Realtime launches virtual production arm

VFX house Realtime has launched a virtual production arm.

Annie Shaw, former head of virtual production at MPC London who joined Realtime last year, will lead the division. This move comes after Realtime created a proprietary tool, with a grant from Greater Manchester’s Media City Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub, that works to visualise 3D environments and capture live virtual cameras and previs for full CG scenes and support the visualisation of set-extensions or CG elements on live-action sets. 

Shaw said: “This is not about flashy tech, although we have that too. This is about making real-time technologies accessible to a wider variety of projects and having a strong internal team to assess where any of the tools in the Virtual Production toolbox can add value, visibility and control for our clients.

“Every project is different, and we like to really understand those differences to create bespoke solutions from a strong foundation of knowledge gained over ten years of history using real-time tools. This is not about pushing technology where it isn’t needed, but supporting departments from pre-production to post and giving them opportunities to make informed decisions based on early visualisation so they can maximise time and VFX budgets to achieve their creative vision.”

Jonathan Rawlinson, head of film & episodic at Realtime, added: “We have always worked closely with our clients across the business to help them visualise their projects as easily as possible. Now that we’ve bought Annie on board and have a formalised offering, we’re in a fantastic place to support our clients from earliest pre-production. This comes at a time when our industry is evolving and anything that we can do to make the filmmaking journey as smooth as possible is a huge benefit.”