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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.”
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.
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.