To help the virtual production industry to find and nurture new talent, the new Pixotope Pocket mobile app, which has been launched with the support of 14 film schools around the world, has been created to allow students to produce immersive video content using just their phones.
“What we make, it also requires high-end cameras and camera tracking and equipment that’s very expensive and difficult to get your hands on. And typically, it’s just part of a lab, which will have limited time and access (to virtual-production technologies) for the students. But they actually do have really nice cameras right in their phones. And now with the new computer vision technology from Apple, Google and others, they also do (camera) tracking. It’s built for another purpose initially, but we realized we can leverage this to essentially give the students the missing piece of the puzzle to allow them to start just doing this on their own phone.”
Marcus Broderson, CEO, Pixotope
Pixotope Pocket takes advantage of the augmented-reality capabilities built into iPhones and Android devices to synchronise virtual backgrounds and overlays with video captured. Thereafter, further enhancements can be made using Pixotope’s software and Unreal Engine.
After downloading the app, users enter the IP address of their render machine and configure the Pixotope Graphics VS/AR Edition in Pixotope Director. They then align aligning the calibration overlay (intersecting red, green, and blue lines) on the screen with the floor and wall(s) of their scene to “explain” the depth of the scene to the phone. Once calibrated, the phone knows where to place the AR objects.
Pixotope Pocket is available to students enrolled in courses at establishments partnered with the Pixotope Education Programme.
Sources: Forbes and TVB Europe
Main image: Accesswire