Content creation is as much in demand as ever. With what might be a looming economic recession and the start of tech sector layoffs content creation will stay at the forefront of income generation. Many recently out-of-work but technically minded people will be looking for ways to generate income and pay the bills while marketing professionals will be pushing the boundaries of engaging and entertaining messaging that requires a professional level of production without an epic budget.
Wild Capture tools like Cohort Crowd creation and Cohort Fashion can export to a production pipeline in the Universal Scene Description (USD) format made popular by Pixar and released as open-source technology in 2016. A lot of us work with the USD format so it is certainly not new to us, but it is made with ease of use in mind.
Most of the popular production and sculpting software packages can work with USD as well as animation software like Reallusion’s iClone. Blender, Maya, Houdini, and 3DS Max are just a few of the heavyweights that work with the USD format. Software like iClone, via its Live Link plugin to Unreal Engine, can transfer assets with the click of a button further simplifying the pipeline process with no need for added export and import work.
From the Wild Capture team:
With the increasing scale of 3D applications and technologies, there is an explosive need for 3D digital humans that can seamlessly blend into the many varied pipelines that utilize spatial media. With these new technologies quickly maturing, volumetric video is quickly coming to the forefront.
“Realistic digital humans in 3D environments that can be navigated by hundreds, even thousands of users simultaneously are the next phase of entertainment and media messaging,” says Driscoll. “Our Cohort crowd creation and digital fashion tools in conjunction with USD, offer content creatives a level of digital human realism and interactivity that engages audiences and helps keep each experience feeling fresh. Virtual keynote, marketing, concert, and competitive events can all take place with customizable architecture and aesthetics.”
The automated fashion toolset within Wild Capture’s Cohort applies variants for clothing, accessories, and more. This tech enables users to build their own volumetric crowd using their assets or use Wild Capture’s fast-growing asset library; all completely customizable.
Additionally, as the data pipelines have widened, Wild Capture’s use of volumetric video and USD helps to manage the synchronization of mesh and texture for a mix of variant versions and time signatures for randomization. USD also manages the entire dataset per actor/character, allowing the data to result in a single USD file to drive all assets per actor.
The Wild Capture team continues:
The most effective part of the USD pipeline in the volumetric video is that it is non-destructive. This key factor is what allows for the customization of digital humans for web commerce and entertainment, 3D displays and holograms, VFX, and AR/VR media.
Managing the synchronization of mesh and texture for a mix of variant versions and time signatures for randomization is also a plus. USD manages the entire dataset per actor, allowing the data to result in a single USD file to drive all assets per actor. Calling a specific actor is also much easier, as it now exists in a gallery or a “stage”. Populating large scenes is easy with USD where the assets are called at render time, but a visual representation is possible within USD.
The main problem with 3D media production has generally been the data involved in capture, editorial, and delivery. Only now, as the data pipelines have widened in the various technology pipelines the ability has begun to be able to absorb 3D humans as a compact package that can be used in these pipelines.
Check out Wild Capture’s Cohort Fashion, Cohort Crowds, Digital Human Platform, and Universal Volumetric at:
M.D. McCallum, aka WarLord, is an international award-winning commercial graphics artist, 3D animator, published author, project director, and webmaster with a freelance career that spans over 20 years. Now retired, M.D. is currently working part-time on writing and select character development projects. You can learn more about MD on his website.
