In nuce: Assimilate and Notch have announced that they are further strengthening their professional partnership. This is according to a recent press release. The aim of the partnership is to offer users even better solutions for virtual production workflows – whether based on green screens or with the support of LED walls. Assimilate is a developer of on-set and post-production solutions in the software segment. Notch is described as a tool that simplifies the creation of moving images in live situations.

In toto: Assimilate’s product portfolio now also supports notch block 3D environments. The Assimilate products affected by the support are: Live FX Studio (Virtual Production Compositor), Live FX and Scratch (both finishing suites). In addition, NotchLC, the GPU-accelerated video codec from Notch, is now natively supported – for both encoding and decoding (Digital Production reported on 24/08/2022). Version 9.5 of NotchLC was recently released. According to the same press release, the support of NotchLC offers for the first time: colour and metadata-accurate quality control, mastering and transcoding. According to the developer information, both software solutions (Notch Builder and Assimilate Live FX Studio) are artist-orientated – instead of being geared towards the needs of programmers. This should make it easy for artists to use. By the way: Users can also use Scratch to perform quality control.

What does Notch Builder do for users? The press release goes on to say that Notch Builder allows artists to quickly create elaborate 3D environments – and then export this 3D scene as a notch block or upload it to Assimilate Live FX. Assmilate Live FX then allows live compositing to be carried out in the green screen or environments to be thrown onto LED flips. Notch Blocks will now enable artists to create Previz and Final Pixe composites – in real time. According to the developer, users will be able to control lighting, virtual TV inputs, the position of objects or the orientation of virtual cameras. The press release includes an enthusiastic statement from Assimilate CEO Jeff Edson, who predicts increased creativity and productivity for artists thanks to the partnership. Notch co-founder Luke Malcolm describes the partnership as an important step towards further advancing professional work on the virtual film set.

NotchLC in practice: The press release describes a real-life application example in which Leo Lovera, owner of the finishing studio Moving Forward Studios, describes his experience with LotchLC. Leo says: “On a recent project, we had to deliver five different 15-minute clips in different resolutions from 1.2K to 4K. These clips needed to be uploaded to a media server. Thanks to the native NotchLC encoder in Assimilate Scratch, me and my team were able to render these clips three to five times in real time.” Leo also explains that the project was a synchronised multiscreen event, which makes the use case even more impressive.

Clicked further: Try Assimilate together with Notch – via register.assimilateinc.com. In the video below, Mazze Aderhold (from Assimilate) and Thomas Peters (from Brompton Technology) demonstrate how a setup with 3D Notch Block and an LED wall can look. For the professional handling of notch blocks in the context of virtual production, post-production and quality control, Assimilate has provided a four-part video tutorial consisting of the parts Live FX Studio: Virtual Production with Notch Blocks, Scratch & Notch Blocks, Scratch & Notch Block QC and Playout and Scratch & NotchLC Mastering and Transcoding. Interested parties can also find these linked below.

Frame Remapping technology with Brompton and Live FX

Live FX Studio: Virtual Production with Notch Blocks

The post NotchLC is now natively supported in Assimilate! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Assimilate has announced that the two software packages Live FX and Live FX Studio are now available. According to a recent press release, the two packages should be particularly useful for real-time compositing, whether for green screen or virtual production films. Furthermore, the software package is intended to simplify pre-visualisation on the one hand, and on the other hand also simplify VFXs that are created directly in the camera. Those who opt for Live FX or Live FX Studio can look forward to noticeable time and cost savings, as Assimilate puts it. Jeff Edson, CEO of Assimilate, emphasises how important the open beta for Live FX was for the further development of the software.

What’s inside Live FX and Live FX Studio? Below is a brief outline of what users can expect from the two software solutions.

Live FX is primarilyaimed at independent filmmakers who work with green screen. Live FX is designed to enable these creatives to create entire 3D environments in real time and supports camera tracking-based green screen setups (e.g. Intel RealSense, HTC Vive, or Stereolabs ZED2i). The generic FreeD protocol and Open Sound Control are also supported – which captures camera tracking information.

Live FX Studio is a further development of Live FX. With Live FX Studio, users can utilise 3D environments directly in the application – via notch blocks and scenes in USD format. Complex camera tracking solutions such as Ncam or Mo-Sys are also supported. Another feature is multicam support – including remote control of Brompton Tessera LED processors and video router control for AJA and Blackmagic routers.

Click further: All further information on Live FX and Live FX Studio.

The post Assimilate releases Live FX and Live FX Studio first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: In a study worth reading, the Animation Institute of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg reports on virtual production – and how it can be used to realise sustainable film projects. The title of the paper is “Green Screens, Green Pixels and Green Shooting”, outlining in four informative pages how modern film productions can focus on sustainability.

Research question of the study: Can VFXs be produced more sustainably thanks to new technologies? To answer this question, the authors of the study contrasted two comparable productions: A traditional offline post-production and a virtual production with an LED wall.

The initial situation: According to the study, several recent reports show how conventional film productions affect the environment. The average CO₂ requirement of current feature film productions is estimated at 2840 tonnes. However, according to the study, visual effects and their impact were not taken into account. The Animationsinstitut study is primarily based on the Screen New Deal.

Comparing two approaches: As knowledge about the sustainability of virtual productions is currently thin on the ground, the authors of the study decided to compare two different approaches to film production: A production with commercially available offline rendering and industry-standard post-production, contrasted with a production with LED walls and in-camera visual effects (ICVFX).

Object of the comparison: In order to investigate the environmental impact of a film production, two Filmakademie productions were compared with each other: the offline production “Sprout” (2019) and the virtual production “Awakening” (2021). “Awakening” was part of a set extension workshop for Film Academy students, in which students get to know the different film departments.

Turning the focus – and the wheel of time? Will blue and green screen soon be a thing of the past in terms of production technology?

Production No. 1 – offline production “Sprout”: In this production, most of the energy consumption was used for offline rendering and post-production. Here, the traditional green screen was used in post-production. The study states: “The studio shots were realised in two days. The production comprised eight shots with a total of 3233 frames, including VFX.” It goes on to say: “The average render time was between 40 minutes and up to two hours.”

How much (wo)manpower was required for “Sprout”? The study says that the pre-production of “Sprout” took 100 man-days (eight hours per day), while the subsequent post-production was completed within 300 man-days. A person-day is made up of eight person-hours. The so-called person-hour measures the average performance of a person within one hour. A total of five students were involved in pre- and post-production.

How much electricity was consumed during offline production? All in all, “Sprout” consumed a total of 5073 kilowatt hours of electricity, 4% of which came from pre-production, 13% from post-production, 79% from offline rendering and 4% from the electricity required for the displays.

Sprout (2020) | VFX Breakdown

Production No. 2 – LED wall production “Awakening”: Instead of the frequently encountered green screens, “Awakening” used curved LED walls as part of a virtual production. The authors of the study measured “Awakening” with eight shots, which totalled 8898 individual images. In terms of workload, seven students were involved in the pre-production for five weeks, and six students were responsible for the post-production for a period of five weeks.

How big was the (wo)manpower of “Awakening”? Six people were involved in post-production for five weeks, resulting in a consumption of 504 kWh. The authors point out that one might have expected a lower figure for ICVFX, as it is generally understood that in-camera visual effects are those that are recorded on set and do not subsequently require post-production.

How high was the power consumption of the LED wall production? The authors of the study estimate the total power consumption for the LED wall production at 1594 kilowatt hours, of which 37 % was used for pre-production, 31 % for post-production, 10 % for the displays, 19 % for the LED wall, 1 % for LED wall rendering and 2 % for offline rendering.

In their conclusion, the authors of the study came to the conclusion that a virtual production can consume around three times less energy than an offline rendered production. The authors therefore consider virtual production to be a sustainable and environmentally conscious production technique. However, the authors emphasise that they are not giving a clear vote in favour of virtual production, as it is “not a solution for all aspects of film production”. At the same time, however, it should be seen as a valuable option that presents environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions.

Click further: You can read the entire study in either German or English. Click on the links to find out more about the Film Academy, its animation institute and its research activities. Prospective students can find out everything they need to know about the Ludwigsburg university’s training programme in our article “Filmakademie: Auf zum Studenten-Oscar?”, printed in the print edition DP 03 : 2021.

The post The Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg researches sustainable filmmaking first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

Depending on the set location, the ideal illumination of a green screen requires more or less sensitivity and sophisticated lighting technology – which doesn’t even have to be expensive, but must be used intelligently. A staked-out indoor set with a filigree focus object as a placeholder for a possible protagonist serves as an example backdrop. The aim is to illuminate the green screen as ideally as possible around the protagonist’s stand-in and, in the best possible case, to illuminate the entire green screen – even around the curve – in an ideal way. In the event that the protagonist moves and the camera follows with a dolly or a camera pan. The sample devices tested were equipped with iOS.

Intuitive operation

When the app is started – regardless of whether iPhone or iPad – the camera on the back is accessed by default. The set appears in grey with a few green areas. The placeholder is visible in the centre. The resolution of the set varies depending on the device, so it is advisable to use the latest devices that have high-resolution cameras. Firstly, we recommend taking a look at the screen and, of course, at the setting options that the user can influence to improve the key.

At the top of the screen is a menu bar with four selection modes. Users can change the cameras on the respective device, i.e. switch from back to front mode. The latter is a great advantage if the lighting control unit is further away or there are only two people on set and no placeholder is available. This allows two set employees to adjust the studio lighting. There is also the option to mirror the active video signal of the respective camera horizontally or vertically. There is also a menu bar at the bottom of the screen with just under two handfuls of selection options. The possible quality settings are lined up on the left. There are three modes in total, ranging from Low to Mid and High.

Directly next to this are the possible channels to which the key is to be applied. These include the classic RBG channels and a pure brightness channel Y, the luminance. It is also possible to define a focus target using the neighbouring button called “Target”. Next to this is a button for automatically determining the brightness ranges. If a specific brightness range has been selected, an auto-exposure lock can be set and the brightness band is displayed.

Simple handling

During our test, two set employees were available for the accurate light setting of the set. One operated the respective iOS device, the second the light control panel. The first step consisted of illuminating the green screen according to the best possible visibility, strategically positioning the available light sources and setting a basic brightness. One of the available tripods, which was available for other equipment, was used as a placeholder. The work began by taking different positions from the front of the A-unit camera and setting the desired quality. The quality is concerned with the representation of visible or recognised light frequency bands. Low corresponds to 2-stops, medium to 1-stop and high to ½-stop. Depending on the setting, more bands are displayed accordingly.

The first test was carried out with the Low setting and immediately showed a result that required very little correction. Only one spotlight on the far right had to be adjusted upwards in terms of intensity until the green screen was virtually ideally lit for chroma keying. This was based on the channel setting for the green colour channel.

The second test run examined the Medium quality setting, which displays significantly more bands than the Low setting. From now on, the fine tuning began. Any frequency band can be selected at the touch of a finger, and all the same brightness values are displayed with the colour of the underlying or selected channel. Significantly more improvements were needed at this point. Instead of adjusting the brightness of just one spotlight, the spotlights now had to be rotated favourably for ideal, comprehensive illumination. The app works extremely accurately for the fact that it is an app for consumer devices. Detail-loving film-makers and perfectionists may get lost in the fine-tuning, as the High setting for a consumer device measures the amount of light in the reflection very accurately.

The second test example took considerably longer than the low quality setting. Nevertheless, the chroma key was acceptable in the low range. Problems occurred with fine strands of hair and small protruding hairs within a close-up shot. Close-ups should always be measured at the highest possible quality level. And in this case, only the green screen directly around the protagonist was illuminated very cleanly, as the lighting system would have required twice as many spotlights for fine illumination over the entire area. Medium mode was selected for the entire illumination of the stationary green screen area, which made it easier to quickly obtain a suitable lighting setup.

If a specific brightness band is marked as the desired band by clicking on it, the brightness level can be fixed. This makes work much easier if person 1 systematically runs the green screen and person 2 controls the lighting system. Control means adjusting the brightness and fine-tuning the beam angle.

Rating: Highly recommended

The conclusion of the test scenarios is consistently positive. There is hardly anything to criticise. Of course, there were points that were not always entirely satisfactory, but these had more to do with the underlying hardware. As mentioned at the beginning, new devices should be used that have excellent visuals, good computing power and a larger screen. The app made an extremely good impression on tablets. Mini smartphones can be used, but working with the app is more fun and allows for better fine-tuning with larger devices.

There is one small drawback – which can also be seen as positive. Perfectionists will really enjoy the app, but the quick light setting can also turn into a symbolic Ravensburger light puzzle in no time at all. However, with a good deal of turning experience, good lighting should be set up in a perfectly acceptable time frame.

One point that was also negative was the price difference between Android and iOS. In short: Apple users pay a little more. However, the evaluation of the price difference has nothing to do with the function of the app and is therefore not evaluated in more detail. All in all, the Green Screener is a solid app and should not be missing from the digital repertoire of filmmakers.

The post Helper for ideal green screen lighting first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Uli Plank.