VFX Voice - Fall 2017

“The Mill developed Blackbird, a virtual car rig that uses VR
and AR [augmented reality] technology to digitally re-create any
vehicle that needs to be featured for an advertisement,” he relates.
“It also interacts dynamically with its environment. That means
that when the photorealistic representation of an actual car is
broadcast on your screen, it casts natural shadows and reflects
light as it twists and turns around corners and climbs hills during
a shoot. They have combined that with another just-announced
technology called Cyclops, which is a solution that applies AR and
game-engine technology to render on-set action for filmmakers
in real time. Directors do not have to wait to see what the shoot
looks like at a dailies session or in post-production. This will create
immense opportunities for talent in the VFX community.”
Imageworks’ Randy Lake says the synergy percolating between
the emerging virtual reality realm and the traditional visual
effects business has caused his company “to become involved
in initiatives developed within Sony Pictures Entertainment to
explore and develop techniques that bridge the workflow used in
our feature film projects into the VR space. We see the opportunity
for a bi-directional exchange of technology and workflow as the VR
medium and business model evolves. As an example, this can take
the form of creative visualization technology within our traditional
film pipelines, or R&D from the VFX space helping to improve the
fidelity of virtual worlds. In addition, we believe (AR) will play a big
role in the filmmaking process. We can build real-time visualization
tools to make better decisions on set.”
TOP: Spider-Man and Iron Man
in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
(Photo copyright © 2017 CTMG, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of
Columbia Pictures.)
LEFT: Randy Lake
IMMERSIVE CONTENT
Lake’s point illustrates why the arrival of virtual reality tools and
concepts have opened the door to an entirely new form of immersive
media content that, among other things, by its nature, will
rely heavily on visual effects artists, tools and techniques. Indeed,
at major facilities, there is currently a heavy “cross-pollination of
techniques and capabilities and talent that flows between feature
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