Enhancing Data Compatibility, Aggregation, and Validation in Virtual Production Workflows

Project partners: Cardiff University, Painting Practice

XR Network+ is supporting a collaboration between Cardiff University and visual storytellers for film and TV, Painting Practice. The project will develop a data management approach to facilitate a seamless exchange between Virtual Production (VP) pipeline stages and accommodate the requirements of physical shooting tailored to VP workflows.

VP pipelines involve multiple software components such as game engines, motion capture systems, and visual effects (VFX) tools. The complex nature of the pipelines often leads to data compatibility and management challenges. 

One major issue is the lack of standardised data formats across different VP components. For example, data generated by a motion capture system may not be directly compatible with the game engine, requiring manual data conversion that can be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Similarly, data exported from the game engine may not be readily usable in VFX software, leading to additional data wrangling and reformatting. Furthermore, crucial data required for physical shooting, such as camera crane location and stunt performer instructions, may not be directly available from game engines. 

With incomplete data sometimes leading to miscommunication, delays, and inconsistencies in the production process, another challenge is ensuring that each team produces all the necessary data required by other teams

To tackle these challenges and deliver practical value for Painting Practice and the wider VP industry, the project team will analyse data requirements and formats to identify compatibility gaps, data completeness issues, and the need for additional data for physical shooting. 

The team will design a unified data format and develop techniques to extract and compute necessary data for physical shooting from game engine data, including a basic data validation module to check data quality, completeness and compliance. 

This project is one of seven projects supported by the XR Network+ Embedded R&D (round two) funding call, with grants of up to £60,000 awarded to researchers at UK universities to explore the transfer of knowledge between academia and industry in areas aligned with Virtual Production. 

Image credit to Yipeng Qin.

Categories: Film, Research, Technology, TV