Dimension Studio, a British company specializing in mixed reality and realtime production services, recently held an interesting demo at OUTERNET London. Well known for its work in virtual production for film and TV, including Wicked and Time Bandits, and a regular partnership with Cinecittà in Rome, the company was demonstrating its new live event technology.
The brand has launched a new division, Dimension Live, to bring its expertise in virtual production for the film world into live events. As part of that initiative, it has partnered with OUTERNET in London to showcase some of its technical possibilities, including virtual lighting--the company’s screen-based lighting.
Virtual lighting is now available for every type of show at OUTERNET's HERE venue, from DJ sets to theatrical productions, but can be adapted for any venue, touring show, or popup performance space that has a video wall. Essentially, the company has created a digital twin of OUTERNET which includes additional elements – digital lighting fixtures and stage elements—that is reflected in the screen content of the venue’s 13.5 meter AOTA LED screen. What distinguishes the Dimension Live content from other screen content, is that it can be manipulated in real time from the lighting console or other control. This means that not only can a lighting programmer or designer incorporate the digital “fixtures” into the lighting design ahead of time, rather than just playing preset content during the show, they can also busk those fixtures along with the real ones to create lighting designs on the fly. Real performers can interact on stage with digital ones, and the virtual fixtures can be used just like actual ones.
Oliver Ellmers, a software engineer and design technologist who focuses on virtual production and immersive experience, is the technical lead for Dimension and explains, “It’s a virtual extension of the real-world venue, so everything we have added to the virtual environment behaves exactly the way it would in real life. For example, if you have one type of spotlight in the real venue we can provide another in the virtual space. This digital twin can follow the real one or be programmed to act differently.”
Ellmers explains, “An LD will draw a lighting plot within Vectorworks or CAD, containing all the physical lights, and we add to the light plot as if they existed in the real world. The screen is rendering a 3d environment that we created and all the lights in that space are addressable as much as the lights in the real world. The computer is rendering the environment in real time and responding to the lighting console.”
The company has a close relationship with Epic and have adapted its own version of Unreal Engine so that it can build environments that reflect any theatre or any stop on a tour. According to Ellmer, “We have simplified control so much that the digital fixtures are integrated into the lighting console along with the real ones and the LD can address both in the same way.” LD Will Potts has already used the system for British musician Floating Points and David Ross for Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp at OUTERNET.
Ellmers continues, “The designer is still designing, they just have more tools to play with.”
Although OUTERNET already has a screen, the system works with any brand or size. The ability to fill-out a stage area with interactive virtual fixtures has the potential to cut down on the number of actual fixtures, making touring slightly less environmentally destructive.
About Dimension
Dimension (www.dimensionstudio.co) offers real-time production for visionary storytellers. Working on blockbuster films, live events and immersive moonshots, the team is a creative partner for end-to-end virtual productions and advanced virtual humans. Dimension has the largest and most experienced real-time team outside of games in the world, with studios in the UK and USA, and the ability to operate globally.