A new virtual production facility, Futures Studio, has opened at Royal Holloway “offering creative technology businesses a space to innovate, showcase their work and collaborate with industry experts and world-class researchers.”
Jointly funded by Royal Holloway and Surrey County Council, the studio, which is based at the University’s Egham campus in Surrey, includes a “unique combination of a virtual production environment and a next generation audio system,” including ambisonics and object-based audio.
The Futures Studio, which is powered by visual experience company Disguise, is set up to offer businesses an “advanced facility to innovate and generate new products and services” – from new immersive experiences to new production tools.
It is the first facility to be opened as part of the CoSTAR National Lab, a £51.1 million project funded by the UKRI Infrastructure Fund and delivered by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Futures Studio will also act as an experimental space for CoSTAR National Lab’s flagship studio due to open in Buckinghamshire next year.
Professor James Bennett, Director, CoSTAR National Lab and Royal Holloway’s Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Creative Industries), said: “Futures Studio is CoSTAR National Lab’s first step in building the UK’s infrastructure for the next generation of creative innovation and entertainment and we’re excited to see how local businesses can benefit from this unique space.
“By providing an accessible facility that combines research and the latest technology we’re lowering the barrier for local smaller businesses to not only compete, but to lead the wider evolving creative tech industry.” The launch of the Futures Studio comes just weeks after the government’s budget confirmed its commitment to support the UK’s growth-driving creative industries, worth £125 billion to the UK economy.
Futures Studio project lead Professor Peter Richardson, Vice-Dean of Research and Knowledge Exchange (School of Performing and Digital Arts) at Royal Holloway, and Head of Worldbuilding for the CoSTAR National Lab, said: “Technology often powers creativity; our approach is to have creativity power technology which allows us to push the boundaries of what is possible. The Futures Studio gives us a space where we can push the boundaries with creative companies in a way that will de-risk their research and development projects.”
The studio includes a 10.5 m LED volume and ’wild wall’, virtual production tools and workflows, and an advanced IP-networked audio recording and playback system to enable users to work with formats such as object-based media, which forms the foundation of Dolby Atmos.
Gemma Campbell, Lead Creative Producer at Disguise, said: “There is so much demand for specialists working in the Virtual Production industry, we’re on a mission to drive accessibility to the latest technology creating opportunities and spaces where students and small businesses can step into an LED volume and see the exciting possibilities for their own career.
“Alongside our expertise we offer online and in person training across a wide range of workflows in VP but also AR, mixed reality, real-time graphics, projection mapping and lots more to enable independent learning and up-skilling.”
Jon Creamer
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