DEFINITION June 2018

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FEATURE AUGMENTED REALITY

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That on its own is pretty mind- blowing. For the NAB demo we saw a virtual sphere lit only by its own virtual light. It didn’t change when other light was introduced on to its location, so not realistic; it’s not being picked up by any other light. It doesn’t feel like it’s part of the environment, it was very clear it was out of place. If you add Ncam Real Light into that situation you get a reflection from the real world. This was the jaw-dropping moment. You can also add different effects like shadow and real-time real-world reaction to coloured light for instance. The technology is ultimately moving towards the realisation of real-time VFX, meaning “we can start to do more realistic VFX in real time,” says Nic. Extreme was Ncam’s third new product. This is a new option for its camera tracking products and provides enhanced camera tracking for severe lighting conditions, especially stage lighting including strobing effects. Ncam Extreme is

virtual asset – usually broadcasters have to be careful not to overlap the virtual asset.” An impressive enough demo would have had a presenter walk around a digital asset, but Ncam threw in a volumetrically captured asset to interact with a human presenter – again, it’s very impressive when you see it live. “The graphic overlays are all in our Unreal Engine plug-in. The content is done by Nvizible, the VFX company in Soho. They do mainly visual effects works for films, like Eddie The Eagle , Kingsman , Bond. But they are moving more into real time, especially as they do a lot of pre-vis (through their Nvizage brand) for Fantastic Beasts and also as a rental partner for Ncam on films such as Solo: A Star Wars Story .” REAL AND VIRTUAL LIGHT Ncam’s Real Light is designed to solve the common challenge of making augmented graphics look like they are part of the real-world scene. Real Light captures real- world lighting, and renders it onto augmented graphics in real time, adapting to each and every lighting change. That’s a simple explanation, but this technology magically blends real and virtual light in ways you can only imagine. Real Light is about capturing the real light and using it to light the computer graphics.

for when you have a difficult lighting condition; Ncam Reality works in low light and bright light as well but when you’ve got something like a pulsating light or strobe light it can get a bit harder to track. At NAB, Ncam was showing that even with heavy strobing lights they can still manage to track because they are using infrared tracking. It’s infrared lights on infrared spectrum so they’re able to track and bypass any hazards they might have with the lights. You can see how very useful it would be for concerts and live events – also talent shows and game shows would definitely use it. NCAM’S WIDE APPEAL Ncam is marketing its products on three distinct fronts. Speak to some Hollywood directors and you will know that Ncam’s pre-visualisation enables unprecedented help to large productions which used massive blue or green screen sets, allowing the CGI sets to appear on screen

BELOW It’ll light up your world – Real Light can capture real light and use it to light computer graphics. Above is Ncam Extreme.

THE REAL CHALLENGE IS TO BRING THE WORLD OF VFX INTO THE REAL TIME ENVIRONMENT

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DEFINITION JUNE 2018

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