Dimension has launched Vectored Imaging Volume (ViV), the world’s first robotics-powered virtual production (VP) system that has the objective of making VP more accessible and allowing more dynamic and ‘impossible’ shots to be achieved, as the company has claimed in a statement.

It was developed by the Dimension Futures team and CTO Callum Macmillan, and it was built in collaboration with industry robotics professional Dickon Mitchell. 

ViV used two robotic arms; one mounted with a camera, the other with a 2m x3m LED wall that is scalable. Together, the two motion-controlled components form a LED volume, moved in synchronisation with the virtual environment, in real-time.

The Futures and VP teams tested ViV with two demo shoots: “The Climb” and “The Office”. For these two, Dimension was supported by LED partner ROE. “ViV enables VP with smaller, higher-resolution LED setups, requiring less compute and power. This makes VP more accessible to a wider range of media producers while still being beneficial for existing VP shoots”, explains James Dinsdales, VP Supervisor at Dimension Studio.

“There are often several shots that arent’ possible because of the camera movement needed to achieve them, with ViV, filmmakers continue to take advantage of VP’s benefits, while also being able to achieve those impossible shots”, added Macmillan.

Additionally, ViV makes VP more accessible to online, short-form and brand content creators who can use ViV as a production solution.

“Working with Dimension has led to some really exciting innovation. It’s awesome to see how seamlessly we’re able to synchronise the camera, the panel and move around a performer or object with so much precision. We can defy gravity with this system”, said Dickon Mitchell, Robomoco Director & SFX Senior Designer.

“ViV is the next sevolution of Dimension’s VP offering, with unique scalability to integrate robotic systems like human-flying rigs, vehicle platforms, additional camera, lighting and panel systems. This is just the beginning of motion-controlled VP”, conclude Macmillan.