The latest update to Nuke Stage stays with the preview: real-time playback of photoreal environments on LED walls, plus live compositing tools that shoulkd feel familiar to artists. The tool targets virtual production and in camera visual effects (ICVFX), with a workflow designed to keep VFX artists in creative control on set.

The core stays high-resolution playback for 2D and 2.5D environments, with EXR as the playback format and USD used for 3D geometry. Live compositing comes from a set of Nuke nodes rewritten for real-time performance, so operators can blend the on-set environment with the physical build and manage the relationship between camera and screen.

The practical takeaway: this is not a game engine project that happens to output to a wall. It is a VFX-flavoured playback and live comp system that tries to keep your pipeline language intact.

The parts you actually run on set

Foundry built a three part architecture: an editor where the operator works, a headless networking relay, and render nodes that run on each machine driving the wall. A launcher defines where those processes run and can start them across a larger stage, then the editor connects to the relay and render nodes and reports cluster health.

A typical topology puts the editor and relay on the control machine, distributes renders to the render nodes, then sends images to the wall. The setup flow walks through networking first, then hardware outputs and physical displays, then display mapping, and then cameras and tracking. Configurations can be exported and imported so teams do not have to repeat the same stage setup every day. Unless they want to. But in general, that is the unglamorous part of virtual production that still decides whether you shoot before lunch or after dinner.

Metadata Vault: your future self says thanks

The headline feature is metadata capture via a Vault that records on-set decisions for handoff into post. The Nuke Stage supports logging scene data, camera tracking, lens metadata, timecode, scene settings, and colour decisions. The Vault documentation also describes two capture workflows: Snapshots for a point-in-time save, and Take Record, which creates a camera USD file between defined start and end points.

If you have ever tried to reproduce a wall look from a vague note like “match take three but slightly warmer with some *Ooompf* “, this aims to make the record concrete. It will not fix bad habits, but it can at least preserve what you actually did on set.

NotchLC and EXR playback, plus a faster sequencer loop

On the playback side, the feature list now includes native support for NotchLC and B44 EXR for high-resolution background playback. There is a drag-and-drop sequencer panel, one-click keyframing, and editing and interpolation tools for timing changes.

In the operator view, the track-based sequencer remains central. Content created in Nuke can be staged over time, keyframed, and adjusted live for collaborative iteration with the on-set team.

USD scenes and splats, now aimed at the wall

Nuke Stage supports importing OpenUSD scenes that can be edited and overridden for real-time blending of virtual and physical sets. For file and colour standards, the tool lists OpenEXR and OpenColorIO alongside ACEScg support via ACES. It also claims support for HDR and a color pipeline intended to carry creative decisions from set into post.

For scene representations, the tool now highlights importing and controlling Gaussian Splats for high fidelity 3D scenes, alongside standard USD geometry. In the broader ecosystem, Foundry also shipped Gaussian Splat support in Nuke and built a USD based 3D system in there too, which positions splats and USD as shared data types across stage and post.

Standard hardware, scaling, and the usual fine print

The product page repeats the goal of running on commodity hardware without specialist media servers or bespoke equipment, and scaling across render node clusters. It frames this as cost and setup-time control and as a way to make stages repeatable.

Pricing is not specified in the sources. The product page offers a register your interest contact flow.

New tools and innovations should be tested before use in production, especially anything that touches playback codecs, cluster timing, genlock, tracking inputs, and colour consistency. Run your own worst-case plate, your own camera tracking feed, and your own handoff into post before you bet a shoot day on it.

https://www.foundry.com/products/nuke-stage

The post Foundry expands Nuke Stage for LED walls first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who do not know the tool: Flow Studio is Autodesk’s current platform for AI-assisted character work and live-action integration, which was previously called Wonder Studio. In production terms, it sits somewhere between character generation, animation, and shot finishing. The idea is to let users bring CG characters into live-action footage with less manual prep than a conventional VFX workflow usually demands.

Autodesk has added AI Rigging and Neural Layer to Flow Studio, pushing the platform further from AI-assisted asset work toward a broader character performance pipeline. AI Rigging is available across all tiers, while Neural Layer is limited to paid tiers. Both features are used within Live Action projects and are meant to reduce the amount of technical wrestling required between “nice model” and “usable shot.”

That gap is where many AI workflows become oddly quiet (And it is a serious challenge not to link three dozen “AI driven startups” that are flodding our inboxes…) . Generating a 3D asset is relatively easy. Turning it into something that can move, light well, hold up in a close-up, and survive a handoff to the rest of the pipeline is where the actual labor starts charging rent.

Autodesk’s answer is to bundle rigging, motion transfer, neural enhancement, and export into a single workflow that promises speed without removing artist control. As usual, the practical question is not whether it works in a launch demo, but how much cleanup it causes five minutes later.

AI Rigging: automated setup for 3D characters

According to Autodesk, AI Rigging automates one of the more technical parts of character production by preparing 3D characters for animation with minimal setup. The company says users can turn 3D models into animation-ready characters in minutes rather than building or refining rigs manually through a traditional setup process.

Autodesk also says the resulting characters can be driven directly from video inputs, positioning the feature as a bridge between static 3D assets and motion-driven character performance. Once prepared, rigged assets can be exported to Maya, Blender, and Unreal for more advanced downstream work. Autodesk is making AI Rigging available across all tiers of Flow Studio.

Neural Layer: a neural rendering and enhancement stage

Neural Layer is Autodesk’s new rendering and enhancement component inside Flow Studio. While AI Rigging is aimed at character preparation and motion, Neural Layer is aimed at the look of the result. Autodesk describes it as a “faster and more accessible way” to push characters closer to cinematic output without having to leave the platform immediately.

The feature is intended to enhance realistic skin, hair, fur, and materials, while also adding more dynamic film-style lighting. Autodesk further says Neural Layer supports nuanced facial performance and micro-expressions, more grounded motion through improved AI mocap, and natural physics, cloth simulation, and compositing. Neural Layer is available only in the paid tiers of Flow Studio.

From asset generation to performance

Autodesk presents this release as the next step after Wonder 3D, shifting from static character creation toward animated performances. That matters because it changes how Flow Studio should be read in a production context. The platform is no longer being pitched mainly as a tool for generating a character asset or dropping a CG character into footage. It is increasingly becoming a character performance system that tries to cover more of the route from concept to finished shot in one place.

The company says users can still export scenes to their preferred DCC tools for manual refinement, or stay inside Flow Studio and use Neural Layer to accelerate the process. Autodesk wants the product to appeal both to experienced artists who still want Maya, Blender, or Unreal in the loop, and to users with less 3D experience who want a faster route to a somewhat polished result. Whether that balance holds up under production pressure is another matter, but at least the escape hatch is there.

Still, the technical direction is clear. Flow Studio now combines AI-assisted character preparation, video-driven animation, neural visual enhancement, and export to standard downstream tools in one package. For smaller teams and fast-turnaround productions, that is useful. For larger facilities, the more relevant questions remain the boring ones, which is usually a good sign: rig quality, cleanup time, motion consistency, interoperability, and how controllable the neural stage remains once a sequence stops.

Autodesk Flow Studio

The post Autodesk Flow Studio adds AI Rigging and Neural Layer for character workflows first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who do not know the tool: There is not much legacy history to unpack here, because Open Light is new. The more relevant context is the developer: Borja Rama is a lighting artist with feature and episodic credits including Spellbound, The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones and Carnival Row. That background suggests the tool was built from actual production irritation, which is usually a better starting point than “we disrupted light.”

Open Light is a small release with suspiciously practical ambitions. Instead of digging through old folders full of “final_light_v7_realfinal_02”, the standalone app generates HDR light textures procedurally, including softboxes, beauty dishes, gobos, Kino Flos and similar source patterns for lighting setups. According to Borja Rama, the tool came out of a very familiar problem: needing custom light textures and getting tired of hunting for them.

The useful part is that Open Light is not just a freebie texture pack with good intentions. It exposes controls for shape, falloff, surface imperfections, gels and grids, then exports the result as production-ready maps. Supported output formats include 32-bit EXR and HDR, with exports up to 4096 by 4096 pixels. Color space options include sRGB Linear and ACEScg.

Rama also lists 87 simulated Lee and Rosco gels, along with controls designed to mimic various real-world source characteristics. That makes Open Light potentially useful beyond straight lookdev. It could fit into compositing, product viz, motion design, virtual production tests, or any scene where a generic white rectangle is technically correct but spiritually depressing.

Open Light is currently available as a free standalone beta for Windows 10 and 11. The download is listed on Gumroad, and Rama’s tools page notes EXR and HDR export for use in “any DCC application”. A macOS build is in progress, but no release date is given.

Open Light on Gumroad: https://2583407267451.gumroad.com/l/openlight
Borja Rama tools: https://www.borjarama.com/tools

The post Open Light: Procedural HDR Lighting Without the Texture Archaeology first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Pixomondo is set to be wound down, with Sony Pictures Entertainment sharing an intent to eventually close the Pixomondo umbrella and integrate some capabilities into other areas of its business. The VFX operation will close after completion of outstanding projects or contracts. After that, internal VFX efforts will be streamlined to focus on Sony Pictures Imageworks. And this a mere five years after the frantic Covid-Boom.

The virtual production division called Clara will also be wound down after outstanding contracts are fulfilled. There is stated potential for some business initiatives associated with Sony Group Corporation to be transferred over. The specific initiatives and destinations are not detailed. The R&D and innovation segment called PXO Innovation will be absorbed by Sony Group Corporation R&D. Staff were informed of these moves on March 19, 2026. Official channels are silent so far.

Strange New Virtual Production Worlds!

What the studio worked on

The studio specialized in visualization, virtual production and VFX, with credits listed including Hugo, multiple seasons of Game of Thrones, The Boys, and John Wick: Chapter 4 and many more.

Its LED virtual production work is listed as including Star Trek: Discovery & Strange New Worlds, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Reacher and Cada Minuto Cuenta – seven creative studios and four LED volumes (Vancouver, LA, Toronto and Rhyad) across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.

What changes

The sequencing matters: the closures are framed to happen after outstanding contracts are fulfilled. That implies current deliveries continue before the doors close, but it does not spell out how teams, supervision, or facilities operate during the runout. On the VFX side, the operational headline is a stated internal consolidation toward Sony Pictures Imageworks. The report does not specify whether that means changes to bidding, staffing, toolchains, or how virtual production handoffs interface with final-shot work.

On the virtual production side, Clara is slated to wind down as well, with only a high-level note that some initiatives tied to Sony Group Corporation could be transferred. It does not clarify whether LED volume capacity is repurposed, reassigned, or closed outright.

Sony Pictures Entertainment akquiriert Pixomondo

Leadership notes

Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the business in 2022 from Mayfair Equity Partners. CEO Jonny Slow first became global chief executive officer in 2019 and announced his exit from the company in February 2026.

https://www.televisual.com/news/sony-pictures-to-wind-down-pixomondo/

The post Sony to wind down Pixomondo first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the event: FMX is where post, VFX, and realtime folks compare notes, spot new workflows, and meet toolmakers from Foundry to AYON .

The 30th edition runs on site May 5 to May 7, with Online and On Campus on May 8, and On Demand from May 9 to June 9. Early Bird ticket options run until March 20. Tickets are sold through the ticket shop, and the full schedule is published as an online program schedule.

This year’s reveal is a broad spread across VFX, animation, and digital media creation, with more updates promised as additional speakers and topics get added. The headline message is simple: the program is live now, and it is designed to be browsed like a buffet. Get your preferred morsels here :)

RENO turns a studio inward

A newly confirmed session in the Shorts track focuses on RENO, an original sci fi short used as a live testbed for virtual production and machine learning workflows. The session names Tav Flett, Rob Hifle, James Pollock, and Paul Silcox, and describes how a traditionally post-driven VFX studio re-engineered its pipeline for a newly opened virtual production stage. It also calls out Gaussian splat scanning, automated rotoscoping, and marker removal as tools for streamlining production.

Generative video, now with shot notes

The hype cycle is almost over. The bubble tends to pop the moment somebody asks where this stuff fits into an actual production pipeline. That is the useful angle of Moonvalleys‘ session in the “The Road ahead” track. . Instead of treating generative video as a party trick, Ben Lock looks at what happens when studios try to use it for real: control, continuity, versioning, integration, governance, and all the other small details that usually kill shiny ideas on contact.

For VFX and animation teams, that is the point. Not more halfbaked sizzle reels, but a sober look at where generative video already helps, where it still breaks, which parts of the panic were never grounded in production reality, and when studios may begin hiring artists again once practical applications, and their many many limits, are easier to assess.

Predator: Badlands, built as a handoff

A joint presentation in the VFX for Features track names Laurens Ehrmann from The Yard VFX and Dominik Zimmerle from TRIXTER discussing work on Predator: Badlands. Shared assets, shared look development, and constant creative exchange across studios to ensure continuity while elevating environments, characters, creatures, and effects, plus a deep dive into selected sequences and the creative and technical challenges behind them.

And there is more to come! Much more!

https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2026/overview

The post FMX 2026 program goes live first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Assimilate Live FX is a real-time media server and compositing system used in virtual production for LED volume playback, projection mapping, camera tracking integration, and on-set grading and compositing. In Unreal workflows, it often acts as the glue between camera tracking, frustum projection, multiple display outputs, and the last-minute look tweaks that always show up five minutes before lunch. Read our big introduction to the VP stages’ very, very nervous system here.

Why this series matters for Live FX 9.9 users

Virtual production has a special talent for turning simple sentences like “we’ll just hook Unreal to the wall” into three days of latency debugging, IP address archaeology, and someone whispering “is it a timecode issue?” at 2 a.m. If you would prefer fewer existential crises per LED panel, Assimilate’s three-part Live FX 9.9 tutorial series is worth your time. It does not promise enlightenment, but it does show, step by step, how to get Unreal talking to Live FX in a way that is fast, predictable, and less likely to require a ceremonial sacrifice in front of a nervous crew.

Assimilate Live FX Studio – Virtual Production: Unreal Engine Workflow – Single Machine

Video 1 focuses on the simplest setup: Unreal and Live FX on one machine, with Unreal handing its camera output to Live FX via GPU Texture Share rather than routing frames through NDI or SDI. Live FX sends tracking and timecode to Unreal via the Live Link workflow, then uses the returned image for frustum projection, grading, and compositing, with delay alignment to ensure the frustum outline and the content do not disagree about what time it is.

Assimilate Live FX Studio – Virtual Production: Unreal Engine Workflow – nDisplay Setup

Video 2 switches to an nDisplay workflow where you still run on a single machine, but output multiple render streams so different walls and feeds can be managed more explicitly. The tutorial shows exporting a stage from Live FX, generating an nDisplay setup in Unreal, then bringing those streams back into Live FX for per-wall routing, projection choices, and independent grading, with manual delay control where automatic timecode-based measurement is not available.

Assimilate Live FX Studio – Virtual Production: Unreal Engine Workflow -Multi-Node Switchboard Setup

Video 3 adds a Switchboard editor machine so Unreal can be edited live while the render node(s) keep playing out, and Live FX remains the system that actually talks to the wall. The walkthrough then leans into what Live FX is good at on set: stack quick grades, add lightweight effects layers, composite plates, tweak per-wall look, and generally satisfy DoP requests without needing an “extensive brain bar” or a formal committee hearing.

Tutorial Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s8gEazIocY

Tutorial Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3QH3k3wYs8

Tutorial Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnaOH_iV5Ys

Live FX 9.9 download (Assimilate Support): https://www.assimilatesupport.com/akb/Download51064.aspx

Unreal Live Link plug-in downloads: https://www.assimilatesupport.com/akb/Download51050.aspx

Live FX Unreal workflow documentation: https://www.assimilatesupport.com/akb/KnowledgebaseArticle51063.aspx

Assimilate Live FX: The VP-Stages’ very, VERY nervous system.

The post Live FX 9.9: New Unreal Engine workflows, in a 3-part tutorial first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

We see virtual production stages everywhere, usually framed by discussions about LED panels, processors, and tracking systems. What gets less attention is what actually happens once the lights are on and clients walk in. Virtual production is not only for blockbuster series or studios with Hollywood-scale budgets, and not everyone is working on the next The Mandalorian. For everyday work, the realities are different and often more interesting.

To look past the tech diagrams and into daily practice, we spoke with the team at Door G Studios in East Providence, Rhode Island. Executive Producer Jenna Rezendes, VP technologist Joe Ross, and Unreal Engine Artist Sam Culbreth walk us through how virtual production functions on real commercial shoots, with real constraints, real schedules, and real clients.

Door G Studios is a creative production studio based in Rhode Island, specialising in commercial content, branded work, and campaigns that blend traditional production with virtual production. They operate an LED volume designed for practical, day to day shoots rather than cinematic excess. You can find them at door-g.com, explore their studio at door-g.com/studio, or keep up with them on LinkedIn.

DP: Hi Jenna, what is Door G?

Jenna Rezendes: Door G is a production studio based in Rhode Island. We have a versatile team of producers, creatives, and artists who love storytelling and keep pushing what’s possible in production. We work on branded content, commercials, and large-scale campaigns. We’re constantly exploring new ways to make production smarter and more efficient, whether that’s through virtual production or traditional filmmaking techniques.

Joe will share more about our physical stage and how it expands what’s possible for our clients, and Sam will get into how our production pipeline supports that. But from a big-picture perspective, Door G is a creative studio that stays ahead of what’s next in technology without losing sight of the human side of storytelling.

DP: What kind of customers use your stage? And what are the usual questions they have when they first come to you?

Jenna Rezendes: We work with a wide range of clients, from agencies and brands to production companies that just need the right space and support. Some clients come to us early on, looking for full creative ideation through production and post. Others already have their concept developed and just need production services, or even a studio rental. We’re set up to scale our support to meet their needs.

When people first reach out, the questions are usually about what’s possible on the stage: how virtual production actually works, what kinds of environments we can create, and how it impacts things like schedule or budget. We have a library of production-ready virtual environments that can be used as is, customised to fit the project, or fully custom-built when needed. It’s exciting to see clients realise that the stage isn’t just a technical tool; it’s a creative space that can open new ways to tell stories.

DP: How has your client communication changed since you started offering virtual production?

Jenna Rezendes: Communication has definitely evolved since we started offering virtual production. A big part of what we do now is education, helping clients understand how this technology changes the flow of a project. The conversations start earlier, and they’re more collaborative from the beginning.

With traditional production, clients are used to making creative decisions once they’re on set or in post. With virtual production, much of that decision-making moves to the front end. We spend more time in previsualization, running test sessions, and showing how scenes will look and feel before anyone arrives on set. That shift has actually deepened client relationships. They’re more involved in shaping the vision early, and they get to see ideas come to life in real time. Once they experience that, they realize how much more efficient and creatively freeing the process can be.

DP: When props are built for a shoot, say a few shelves or counters, can’t they be stored and reused for future productions?

Jenna Rezendes: Absolutely. One of the biggest sustainability advantages of virtual production is that so much of what we create lives in the digital space. Instead of building large practical sets that are used once and torn down, we’re designing digital environments that can be updated, customised, and reused across multiple productions. That dramatically reduces material waste and the carbon footprint that comes with traditional set construction.

For the physical elements, we do need to blend the virtual environments with the practical; we keep things minimal and modular. We’ll often store practical props or set pieces between shoots so they can be repurposed in future environments. It’s a smarter and more sustainable way to work, both creatively and operationally. We’re proud to be certified with the EMA Green Seal for sustainable studio practices, and that really guides how we think about production.

DP: What’s the most common misconception clients have about shooting in a VP stage?

Jenna Rezendes: One of the biggest misconceptions is that virtual production is only for creating worlds that don’t exist “on earth”, like post-apocalyptic landscapes, outer space, or big cinematic settings like The Mandalorian. And yes, it’s incredible for that kind of work, but it’s just as effective for everyday environments that are tricky or difficult to film in. We’ve used virtual production for medical facilities and retail spaces where on-location shooting can be disruptive, expensive, or constrained by logistics. With virtual production, we can easily recreate those environments with total control over lighting, timing, and camera movement.

Another misconception is the “fix it in post” mindset. In virtual production, so much of the decision-making happens on the front end. You’re designing and visualising the environment before you shoot, so there’s less guesswork later. Once clients experience that process and see the world on the LED stage in real time, it changes how they think about production entirely. It’s not about doing everything in post anymore; it’s about getting it right in the moment.

DP: When you prepare a shoot, what do you wish every customer already understood?

Jenna Rezendes: I wish every client understood how much smoother and more creative the process becomes when we’re all aligned early in pre-production.  There’s really no such thing as a perfectly prepared project, but the ones that set us up for success are those where clients share the right materials and collaborate with us early in the process. When communication is open from day one, and everyone is aligned on intent, technical needs, and delivery formats, it creates a strong foundation that saves a lot of time later. Clear references, organised assets, and early creative collaboration give our team what we need to prepare for production as effectively as possible.

Especially with VP, a little extra time up front for pre-production and previsualization makes a huge difference once we’re on set. Our post-production process is already streamlined, so the last thing you want to do is condense your pre-pro and pre-vis phases. That’s where we work through creative and technical challenges before they ever reach the stage, which ultimately leads to a smoother, more efficient shoot.

DP: And just to end on a fun note: you’ve spent quite a few minutes inside that stage. What’s the most amazing thing you’ve seen so far?

Jenna Rezendes: Nothing will ever top the first time I saw virtual production in action. That moment when it clicked for me that this technology wasn’t just for Hollywood but could completely change how we tell stories across all kinds of productions. Seeing a camera move through a digital environment in real time, with everything reacting naturally, was honestly jaw-dropping.

Since then, every project has its own amazing moment. Sometimes it’s watching a client experience it for the first time and seeing that same lightbulb go off. Other times it’s the thrill of seeing our team pull off something that felt impossible a few weeks earlier. The technology is incredible, but it’s those human reactions, the excitement, the surprise, and the creativity, that make it truly special.

DP: How do you manage creative decision-making between physical and digital departments?

Jenna Rezendes: Our production design team, Unreal artists, and DPs are in conversation from the earliest stages of a project so that creative ideas and technical realities stay aligned as things evolve. The goal is to ensure that what looks beautiful on screen also makes sense within the constraints of lighting, camera movement, and real-world space.

We approach it as one unified team rather than separate departments. The virtual art department might start developing the environment while our physical team experiments with lighting or set integration, and those discoveries flow back and forth until everything feels cohesive. That collaboration lets us balance creative freedom with practical execution, so nothing gets lost in translation between the real and virtual worlds.

Joe Ross, our technical director, and Sam Culbreth, our lead Unreal Engine designer, can speak more to how we balance creative with technology. They do a fantastic job creating the bridge between the two.

The Stage & Its Hardware

DP: So Joe, I hear you have a very big TV at work.

Joe Ross: Haha, I actually also refer to the volume as a big TV too! And the Brompton processors are just oversized HDMI adapters. The volume is 17m wide and 4m tall, so unfortunately, you’d probably get whiplash trying to watch TV across the whole thing. Those HDMI adapters I referred to are the Brompton SX40s.

We have three of them pushing pixels to our wall. 17,825,792 pixels to be exact, the full resolution is 8704×2048. We’re using a combination of InfiLED’s DBmk2 and X panels. The Xs are for the curve in the middle, since we have a curved L-shaped wall, which uses curved panels for the bend.

We went with that shape since it allowed us to make the best use of our studio size. It pretty much extends the full length of two sides of our studio. That allows us to shoot longer shots on one side of the volume and wider shots or trucking shots on the longer side of the wall.

Most often, we actually shoot into the curved corner of the wall, since it gives us the most flexibility to move the camera around without catching the edges of the wall, and it makes use of reflections and ambient light from both straight sides of the volume.

In terms of camera: We work with any sort. The refresh rate on our panels is fast enough that most modern cameras have no problem with any tearing or banding while shooting into the volume. We even have some people shoot with their phones with just default settings and have no problem. That said, we have an FX9 as our in-house camera, and mostly rent the Venice 2, RED V-Raptor [X], or Arri Mini LF. The RED Raptor in particular pairs nicely with the volume, since it has a global shutter, which helps even further with any refresh rate problems.

It also ties in with our Brompton processors and allows us to record two separate feeds from one camera: one with the 3D Unreal Scene on the volume and one with just green screen on the volume. The processors just alternate between the 3D scene and green, then the RED captures a separate feed for both, alternating each frame. It’s pretty wild! 

DP: How long does it take to set up and calibrate the stage for a new project?

Joe Ross: That’s definitely an “it depends” kind of question (laughs). If we’re doing a basic shoot with all of our standard in-house gear and well-tested Unreal levels, then everything is pretty much ready to boot up and go. So that may only take half an hour to an hour. We just need to reboot all the PCs to start fresh, connect them all to our Facilis server where the projects are stored, then launch a multi-user server for all of our Unreal machines to sync to.

If it’s a brand new shoot with rental gear and Unreal Projects that we haven’t shot in studio with before, then it can take much more time, up to a full day, to ensure all the pieces are playing nice with each other. The things that would require extra time are things like, calibrating the mo-sys camera tracking offset from the camera sensor to make sure the tracking is accurate, setting up and testing communication between our Unreal editors and render node and any on set tech that needs it, like a robot camera arm or DMX lights, then going through our shotlist and camera moves to make sure the Unreal level is playing nice with the full setup.

The robot arm is a big one, since our studio and Unreal Engine nDisplay config is set up by default to our Mo-Sys star tracker’s map. When we bring in the robot arm, we need to configure our nDisplay config to match the positioning and tracking system coming straight from the robot arm. We could just keep the Mo-Sys on the camera while it’s on the arm, but then we lose some of the benefits of having a robot arm tied into Unreal, plus our model of the Mo-Sys is older and pretty bulky, so it adds some decent heft to the rig.

DP: How do you collaborate with cinematographers who might be new to LED volumes?

Joe Ross: We, of course, do our best to “fix it in Pre” and have the DP and Director heavily involved while building out the virtual scenes, so they have a good idea of what things will look like when they step on set. From there, honestly, we keep things pretty close to traditional production from their standpoint. They just need to work with our virtual gaffer and the practical gaffer when lighting changes are needed in the scene.

That said, we have a few key pointers for first-time VP shooters. One is to try to keep the brightness up on the volume and stop down or ND down in the camera to get the best performance out of the volume in terms of colour and dynamic range. Another is to keep an eye out for any moire; if the focus plane is too close to the wall, you’ll start to see it. 

DP: A stage is more than a screen, a camera, and a server. Can you tell us about the rest of your setup?

Joe Ross: Yeah absolutely. For tracking systems, we use the Mo-Sys StarTracker, so our studio ceiling is covered with tracking dots. Probably more than we need, but that gives us very stable tracking, even when flags and lights get in the way of the Mo-Sys IR camera.

We have a wild wall as well, which we made a custom rolling rig for, so we can move it around the studio as needed for reflections and ambient light that matches our scene. That’s really all we have in-house, but often we will rent robotic camera arms that communicate with Unreal Engine. Those are a perfect pairing with the volume because they allow us to not only have very interesting, repeatable moves, but also to tell Unreal Engine where the camera will be before it gets there, cutting down on any delay between camera tracking and the perspective shift on the volume. 

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DP: You recently shot for a medical imaging company, and I heard there was sand involved. Please tell me you didn’t bring a bucket of it near your panels.

Joe Ross: Haha, yeah, that was my initial reaction when someone wanted to bring sand into the studio as well. There have been a couple of shoots with sand involved, actually. The one with medical equipment was a spot that cut from a hospital scene to a soldier stationed out in a desert. For that one, there wasn’t any physical sand used, but our virtual and physical art teams did a great job making it look very convincing!

The other instance of sand was actually for a music video shot in a sort of dystopian desert, city ruin type scene. For that one, we actually did bring real sand into the studio! I was definitely a little concerned about the grains of sand in the air but we kept it contained on a raised stage and kept it removed from the wall at least a few meters. We made sure no fans were used on set while the sand was there as well, and we had air scrubbers running in front of the volume to pull any particles down and away from the LEDs. 

In terms of keeping the volume clean, it’s tough to regularly clean the whole volume, but when needed, we’ll use compressed air or a vacuum with a gentle attachment to remove any dust or debris that may build up in the shader layer of the LED panels.

DP: When one of those LED panels goes dark, what happens next?

Joe Ross: Ah, the dreaded black panel… Well, it depends on where the issue stems from. So the first thing to do is diagnose whether it’s an issue with the panel/LED diodes, the internal PCB, or even software. If it’s just the LED panel itself, we will just pop it right out and replace it with spare panels that we got with our original order. It’s important to get extra panels with a volume like this because each batch of LED panels will be slightly different when they come out of the manufacturing process. So, having panels from the same batch ensures they match perfectly.

DP: What are the biggest maintenance challenges with LED volumes?

Joe Ross: The heat for sure! It can feel like a sauna in there at times if not managed properly. We definitely underestimated how much of a problem the heat from these panels would be. We’ve run our AC so hard trying to keep up with it that it keeps freezing over, and our facilities manager has had to literally chip the ice off it on the roof to get it back up and running again.

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We also have installed a secondary mini-split because the main AC wasn’t enough! Even now, we’re brainstorming better ways to remove heat from the studio instead of trying to pipe cold air in. We may be installing an exhaust in the ceiling to do just that!

DP: What’s the most creative or unusual technical solution you’ve had to invent on set?

Joe Ross: Ahh, this is the fun part! Don’t tell anyone, but I secretly love it when things break, and I need to scramble to fix them (Laughs). The old reliable workaround for many of our Unreal Engine hitches is to just freeze the image on the wall using our Brompton processors directly, while we work on rebooting or fixing issues or crashing in Unreal, without anyone noticing.

I think most of the more fun/interesting fixes happen in Unreal Engine. When things just aren’t working the way they are supposed to, you just do whatever works. One particularly odd instance was when we had a scene that traversed two rooms in two locations, stitched together in Unreal. The talent in the scene walked from a retail environment straight into their living room. For some reason, the lighting would not stay consistent, and lights from the living room would just pop on once the camera reached a certain point.

So after much head-scratching, we figured out that if we just stretch the frustum (basically the virtual camera’s vision) far out to the right side, so that it just thought that it was always in both locations at all times, then it would render all the lighting consistently throughout the move. Not the most elegant solution, but I always say, “if it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid.”

The Brain Bar & Pipeline

DP: Sam, with a job title like “Brain Bar Operator,” do you have the coolest business card in the world?

Sam Culbreth: So there are a few terms for it, and not all of them are as fun, but that’s actually only a portion of what I do. Most of my time is spent in pre-production building the environments and preparing them for a shoot.
Then, when we’re on set, it becomes the “central nervous system” of a virtual production stage. From The Brain Bar, we are loading our environments onto the LED wall, monitoring, and making adjustments to the scene. The scene’s virtual camera is connected with our tracking system, so it constantly updates its coordinates based on where we move the real camera.

DP: When you power up your Brain Bar, what’s actually howling in there?

Sam Culbreth: This is more of a question for Joe Ross, as he built our brain bar setup. But the specs are quite powerful to keep up with what we’re doing on the render node. If I had to make an upgrade.. Well.. I can always use more monitors!

Joe Ross: They are definitely pretty hardy. Most of our PCs were built in collaboration with Puget Systems out in Seattle. They’re always great to work with and are so diligent in testing which parts are best suited to your use case. At the Brain Bar, our machines run AMD Ryzen 9 CPUs and Nvidia 4090 GPUs. Our render node has an AMD Threadripper Pro CPU, which I’ve always wanted an excuse to use (Laughs), and two Nvidia 6000 ADA series GPUs. In terms of upgrades, we’re still running vanilla Unreal Engine and no real media server, so right now we’re looking into a Pixera, Disguise or Assimilate Live FX solution to help streamline and optimise some things.

DP: How do you handle colour management between Unreal, the LED wall, and camera output?

Sam Culbreth: This can be tricky, as we’re diving through multiple layers of colour between the wall, Unreal Engine, and the camera. Unreal Engine has built-in colour management tools for features like ACES. And we try to keep our wall settings consistent for each shoot.
But in the end, what really matters is what we’re seeing through that final camera output. Having that output visible in real time gives us plenty of opportunities to make adjustments before we film.

DP: When Jenna brings you a new project, what do you look for in the Unreal scene setup that a customer delivers?

Sam Culbreth: It all depends! I’m always happy to get references up front so I can start strategising right away. If there are preexisting 3D files, I can often convert them over to use in our scenes. As a general rule for textures, you want powers of twos. For any close or large textures, I like to stick to 4k. You can still get away with lower most of the time, especially if it’s far in the background. I’ll even go down to 256 if it’s a smaller, less detailed object.

DP: How do you document or archive the technical setup for each project?

Sam Culbreth: We have a standard template that we adapt with each new version of Unreal Engine. That way, I’m able to migrate any levels that have been built and keep all of our project settings consistent. I also tend to make a copy of the project before a shoot, in case anything changes dramatically while we’re on set. Once it’s over, we have a process for archiving old projects securely on-site in case we ever need to pull them back up.

DP: If you could write a wish list for your customers, what would it include?

Sam Culbreth: Come in with a solid plan and vision long before we’re on set.  We have some wiggle room to make changes, but your visuals should really be locked in before we’re shooting. If you’re uncertain about something, we can prepare a few options, but knowing that ahead of time gives us a chance to make preparations to adapt that won’t require on-set scrambling or potential crashes. Fewer changes on set means better stability and more precious time getting content.

DP: How do you coordinate real-time updates between Unreal, camera tracking, and lighting?

Sam Culbreth: That’s the neat part, you don’t! Once our motion tracking system is connected and the project is launched, the camera tracking handles itself. Most updates I make to the scene are typically immediately visible on the wall. Though occasionally I’ll have to save the scene to push the changes. As for latency, we test our scenes ahead of time to make sure they’re meeting our goals. We have a process for dividing up and disabling parts of our map when we need to improve our performance. 

DP:  What’s your favourite Alignment / test pattern?

Sam Culbreth: True Neutral, or Chaotic Good. – Oh test pattern, I don’t have one. But I tend to gravitate toward a synthwave aesthetic for screensavers.

DP: Gaussian splats are picking up momentum. Can you simply load one into your scene?

Sam Culbreth: We’ve experimented with a few different scan methods, and there is a bit of a process required to make it possible without totally overloading the system. Gaussian splatting is a very powerful technique that I’m hoping we can make more use of in the future, but it hasn’t been necessary for our builds. 

DP: What tools or plugins have become indispensable in your workflow?

Sam Culbreth: Of course, we have the necessary Virtual Production Tools like nDisplay, LiveLink, and Mo-sys. But I’ve really enjoyed using PolygonFlow’s Dash plugin and NVIDIA’s DLSS plugin. These tools really speed up my workflow when it comes to building environments, performance, and rendering. 

DP: And finally, the question every reader is thinking: can you game on the Door G stage after hours?

Sam Culbreth: I certainly hope to! We’ve tested a few things on it before, and it can absolutely serve as a massive monitor for maximum immersion. Furthermore, we’ve got plans to utilise our motion-tracking systems and VR environments to create some interesting options for virtual scouting and other experiences. 

The post Virtual Production Without the Disney Budget first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Assimilate is best known for Scratch, its colour grading and finishing system used in professional post pipelines for more than twenty years. Building on that experience, the company developed Live FX, a software-only real-time media server for virtual production. Live FX sits alongside Live Looks for live grading and Live Assist for multicam VTR and Play Pro Studio as the only professional Video Player you’ll ever need. Together, these tools cover on-set backup & offload, colour, capture, playback, and now LED stage control, completing a loop from wall to camera to grade.

Why Live FX Was Created

When virtual production started creeping into film workflows, nobody had actually built a media server for film sets. Crews borrowed tools from the live-event world or bent game engines like Unreal into shape. It worked, technically. It also meant a lot of compromises, hacks, and explaining to cinematographers why things behaved like stage tech.

Live FX was explicitly built to stop that nonsense. It is a software-only system designed for film production, not for programmers or touring engineers. Live compositing, projection mapping, and image-based lighting all live in one interface that makes sense to people who think in shots and lighting setups. There are no artificial limits on video outputs or DMX universes. It stays lean, runs fast, uses hardware efficiently, and scales cleanly from a single machine to multi-node setups. Playback, lighting, and metadata all reside in the same environment rather than being duct-taped together.

Take a driving plate shoot for a car commercial. Live FX can drive 360-degree plates across a curved LED volume, control real lighting fixtures based on what is happening in the image, and stay locked to camera tracking and lens metadata. As the virtual sun in the plate moves or shifts colour, the physical lights on set follow along in real time. The result is a much closer-to-final image before anyone even opens a compositing tool.

The best part is that Live FX does not demand a rack of servers or exotic hardware. With small or midsize LED volumes, it runs comfortably on a normal workstation. Think MacBook, think gaming PC. That makes LED workflows accessible to smaller studios without turning the hardware budget into a horror story.

Completing the Assimilate Ecosystem

Live FX also neatly finishes what Assimilate has been building for the past two decades. The company already knows a thing or two about media pipelines, and while Scratch covers real-time colour work and solid format playback. Live Looks brings grading onto the set. Live Assist handles multicam VTR duties. All familiar territory.

With Live FX in the mix, the ecosystem finally extends into projection mapping, camera tracking integration, and lighting control. In other words, the bits you need for LED volumes and still very much need for classic green screen stages. Crucially, Live FX keeps metadata intact. Lens data, focus, exposure, tracking information, scene, take, timecode – all of it can be captured on set and passed straight down the line into postproduction. No extra logging, no manual copy-paste rituals, and far fewer opportunities to lose something important between shoot and post.

Why It Is Different from Unreal

Live FX is fundamentally different from running an instance of Unreal Engine. Unreal is a full game engine that requires significant system resources, whereas Live FX is designed as a creative tool for cinematographers, DITs, DPs and VFX artists. It emphasises rapid real-time operation with a user interface tailored to film workflows rather than code.

Live FX supports workflows such as 360° plates and 2.5D compositing with ease. It can also import 3D environments like Notch Blocks or USD scenes. Notch Blocks are prebuilt, real-time graphics or effects authored in the Notch motion graphics tool and used here to add dynamic or procedural visual elements directly to LED walls without taxing the system as heavily as a full engine build. (If you have a look around the Notch site, you’ll spot Live FX in many of their demonstrations)

At its core, Live FX is one machine that can drive LED walls, control lights, composite live plates, and manage colour, all in a single, unified software environment.

The Software Side

The Live FX interface is built on immediate visual feedback. It is a GPU-powered environment that can load, layer, grade, and project footage onto LED walls, green screens, or 360° domes. It supports the projection of 2D, 2.5D, 180° and 360° content beyond 16K resolution in a variety of modes, including frustum, planar, spherical, dome or cylindrical output.

For 3D content, Live FX can import USD scenes and Notch Blocks. It also supports Netflix OpenVPCal, an open-source LED wall calibration tool developed for in-camera visual effects workflows. OpenVPCal creates colour space corrections tailored to the camera and LED pipeline to improve image accuracy across walls.

Live FX does not limit scene size or plate resolution; the hardware instead determines those constraints. Modern GPUs commonly support textures up to 32K by 32K, and Live FX can theoretically handle playback up to 65K by 65K at over 1,000 frames per second. However, real-world limits are set by machine capability.

Compositing

Real-time compositing includes built-in qualifiers:Live FX ships with RGB, Chroma, Luma, HSV and Vector keyers that can be combined in any way thinkable. It supports OFX plug-ins and Matchbox Shaders, the latter being small GPU-based shading programs developed initially for Autodesk Flame, adapted here for custom, real-time visual effects.

Inline colour grading tools include wheels, curves, masks, and LUT management, enabling DITs and Creative Artists to see accurate grades on set. Camera and metadata integration allows Live FX to read detailed information, such as lens, focus, and exposure, from SDI feeds from manufacturers including ARRI, Sony, Canon, and Panasonic. It supports all major camera trakcing systems, such as Mo-Sys, Zeiss, Vicon, OptiTrack and others, but also generic protocols like FreeD, Open Track IO or Open Sound Control protocols.

Inside Igelkott Studios: Pioneering Projection-Based ICVFX with Live FX

Playback in Live FX supports nearly any frame rate or aspect ratio the GPU can manage. It can record raw feeds and metadata while outputting a live composite and automatically rebuild the final online version after the shoot. Storage requirements vary by format; high-resolution codecs such as NotchLC or OpenEXR sequences demand high-speed, high-capacity storage, while lighter formats accommodate portable SSDs. Live FX can also capture and output via NDI for streaming to platforms such as YouTube through tools like OBS.

Live FX does not natively run interactive simulations or complex particle systems, but it integrates with engines such as Unreal, Blender or Unity. In these hybrid workflows, Live FX passes timecode and tracking data to the engine and receives the rendered output back, making it suitable as a composer in mixed real-time pipelines.

Scaling the Stage

A single Live FX Studio system can control up to seven LED processors from two GPUs, or up to eight LED processors through two 8K-capable SDI cards – provided no other hardware bottleneck limits the playback. For larger volumes, a multi-node configuration becomes necessary. In such setups, multiple Live FX systems split the rendering and control responsibilities across the volume, with each system driving part of the wall.

Multi-node workflows also help clarify roles on set. Typically the guy taking care of the lights, is a different guy from the one taking care of the LED volume and you don’t want the two to fight over who gets to use mouse and keyboard. So setting up a separate client Live FX system to take care of lighting might be a good choice. 

Hardware and Platform Requirements

One of Live FX’s core strengths is that it does not require datacentre level hardware. A modern workstation or laptop with a contemporary GPU is sufficient for smaller and medium setups. For larger stages, a Windows workstation with a high-end Nvidia Quadro card is advisable. You can run Live FX on really any machine, as long as the operating system is Windows or macOS. You can even reuse existing mediaserver hardware. The main question is, whether that hardware is up to the task its supposed to fulfill – the software does not impose any limitations.

CPU requirements are modest; any processor from the last five years that handles video rendering comfortably will work. Minimum RAM is 8GB, recommendations start at 32 GB with 64 GB or more for heavier workloads. If Unreal runs on the same machine, memory usage scales with that workload. Supported operating systems are Windows 10 or later and macOS 10.15 or later. Optional SDI I/O can be added via cards from AJA, Blackmagic Design or Bluefish444.

Existing media server hardware can often be repurposed for Live FX if it meets these requirements. The software itself does not impose restrictions; performance depends on hardware suitability. Even a compact Mac Mini can handle basic LED playback for smaller LED stages .

Connectivity: Walls and Lights

Live FX interfaces directly with LED processors, such as those from Brompton and Megapixel VR, to manage genlock, timecode, and perspective correction. It outputs Art-Net, sACN or USB DMX to lighting fixtures and is the only tool right now that supports video-based fixtures like Kino Flo Mimiks, wihch do not use DMX. (A short glossary of those formats at the bottom)

In image-based lighting mode, each fixture can respond to what is playing on the screen – or content that is supposed to appear off the screen in front, above, or next to the talent on stage (think 360° content, where only a portion of the entire 360 degrees is actually shown on the LED wall and the other content can be used for image-based lighting to simulate the environment!). If the plate shows an intense directional light from the left, the physical lights respond accordingly, making stage illumination react to LED content in real time.

Live FX integrates with lighting consoles, enabling gaffers to control physical fixtures or their virtual equivalents. Because Live FX handles pixel mapping internally, lighting desks only need to control up to 51 DMX channels per fixture, regardless of how many channels the physical fixture uses. This helps reduce network complexity and preserve universes on the lighting console.

A webinterface?

A built-in web interface allows remote control of fixtures from a tablet or phone, which is convenient for on-set adjustments. Using real stage lighting to complement LED walls provides brightness and full-spectrum illumination that LED panels alone often cannot deliver. Many LED walls remain based on RGB emitters that exhibit spectral gaps, particularly problematic for accurate skin tones. Stage lights with full-spectrum sources help close those gaps, producing more realistic imagery. Although newer LED tiles that incorporate warm and cool white emitters improve colour response, adoption in studios remains limited, due to cost.

Setup and Onboarding

It is claimed that a Live FX setup can be completed before your coffee gets cold. Installation, licensing and launch are straightforward. Connect the LED processors and lighting interfaces, load the background plates or environments, import LUTs or colour profiles such as ACES, Rec.2020 or HDR10, and begin playback. Lighting synchronises automatically.

Learning resources include the Assimilate YouTube channel,
demo scenes for green screen and LED wall workflows from sim-plates.com,
the Live FX User Guide,
and the Assimilate Discord server.

To learn Live FX, Assimilate offers dedicated training, which should be booked for at least 2 days. Alternatively, their free Assimilate Academy Masterclass might come to a town near you. But even without training, Live FX can be learnt fast and efficiently via the YouTube channel. Tutorials and dedicated playlist for almost any subject exist and allow new users to get up & running really quickly. While it is preferred that users get acquainted with the software beforehand, the reality is that Live FX is often deployed a day before the shoot, but even in those scenarios, new users can get a usable image onto the wall within minutes after installing the software.

But does it work?

How Live FX Is Changing The Face Of Virtual Production

Although a very young tool, Live FX has been used on major Netflix shows and feature films. Unfortunately, a lot of the details cannot yet be disclosed, but here is a very select list of the latest case studies:

• LiveFX on “Secrets we Keep” https://digitalmedianet.com/behind-the-scenes-of-the-netflix-hit-secrets-we-keep-a-virtual-production-deep-dive/
• Live FX for “Biffy Clyro” https://digitalmedianet.com/interview-with-russ-shaw-daniel-walker-on-the-making-of-biffy-clyros-goodbye-video/
• Live FX on “Ballad for a Small Player”: https://digitalmedianet.com/behind-the-scenes-visual-effects-for-ballad-of-a-small-player/

What’s new in the latest release and what’s next?

Just before Christmas, Assimilate released Live FX 9.9, which introduced true multi-node workflows, along with multi-GPU-output options, an updated Stage Manager, new Unreal nDisplay workflow, and various smaller updates to the IBL toolset, projection modes and format support. But Assimilate is already working on the next batch of features: REST API and native ST2110 support are coming up later this year.

Live FX 9.9: More Walls, More Nodes, More Fun

Compatibility, Technical Specs and Pricing

Live FX supports Windows 10 or newer and macOS 10.15 or newer. It scales from laptops to full LED control rigs. Typical configurations can hold multiple 4K feeds or a single 16K background plate. Supported file types include EXR, ProRes, NotchLC, HAP, RAW, H.264, H.265, LUTs (.cube and .3dl), CDL, Notch Blocks and USD. External I/O includes SDI, NDI, Spout, Syphon, OSC, DMX, Art-Net and sACN.

Camera metadata and colour data flow directly through the Assimilate ecosystem. Metadata including user annotations, scene and take information and all camera tracking and SDI-metadata can be recorded and passed along to postproduction. Integration with Unreal, Blender and Unity workflows can happen via GPU texture sharing or NDI/SDI. Licensing is available in multiple options: monthly ($695), 3-month ($1,595), annual ($4,995) and permanent ($7,495, including one year of support and updates). Annual support for permanent licences can be renewed at any time. And before everything, get the free trial / learning edition here.

Why It Matters

Live FX functions as the set’s nervous system, coordinating LED walls, lighting, compositing and colour with post-grade precision and real-time responsiveness. It brings film production language and workflows onto the stage, reducing guesswork and providing artistic control at the source. After twenty years of Scratch being called the Swiss army knife of postproduction, Live FX may take that title for virtual production.

As always, professionals should test thoroughly before deploying on live shoots, and you can do this easily with the free personal learning edition here. Register and drop us a line that Digital Production sent you. Assimilate will set you up :).

Appendix: Protocols, Extensions, Standards and Definitions

FreeD A tracking data protocol developed for camera tracking systems to transmit pose, lens and other metadata in real time.

Open Track IO An open and free metadata protocol designed by the SMPTE RiS-OSVP group for virtual production tracking interoperability. ris-pub.smpte.org

Open Sound Control (OSC) A network protocol for communication among computers and multimedia devices, widely used in creative and show control environments. Wikipedia

Art-Net An Ethernet protocol specification for transporting DMX universes over UDP/IP, used for lighting control in entertainment networks. Beckhoff Automation

sACN (Streaming Architecture for Control Networks) – A protocol (ANSI E1.31) for sending DMX data over UDP/IP networks, designed for multicasting lighting control. Beckhoff Automation

OpenVPCal An open-source calibration tool for LED wall and camera pipelines developed by Netflix, used to generate colour space corrections. GitHub

Notch Blocks Prebuilt, real-time content building blocks created in the Notch motion graphics tool for procedural visuals. Notch Blocks

Matchbox Shaders Small, GPU-based shader programs originally developed for real-time effects in Autodesk Flame, used here for Live FX real-time effects.

USD (Universal Scene Description) A file format and interchange framework for 3D scene descriptions, widely adopted for complex pipeline interoperability. But as Digital Production readers you should know about all this. Why are you reading this? Get the LiveFX-Trial!

RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) A protocol for streaming audio, video and data over the internet.

P.S.: Yes, the headline is a wink at one of the funniest moments in Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety. We’ll just leave this here.

The post Assimilate Live FX: The VP-Stages’ very, VERY nervous system. first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Mazze Aderhold.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced that its flagship reference, the VES Handbook of Visual Effects, reaches its Fourth Edition on December 18, 2025. The book now brings together 95 visual effects experts, including 30 new contributors, from across film, television, games, virtual production, and emerging media.

The new edition expands its scope to modern practices. Among the additions are chapters covering the use of real time game engines for virtual production, previs, motion capture and animation. The handbook addresses current topics such as AI applications in VFX, plus methods for NeRFs (Neural Radiance Fields) and 3D Gaussian splatting, aiming to reflect recent workflow evolutions.

Existing core areas have also been updated. These include previs (pre visualisation), AR and VR filmmaking, colour management with attention to ACES workflows, digital intermediate processing, camera workflow, matte painting, compositing, and more.

Early peek event: live from the makers

Shortly before the book’s release, VES will host a global webinar on December 16, 2025. During that event, editors Jeffrey Okun, Susan Zwerman and Susan Thurmond O’Neal will discuss the new edition in conversation with industry experts, including virtual production TD from Industrial Light & Magic Nathan Camp, creative technology veteran Phil Galler, Chief Innovation Officer at 180 Studios, and VFX supervisor Lucien Harriot, President of Mechanism Digital. Attendees will get a preview of key workflows and techniques covered in the handbook and have the opportunity to ask questions to the contributors.

The editors: who’s behind the Fourth Edition

Jeffrey A. Okun is an award winning Visual Effects Supervisor, a Fellow of the Visual Effects Society, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Society of Cinematographers, and the Television Academy. He has served as chair of VES, and previously as first vice chair and chair of the Los Angeles section.

Susan Zwerman is a long time VES producer with over 25 years of experience in visual effects production. She is also a respected seminar leader and author. Zwerman is a member of the Academy, the Producers Guild of America, and the Directors Guild of America, and holds the status of VES Fellow.

Susan Thurmond O’Neal joined VES in 1997 and has held multiple leadership roles over the years. She has served on the global Board of Directors, including as Treasurer in 2016, 2nd Vice Chair in 2022–2023 and 1st Vice Chair in 2024–2025. She has chaired the global Education Committee, currently leads the Membership Committee, and in 2019 received the VES Founders Award for service to the society.

Why this matters for VFX, CG and post production pros

As pipelines increasingly adopt real time engines, AI assisted tools, and immersive production formats such as virtual production, AR, VR and domes, this new edition of the VES Handbook provides a broad and current reference. The inclusion of NeRFs and 3D Gaussian splatting signals that VES acknowledges emerging volumetric and point cloud based workflows as significant enough to warrant formal documentation.

For those working in compositing, colour grading, camera and layout workflow, the updated coverage of core disciplines, re verified and aligned with contemporary practices, provides a stable reference against a rapidly shifting technological backdrop.

The breadth of the handbook, from budgeting and shot breakdowns to high end compositing and immersive media workflows, suggests it aims to be relevant across departments: production, CG, compositing, virtual production teams, colour, and more.

Get a sneak Peak into the Summary here on Google Books:

Finally, the new standard twist

With the Fourth Edition, the VES Handbook doubles down on being the industry standard reference. By combining decades long experience with up to date coverage of real time engines, virtual production, AI, volumetric rendering and immersive media, this edition positions itself as the reference manual to return to when technologies or pipelines evolve. It may not promise radical revelations everywhere, but it maps out the best practices terrain for the current generation of visual effects work. For any VFX professional aiming to stay grounded and informed, this looks like the old new “go-to” compendium.

The post VES Handbook of Visual Effects, Fourth Edition, coming soon first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Xsens has released the next-generation version of its Xsens Link motion capture system. The redesign focuses on physical comfort, data precision, and setup efficiency. The new suit uses a 4D stretch eSuit built from a lightweight, breathable fabric with integrated, washable cabling. Xsens claims the MoCap setup time is cut by half compared to the previous generation, thanks to embedded wiring and one-click sensors.

Smarter Sensors, Smoother Data

The system’s 17 inertial sensors have been upgraded for cleaner motion data with fewer artefacts. Combined with Wi-Fi 6E, the Link can stream motion capture at up to 240 Hz within a 150-metre range, supporting stable, low-latency links to Xsens Animate and third-party software such as Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, Maya, Houdini, and Faceware.

The suit is built for production : washable textiles, simplified cabling, and consistent sensor alignment even during complex movement. It’s designed to withstand location work, whether on a volume stage or on a mountain (Well, maybe not EVERY mountain)

Hot-Swap and Go

Each suit is powered by an internal battery plus an optional external pack, offering 4 to 8 hours of operation with hot-swappable capability for uninterrupted shooting. The hub (the system’s processing and communication unit) can be mounted anywhere on the suit, offering flexibility in setup and movement.

Pipeline Integration

The hardware is fully integrated with Xsens Animate, which processes live capture data and retargets it for animation or previs. Together, the suit and software form a complete inertial motion capture pipeline, bridging live performance and production-ready motion data. The new Xsens Link (Next-Generation) is available now, with pricing provided on request. Full specifications are available on Movella’s official product page.

Test Before You Shoot

As with all new mocap hardware, professionals are advised to test the suit under real production conditions before committing to a pipeline update, particularly regarding sensor consistency and latency over extended Wi-Fi sessions.

The post Xsens Rebuilds Its Link Mocap Suit With 4D Stretch first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Epic Games has officially released Unreal Engine 5.7. The update expands major systems across rendering, procedural content, materials, animation, and virtual production. It also introduces an in-Editor AI Assistant. Several features, including the Nanite Foliage rendering system, remain Experimental, while others, most notably the PCG framework and Substrate materials, are now designated production-ready. If you think “Didn’t you tell me all of this already?”: We had a Preview-News for the Preview and Teasers.

Procedural Content Generation (PCG) ready for production

Epic now considers the PCG framework suitable for use in final projects. The system allows artists to populate large environments procedurally, introduce variety, and automate level construction. Unreal Engine 5.7 adds a dedicated PCG Editor Mode, performance optimisations for GPU compute tasks, and a Procedural Vegetation Editor (PVE) for foliage placement. While PCG itself is stable, the PVE remains Experimental. Epic recommends verifying runtime performance and scalability before adoption in production environments.

Nanite Foliage enters testing

Nanite Foliage introduces a new geometry rendering pipeline for dense, animated vegetation in open-world environments. It combines Nanite Assemblies, Nanite Skinning, and Nanite Voxels to balance geometric detail with runtime efficiency. Epic lists the entire system as Experimental. Studios considering it for production should expect incomplete support for physics, collisions, and wind animation, and should validate performance on target hardware.

Substrate materials: modular and physically accurate

The Substrate framework for modular material authoring and rendering has graduated to production-ready status. It enables layering of physically accurate material types such as clear coat, metal, cloth, and skin, producing more realistic composite surfaces.

For material and look-dev teams, Substrate now replaces earlier shading models in complex asset pipelines. Epic recommends migrating projects incrementally and benchmarking shaders to ensure compatibility and consistency across devices.

Animation and virtual-production improvements

Unreal Engine 5.7 extends its animation toolkit with an overhauled Animation Mode, improved IK Retargeter and Skeletal Editor, and a new Dependency View for visualising control hierarchies.

For virtual-production users, the engine adds a Live Link Broadcast Component, allowing Unreal itself to act as a live animation source on-set. Composure, Unreal’s integrated real-time compositor, has been upgraded for improved handling of shadows, reflections, and colour accuracy during LED volume shoots. Incremental Cooking enters Beta, promising faster asset iteration for large virtual-production projects, though Epic cautions against immediate production use.

AI Assistant built into the Editor

A new AI Assistant now lives directly within the Unreal Editor. Users can ask technical questions, request code snippets in C++, or receive step-by-step instructions without leaving the viewport. The tool is designed to reduce context switching but is not intended to replace documentation or verified workflows. Its long-term reliability in multi-user pipelines remains untested, and Epic has not disclosed details about data handling or privacy.

Extended MetaHuman and cross-platform updates

The MetaHuman Creator plugin now runs on Linux and macOS, expanding platform support beyond Windows. Additional scripting APIs enhance automation and integration for character pipelines.

Here’s more about the Hairstyle generator.

Rendering, audio, and mobile improvements

Rendering updates include support for Android 15, new “Geometry Inspection” viewport modes for surface analysis, and expanded anti-aliasing and shadowing options. Nanite continues to gain broader coverage across rendering passes. Audio workflows benefit from “Audio Insights” (Beta), enhanced subtitle support, and updates to the waveform editor. These features target real-time review and iteration efficiency rather than final mixdown.

Caveats and production considerations

Despite multiple “production-ready” designations, Epic’s documentation lists numerous features as Beta or Experimental. Nanite Foliage, the Procedural Vegetation Editor, and MegaLights are explicitly unfinished. Documentation for several systems remains incomplete, and large projects upgrading from earlier versions will require shader recompilation and plugin verification. Studios are advised to test workflows in parallel, evaluate GPU and CPU loads, and confirm asset compatibility before upgrading live projects.

The post Unreal Engine 5.7: foliage, PCG and in-Editor AI first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

When Chaos Labs first showed off Chaos Arena and Chaos Vantage together, the pitch sounded almost heretical: a real-time virtual production suite that skips game engines entirely. To some, that sounded impossible. To others, overdue. We spoke with Chris Nichols, Director of Chaos Labs, about what it means to go “engine-free,” why USD and MaterialX matter when the lights go up, and how Gaussian splats actually behave outside a SIGGRAPH paper. *¹

DP: Chris,before we jump into the tech: Chaos Arena and Chaos Vantage together are pitched as a virtual production suite without the usual game engine baggage. How would you describe the idea behind this approach in your own words?

Chris Nichols: One of the biggest issues with virtual production is rendering. There are options that have existed for a while, including working with game engines, but they require you to move to an entirely different platform, use an entirely different ecosystem, and switch to an entirely different pipeline. What we’re doing is focusing on the rendering part in a way that lets you keep your current ecosystem and pipeline. 

Using Chaos Vantage and Chaos Arena simplifies the entire process. You can basically just take what you already do and work with real-time content. You don’t need to bring in additional experts or learn new systems, you just do what you’ve always been doing and take it a step further. 

DP: Arena and Vantage now support USD, MaterialX, and even Gaussian Splats. Could you walk us through why these formats are important?

Chris Nichols: A lot of times, people are forced into using a specific system or format that puts them in a walled garden. It makes them take additional steps, which just slows everything down. We’re trying to break out of that by adopting open source formats and making things as easy as possible, and the visual effects companies that have begun to accept and support USD and MaterialX have an advantage. With USD and MaterialX, no matter what tools they are using – Blender, Maya, Houdini, 3ds Max, etc. – they are directly compatible with Chaos Vantage and Chaos Arena without needing to convert anything. 

With gaussian splats, that’s just a general demand that people want. It also works really well with some of the things we specialize in, especially ray tracing, and it allows us to utilize them more than just a 3D point cloud. 

DP: One of the bold claims is that you can work without pre-processing, no baking, no data wrangling. From a technical standpoint, how are you pulling that off?

Chris Nichols: This is a very interesting question. If you’re looking at game engines, which use rasterized rendering, that does need pre-processing, and you do need baking and data wrangling. But if you skip rasterization and go full ray tracing, none of those things are necessary. So they are essentially two separate things that seem similar, but are not. It’s kind of like asking how many miles per gallon an electric car gets, which is an understandable question given that we’ve been thinking in those terms for years, but it’s really two different technologies that work differently. 

With rasterized rendering, pixels are free. No matter what the resolution you’re working in, the render times are not affected that much, but adding more polygons slows it down. With ray tracing, polygons are free. So no matter how much geometry you throw at the system your rendering isn’t affected all that much. Alternatively, when you start adding more pixels you need more rays, which slows things down. 

What has really changed that allows us to bring it all together is recent technological breakthroughs. That includes AI, which lets us denoise and upscale our renderings at very, very high quality, using something called “ray reconstruction,” which was first introduced in DLSS 3.5 and has since been improved. Ray reconstruction allows us to produce very good renders using smaller resolution bases with fewer rays, while keeping the speed. Add in AI and you can get clean, high resolution results with far fewer rays cast, and significantly fewer pixels. AI fills in the gaps. 

With ray tracing, there is no baking. That’s the point. We don’t have to pre-render the lighting, it’s full global illumination in real time. Move lights and move objects, all the lighting follows in real time, no rebaking. There’s also no need for data wrangling, because we can just throw the maximum geometry at everything all the time. We don’t need to create levels of detail, we don’t need to do anything else. We can just say the final asset is in real time and enable that, which basically means one asset for everything across the board. 

DP: If I’m an artist walking onto a stage with Arena and Vantage for the first time, what does the workflow look like from setup to shooting?

Chris Nichols: It’s actually very straightforward. Vantage itself is a simple program. You can just load your asset into Chaos Vantage as either a .vrscene file or as a USD with a MaterialX system. We also support OBJ and a couple other formats, but those are the most common.

Navigating around is then very straightforward, like most 3D applications. Chaos Vantage is not trying to be a game engine, and it’s not trying to add all kinds of complicated systems. It’s just meant for real-time visualization. So you put your cameras down, move your lights, and move your objects along with a couple of other things. Arena manages multiple instances of Vantage and enables them to operate simultaneously, synchronizing multiple render nodes across a large LED wall. Essentially, it’s saying “here is a master Vantage scene, here’s all the slave nodes that are working in the background.” Arena makes sure everything is synchronized and rendering together. 

Arena also adds the camera tracking system you are already using, and we support multiple camera tracking systems. We just enable the protocols. It could be OptiTrack, stYpe, Mo-Sys, or any of those systems, and it enables where the camera is looking. It’s very straightforward and there’s not much of a learning curve. It’s essentially a viewport. This makes it much easier for people to adapt to the system. 

That means that a Maya user can easily jump into Arena within a half an hour or less. Same with a Houdini user, a Blender user, or any of those types of tools. Those are the types of artists we are specifically targeting, giving them the ability to continue in the real-time world. That also includes people like directors of photography, because it operates like how a real camera operates. It’s the same language they would use. 

DP: Virtual production workflows often involve deciding what to solve in real time and what to leave for post. How does your toolkit support that balance?

Chris Nichols: In the past, there’s always been this break between what you need for offline rendering, and what you need for real-time rendering. It’s two different pipelines, two different teams, sometimes two different companies doing completely different things. We’re looking to make one system that can cross many departments and many avenues simultaneously. We want to offer the same asset that can be used from previs to virtual production to post-production, and make it as seamless as possible. With USD and MaterialX, you are free to use the same asset across the whole production cycle, no matter what DCC, what renderer, and what pipeline you use. It’s your pipeline, and your choice.

The transition from virtual production to visual effects to post-production should be as seamless as possible. That’s one thing that we feel that we support very well. The best example of that is the asset we used for the short film we created to announce Arena, Ray Tracing FTW. You can watch it here in full:

That was just one massive asset that had the entire town. That included the interior of the bank, five kilometers of train tracks, the tunnel, the bridge, every blade of grass… everything. In total, the asset contained around 2.8 trillion triangles, and the whole asset was generated in a matter of days. We used it for everything, then we’d take that same asset and use it for post-production, because we still had all the detail that we originally had from the beginning. That’s how you save a lot of money. So basically, why build it three times when you can build it once?

DP: You tested Arena extensively on the short film Ray Tracing FTW. What were some surprises?

Chris Nichols: Our assistant director on Ray Tracing FTW was Ben Hansford, a well-established commercial director that has experience with virtual production. He told us to plan for an hour to an hour and a half of crashes every day, because that’s what’s expected when traditionally working with virtual production. We ended up completing the shoot in three days without a single crash.

In fact, I don’t know of any crashes that have ever happened on set with Arena, at least nothing that was not recoverable in a matter of a few minutes. We didn’t expect it to be as stable as it was, especially in those early days when it was barely a product and the shoot partly meant to be a test for it. 

DP: Real-time changes on set are often the stress test for virtual production. How did Arena and Vantage handle that during Ray Tracing FTW?

Chris Nichols: We aren’t doing any baking or anything like that, so real-time changes are trivial to us. That’s exactly the way it should be. Rasterized rendering can look very photoreal, but you have to do a lot to make it look like that, and some of the things you have to do to make it look photoreal involve not being able to edit it later. For us, if you’re just ray tracing the whole time, none of those things matter. 

DP: Vantage has always been about pure ray tracing in real time. How does Arena extend that, and what does the combination unlock that wasn’t possible before?

Chris Nichols: When you’re done ray tracing, you’re done. You don’t have to solve any of the other problems, so you massively simplify your process. If you go back to 2006 when VFX started to adapt full ray tracing – not just the hybrid ray tracing that most game engines use – teams were still trying to rasterize things, but they started to realize they could simplify the process. They didn’t need to have things like full teams of shader writers, instead they could use ray tracing and that essentially solved the problem. It made things much, much faster and more efficient. 

The same philosophy is true here when we’re doing real-time ray tracing. It gives us a big advantage, and it’s not just in the quality of how things look, it’s how fast you can make something look good, and how easy it is to get there. So you’re actually saving a ton of money by ray tracing. 

In terms of what new technology has made all of this possible, when the 2080 graphics cards came out in 2018, it was the first time ray tracing cores were enabled on NVIDIA cards, and that let us design around that technology. But we weren’t able to achieve that super high level of quality resolution needed for virtual production until DLSS 3.5 came out. More recently, AI has made a lot of things possible. The best way to think about it is one out of every eight pixels is real, the rest are AI generated.

DP: For artists who are used to Unreal Engine or Unity, what’s the biggest mental shift when moving into an Arena/Vantage-based workflow?

Chris Nichols:  Unreal and Unity are fantastic tools for making games, and essentially what they’ve done for virtual production is to try to gamify the film making process. Game engines turn everything into a game control system, which can work to some extent, but it completely deviates from the other systems that the movie industry has been using for a long time, especially visual effects. What we’re doing is we’re making it easier to streamline that process across all departments. 

For people that have been using game engines, Arena is much simpler and you’re not sacrificing anything to get there. There are a lot of tricks and processes that you need to know for a game engine, and that’s just the way it has been. With Arena, we’ve had people ask if we can recreate a unique process they’ve been doing, but we don’t need to implement their workarounds. So their very clever tricks are completely unnecessary in the way that we do things.

DP: Gaussian Splats are hot right now. How do they behave inside Arena and Vantage compared to the hype we see in research papers?

Chris Nichols: Gaussian splats seem like they are here to stay, plus they are simple enough that it was relatively easy to support them compared to other standards in the past. The technology is also fairly familiar, and builds on the older light field technology that we experimented with years ago, first with companies like Lytro, then Google. Gaussian splats are essentially a representation of color and light from multiple different angles that change based on the angle you are viewing it, which is similar to what a light field does.

The problem with light fields is that it involves massive amounts of data, and lots of redundancy to get it there. So much so that they were impractical to use. But if you use neural fields to represent all the redundancy, it changes things. That’s basically what neural radiance fields, or NeRFs do, they are essentially light fields with a neural network. It’s a really cool system, but still very cumbersome. 

So when gaussian splats came along, it solved a lot of issues. All we really need is a point in space and a shape on that point – typically a disc or an ellipsoid – that changes colors depending on the viewing angle. It’s such a simple idea that began as a concept and grew from there. And because they’re so lightweight, because they do so well, it just became so easy for us. 

The benefit that we get from gaussian splats, and the way that we’re approaching it by actually ray tracing it – as opposed to rasterizing it – is that we can put 3D objects inside of a gaussian splat and they will ray trace that gaussian splat directly. The best example I can give is that you can take a gaussian splat of a city, and then you put a CG car on a street within the city. Then when the car travels through the city it will accurately reflect the environment within the gaussian spalt. If you did it as an HDR, every light point is at infinity, and that’s not how it really should be.

DP: From a director’s or DoP’s point of view, what kind of creative control does this system provide on set?

Chris Nichols: Everything that a DP would do manually, we can offer virtually. You can move lights, you can change colors, you can do all kinds of things. You can manipulate all of those different areas as well. We’re actually in the process of working on getting a DMX control for what we’re doing, so the digital gaffers can work together in terms of all the lighting controls you would have.

Another thing that we’re working on for the future is a new way of doing depth of field so that we can control the ability to figure out the distance between the camera and the wall, and add the appropriate compensated depth of field postwall. When the camera and wall defocuses are combined, it is the correct level that you would need for your set. 

DP: Are there particular hardware setups that Arena and Vantage thrive on, or can it scale from laptops to full LED stages?

Chris Nichols: Most LED stages I’ve worked on have, at a minimum, an A6000 card, if not two, and that’s perfectly reasonable for most setups. That’s one of the practical advantages of Arena – it can be installed on an existing LED wall in a matter of a few hours, without changing any hardware. In fact, we do that all the time. 

Another benefit of using this type of setup is that Chaos Vantage is a standalone app that can be installed on any laptop running an NVIDIA card. So a virtual production supervisor, a VFX supervisor, or even a director can open the scene and look through the 3D environment on their laptop.

DP: What role does MaterialX play in enabling consistency across tools, especially when moving assets between DCCs and Arena?

Chris Nichols: When someone uses Arena, they may work on an asset that ends up going to several different visual effects studios, each of which has their own pipeline and tools. Some might be using V-Ray, some might use Mantra, some might be using Arnold, and on and on. We want to make sure all of those studios can continue to use the same asset without any compatibility issues. And for shaders to translate, the best thing we can do is support MaterialX. As long as a studio supports MaterialX, they can use the same asset as everyone else without issue. 

DP: If you look at the ideal future workflow, what would be the hand-off between on-set capture with Arena and finishing in post with Vantage or other Chaos tools?

Chris Nichols: Really, it’s just a matter of being able to use the same asset. You can have an asset at a post-production house, then hand it off to a virtual production studio and keep doing what you’re doing. The asset might receive some changes along the way, but when you get it back, it’s essentially the same asset. 

When we were working on Ray Tracing FTW, there’s a scene in a Spanish hacienda. We were busy getting everything ready, so we didn’t have time to build one ourselves. We just went to Evermotion and bought one for around $100, and within 10 minutes it was on screen. It just worked. There are a ton of great assets out there that are Arena ready, and you can find comprehensive libraries filled with virtual production-ready assets from sites like Turbosquid, Evermotion, and KitBash3D to name a few. Hopefully, future workflows will keep things easy. We’re not trying to overcomplicate things. Just use one asset and use it across everything.

DP: Finally, what’s next for Chaos Labs in this space?

Chris Nichols: With Chaos Labs, each project builds on the success of the last, and each new experiment opens the door for the next. For our film Ray Tracing FTW, we wanted to know if Arena could work as a virtual production tool, and it did, because we could see how easy it was to go from one asset to the next. Right now, we’re building on that and testing to see how we can improve the complete filmmaking workflow, from the earliest stages of development to the final pixel, all using a single asset that will be developed throughout the lifecycle of a film. 

One of our focuses with Chaos Labs right now is on creating a previs system for Vantage that enables camera tracking on a bluescreen environment. Using the same asset for previs, we can then translate it for virtual production for in-camera VFX, and then go on to be used for final production. So we’re really looking at the full lifecycle. 

DP: What would be your recommendations for people getting into it?

Chris Nichols: Arena is designed to be easy. It’s virtual production made simple. You don’t need to learn any complicated new techniques or workarounds, you just use what you already know. Your pipeline, your choice. Load the free trial and give it a whirl!

DP: What good resources are out there to learn more about it?

Chris Nichols: There’s a lot of great documentation out there. We make it a point to offer as many tips and documents as possible. There are also tutorials and things like CG Garage. I recently recorded an episode specifically about this. 

DP: What is the next project you are working on ?

Chris Nichols: There is a feature film in development that we are using as a major case study for Chaos Labs, designed to showcase how this can all work. We feel strongly that Arena and Vantage will debunk the idea that virtual production is only for big, expensive movies. It’s a tool that can be used for everything, even low budget independent films. They can have the same power and process as a major production, at a much lower cost. That’s what we’re trying to do within Chaos Labs. We want to show people that you can do your $5 million movie with virtual production and get the same results as films with huge budgets.

1. Editorial Comment: Did Chaos Lab want their name in every sentence? No. But we find it funny to have a highly technical topic, talking to a top-shelf expert, and almost every sentence has the word “Chaos” in it? Yes, because I am somehow still cursed with the humor of a 5-year-old. ︎

The post Keep Your Pipeline: Chaos on Skipping the Game Engine first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

With its second major release, Atlux λ 2 from Vinzi upgrades Unreal Engine from a lighting and rendering sandbox to something more unexpected: a fully simulated 3D scanning studio. The plugin, previously known as MetaShoot, already recreated physical photography stages within Unreal. Now, its new Capture tab extends this idea to the world of 3D data acquisition. Artists can distribute virtual DSLR cameras around a subject using the Camera Volume, tweak focal length, aperture, and shutter speed, and generate synthetic scan data without leaving the engine.

That data can be exported as standard PLY point clouds or COLMAP datasets, complete with camera positions, ready for reconstruction or use in Gaussian Splatting workflows. In effect, Atlux λ 2 allows Unreal scenes to feed directly into neural or point-based renderers—turning virtual scenes into training data or splat clouds.

Lighting: modernised for Lumen

The original Atlux lights were tuned for Unreal Engine 4’s raytracer. Version 2 retunes everything for Lumen, Unreal’s realtime global illumination system. Point and Directional light types have been added, Spotlight behaviour refined, and new presets included for standard studio setups.

A new procedural gobo system projects colour and shadow patterns across surfaces or acts as a softbox diffuser. The system remains parametric, letting artists adjust projection density, sharpness, and tint directly in the viewport.

Props, particles, and calibration

Atlux λ 2 also expands the library of assets available inside its Prop tab. New podiums, curtains, and cyclorama-style backgrounds can be dropped in with a click. Environmental effects such as light trails, particle bursts, fog, and god rays simulate studio atmosphere or help block out cinematic moods.

For technical accuracy, Vinzi adds reference materials and calibration props: chrome and grey balls, Macbeth-style colour charts, and surface decals such as fingerprints or scratches for realism checks.

Cameras and animation

Camera motion receives a complete overhaul via the new Action tab. Beyond static turntables and rail rigs, the update introduces floating, breathing, and handheld motions—useful for emulating product demo or cinematic coverage. Object animation presets now include oscillation and platform rotations, making it easier to preview assets dynamically without separate sequencer setups.

Stylisation and colour management

The Post-Process tab offers a surprising detour into non-photorealistic rendering. New materials simulate hatching, blueprints, oil painting, or even LEGO-style mosaic looks. While arguably niche, these presets demonstrate Atlux’s procedural layering system. Colour workflow has also matured. Artists can now load custom LUTs in .cube format, and use OCIO configuration directly from the plugin. This aligns Atlux with modern VFX colour management pipelines, especially for teams delivering look-dev stills or promotional imagery.

Randomisation and stability

Version 2 replaces the former AI Randomizer with Afflatus, a fully controllable randomisation engine. It can vary lights, props, or cameras individually, making batch renders or creative explorations more predictable. Vinzi has also addressed long-standing stability issues, notably a crash that occurred when cancelling renders mid-process. The UI has been reorganised and cleaned up, reflecting Atlux’s shift from experimental plugin to mature production tool.

Pricing and compatibility

Atlux λ 2 supports Unreal Engine 5.4 and later, running exclusively on Windows. It’s a free update for existing licence holders. A new perpetual licence costs $495 for individuals, while subscription users now pay $59.50 per month. Studios above $5 million annual revenue pay $990.50 or $109.50 per month.

Why a virtual scanner makes sense

Atlux’s decision to simulate photogrammetry inside Unreal feels both logical and overdue. Real-world 3D scanning is constrained by lighting, calibration, and physical capture limits. Unreal’s virtual environment removes all of these.

Because Atlux generates PLY or COLMAP data from synthetic cameras, users can prototype real scanning setups virtually—testing camera count, exposure, or spacing before investing in physical rigs. This also means Unreal can now output the same kind of data that Gaussian Splatting software ingests.

For visual effects, this unites two previously separate domains: engine-driven rendering and point-based reconstruction. Artists working on virtual production stages or motion-capture shoots could simulate scans of props or performers within their live Unreal environments, immediately feeding that synthetic data into splatting workflows or neural rendering experiments.

The result is a hybrid form of asset creation – half DCC, half dataset generation – without needing to step outside the engine.

The Gaussian bridge

Gaussian Splatting relies on point-based representations with density and colour information. Until now, these were usually reconstructed from photogrammetry or radiance field capture. Atlux’s virtual scan export removes the dependency on real footage: it produces consistent, noise-free data that can serve as either training material or direct renderable geometry.

It’s a small technical leap with large implications. For game cinematics, motion capture pre-visualisation, or virtual set planning, Gaussian splats generated in-engine would integrate seamlessly with existing Unreal lighting and compositing systems. Scene layout, lighting, and reconstruction could all occur within a single runtime context.

It raises a simple question: why did no one integrate a virtual scanner sooner? The pieces like Unreal, COLMAP, splat renderers, have existed for years. Atlux is simply the first to package them coherently inside the engine.

Practical caveats

Synthetic scanning does have limits. The generated data mirrors only what exists in the scene: no micro-surface irregularities, no photographic noise. For production pipelines requiring physical accuracy, real scans will still dominate.

Domain bias also matters. Gaussian reconstruction tools trained on real images may respond differently to perfect, noise-free synthetic data. Colour, specularity, and occlusion gaps might require deliberate simulation of imperfections to ensure realism.

Performance remains a concern. Simulating tens or hundreds of high-resolution cameras for each capture can tax GPU memory and I/O bandwidth. Unreal users will need to balance fidelity against throughput, especially when batch-generating scans.

A maturing plugin ecosystem

With Atlux λ 2, Vinzi seems to position Unreal less as a render target and more as a production laboratory—a controllable environment for both image generation and 3D data experimentation. It mirrors a broader shift in the industry: tools that blur the boundaries between DCC, realtime, and machine-learning workflows. As engines mature, the distinction between rendering, scanning, and simulation narrows.

Artists and technical directors should, as always, test the plugin in context before committing to production use. But Atlux λ 2’s ability to create synthetic scans directly inside Unreal marks a thoughtful and technically literate step toward unified virtual production pipelines.

Atlux Official Website

Atlux λ for Unreal 5.4 – Medium Announcement

The post Atlux λ 2 brings 3D scanning inside Unreal first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Netflix has consolidated its visual effects and virtual production divisions, merging Scanline VFX and Eyeline Studios into a single brand, Eyeline. The company confirmed that all existing studio locations will remain operational. According to Netflix, the move unites Scanline’s long-standing expertise in cinematic visual effects with Eyeline’s advances in virtual production and volumetric capture. The reorganisation aims to bring both teams under one creative and technical framework.

Scanline’s Legacy in Simulation and Cinematic VFX

Founded 36 years ago, Scanline VFX built a reputation for large-scale simulation work and complex VFX integration. The company received a Scientific and Technical Academy Award for its proprietary fluid simulation software, Flowline, which has become a production mainstay for photorealistic water and particle effects. Scanline’s recent credits include Stranger Things, Wednesday, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and Netflix’s The Woman in Cabin 10. The studio also earned a 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for its work on Andor Season 2.

Eyeline Studios: Virtual Production Meets Research

Launched in 2019, Eyeline Studios focuses on virtual production, volumetric capture, and lighting simulation. Its proprietary Light Dome system replicates real-world lighting with measurable precision, offering filmmakers consistent and reproducible conditions across digital and live-action environments. Eyeline received the Visual Effects Society’s Groundbreaking Technology Award for its volumetric capture stage. The setup was recently used in Wednesday Season 2 to create Christopher Lloyd’s Professor Orloff and has also supported production on Happy Gilmore 2 and the upcoming A House of Dynamite.

Generative AI Enters the Pipeline

Eyeline has also been applying generative AI tools to assist in production workflows, particularly in The Eternaut (El Eternauta), Netflix’s Argentine sci-fi adaptation. Netflix describes these AI-driven tools as supporting creative collaboration and efficiency, though specific implementations have not been detailed publicly. The company has not disclosed which AI systems or models are in use.

Unified Brand, Global Ambition

With both divisions now operating under the Eyeline name, Netflix says the merged entity will combine “nearly four decades of VFX artistry” with “cutting-edge virtual production and AI-enabled tools.” The company’s stated goal is to “pioneer new technologies that enhance creative collaboration and streamline workflows for filmmakers worldwide.” Current and upcoming projects involving Eyeline include Stranger Things Season 5, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, The Witcher Seasons 4 and 5, One Piece Season 2, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, Spider-Man Noir, and Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

Testing the Promise

While Netflix presents Eyeline as a future-facing production hub, the operational impact for external vendors and production partners remains unclear. Details on how Eyeline will collaborate with outside VFX houses or integrate third-party workflows have not yet been released.

The post Netflix Merges Scanline and Eyeline first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

When I opened the TD Meetup 21, I asked a simple question: “Why talk about virtual reality again?”

A few years ago VR was everywhere – headsets, conferences, demos, hype – but it quietly faded into the background when projects stalled and the novelty wore off. At the same time, I’ve seen steady progress: VR now serves as a practical, cost-saving tool for architecture, design, visualisation and increasingly for our industry of VFX and animation.

I recall first meeting Dan Franke (Instagram) at the FMX 2025, where his VR artworks reignited my interest. His work in Quill VR showed that virtual reality can be more than a viewing device; it can be a creative environment. For previsualisation, VR allows directors and supervisors to plan set extensions and camera movement directly inside a 3D world. For artists, it allows sculpting and painting in a space that feels natural, intuitive, and immediate and for audiences, it redefines immersion, especially in documentary or experiential content such as the Fukushima 360° recordings. My goal for the evening was to let Dan demonstrate that potential in action and to remind our technical community that VR is not gone – it has simply grown up.

Who Is Dan Franke – From Student to VR Pioneer

Dan traced his path from his days as a CG generalist sculpting aliens in ZBrush, to discovering his passion for direction and storytelling. During his studies at the Animationsinstitut, he created a 2D short film that confirmed his interest in animation. Later, as a co-director on the children’s series Petzi at Studio Soi, he learned the realities of production management and communication. Dan described that time with a laugh: “I was a student with imposter syndrome, surrounded by world-class animators, suddenly telling them what to do.”

That experience taught him not only humility but also efficiency. Big projects require coordination, teams, and budgets – luxuries students rarely have. So he began searching for tools that could give him independence, something that let a small team or even a single artist, produce complex animation on their own terms.

The Moment Dan Discovered Quill

Dan’s turning point came when he discovered Quill, then being developed at Oculus Story Studio by Goro Fujita and Inigo Quilez. The tool allowed painting and animating directly in 3D space inside VR. When he saw early demos of artists sketching in volumetric space, he realised he needed to try it.

By coincidence, only a week later Goro came to Dan’s university for the first public Quill workshop. Within two days Dan had learned the basics. One day later he produced his first 3D painting entirely in Quill. He described the revelation: Quill is essentially Photoshop in three dimensions, where you can paint brush strokes that exist in space and then animate them in real time.

Because the Quill community was small at the time, Dan’s early experiments quickly gained attention on Facebook groups and later on Discord. That visibility led to collaborations on major VR projects, connecting him to studios and other artists pushing the same frontier.

Early Projects: Namoo, Tales from Soda Island and Studio Syro

One of Dan’s first significant productions was Namoo, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Eric O. The piece, both a VR experience and a 2D short, was built by a small team that included former Pixar and Disney artists. Dan’s contribution was painting and animating the environments entirely in Quill. Every tree, branch, and memory sequence in Namoo was handcrafted in volumetric brush strokes rather than traditional geometry.

After Namoo, Dan and a collective of Quill artists pitched an experimental concept to Meta: a world built of music, colour, and tiny creatures, inspired by the label Soda Island. Meta funded the idea, and Tales from Soda Island became the first full VR series created entirely in VR. The group formed Studio Syro (Instagram), a distributed studio that operated remotely during the pandemic and didn’t meet physically until years later.

Dan directed the first three of seven episodes, each more technically ambitious than the last. In the beginning, he still thought in 2D, using storyboards and fixed “cameras.” By the second episode, moving through full 360° space, he realised that traditional storyboarding didn’t fit VR storytelling. He had to adapt.

He recalled following Einstein’s quote: “Everyone knew it was impossible until a fool who didn’t know came along and just did it.” Dan chose to ignore established VR conventions and invented his own film language by borrowing timing and rhythm from 2D cinema but applying them in a 3D world.

As production evolved, Studio Syro discovered that Quill could replace much of the previsualisation pipeline. They began creating layouts, camera moves, and storyboards directly in VR. The approach combined storyboarding, animatic, and previs in a single tool, accelerating iteration and improving communication across the team.

Quill Techniques in Practice

When Dan switched to live demonstration mode during the meetup, the chat went silent. We all watched a butterfly appear in front of him – a cloud of brush strokes grouped into parts. He grabbed one wing by its pivot, moved it in real time and Quill recorded the motion. There was no rig, no keyframes, no constraints. Just his hand and the headset tracking every nuance.

He explained that the technique relies on simple grouping and pivot placement: Once you define the hinge point, you can record your hand motions as animation data. The result looks organic because it is organic. Human motion captured directly as a brush movement.

“I animate the wing by grabbing it and rotating it in real time. No rig involved – just grouping and recording my hand motion.”

In another scene, he built a stylised water effect: Creating an empty layer, looping frames, painting fluid motion stroke by stroke and using the grab tool to distort the surface. He described how easy it was to “make it rain” in Quill by simply painting downward strokes and looping them.

Later, he opened visuals from a project for music artist Bad Bunny, showing psychedelic stage graphics created entirely with painted animations in Quill. Clouds, waves, and surreal textures moved fluidly, achieved by layering and distorting rotating spheres and painted strokes. Watching him deform shapes live felt closer to sculpting clay than editing polygons.

Dan emphasised that Quill rewards improvisation. You paint one small detail, duplicate it, rearrange it and soon the space fills into a world. It’s procedural, but handmade. An artist’s version of Houdini logic.

Quill as Previsualisation Tool

To show how Quill functions as a previs system, Dan built a miniature tunnel scene from scratch. He painted simple grey strokes to form walls and ceiling, duplicated them for depth, then added colour and placed a camera. A rough character shape followed; a black silhouette with a stick weapon.

He then activated record mode, grabbed the character, and moved it through the space while looking through the camera view. The animation was recorded instantly. Within seconds, he had a readable scene: The character walks forward, pauses, then reacts to falling rocks that he painted in next. The result looked crude yet expressive enough to read the motion, staging and timing.

Dan pointed out that such iterations would normally require drawing, editing, compositing, and re-timing across several programs. In Quill, it happens in one continuous creative act. That immediacy, he argued, shortens iteration loops and encourages experimentation.

Integrating Quill into the Pipeline

After the demos, Dan addressed a question many TDs were waiting for: How does this fit into existing pipelines? Quill, he explained, can export geometry and animation as FBX, OBJ, or Alembic files. Those can be imported into Maya, Blender or Houdini. Because Quill’s geometry is built from individual brush strokes, the surfaces are not watertight meshes; lighting them directly reveals visible edges. For that reason, Quill output is best used for stylised effects, abstract backgrounds, or reference geometry rather than production models.

Nevertheless, it can serve as an excellent art-direction tool. Effects departments can import Quill volumes as timing and motion references or even as collision shapes for simulations. Dan also mentioned upcoming work on integrating Quill-like tools into Blender via the new Grease Pencil VR prototype. Such integration could make these workflows accessible to more artists and, importantly, open to scripting and extensions.

I added that this is precisely where technical directors come in. New tools often lack the surrounding infrastructure: exporters, optimisers, render bridges. A TD’s role is to evaluate these technologies, write the missing connectors, and make them usable for the rest of the team.

Audience Q&A Highlights

When the Q&A opened, the questions came quickly. One attendee asked how long he can work in VR before fatigue sets in. Dan said it varies widely between people. During his workshops, newcomers sometimes need a day to adjust, but he personally can work ten to twelve hours in Quill without issue. Early in his career he trained himself by playing VR flight games, performing barrel rolls to eliminate motion sickness. Then he laughed and admitted he once fell asleep wearing the headset and woke up still inside the virtual space – a surreal experience he does not recommend.

Another participant asked whether Quill supports painting over live video. Dan explained that you can import footage as layers, remove alpha channels, and paint directly over them. His Arcane reel used this method: He filmed his hands on green screen, composited the footage inside Quill and drew the environment around it.

A third question concerned hardware. Dan recommended Meta Quest headsets, specifically the Quest 2, 3, or lightweight 3S, as ideal for Quill. Even older Oculus Rifts still function, though with poorer optics. He added that Quill runs smoothly on mid-range PCs or even laptops; high-end GPUs are not mandatory.

Finally, someone asked how technical Quill is to operate. Dan described it as “the least technical software I’ve ever used.” With only a few controller buttons to memorise, the barrier to entry is low. Within two days of workshops, most students forget the buttons entirely and focus on creation. But integrating Quill into a production pipeline is another story: Depending on project complexity, a studio may need an import/export script, shaders or performance tools. He recommended that TDs interested in supporting Quill learn basic Python scripting to build these bridges.

Quill in Production Contexts

At that point I asked Dan to imagine returning to Petzi and directing a new season. Would he use Quill purely for previs or even for final output? He replied that for Petsy, Quill would excel in the early stages like storyboarding, layout, animatic, and camera blocking. The advantage lies in speed: Directors can test ideas directly without waiting for new drawings.

For final production, Quill could contribute stylised effects like smoke, rain, splashes, painterly transitions but likely not main characters. The stroke-based meshes show seams under realistic lighting. However, he added that exporting animated Quill volumes as Alembic can serve as perfect guides for effects artists, giving them a timed and shaped reference for further simulation.

I agreed. Productions often struggle to communicate tone and feeling from 2D concept to 3D execution. VR sketching bridges that gap by letting everyone see and feel scale, movement and atmosphere directly. A line drawing leaves room for interpretation; a spatial sketch shows intent.

Reflections and Takeaways

After nearly two hours of live painting, animation, and discussion, I took a step back. Watching Dan work made it clear that Quill sits at a fascinating intersection of art and technology. It reintroduces immediacy to digital production: The artist’s gesture becomes motion, not data entry.

The implications for production are tangible. In early design and previs, VR tools can compress the time between idea and validation. A director or TD can sketch in space, test pacing, iterate on blocking and hand off to layout or animation without traditional bottlenecks.

Equally important, these tools demand new types of collaboration. Technical artists need to connect them to render pipelines, while creatives need to understand what they can ask from them. Quill proves that the two roles of artist and technologist are no longer separate worlds but overlapping disciplines.

What’s Next and How to Join

TD Meetup continues monthly. The next session will tackle Python Challenges, focusing on automation and problem-solving for real production pipelines. If you would like to join future events, visit td-meetup and register. Recordings of previous sessions, including Dan’s full Quill demo, are available on the TD Meetup YouTube playlist.

Dan’s VR Painting Foundations Course is available at vrpaintingcourse.com, where he teaches Quill basics and advanced VR animation techniques. For those wanting to experiment, Quill itself can be found at quill.art, and Meta Quest (Facebook-Login Required?) hardware details are listed at meta.com.

Final Thoughts

The TD Meetup 21 reminded us that VR is far from dead. Tools like Quill demonstrate that immersive creation is not a gimmick but a workflow accelerator. Dan Franke’s live session showed how real-time painting and animation can merge art, direction, and technical design into one fluid process.

As we move into an era dominated by AI tools, his closing comment resonated: VR remains the most human form of digital creation. It captures not the machine’s interpretation, but the artist’s hand. Watching him animate by literally waving his hand in the air, I thought: This is where technology feels alive again.

See you at the next Meetup,
Alex

The post TD Meetup 21: VR, Quill & the Renaissance of Real-Time Storytelling first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Alexander Richter.

KitBash3D has added a Washington, D.C. Kit to its Unlimited subscription offering, allowing creators to access high-fidelity models of U.S. capital landmarks and civic architecture for film, games, VR, and visualisation.

What’s in the Washington, D.C. Kit

The kit includes 3D models of key D.C. landmarks and civic assets: the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the Supreme Court, memorials, plazas, museums, and related urban infrastructure. Geo-material detail is a focus: the team studied Aquia Creek sandstone, Colorado marble, and other historically significant materials to replicate textures and architectural character.

To support large scale uses, the creators developed multiple texture variants and custom solutions rather than relying on one or two material types across large surfaces. They also optimised assets to balance detail with usability for real-time or offline rendering workflows. Beyond historical structures, the kit offers modern office complexes and complementary urban elements to allow mix-and-match cityscapes. For users who need more than just the kit, there is also a “Washington, D.C. Expanded Bundle,” which includes additional substance materials, vehicles (police cruiser, large SUV, city bus), and related assets.

Unlimited or Standalone — Licensing Options

The Washington, D.C. Kit is now available via KitBash3D Unlimited, meaning subscribers can access it as part of their library subscription. For those who prefer ownership, it is also sold individually or in expanded bundles.

Challenges & Design Choices

In a “Behind the Kit” post, the KitBash3D team outlined some of their primary challenges. Scaling up architectural models without obvious tiling or visible repetition in textures posed significant difficulties. Some surfaces required bespoke textures, especially where the scale magnified flaws or pattern repeats.

The team also emphasised the tradeoff between optimisation and visual fidelity. They note that optimisation does not always mean using fewer resources; sometimes introducing new materials or more variants leads to better visual quality without harming performance. The project was reportedly one of the most ambitious for KitBash3D in terms of scale and architectural complexity.

Why This Matters for Creators

For VFX artists, environment designers, virtual production teams, and archviz specialists, the Washington, D.C. Kit offers a fast route to building cinematic capital city environments without modelling everything from scratch. The combination of recognised landmarks and supporting urban assets gives flexibility for storytelling across genres—political drama, sci-fi reimaginings, alternate history, or educational simulation.

Because the kit supports both historic and modern elements, users can blend eras or propose speculative scenarios. Meanwhile, the texture and geometry optimisations help maintain performance in real-time engines or render pipelines. That said, creators should test integration (scale, LODs, shaders) in their pipelines before committing to full shots.

Bottom Line

KitBash3D has extended its Unlimited catalogue with a Washington, D.C. kit — a detailed, modular, architecturally faithful set of civic assets, available either via subscription or standalone. The design balances historical fidelity, scale, and real-world usability. With the current state of Washington and its inhabitants, anything that makes it possible not to visit in person is a welcome addition to any toolkit.

The post Capitol Scenes Go Digital — KitBash3D Adds Washington, D.C. to Unlimited Library first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

ARRI is packaging LED-production into a complete, installable studio system. The company’s new turnkey stage integrates LED walls, ALEXA 35, lighting, audio, server infrastructure, and monitoring into a pre-planned bundle. The idea is simple: production teams get predictable, repeatable results without having to assemble a patchwork of components. And together with Samsungs “The Wall” and the Realtime Department, you get everything in one tight package. But let’s look further.

The offering grew out of a familiar problem. High-quality LED workflows are more complex than they appear. Fragmented solutions risk mismatched colour, camera artefacts, or unstable pipelines. The answer is to deliver planning, consulting, and tested system design as one product, reducing the risk of incompatibility.

ARRI and Samsung will present the turnkey LED studio at IBC 2025 (Amsterdam, RAI, Hall 2, 2.B08), where visitors can join interactive demos, explore new content concepts, and experience virtual production workflows live on site. André Rittner will be available at the Samsung booth to discuss all things at the stage!

DP: André, how did ARRI first get involved in building turnkey virtual production stage?

André Rittner: ARRI first became involved in building turnkey virtual production stages when it became clear that achieving high-quality results requires more than just installing an LED wall. While virtual production and AI-generated content may appear simple, the underlying workflows are highly complex. To produce reliable, output, the interplay between hardware, software, colour science, and camera systems must be perfectly aligned.

The risk of investing in fragmented or incompatible solutions is considerable. This is why ARRI developed a turnkey approach, combining consulting, planning, and tested system design. The Corporate LED Bundle was created to streamline setup and reduce operational complexity and costs, together with our partners Samsung and Realtime Department.

The concept can be compared to driving a car: the user benefits from the performance without having to design the engine. ARRI integrates all relevant components into a complete system, delivering predictable results in a repeatable process.

Our initial focus was on simplified studio environments for corporate and communication productions, where advanced functions such as real-time tracking were not essential. At the same time, the architecture remains modular, so that clients can scale the system into a fully equipped Virtual 3D Studio when and if required.

DP: The ALEXA 35 is the standard camera for the Turnkey Stage. Why was this model chosen over others in the ARRI lineup?

André Rittner: A more accessible ALEXA 35 Base model is available, and it offers accurate colour management just as the Premium. This is essential for high-quality production, as LED panels operate using RGB light, and our eyes can immediately detect the difference between RGB and natural daylight in a direct comparison.

When this difference is noticeable, it often gives the impression that something is off, making the product or content appear less professional. Any ARRI camera can be integrated; the only crucial factor is ensuring that the camera is calibrated to match the LED colour values.

DP: What’s actually included in the ARRI box?

André Rittner: The idea of a “box” is quite literal, although in practice it refers to the customer’s own space where everything is installed. Much like a car that can be customized, this “box” can be tailored to individual requirements. The standard configuration includes an LED wall (approx. 2.70m x 4.80m), a camera, lighting, a server system for playback and colour management, audio equipment, a control monitor, a recording device, and all necessary accessories.

The centrepiece is the server, which functions as a self-contained control hub. It allows users to automate workflows or manage multiple processes at the push of a button. From this foundation, the system can be scaled or expanded to virtually any size. But that is something Realtime Department will tell you all about! (Story upcoming)

DP: Is a viewfinder part of the standard package, or is everything controlled remotely?

André Rittner: Yes, a camera viewfinder is included. It’s important that all components remain usable for traditional production as well.

The unique advantage of this solution is that the server software can also control the camera and lighting. Unlike consumer devices, film cameras require precise operation. And the server enables that precision while making independent or even single-person operation possible. For example, it helps eliminate issues such as moiré.

DP: Let’s talk about audio: How is sound handled within the Turnkey Stage setup? 

André Rittner: Audio recording is also managed via the server, supported by dedicated hardware. In a studio environment, direct sound and microphones play a crucial role. Directional room microphones reduce the need for complex cabling and manual leveling. At the same time, professionals retain full control and flexibility, while the system also supports simplified, semi-automated operation.

DP: What’s the setup process like for a user? Is it truly plug-and-play, or will I need a crash course in ARRI engineering before getting started?

André Rittner: It’s not a Lego kit that can be assembled ad hoc. Proper installation and integration into a space is done by system integrators. During commissioning, the system is explained and workflows can be demonstrated. Users who invest in such a studio usually already have film experience and understand the complexity involved.

Our solution ensures interaction between components and makes operations as simple as possible. For straightforward use cases, processes can be reduced to one-touch operation. For more demanding productions, however, a team will still be required. The system is therefore both professional-grade and flexible, enabling in-house productions such as commercials or even entire film sequences.

DP: Calibration is never a one-and-done deal—displays drift over time. Is periodic recalibration necessary?

André Rittner: Calibration can be carried out independently or even automated, with minimal effort required. And while it’s true that LED panels age, their expected lifespan is typically 8 to 12 years.

André Rittner: The system is not proprietary or closed. Users can freely adjust configurations and adapt to future requirements. This openness is key for long-term flexibility.

DP: What storage options are included in the system? Does the package come with Codex, SSDs, or any other dedicated media, or is that up to the end user? What export formats are supported?

André Rittner: The system includes a Codex card as standard, but that can be customized, including all camera and color settings. Recording can be done directly in-camera or via an external recorder. Supported formats include 12G-SDI ProRes 4444, DNx, and H.264 in SD/HD, among others. Export options can also be adapted to customer requirements.

DP: How do external triggers work in this setup—can I control lighting, playback, camera, or stage cues via standard protocols (DMX, MIDI, OSC, etc.), and how open is the system for custom integrations?

André Rittner: Yes. Since the server software was developed with flexibility in mind by a German partner Realtime Department, virtually any protocol or integration is possible. This interoperability is a major advantage of the tightly integrated camera, lighting, and LED system. The goal was to provide a software backbone that adapts to customer workflows rather than forcing a fixed structure.

DP: How many people can comfortably work or perform inside the Turnkey Stage? Is it strictly “one-man-band,” or is there space for a team or ensemble?

André Rittner: With the right planning, the stage can support solo operation or full team productions – the configuration is entirely customer-driven. During the planning phase, the LED and studio size can be designed to fit the production needs. Once installed, the setup is less flexible, as LED cabinets age in place. For this reason, proper consultation is crucial, both to maximize the investment and to avoid unnecessary costs.

DP: Looking back: What were the most challenging trade-offs between simplicity for new users and flexibility for pros? Any tough calls or “wish we could have done it sooner” moments?

André Rittner: A very good question. Our philosophy is to start with the smallest viable package. With the exception of the LED wall, everything can be flexibly expanded as needed. Tracking, for example, is powerful but can quickly require 1–5 operators per setup. That shifts the workflow closer to high-end film productions. Anything is possible …

DP: What’s your favorite hidden trick, hack, or pro tip for getting the most out of the Turnkey Stage?

André Rittner: Don’t overthink it, just start using the system. Most users are impressed by the quality and creative potential, which naturally drives inspiration and creativity. The key is to stay hands-on and let the technology spark both creativity and new ways of working.

The post ARRI Packs Virtual Production Into a Box first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Beeble has released Beeble Camera, a free iOS app that uses Apple’s LiDAR and ARKit frameworks to track iPhone movement in real time while recording. The app anchors captured footage to real-world space and uploads it directly to the Beeble Web platform for AI processing. According to the developer, uploaded shots are processed into camera-tracked, rotoscoped and relightable VFX passes. These passes can then be composited in Beeble Studio, the online Beeble Editor, or exported into Blender and Unreal or using a dedicated plugin, or any other DCC through a straight export.

Setup and Shooting

After installing Beeble Camera from the App Store, users must scan their environment with the iPhone to allow ARKit to detect surfaces. A floor grid can be tapped to set the origin point for tracking. The app also allows insertion of reference geometry by placing a .usdz file into the scene. This can be scaled, rotated and moved as needed. Once the environment is prepared, recordings capture both video and camera metadata. For improved results, Beeble recommends using a gimbal, ensuring a clean lens (D’uh), and shooting under even lighting conditions.

Uploading and Processing

Recorded clips are uploaded from the phone to Beeble Web, where AI routines create roto masks and relightable passes. These are automatically aligned with tracked 3D data from the shoot. The same 3D reference model used on-set can be converted to .glb and imported into the Beeble Editor, where metadata ensures accurate placement in the composite. Alternatively, Blender users can bring in the footage via the Beeble add-on, which carries over the camera-tracking data.

Availability

Beeble Camera is available now as a free download on the iOS App Store. Processing and compositing features require a Beeble Web account.

What’s Next from Beeble

Beeble CEO Hoon Kim has confirmed plans for a local version of the platform in future updates. He discusses this roadmap and accessibility of AI-based relighting in our Digital Production interview, so read on over there :)

We have to talk about Switchlight 2.0

The post iPhone for Tracking: Beeble Camera enables Free “Virtual Production” first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Freeing the VDB Pipes

Zibra AI has made ZibraVDB, its AI-powered volumetric compression tool for Houdini and Unreal Engine, available at no cost to indie artists and small studios earning or funded under $100,000 per year. This applies to both Houdini and UE5 editions, including for commercial use.

ZibraVDB compresses OpenVDB files, used for effects like smoke and fire, down to approximately 3 percent of their original size and claims to render them about twice as fast as Unreal Engine 5.3’s native Sparse Volume Texture (SVT) system.

What Changed—and What Remained

Until now, the free trial edition restricted users to compressing only five VDB sequences. With this update, the restriction is gone: indie users can compress an unlimited number of sequences and play them back in real time within Unreal Engine. Previously, individual subscriptions cost $10 per month or $150 per year. Those options remain for users outside the indie threshold, while studio-level subscription pricing is available on enquiry.

System Support and Availability

• Unreal Engine edition: Compatible with UE 5.3 or higher on Windows only. It’s distributed via Epic’s Fab online marketplace under a Standard license.
• Houdini edition: Compatible with Houdini 20.5.619 or newer, on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Available via SideFX Labs, an experimental plugin repository for Houdini users.

Installing either requires registering for a license key on Zibra AI’s website.

Final Note for Professionals

All claims of compression ratios and render-speed improvements are vendor-reported. Users should test ZibraVDB in their own environments before adopting it in production.

The post Zibra AI Frees ZibraVDB for Indie Artists (Briefly, Because Less Is More) first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

by Peter Beck, Field Product Manager Workstations
and Rugged at Dell Technologies in Germany.

This new approach to filmmaking has revolutionized the industry by blending digital technologies with traditional techniques. It merges virtual environments with live-action filming, allowing studios to project ultra-high-resolution backgrounds onto LED walls where actors can perform in real time. Camera tracking allows virtual backgrounds to react to camera movements in real time, making the scenery appear fully realistic. Studios can simulate buildings or landscapes that exist in the real world, as well as completely fictional worlds such as imaginary planets or fantasy cities. Studios can replicate real-world locations, such as buildings or landscapes, or create entirely fictional worlds, from alien planets to fantastical cities.

The benefits of virtual production are extensive. Post-production work is often reduced, and overall costs are lower since crews no longer need to travel to global locations like New York, Paris, or London to shoot on site. This also helps reduce CO₂ emissions, which is a clear environmental advantage. Directors and film crews can adapt virtual environments quickly, make last-minute changes, and experiment visually without being tied to external factors.

Freed from concerns like weather, natural light, or time-of-day constraints, teams gain greater control over planning and execution. Virtual environments are also far easier to reuse than physical sets. This facilitates so-called pickups, i.e. additional or supplementary shots that are recorded after the main shoot to improve, supplement, or correct certain aspects of a scene. But even the next sequel to a successful blockbuster series can be produced much faster and more efficiently.

Workstations as a Central Component

Software tools like Blender and Unreal Engine make virtual production possible. Artists often use Blender to design photorealistic 3D models and animations, while Unreal Engine renders these assets on LED walls and enables real-time interaction between actors and digital content. For these tools to operate effectively, they require equally capable hardware. This is where workstations come in, especially those outfitted with high-performance GPUs. These machines are the backbone of the virtual production process.

Workstations render the digital environments live and display them on LED walls. They also handle compositing, the process of blending actors and physical elements with the virtual background. These workstations allow directors, cinematographers, producers, and department heads to hold virtual scouts; collaborative sessions in a shared digital environment used for pre-production planning. By interacting in real time within the virtual assets, teams can explore camera angles, lighting setups, and set design long before principal photography begins.

One reason workstations are so effective is that they harness the specific strengths of modern GPUs. While CPUs generally produce higher-quality final renders, GPUs are much faster at generating real-time previews. This performance difference stems from their underlying architecture. CPUs are designed for complex, sequential tasks and typically include a few very powerful cores. GPUs, by contrast, excel at parallel processing and are equipped with thousands of smaller cores that can handle many simple calculations simultaneously. This enables rapid on-set rendering during virtual production. More detailed work, such as final colour grading or complex simulations, can then be completed during post-production using CPU-intensive data centres.

Dell Precision 7875 Tower Workstation: Purpose-built for Virtual Production

The Dell Precision 7875 Tower Workstation (SpecSheet) is a standout hardware solution for real-time rendering. Designed specifically for professional use in virtual production, it supports up to two NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada GPUs. This graphics card delivers extremely high computing power for real-time rendering. Its architecture includes RT cores that accelerate ray tracing and Tensor cores that specialize in AI calculations. It also has a large graphics memory. This combination enables complex 3D scenes with numerous details and high-resolution textures to be displayed smoothly without delays. With this level of hardware, filmmakers can make creative decisions in real time and integrate highly realistic virtual sets directly into their production workflows.

The post Workstations for Virtual Production first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Advertorial.