Inside Unreal: Behind The Scenes of CARGO - A Virtual Theatrical Performance

General Announcements
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1

WHAT
This week we’re joined by Niklas Bothe, Kevin Clare, and Mariam Woller from OnPoint Studios. OnPoint Studios fuse motion capture technologies with Unreal Engine to deliver a new generation of theatre. Let’s dive into the technology behind CARGO to learn what goes into producing a virtual theatrical performance!

WHEN
Thursday, February 25 @ 2:00PM ET - Countdown

WHERE
Twitch

WHO
Niklas Bothe - Head of Studio, OnPoint Studios
Kevin Clare - Facial Animation Supervisor, OnPoint Studios
Marian Woller - Virtual Production Supervisor, OnPoint Studios
Victor Brodin - Community Manager - @victor1erp](http://twitter.com/victor1erp)

RESOURCES
OnPoint Studios

ARCHIVE
Behind The Scenes of CARGO - A Virtual Theatrical Performance | Inside Unreal - YouTube

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I can’t find any info on CARGO, even on the OnPoint Studios website… help?

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Hey iBrews,

we’re still working on getting the info site up and running! Should be online any day now, thank you for your interest and stay tuned :slight_smile:

cheers,

4

I had to go check out their linkedin page to get a tiny snippet of the teaser.

5

Hey all,

here’s the link to our small info page: cargo - OnPoint Studios
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

6

what skills in traditional theatre would crossover to virtual theatre from a Stage Management perspective?

I’m very excited about what you are doing in this virtual theatre space, looking forward to the live stream tonight.

7

Thank you for your question!
We only touched on this yesterday but a huge part of the main showcase is to have several different rooms on the virtual stage (its a big space-station).
Since we are using a very close virtual cam to follow Ally through the story, we have to use a few tricks to make the transitions into new rooms work. Also there are different objects of interest and interactive objects for each room, so the performers, cameraman and the setrunners have to really know the sequence.

Sometimes a triggered Event (for example: Ally’s visor will not open when she’s touching her helmet) will not fire and then the operator has to pick up on that and manually trigger it to keep the flow going. So because of the live environment there’s even more stage awareness needed than on a usual mocap set.

I hope that answers your question : )

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To the folks of OnPoint: Great session! As somebody who did a lot of live stream productions I have to say that I loved to technical problem(s) at the beginning. Especially with the actress looking up for the second time that she had to reset. Great stuff. Learning as we go. Also regarding the face capture helmet; I personally managed to get a long way with paintball helmets (cq Tactical helmets). These helmets come with quick release options on front (normally for lights, cameras or night vision, but also for a - for example - phone extension) AND - not entirely unimportant - built in (or optional) counter weight options that connect to the helmet directly.

Also good to hear about Eisko. Have been in contact with them for some work.

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@Followmaurice

Thank you so much! We of course would’ve much preferred everything to work smoothly (as it did in numerous rehearsals) but I’m happy with how everything went. There’s just so many variables in a case like this but as you said, learning as we go :slight_smile:

I really like the idea with the paintball helmets, especially since they’re built with attaching all sorts of things in mind. Will definitely check that out. With the Iphone’s ability to pick up the performers from all sorts of angles we also have a chest-mounted version that works okay-ish.

Regarding Eisko:
Yes, as Kevin said in the Stream, they have been amazing to work with. Communication is quick and efficient but always super-friendly and the quality and speed of their services is superb. Very much looking forward to keep working with those guys!