubleshooting indicators, and native support for the new VIVE Mars CamTrack.

Edit Takes After Shooting

The Review Mode now allows users to change the starting frame or camera settings for already recorded takes. Users can modify the starting frame of camera moves relative to the animation sequence, or even change the whole look of a take by switching to a different camera, lens, and output format. Combining these capabilities gives users a more flexible and efficient Take Editing workflow for iterating on their DragonFly virtual camera shoots.

Time-saving Viewport Recording

Save time when working outside of Unreal Engine with DragonFly 3.0’s new Viewport recording capabilities. Viewport Recording lets users adapt the DragonFly workflow to suit their needs by providing a way to have final renders available as an MP4 file, immediately, without needing to render out camera animation sequences from Unreal as a separate step.

Simplified File Management

Large recording directories can be more easily managed and integrated with downstream production pipelines. The upgrade simplifies the automated recording naming convention, storing recording files with Shot Name Meta Data as a clear-text filename, and automatically creating JSON files containing metadata for the respective shot.

Watch Introducing DragonFly 3.0:

Additional information is available here.

Source: Glassbox Technologies

Debbie Diamond Sarto's picture

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.