Check out this groundbreaking virtual production technology which was used on season one of The Mandalorian. About 50% of The Mandalorian Season 1 was filmed using this all new tech methodology, eliminating the need for location shoots completely.
Actors in The Mandalorian acted in an immersive and huge 20’ high by 270-degree semicircular LED video wall and ceiling with a 75’-diameter space, where the practical set pieces were added with digital extensions on the screens, this is some high tech stuff right here, do check out the video below.
Digital 3D environments were made by ILM played back interactively on the LED walls, edited in real-time during the shoot, which enables pixel-accurate tracking and perspective-correct 3D imagery rendered at high res via systems using the power of NVIDIA GPUs.
The environments were lit and rendered from the view of the camera to provide parallax in real-time as if the camera were really capturing the physical environment with realistic interactive light on the actors and practical sets, giving showrunner Jon Favreau, executive producer and director Dave Filoni, visual effects supervisor Richard Bluff, and cinematographers Greig Fraser and Barry Baz Idoine, and the episodic directors the ability to make creative choices for visual effects-driven work during photography and deliver real-time in-camera composites on set.
The technology and workflow needed to make in-camera compositing and effects practical for on-set use combined the imagination and creativity of partners such as Golem Creations, Fuse, Lux Machina, Profile Studios, and ARRI joined with ILM’s StageCraft virtual production filmmaking platform and finally the real-time interactivity of the Unreal Engine, what it can’t do!