The Challenge
Keyframe Studios, an award-winning animation and visual effects company created a concept prototype to reduce green-screen post-production compositing time. They needed assistance taking it to the next level, and in making it sophisticated enough to hit the commercial market. Keyframe’s visual effects division, Krow VFX, partnered with the Research & Innovation team in developing a wireless product, a technology that would lessen the workload for artists trying to track green screen movements that have no valid reference points.
The result
The Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre and the Digital Technology Solutions teams collaborated to develop a wireless visual effects digital tracking aid prototype using addressable “Blind” LEDs, and a user-friendly interface. The program, which controls the wireless green screen reference points, connects with the sensors via a wireless signal and controls the rate of blinks per frame, as well as tracking the location of the camera in reference to those lights. The early proof-of-concept prototype is set up with software in a mobile app form and uses Bluetooth technology to transmit information to their nodes.
This project is funded by the Niagara College-led Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI) through Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) contributions.
Source: Niagara College’s Research & Innovation website