Galaxyav LEDpro Screen: Virtual scene technology replaces live shooting

In the early days of television, people used to treat scenes in TV as if they were real — mechanically copy images and sounds to recreate the subjects.At that time, the image was considered as a means to imitate and reproduce the objective world.

But now that we’re used to special effects, we certainly don’t think so. We can tell which is post-processed and which is real.

And in the future, with the spread of virtual production technology in the field of film and television, when the virtual scene looks the same as the real scene, we will be so confident in their discrimination?

Take the familiar CCTV Spring Festival Gala as an example of technological development – if you have watched the Spring Festival Gala in the past two years, you will be impressed by the gorgeous stage background.The virtual landscape, such as vast universe, high mountains and flowing water, and sci-fi modeling, is performed with a high level of sophistication that makes people sigh with emotion.

As a live AR broadcast on TV, such images can be made thanks to the Unreal Engine.UE4 is used to construct, debug and broadcast the AR scene, and combine the scene real-time synthesis to achieve the best “virtual-reality combination” effect.

Today, game engines are not just used in game design.UE4’s real-time 3D technology is now widely used in film and television, and as virtual scenes increasingly replace real ones, film and television production may be experiencing a revolution.

Let’s take a look at some of the virtual scenes in TV commercials, movies and shows.

Live TV Commercials

Before we reveal the details, please watch the video and guess which of the space capsule, nightclub, forest scene the hero travels through, which is true and which is false?

The answer is that all the scenes in this commercial are virtual, not shot in the field.In other words, except for the real actors and the necessary props, everything else is fake.Amazingly, the technical team shot everything with just one location and one set.With the click of a button, you can swap out the realistic background and get a realistic enough effect.

The AD was created by Quite Brilliant, a British media company. They recognized the endless creative possibilities of the UE4 for film and television production, and felt that virtual production was a good option for their customers who were delivering fast-paced content such as TV commercials.

Traditional CG (computer animation) can also create visual illusions, but the difference is that scenes in commercials are rendered in real time, which means that the camera’s perspective and lighting can be changed before the viewer’s eyes and create the illusion of depth or disparity.

That’s why a virtual production can feel real — much like a traditional location shoot, everything in a virtual production is moving and tracking in time, so it feels much more vivid than a green screen.

For production company, this approach is very beneficial.It repositioned much of post-production as pre-production.By pre-filming, the creative team can now create a very accurate animation for the client, reducing any risks or suddenness.

Filming in a virtual production is also very beneficial for the actors because they can actually see and feel the real background they are facing to, not just the green screen.

The virtual buildings in Westworld

HBO’s hit sci-fi series Westworld explores the technological landscape of the near future.The City of the future in Season 3 is the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain.Though shot in the site, in one scene, Charlotte Hale’s view of the elaborate complex from her office window is a virtual production.

In the play’s setting, Hale’s office was designed with floor-to-ceiling Windows overlooking the main street of the City of Arts and Science.But the envisioned indoor setting was limited by the physical space on set.

The creative team chose to turn to UE4, streaming Unreal scenes onto LED video walls and camera tracking.The team was able to capture physically precise lighting from the environment, with light reflected precisely off the interior furniture through the glass — all with the right disparity, as the camera moved throughout the scene.Unreal Engine solves some of the most challenging problems faced by the studio, resulting in perfect shots.

Virtual TV Studio

Fox Sports in the United States used to cover NASCAR on a regular schedule.During the hour-long broadcast, presenters, commentators and experts analysed last weekend’s matches and previewed the upcoming matches.Today, they build a virtual TV studio with Unreal.

Although it looks like a normal studio, a closer look reveals that the virtual space is actually quite massive, with room for 10 racing cars, eight more than the actual space can hold.

When it comes time to forecast a particular event or venue, Fox Sports channel can easily show a racecar in the studio.And, if Fox Sports Channel needs to move to another show within the next hour, the entire current show can be swapped out in a matter of minutes without any complicated heavy workload.Not only can multiple cars be raised from the floor on the set, but they can also be moved easily — a feat not easily achieved in reality, where cars are heavy and numerous.

Zac Fields, senior vice president of Fox Sports, is excited about the venture. “In the past, virtual scenarios were used as a cost-saving investment, but with the advent of new technology — specifically the Unreal Engine we’re using — the level of realism that can be achieved opens the door to much more.””It creates a seamless transition from a virtual scene to a 3D world.”

The revival of film and television production?

From movies and TV shows to commercials, Unreal’s Settings are authentic and believable.It has been said that the era of the “great film-making Renaissance” has begun.

Imagine that in the near future, 60 to 80 percent of all the TV shows and movies we watch (especially outdoor scenes, or scenery outside the window) are actually billions of digital triangles (Nanites, as Unreal calls them) that make up these 3D worlds, and most of them are made in the studio, Or in one place, can be used in many different contexts.

Film and television producers around the world are no longer constrained by budgets and geographical location, and can undertake astonishing projects in a virtual studio.

This is not an untouchable future.With Unreal’s rapid growth, as well as other products in the virtual reality space, it was only a matter of time before it affected the film scene around the world.The digital camera revolution took 15 years to recreate the real world. How about it?