For immediate release
Santa Clara, CA, July 26 - Prolycht has been working on custom firmware that allows the powerful Orion 300 FS and upcoming 675 FS color LED spotlights to be tightly integrated into virtual production. DPs and gaffers working with LED volumes have been drawn to Prolycht’s lights because of their high light output, combined with the Hyperlight RGBACL engine’s ability to maintain accuracy, power and saturation right through the visible spectrum.
Leading Hollywood effects and virtual production specialists Stargate Studios is one of the companies that has adopted the lights. They are using multiple Orion 300 FS lights in a ring around the ceiling of their virtual sets, all controlled by a lighting technician using dedicated software which marries the lights to the virtual world shown on the LED wall in an extremely convincing way. Being adjustable in real-time for both color and intensity gives the Orion the ability to mimic the real hard lighting that may exist in a scene. This is especially useful when replicating bright lights and passing street lighting during in-vehicle scenes.
The Prolycht Orion 300FS in use on a Stargate Studios virtual production stage
Stargate Studios Founder and CEO Sam Nicholson ASC explains: “You really do have to have complete control of the lighting in the real world to match the lighting in the virtual world, and that’s where the Orion 300 FS lights really come into play…they have a very hard light if you want it, they can also go soft, and you can truly control it.”
Rodney Charters ASC shoots in-car scenes on a Stargate Studios LED volume with Prolycht lights
Like many other professional lighting fixtures, the Prolycht Orion LEDs offer fast DMX and Artnet control. Even so, there is always room to work on new ideas, adjust communication settings and improve integration. As a result, Prolycht’s CEO Dr. Anqing Liu and the company’s technical team are continuously working to enable exactly what gaffers and DPs request.
The latest custom firmware and app enhancements include:
- Changes to the way the light communicates with MadMapper software used by Stargate Studios.
- Improved color consistency between the virtual pixels on the LED wall and the light from the Orion 300FS.
- The ability to use the iPhone as a real-time color picker to manually sample an area of the screen and reproduce it’s changes using the Orion 300FS.
Nicholson explains: “Whenever we’re developing a new technology we need a very good relationship with the manufacturers and the engineers of that technology - and Prolycht has been really responsive to my engineers calling up, emailing and saying ‘Hey, we need this special attribute to communicate with the light in a new way’…and it happens within 24 hours,”
Prolycht now has several partners in the virtual production space and the company is working on further customisations to help create even more realistic virtual scenes.
The Prolycht Orion 675FS RGBACL Color spotlight (image of pre-production unit)
There are currently two LED spotlights in the Orion series: The 300 FS, with its proven 300W RGBACL performance, and the new 675 FS, which is a larger fixture with a single unit design that is expected to ship around September time. The 300 FS has already found a home as a key, or sunlight replacement, on smaller sets, or as a useful effects fixture on larger ones. The 675 FS with its increased power is destined to become a regular sight in virtual production. As Nicholson says: “The 675 FS is I think going to be much better for big sets - 675W in a hard color controllable light is really a step forward for the virtual production business.”
The Prolycht Orion 300FS RGBACL Color spotlight
You can learn more about both the 300 FS and 675 FS LED spotlights on the Prolycht website.
You can download additional images here.
Images of the 675FS here.
Images of the 300FS here.
For more details contact dan@crashzoom.com
