Month: February 2022

Mo-Sys Engineering today announces that its precision camera tracking solution, StarTracker, is now fully supported by Assimilate’s Live FX software. The integration between StarTracker and Live FX allows for a faster way to create high end content with green-screen and LED wall-based virtual productions.

Both companies have a similar approach, with a focus on allowing filmmakers and artists to work in a way that is familiar to them rather than adapting to a program environment within Unreal Engine (or other game engines). The Live FX software, which enables realtime, live compositing for green-screen and LED wall-based virtual productions on set, when combined with Mo-Sys StarTracker, delivers a one-stop-shop software solution for all kinds of virtual production workflows. Creatives gain the added benefit of a workflow that speaks their language and is much easier to learn.

“We are delighted to give customers access to a complete solution to accurately deliver high quality tracking data and compositing assets directly to VFX/post workflows,” said Michael Geissler, CEO of Mo-Sys. “With demand for virtual production rising rapidly, filmmakers and cinematographers can deliver the best results without the need to learn a totally new way of doing things.”

The integrated solution delivered by Mo-Sys and Assimilate allows users to efficiently and accurately composite 2D and 3D elements into the live camera signal, control (and colorgrade) LED walls, control stage lighting based on image content, use Live FX as a simple keyer in green-screen scenarios, and link it up with Unreal Engine if needed.

Jeff Edson, CEO at Assimilate commented, “For Assimilate, it has always been important to create streamlined workflows at the very high end that our users can rely on. We are proud to offer the best possible camera tracking in Live FX with the Mo-Sys StarTracker; together they create an unbeatable, highly accurate live-compositing system with a streamlined connection to post. The support provided by Mo-Sys to help with the implementation on our side was especially valuable to us.”

BBC Sport’s virtual studio set for the Summer Games in Tokyo last year remains a talking point, showing just what can be achieved with virtual production (VP).  

For the Winter Games event in Beijing, VP is once again very much front and centre for both Discovery and the BBC allowing the broadcasters to work around restrictions on roaming film crews.

Discovery put Mo-Sys technology at the heart of its ‘Cube’ presentation virtual studio, which has undergone an evolution since it was first used during the Tokyo Games. All the greenscreen studios for the Cube make use of Mo-Sys’ tracking software, which allows multiple studios to sync precisely. Mo-Sys camera tracking systems were also installed at the broadcaster’s greenscreens around Europe to ensure all the locations have identical timing, and perfectly synchronised precise tracking data, with accuracy to one millionth of a degree. These multiple greenscreens also allow athletes will also be ‘beamed’ in live for three-dimensional interview from Beijing. 

BBC Sport has once again created a new VP set for the Winter Games, that will take viewers from a mountainside log cabin to a virtual ski resort. To match the smaller scale of a Winter Games, compared to a Summer Games, the broadcaster has scaled its VR set back with a more compact studio. Although only 84 metres square, the studio will still bring a virtual ski resort, more than five different presenting positions – both inside and outside – to life as well as reflecting various times of the day. While smaller than the Dock 10 studio used for Tokyo, this is still the largest virtual footprint the broadcaster has used to date. 

LED video processing products manufacturer, Brompton Technology, has outlined features coming with Tessera v3.3 software, designed to optimize the performance of LED panels including markers for use with the Mo-Sys StarTracker.

Brompton has added support for Mo-Sys’ StarTracker when users are employing Tessera R2-based panels together with Tessera SX40 or S8 LED processors and Frame Remapping.

Although there are many different systems for tracking camera position, a common approach has been using visible markers, which can be challenging within an LED volume, especially one with an LED ceiling. This can now be resolved by displaying suitable markers on the LED itself.

Chris Deighton, Brompton Chief Technology Officer

The markers are overlaid on the video content being displayed, with Tessera’s Frame Remapping feature used to only display the markers on output frames that are not visible to the main camera. The markers are automatically generated, with the ability to configure the color and size of the markers from within the processor UI.

A beta version of the v3.3 software is now available to download from the Brompton Technology website.

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Mo-Sys Engineering will join forces with Moxion, QTAKE and OVIDE to show a ground-breaking collaborative virtual production workflow at the HPA Tech Retreat 2022. As a Gold Sponsor of the in-person event, Mo-Sys will take part in the Supersession entitled “Immerse Yourself in Virtual Production”.

Located in the Innovation Zone, Mo-Sys, Moxion and QTAKE will have a combined stand featuring a Sony Crystal LED wall along with a Sony Venice camera attached to a curve rail. The camera will be equipped with a Mo-Sys StarTracker camera tracking system, and Mo-Sys’ VP Pro XR LED content server will drive the LED wall.

Takes will be captured by QTAKE, the industry’s preferred onset capture tool, whilst VP Pro XR will drive the LED wall, capturing the camera and lens tracking data. The new Mo-Sys NearTime® service, a 2021 HPA Engineering Excellence award winner, will be used to solve one of the key challenges of LED in-camera VFX (ICVFX) production – increasing real-time Unreal image quality versus maintaining real-time frame rates. Higher quality re-renders from NearTime, which utilizes cloud processing from AWS, will then be automatically delivered back to a Moxion Immediates solution, winners of the 2020 HPA Engineering Excellence Award, for review and signoff.

Using NearTime in an LED volume, with a Mo-Sys enabled ‘halo green’ frustum for separating talent from the LED content, the background Unreal scenes can be automatically re-rendered with higher quality or resolution using captured camera and lens tracking data, and then used to replace the original lower quality background Unreal scenes. This process avoids the need for large quantities of on-set rendering nodes, minimizes post-production costs, and, significantly, eliminates moiré effects completely. This unique approach enables far more efficient workflows than those that exist today.

“We believe there is a better way to bring virtual productions to life cost-effectively and without compromising on image quality,” commented Michael Geissler, CEO of Mo-Sys. “We are excited to meet with customers face-to-face once more at the HPA Tech Retreat and to show them workflows that can take their virtual productions to the next level while allowing them to work with other tools that they are already familiar with. We are proud to partner with some of the leading names in the industry to show what is possible with virtual production today.”

The VP Supersession taking place Tuesday, February 22 will walk attendees through virtual production from conception to delivery, with a special emphasis on the planning and preparation that are critical to a successful outcome. Three LED walls will be showcased from AOTO, Planar and Sony, two of which will feature the Mo-Sys StarTracker camera and lens tracking system. One of the LED walls will be driven by Mo-Sys’ VP Pro XR LED content server, which will also be showing its Cinematic XR Focus feature for pulling focus between real and virtual objects positioned virtually ‘behind’ the wall.

At HPA Tech retreat 2022 Mo-Sys will also host a series of breakfast roundtables, around the theme “Post-production workflows for LED volumes” aimed at helping cinematographers and creative professionals elevating virtual production.