Filming dynamic scenes that feature moving vehicles is complicated. Two of the biggest challenges filmmakers face are the difficulty and expense of filming live in the streets, and the inherent lack of realism in shooting a static vehicle in a studio.
Shooting live in a city can involve shutting down roads, arranging police escorts, setting up process trailers—and all the lack of control that shooting “in the wild” entails.
As for shooting in a studio, up until now, virtual production filmmaking has necessitated that the vehicle stay static for the duration of the shoot. While some aspects of the visuals may look pretty in a static setup, it doesn’t deliver convincing results.
PXO AKIRA is a ground-breaking virtual production system that is set to change all that.
Shooting live in a city can involve shutting down roads, arranging police escorts, setting up process trailers—and all the lack of control that shooting “in the wild” entails.
As for shooting in a studio, up until now, virtual production filmmaking has necessitated that the vehicle stay static for the duration of the shoot. While some aspects of the visuals may look pretty in a static setup, it doesn’t deliver convincing results.
PXO AKIRA is a ground-breaking virtual production system that is set to change all that.
Created by Pixomondo—a 24-year veteran in filmmaking—this cutting-edge vehicle processing ecosystem is transforming how vehicle scenes are filmed.
By combining a motion platform, robotic camera crane, LED volume, racing simulator, and digital twin software, PXO AKIRA unlocks a whole new world of creative possibilities for vehicle-based storytelling.
“We've seen the difficulties you face, the costs associated with it, and the pain points, so we set out to invent something that could solve a lot of those problems.” says Jay Elbourne, Head of Technical Operations for PXO Clara—Pixomondo's LED volume division that is responsible for distributing the tool.
In place of transporting a car to a far-flung location just for a few minutes of footage, it’s possible to film it against photorealistic imagery displayed on an LED backdrop. This enables you to place the car in any setting your imagination desires—from the Alps to Mars—all at the click of a button, and all without ever leaving the production lot.
PXO AKIRA builds upon this workflow and pushes it further by providing innovative solutions that address the confounding issue of bringing realistic movement to vehicles shot against LED screens.
By combining a motion platform, robotic camera crane, LED volume, racing simulator, and digital twin software, PXO AKIRA unlocks a whole new world of creative possibilities for vehicle-based storytelling.
“We've seen the difficulties you face, the costs associated with it, and the pain points, so we set out to invent something that could solve a lot of those problems.” says Jay Elbourne, Head of Technical Operations for PXO Clara—Pixomondo's LED volume division that is responsible for distributing the tool.
A dynamic platform to simulate vehicle motion
When it comes to shooting footage of vehicles, tech savvy filmmakers have been turning to virtual production for a number of years to lower costs and increase creative options.In place of transporting a car to a far-flung location just for a few minutes of footage, it’s possible to film it against photorealistic imagery displayed on an LED backdrop. This enables you to place the car in any setting your imagination desires—from the Alps to Mars—all at the click of a button, and all without ever leaving the production lot.
PXO AKIRA builds upon this workflow and pushes it further by providing innovative solutions that address the confounding issue of bringing realistic movement to vehicles shot against LED screens.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
A case in point—and one of the aspects that sets PXO AKIRA apart from other virtual production rigs—is its cutting-edge motion platform.
As the name implies, the motion platform is a freely rotating and tilting platform on which the vehicle sits, designed to accommodate vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re shooting a small plane fuselage or a racing bike, the platform can be used to enhance realism in vehicle-based scenes.
As the name implies, the motion platform is a freely rotating and tilting platform on which the vehicle sits, designed to accommodate vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re shooting a small plane fuselage or a racing bike, the platform can be used to enhance realism in vehicle-based scenes.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
The tires of a wheeled vehicle can rest on individual pedals set into the platform. These pedals power the car's suspension and provide full control over the tire rotation—a capability that addresses a quirk of shooting vehicles in virtual production, whereby you can't show the tire at all because it's not turning and doesn't look real.
“With our tires, they're not only activating the suspension, moving up and down and bouncing, but the wheels are also rotating, so you get more realistic shots,” says Elbourne.
The crane runs on a ‘techno dolly’—one of only four in the world. With 59 feet of dolly track and 24 feet of maximum camera height, it unleashes the potential for stunning camera moves with fine control over movement and speed. The techno dolly is programmed for repeatable and consistent camera work in sync with all the other connected parts of the system.
“With our tires, they're not only activating the suspension, moving up and down and bouncing, but the wheels are also rotating, so you get more realistic shots,” says Elbourne.
A robotic camera crane for swooping shots
The robotic camera crane is another piece of the puzzle that helps to bring a sense of movement to vehicles shot using PXO AKIRA.The crane runs on a ‘techno dolly’—one of only four in the world. With 59 feet of dolly track and 24 feet of maximum camera height, it unleashes the potential for stunning camera moves with fine control over movement and speed. The techno dolly is programmed for repeatable and consistent camera work in sync with all the other connected parts of the system.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
That synchronization is made possible by the software—called Digital Twin— that sits at the heart of PXO AKIRA. Powered by Unreal Engine, Digital Twin acts as a controller for all the different elements of the system. It talks to the crane, the driving simulator, and the LED volume so that everything acts in unison.
Digital Twin also accurately replicates the entire physical setup digitally in Unreal Engine, including the camera crane, motion platform, and the surrounding LED wall. This digital set up can be used to previsualise the shoot by exploring different camera angles, adjusting the environment rendered on the LED wall, and exploring options for the vehicle’s driving path.
Digital Twin also accurately replicates the entire physical setup digitally in Unreal Engine, including the camera crane, motion platform, and the surrounding LED wall. This digital set up can be used to previsualise the shoot by exploring different camera angles, adjusting the environment rendered on the LED wall, and exploring options for the vehicle’s driving path.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
“We can have the environments you would use in traditional virtual production paired with the motion of the vehicle, camera, crane, and previs everything,” says Elbourne. “You can take that same Unreal Engine software onto the set and drive your whole film production.”
Planning shots starts with the selection of a location from the virtual world map in the Digital Twin software. Users then select a CG replica of the real-world vehicle, placing a virtual camera setup in the sound stage.
After picking the CG environment that will display on the LED screens, you can edit your path of travel through the virtual scene, and fine-tune the motion of your vehicle in the software. The motion platform will mimic the driving conditions from the location, whether it’s a rough dirt track or frictionless race track surface.
This creative brainstorming is then taken on set and your shot is translated through the PXO AKIRA ecosystem, sending your dynamic camera moves to the crane, the CG environment to the LED volume, and the movement of the terrain to the platform.
A diverse range of environments can be projected onto the LED screens surrounding the platform, casting realistic lighting onto the car, along with shadows and reflections to make it appear as though the vehicle is actually in the scene.
The LED screen configuration, Elbourne says, mimics a virtual production setup for filmmaking, which improves on traditional green screen techniques in providing immersion for actors. Instead of having to imagine the surrounding environment—as is the case with green screens—actors are immersed in a photorealistic scene that they can respond to.
Planning shots starts with the selection of a location from the virtual world map in the Digital Twin software. Users then select a CG replica of the real-world vehicle, placing a virtual camera setup in the sound stage.
After picking the CG environment that will display on the LED screens, you can edit your path of travel through the virtual scene, and fine-tune the motion of your vehicle in the software. The motion platform will mimic the driving conditions from the location, whether it’s a rough dirt track or frictionless race track surface.
This creative brainstorming is then taken on set and your shot is translated through the PXO AKIRA ecosystem, sending your dynamic camera moves to the crane, the CG environment to the LED volume, and the movement of the terrain to the platform.
Stunning photorealistic backdrops on the LED screen
If the motion platform and robotic crane are all about bringing realism to the movement of the vehicle, the surrounding LED screen is all about the visual accuracy of the environment.A diverse range of environments can be projected onto the LED screens surrounding the platform, casting realistic lighting onto the car, along with shadows and reflections to make it appear as though the vehicle is actually in the scene.
The LED screen configuration, Elbourne says, mimics a virtual production setup for filmmaking, which improves on traditional green screen techniques in providing immersion for actors. Instead of having to imagine the surrounding environment—as is the case with green screens—actors are immersed in a photorealistic scene that they can respond to.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
“If you're driving in a car and you see green or blue, you don't really get a sense of where you are or what the car might be doing in that situation,” Elbourne says. ”In virtual production, you can really see the environment, you can see the lighting conditions, or anything that's coming at you.”
LED screens can be paired with a game engine to render content in real time. This allows for the adjustment of different scene elements on the fly, opening up a world of possibilities for directors. The real-time nature of game engine technology also unlocks dynamic lighting and reflections.
LED screens can be paired with a game engine to render content in real time. This allows for the adjustment of different scene elements on the fly, opening up a world of possibilities for directors. The real-time nature of game engine technology also unlocks dynamic lighting and reflections.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
In the virtual environment, you can plan your shots with impeccable accuracy, and even set up the digital twin LED wall and virtual camera to get the same kinds of luminous reflections you’d expect on a real car in a real environment. When everything is right, send the settings over to the soundstage, where they will translate perfectly to the physical LED wall and camera.
”Your LED wall will cast the same lighting conditions, the same reflections, with the same environment that you built in Unreal Engine,” says Elbourne. “It just adds an extra layer of accuracy to your film.”
“Let's say you want a little bit more artistic control, like all directors and DPs might want,” says Elbourne. “You can put a stunt driver into our driving simulator, and they can physically move the car, the boat, or the airplane the exact way that they want, art directing it in the moment.”
That pattern of movement is then translated to the motion platform—the simulator sends the recorded movement to the platform so it’s felt in the vehicle’s suspension.
”Your LED wall will cast the same lighting conditions, the same reflections, with the same environment that you built in Unreal Engine,” says Elbourne. “It just adds an extra layer of accuracy to your film.”
Stunt visualization and high speed chases
To enhance the realism of the vehicle movement even further, PXO AKIRA features a final important component: a racing simulator.“Let's say you want a little bit more artistic control, like all directors and DPs might want,” says Elbourne. “You can put a stunt driver into our driving simulator, and they can physically move the car, the boat, or the airplane the exact way that they want, art directing it in the moment.”
That pattern of movement is then translated to the motion platform—the simulator sends the recorded movement to the platform so it’s felt in the vehicle’s suspension.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
This workflow is a boon when it comes to the tricky and often expensive process of stunt driving.
“Stunt driving is a really unique thing,” says Elbourne. “It's where you get the most realistic movement out of the vehicle. But if you're going to do that practically on the road, you're talking about permits, shutting down streets. And if you're in a location that just doesn't allow that, it's very difficult.”
On the racing simulator, you can record a take spinning into a drift, taking a racing line, or offroad down the back country, and have it play out on the physical vehicle on the motion platform for consistent and realistic motion.
“Stunt driving is a really unique thing,” says Elbourne. “It's where you get the most realistic movement out of the vehicle. But if you're going to do that practically on the road, you're talking about permits, shutting down streets. And if you're in a location that just doesn't allow that, it's very difficult.”
On the racing simulator, you can record a take spinning into a drift, taking a racing line, or offroad down the back country, and have it play out on the physical vehicle on the motion platform for consistent and realistic motion.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
“If you can translate that motion from a driving simulator into the platform, pair that with robotic camera movement to get the shot you're really after, that's going to save you time, it's going to save you money, and it's going to allow you to repeat over and over again until you get the perfect take and the perfect shot,” says Elbourne.
“We're now on Unreal Engine 5.5, and every time we update, we see a speed increase, better lighting accuracy, and better reflections,” says Elbourne. “We just love the increased feature set and productivity we gain from using Unreal Engine over the past year.”
Prior to developing PXO AKIRA, Pixomondo had used Unreal Engine for making games, creating environments for virtual production, or short films—but they hadn't used it to create standalone desktop tools.
“The way we're using it here is really exciting,” says Elbourne. “We're using it for both our previs and our planning stages to prepare for filmmaking, but we're also using the exact same software on the film set to control our robotic arms and our robotic platforms, which is amazing, and it's working beautifully. Unreal Engine really makes the PXO AKIRA platform and ecosystem possible.”
Interested in exploring PXO AKIRA for your next production? Check out the website.
Harnessing the full potential of Unreal Engine
Pixomondo started building PXO AKIRA with Unreal Engine 5.2, and they've updated the system with every iteration or release of the engine.“We're now on Unreal Engine 5.5, and every time we update, we see a speed increase, better lighting accuracy, and better reflections,” says Elbourne. “We just love the increased feature set and productivity we gain from using Unreal Engine over the past year.”
Prior to developing PXO AKIRA, Pixomondo had used Unreal Engine for making games, creating environments for virtual production, or short films—but they hadn't used it to create standalone desktop tools.
“The way we're using it here is really exciting,” says Elbourne. “We're using it for both our previs and our planning stages to prepare for filmmaking, but we're also using the exact same software on the film set to control our robotic arms and our robotic platforms, which is amazing, and it's working beautifully. Unreal Engine really makes the PXO AKIRA platform and ecosystem possible.”
Interested in exploring PXO AKIRA for your next production? Check out the website.
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO
Image courtesy of PIXOMONDO