Month: July 2021

New LA virtual production services launched with an ambitious final pixel shoot to solve logistical challenge

Mo-Sys recently launched its new Onset VP Services office based in Los Angeles to provide an out-sourced solution for production companies new to virtual production. This has enabled US creative and production specialists Papertown to quickly and accurately create an ambitious virtual production project featuring a passenger plane in a hangar. 

Papertown is an experienced creative production agency with specialization in computer graphics (CGI). Its client, Business Made Simple, one of the most successful management coaching organizations in North America, had the concept of a management training course based around the analogy that every business should run like an airplane, so a plane in a hangar was chosen for the video concept. 

Renting and preparing an aircraft for shooting inside a hangar would have been expensive and impractical, so Papertown proposed shooting the speaker against a green screen and creating the plane, hangar and other items in CGI. This is where Mo-Sys Onset VP Services came in to play bringing in the virtual production expertise required. 

Having just opened a branch in LA offering virtual production services to assist with this new way of filming, the Mo-Sys Onset VP Services team were able to help Papertown set up a virtual production studio to merge the CGI and real world elements together. This arrangement enabled Papertown to focus on imaging and storytelling without the time-drain of organizing their own virtual production workflow or needing advanced knowledge of the latest technology. 

Mo-Sys, world leader in camera tracking, image robotics and virtual production solutions, created StarTracker to provide precision 6-axis camera tracking, enabling 3D movement in a virtual production scene. Combined with highly accurate real-time lens data, the full StarTracker data set via Mo-Sys VP Pro drives the Unreal Engine’s virtual graphics so they accurately emulate the real camera shot, delivering convincing virtual scenes. 

Using StarTracker’s ability to lock the virtual graphics to the real world, not only could the cinematographer frame each shot easily because the composite image was available in the viewfinder, but the production team were able to record the finished output, eliminating the need for time-consuming post-production compositing. In fact, Papertown was able to shoot the entire three hour video series, and dozens of terabytes of premium cinematic footage in just two studio days. 

“We had no experience of Mo-Sys products before this shoot, but we had all the support we needed to quickly put our creative to work,” said Papertown founder and Executive Creative Director Julian Smith. “Being able to use StarTracker, VP Pro and Unreal together extended an insane amount of value to our clients. It took our photo-real CGI to a whole new level. This is a game changer. Papertown is always pushing the boundaries with new ideas and technology and we are grateful to have partnered with a team like Mo-Sys that does the same.”

Michael Geissler, CEO of Mo-Sys, added “Whether for television, movies or corporate, producers are looking for the highest possible quality at the maximum productivity. Shooting final pixel like this is a tremendous boost. But it can only realistically be done with precision camera and lens tracking, real-time compositing, and a virtual production operator who is familiar with the Unreal Engine. 
 
StarTracker and VP Pro are available now. Mo-Sys has just released the VP Pro XR server solution specifically aimed at LED volumes. 

On 26 August last year, StarTracker (serial no 32-050-417) was packaged and trusted to FedEx to be delivered to Chicago.

The StarTracker never got there and was last tracked by FedEx to Michigan. Mo-Sys had to immediately send a replacement unit in order for the client to start their project on time. At the same time an investigation was started by FedEx that ultimately lead nowhere!

Eight months later on various Facebook virtual production groups, a StarTracker was offered for sale by Jon Morris, which we all assumed at Mo-Sys to be the one lost by Fedex, and therefore to be stolen. As a result, we stated publicly that it would not be supported by Mo-Sys, which effectively stopped anyone from buying it.

We informed the local US police department who then got in touch with Jon, and were told that the goods were officially purchased as part of a bulk lot of lost shipments.

We then found ourselves in a ‘no-win’ situation, with legal action against Fedex the only option, but knowing that if we went down that route that there was a very strong chance that FedEx would probably refer us to small print in their T&Cs indicating that; either they weren’t responsible for shipments failing to reach the intended recipients, or they weren’t responsible for contacting the sender … even with sender’s address displayed both inside and outside the box.

So we reached out to Jon and proposed a way forward that would be mutually beneficial for all parties. The result being that we’ve decided that Mo-Sys will now support Jon in selling the StarTracker.

Whoever purchases this StarTracker can be assured of full Mo-Sys support in setup and calibration. We will also provide free of charge Mo-Sys VP Pro software to complement the StarTracker, enabling it to work in a green screen studio or an LED volume.

Warranty will restart from the moment the new owner receives the StarTracker, and the Mo-Sys remote support team will upgrade it to the latest software and welcome the new owner to our Mo-Sys virtual production family.

The only condition we and Jon have is that the successful bidder makes two transfers; 50% of the winning bid to Jon Morris and the other 50% to Mo-Sys Engineering Ltd. (we’ll supply all bank transfer details).

We think this is the best solution for all concerned. Thanks once again for your help. Respond to Jon on social media groups, or email him directly (jonmorris1023@gmail.com)

Happy bidding!

How can we sustain growth during a talent drought?

Having enjoyed a boom during the pandemic thanks to immediate necessity, Virtual Production shows no sign of slowing down, offering cost efficiency, reduced environmental impact and creativity. There is, however, a shortage of trained VP technicians, which threatens to derail it.

Mo-Sys has recently announced Mo-Sys Academy, a new initiative dedicated to filling the skills gap and addressing the lack of knowledge within the industry. Mo-Sys is teaming up with Pixeleyed Pictures to train the next generation.

In this seminar, held live at the KitPlus Show in MediaCityUK, Mike Grieve from Mo-Sys and Rizwan Wadan from Pixeleyed discussed their experiences with VP, the problems facing the industry, the genesis of the training program and what this all means for the future of the virtual production industry.

Watch the seminar below:

For access to this and the other seminars held at the KitPlus Show, visit the KitPlus website here >

Unreal Engine 5 is a hugely anticipated evolution in gaming and virtual production development that is touted to blur the lines between reality and simulation.

Mo-Sys was able to test the early access build on its new VP station running the VP Pro plugin. Since the VP Pro software runs inside the UE editor, it is easy for it to keep pace with new versions.

Here’s what our technical team thought at the technical unboxing:

“I can see that UE5 can handle better performance and the new Lumen global illumination feature is amazing, giving much more realistic lighting,” said Gabriele Simulynaite, unreal engine technical artist. “I also found the interface much easier to work with than in UE4.”

Mo-Sys senior developer Stephen Ennis added, “It was so cool, it was a bit of work to get it to build, but then most of our Unreal panels came straight up and started working!”

James Uren, Mo-Sys technical director, concluded, “It’s great to see that it is going to be straightforward for us to update everything to UE5 – with all the fantastic new creative features that brings. We can’t wait to use it on a serious production when it has matured.”