Month: November 2021

Mo-Sys is delighted to have its new VP Pro XR, the first purpose-built Cinematic XR server solution on the market, recognised with a prestigious NAB Product of the Year Award.

Mo-Sys’ VP Pro XR is a radical new approach to delivering cinematic standards to on-set real-time virtual production using LED volumes. Designed for LED stages with or without set extensions, it can also be used with blue/green screens and so is perfect for what Mo-Sys terms ‘Hybrid-VP’ (the use of both LED and green screens).

Traditional shooting techniques can now be used easily within virtual productions thanks to this revolutionary server solution which removes the limitations on the ability to tell stories that are imposed by current XR stage designs.  VP Pro XR offers seamless set extensions, confers a minimal XR delay and includes unique capabilities such as Cinematic XR Focus, NearTime® and an Online Lens Distortion Library.

Winner of the Cine Gear 2021 Technical Award, the Cinematic XR Focus feature was designed to address a major creative limitation when using an LED volume for virtual production. Traditionally, the lens focal plane stops at the LED wall, so when cinematographer needed to pull focus between real foreground objects – such as actors – and virtual objects displayed on an LED wall – such as a deer located in the distance in the virtual world – they have been unable to do this, and the deer would always remain out of focus.  

The award-winning NearTime was designed as a “near-time” solution that achieves results fast enough, without the complications and cost of real-time delivery. On set, the graphics elements are rendered in a good enough resolution in real time. This might be HD. Essentially, you are selecting rendering parameters for time optimization. The director and DP see the blend of real and virtual elements in real time, allowing for perfect positioning of actors, props and camera moves. This is central to creative freedom.  

The moment the shot is complete, a quality optimized rendering starts. Where the on-set resolution might be HD and good enough, this render might be 4k and perfect, taking between five and 50 times real time. The key to the success of NearTime is that the rendering takes place in the cloud. Mo-Sys has partnered with AWS to provide the processing and content management, giving users effectively infinite parallel resources.  

The Online Lens Distortion Library answers the need to custom calibrate lens distortion quickly and easily on set to ensure seamless integration between the virtual and live elements of a production. 

Mo-Sys technology enables set extensions for Garden Studios’ LED volume 

Mo-Sys Engineering has seen its latest VP Pro XR server deployed by London’s Garden Studios for its state-of-the-art virtual production (VP) stage installed in March 2021. Garden Studios is adding a second StarTracker camera and lens tracking system to support its ongoing R&D and expansion. 

Garden Studios’ virtual production facility allows filmmakers to shoot real-time VFX shots on set, using virtual graphics displayed on an LED volume to create photo-realistic backdrops. The benefit being the reduction or elimination of post-production compositing and the associated costs. Garden Studios also hosts MetFilm School on-site giving students the opportunity to work with emerging VP technologies alongside industry professionals. 

“We already use Mo-Sys VP Pro software with StarTracker for our main LED volume, what we wanted was set extension (XR) capability in order to offer clients additional creative capability,” said Mark Pilborough-Skinner, Virtual Production Supervisor, Garden Studios. “We chose VP Pro XR for its set extension quality and unique cinematic XR features, but also because it’s designed by a highly innovative company that understands film, television, and broadcast production.” 

VP Pro XR is a purpose-built scalable XR server that enables traditional shooting techniques within LED volumes. One unique feature of VP Pro XR is Cinematic XR Focus enabling focus pulls between talent or objects in the physical studio, and virtual objects positioned deep in the virtual world displayed in the LED volume. This means that for the first time, an LED volume can be used as more than just a backdrop, and can instead deliver far greater interactivity between real and virtual elements enabling better storytelling. 

“We designed VP Pro XR to deliver Cinematic XR capability, to solve known issues when shooting in LED volumes, and to deliver the specific capabilities demanded by film and broadcast creatives. We’re delighted to have such a forward-thinking company as Garden Studios as a customer, and we appreciate their continued investment in Mo-Sys technology,” added Michael Geissler, CEO, Mo-Sys. “We look forward to working closely with the team there and to help bring through the next generation of filmmakers and cinematographers from MetFilm School.”