Working from just a single day on-stage with an LED wall, the studio’s virtual production harnessed Unreal Engine to create an expansive world for the battle between good and evil in a style reminiscent of iconic tales from the film and gaming realm.
Production VFX supervisor Grady Cofer and Co-Production Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel discuss how the most recent season of Lucasfilm and Disney+’s hit series – nominated for an Outstanding Visual Effects Emmy - took advantage of new digital tools and processes to better plan and capture more realistic acting performances in-camera, as well as animate their integration with CG characters and sequences.
The award-winning VFX studio’s team, led by Connor Ling and Freddy Salazar, created tools integrated with Unreal Engine 5.1 to render and project realistic backgrounds onto an LED wall using 18 different machines with dual GPUs, for the Netflix series about an ocean liner diverted to answer a distress signal from a long-lost sister ship.
Visual Effects Supervisor Jay Worth talks about the HBO sci-fi thriller’s fourth – and final – season, and his long tenure on the show, which set a new high production value bar for streaming series.
PXO and William F. White International’s Vancouver virtual production stage, at 22,000 square foot - 80 ft x 27 ft 6 in, lined with 2,500 LED wall panels and 760 LED ceiling panels – has been confirmed as the largest such facility in the world.
With the conference starting next Tuesday, a final selection of new program highlights includes a showcase of an LED Wall and Unreal Engine in a virtual production stage, ‘Real vs. Unreal’ real-time graphics panel, and The World to Come - A look ahead at Metaverse.’
Epic Games teamed with filmmaker collective Bullitt to put the upcoming Unreal Engine 4.27 in-camera VFX tools to the test; watch their short film, plus a behind-the-scenes featurette exploring the tremendous impact of these new virtual production tools.
Free online event to showcase innovations in virtual production, including a panel of industry executives discussing game changing technology; the use of Unreal Engine to bring new creatures to life in film; real-time workflow for episodic animation; and a sneak peek of production tools coming later this year to Unreal Engine 4.26.
New service, based in New Zealand, brings together LED live stage expertise and real-time game engine-based workflows to expand what can be done safely and creatively on set.
