NAB 2022 - The year of Virtual Production!
NAB was awesome!
This is a condensed summary of my trip, but it's a long one!
Here are some of my photos from the trip, if you want to check them out.
I learned so much, ran into some really great friends, and made many new ones!
Virtual Production was in full force, and there were a lot of new announcements.
If you don't know me, I am a Partner and the Creative Technologist at Light Sail VR,?https://www.lightsailvr.com/
I'll be posting a lot of NAB YouTube videos covering a lot of the following stuff as well, you can subscribe here if you want:
I've been blending video/3d since 2014 after I finished film school in San Francisco and was introduced to an Oculus Dk1.
I've been doing Virtual Production for over two years, not for every project, but I did my first professional virtual production shoot for VMware, right after COVID started.
I’ve spent a lot of time researching, experimenting, listening, getting my hands dirty, and using various tools and toolsets. I’ve seen the big LED walls, I’ve seen the small green screen studios, and finally, with Light Sail VR, we’re building a virtual production studio.
Part of my mission in going to NAB was to confirm what technology we wanted to use and see if there are other technologies we should consider.
LED vs Green screen, Camera tracking, and even the tech that powers each can be very use-case specific, but for us, I'm most interested in the most flexible system available, one that would allow real-time VP, but also allow for Offline Rendering or Post VFX.
If you want to talk one-on-one about your use case, please reach out! There are many here who know more than I do, and I might be able to connect you with the right people, regardless if you want LED or Green, regardless of your budget.
I’ll share some of the top three highlights of NAB for me here:
Vive Mars CamTrack
Professional camera tracking for $5k. This is very exciting and will absolutely help democratize virtual production. Up to three cameras or tracked items and no subscription fees, I think it’s an amazing tool that indie studios can use professionally and professional studios can use as a back up or mobile solution, without having to set up tracking markers. Great product and great people! They consulted with?Jim Geduldick?which was very smart.
ncam
Ncam is by far the most flexible and versatile camera tracking system, hands down. Probably the most underrated as well.
It used to cost a fortune and the box was huge, but that has changed. Most people know it uses a stereo pair, but you can also use their accessory and use reflectors or even a combo of both!
Ncam camera tracking Export feature. USD support, EDL support, eventually point cloud and depth info export, per frame exr stmaps, flexible licensing (rent by the day if you want).
Video planned.
And I saved the best for last!
Zero Density
I’ve had my eye on them for a while, and of all the systems out there, this is the one we’re choosing to build our studio with.
It has the absolute best quality you can get at this state of the VP world, IMHO. Their image-based keyer, is pixel by pixel and uses a clean plate to separate the talent for perfect results even with hair or water.
But furthermore, the talent is PROJECTED into the 3d space, and their system makes it super easy to project them on a 3d model of your cyc or procedurally create a virtual cyc. This allows you to do stuff that is simply not possible with led wall tech, like have Cg models in front of or behind the talent and seamlessly have the talent walk in front of or behind with accurate shadows and reflections.
Even with cost aside, even if I could buy the world's best LED technology today, I would still go with Zero Density because it is the most capable, the most flexible, the most future-proof, probably the most battle-tested (because of its extensive use in live broadcast). They have been in this game since 2014.
It seems the cinematic world and the studios haven’t realized how powerful this software can be for them, but I do think that will change!
Zero Density’s TRAXIS talentS Ai, talent tracking (which won a nab award this year), is markerless talent tracking, which allows the talent's reflection to be projected no matter where they walk, for them to appear in front of or behind 3d objects without any setup, and even the ability to set up triggers so that when the talent walks into a certain area, something happens. For broadcast, these are like graphics that pop up, but this could be anything, trigger a light to go off, trigger an animation to happen, etc.
You can also export out the projection of the talent for offline rendering pipelines, which should basically always be done in my mind, this allows you to capture the projection with shadows/ reflections or even just the matte and you always have a safety.
Their system allows you to basically create your own UI to trigger functions or whatever.
I’m currently doing a three-day, partner's technical training at Pfinix Creative. If you have Unreal experience, it’s very intuitive and their training and support team are knowledgeable and solid.
I will be creating some of my own tutorials on Zero Density soon, as I also learn more, but they also just launched
academy.zerodensity.tv
with lots of training if you want to jump in now.
CGPro
The big news from them is that they are officially the academic partners of Epic Games' Connectors Program for Unreal Engine 5!
if you do not know about Cg Pro, you need to check them out! They do live training sessions, and virtual production, mostly geared towards the Unreal side, but also teach other CG classes as well.
Ed and Jackie both have a very impressive IMDb, and their other instructors are very helpful and knowledgeable as well. They had a big announcement that you can read more about here.
EZTrack
They have a new tracker that looks very good! They also have announced a tracking recording system, which should be very useful for post VFX especially.
Stype
They are one of the only companies I know that sort of do everything. From camera tracking/recording, to green screen virtual production, they do it all. We used them for a Foo Fighters' concert and recorded the tracking data to use and post vfx, and I have nothing but amazing things to say about everyone on their team!
One of the new things they are demoing is their follower system, which is an advanced talent tracking system.
Scratch LiveFX
If you haven’t used scratch, it might be hard to explain why scratch LiveFX is so cool, but you can do so many very powerful effects all in real-time and while their Keyer isn’t really meant for final Post-Production, it’s certainly easier, and better than Unreal's composure as of today.
It seems to work with most tracking systems, as well as the Freed protocol. I am definitely going to keep my eye on this one and you should check them out!
MoSys
Cinematic XR Focus - AC's rejoice. A feature of Mo-Sys VP Pro XR, Cinematic XR combines information from your Mo-Sys StarTracker and Preston wireless lens control to enable unrestricted focus pulls.
Vetrospace
Vlogger Virtual production in a box!
We might get one eventually, for a VO booth and a way to add an office in our warehouse area. Soundproof booth for broadcast, hepa air filters also make this a safe place for high risk talent (hospitals also use these).
Evoke Studio
Vincent Steenhoek?and his team are movers and shakers! I believe they have mostly been known as big systems integrators (like stadium-size!), XR, live events, etc., but they are starting a new company to focus on Virtual Production. I'm not sure if this company is public yet, so I won't say the name, but keep your eyes on this company!
Viva Creative
Chris Barnett?has become one of my best friends in this space, and he is very ambitious! Viva Creative has done some amazing work and they are running full force into Virtual Production. Keep them on your radar, because mark my words, they are going to kill it with Chris at the helm!
Creative Technology/Disguise
I saw a cool demo at Creative Technologies, here are some helpful links:
ARWall
They were not at the show, but they are worth mentioning. I think especially if you do not have a technical team and just need to get up and running asap, arwall is probably a great choice, you can set up any camera system and be up and running super quick. But don't let that fool you, many big studios are also trusting Arwall! Rene is happy to chat with you about it anytime.
***
Non-Virtual Production Related Stuff
AntigravityCam
Kind of like a steady cam on steroids, you can get some very dynamic moves all from one operator, the operator can one even jump over things and it’s super steady, you can also use it to do crane shots, or use the handheld feature. Check out a video to see what I mean.
And congrats to?Jorel O'Dell?for becoming the DP for Meta, LA!
Invizitrak
GenLocked lasers fire every other frame, giving you tracking markers anywhere, that do not have to be painted out, and are not subject to motion blur and can be seen even if our if focus, and no need to paint out tracking markers. Doesn’t matter if it’s a dark set. Video planned.
Invizigrain
Insanely amazing film grain, based on actual film stocks. Video planned.
Brendan Bellomo?is a producer/director working on some big films who was formerly a VFX supervisor and his partner,?Michael Hwang?aka "The Rocket Scientist" is a former iPhone/SpaceX engineer who designed it.
Canon Dual Fisheye Lens
I got to catch up with the Canon team and geek out about the new 180 VR lens. We have worked with them on some secret stuff since before it was released, and they hired us to shoot a piece that will be released soon.
If you're into 180 or 360 video at all, you need to see it for yourself, it's a great product and the Stereo looks amazing.
Lighting
I know most people reading this post don’t really care too much about lighting, but for my camera friends go check out all their updates.
Aperture -?https://www.aputure.com/
Lite panels -?https://www.litepanels.com/en/
Creamsource -?https://creamsource.com/product/spacex/
Lastly, the best part of NAB was meeting all the new people, and hanging out with friends in person!
Cool people, I got to hang out with not previously tagged here:
Thanks so much for the mention Alex! ????
Manager, Social Media & Influencer Relations for Thirty Seconds to Mars
2 年It was great to meet you Alex, thanks for the write up on InviziPro! ??
Great article! (And thanks for the shout-out!!) Such a good collection of the latest technologies in VP. Looking forward to working together in the future!
Thanks for the shout out Alex Pearce!
Principal Creative Director, Events Creative Experiences at Microsoft [Former: Amazon MGM Studios & Prime Video | ET (CBS & Paramount) | Jaunt XR]
2 年Alex Pearce I remember our NAB trip well! Love to hear more ??