Terra Datum: mapping the computational intensity of virtual production
Project partners: Northumbria University, Advanced Media Production, Target 3D
This collaboration between Dr. Paul Dolan at Northumbria University, Advanced Media Production PROTO and 3D technology consultancy Target3D, will investigate how we can make Virtual Production (VP) more sustainable by measuring the computational intensity and energy cost of key production methods.
Existing studies on sustainable VP identify the use of data centre computers and energy use as an important topic of further study. Although these studies suggest that the VP industry alleviates energy consumption via reduced need for travel, prop creation and waste – VP processes and software are still reliant on global data centre infrastructure.
Working from the Advanced Media Production PROTO studio in Gateshead, the project will examine the amount, location and expense of VP computation using a variety of data monitoring tools. This data will be fed back into a virtual artwork, Terra Datum, that uses real-time energy data from the studio to animate photogrammetry and lidar scans of the local energy infrastructure.
The artwork will be screened to the general public at physical locations and via a custom website to support engagement with the material connections between virtual and real environments.
The project aims to help reduce Advanced Media Production PROTO’s energy consumption and environmental impact, in addition to creating new approaches to mitigating excessive computation within the VP production process.
In parallel, the collaboration will make data-focused policy recommendations to augment existing carbon calculators by suggesting the addition of a ‘compute’ section to Albert’s blueprint for carbon neutral production.
With plans to build a new hyperscale data centre in Blyth, Northumberland, the project presents a timely opportunity to develop policies around which cloud services to use and to advance wider industry conversations about sustainable VP.
This collaboration 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.
Categories: Film, Research, Technology, TV