Virtual Production is about to become even better, thanks to Sony’s new Camera and Display Plugin and Color Calibrator, part of the new Virtual Production Tool Set, to improve pre-production and on-set workflows. The new tool set works with the Sony VENICE, Crystal LED and other HDR-enabled LED walls to improve performance and help solve common virtual production challenges such as color matching and moiré to enhance in-camera visual effects.
“The new Virtual Production Tool Set was born from the voice of our creative community who requested tools to help them leverage In-Camera VFX and improve the overall process,” said Theresa Alesso, President of Imaging Products and Solutions Americas, Sony Electronics Inc. “Thanks to the continued feedback of our customers and collaboration with our partnership with Epic Games, we were able to introduce this toolset after rigorous testing.”
The Camera and Display Plugin is, Sony notes, “a software plug-in for Unreal Engine that allows productions to identify and solve common virtual production workflow issues. For example, as individual cameras and LED walls have different color characteristics, one of the most common workflow issues in virtual production is that the Virtual Art Department (VAD) is unable to anticipate the actual color performance of specific cameras.”
Sony’s new Camera and Display Plugin solves this common problem and others. When installed in Unreal Engine, the Virtual VENICE in the Camera and Display Plugin allows productions to reproduce the settings of the VENICE, VENICE 2, and Crystal LED display. This allows the VAD to create assets using the VENICE’s color pipeline during pre-production before expensive crews are on set.
According to the company, “the Virtual VENICE feature in the Camera and Display Plugin can also uniquely simulate the camera’s exposure index and Neutral Density (ND) filters to recreate shallow depth of field and help productions identify lens choices during pre-production. This plug-in also displays a custom moiré alert, depending on the pixel pitch and other specifications of the wall, to help productions make changes to the camera position and camera movement during the pre-production process to save time on set.”
Additionally, the settings of the Virtual VENICE camera and display plugin can easily be exported from the plug-in and transferred to the on-set VENICE and VENICE 2. Finally, the plug-in continues to provide productions with a moiré alert during the shoot – a helpful tool to identify issues that may not be obvious with on-set monitoring but could become apparent in post-production.
What was previously a laborious task can now be completed in a matter of minutes – a test pattern is recorded on the production LED wall with the VENICE camera and the Color Calibrator application automatically analyzes the result. A 3D LUT is then generated which can be applied to the LED controller, color management tool or Unreal Engine. This calibration process is easy and repeatable.
The initial Virtual Production Tool Set will be available at no cost in summer or later 2023.