From the course: Virtual Production Foundations

When to use previs and techvis

From the course: Virtual Production Foundations

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When to use previs and techvis

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- Recognizing that virtual production isn't just LED volumes is essential. It also encompasses a wide range of visualization techniques. You can make great use of these during planning your pre-production. The new phase should really be fix it in pre. That's how the pre-production workflow operates in virtual production. It's flip from the more common phrase of fix it in post. Now we have the opportunity to plan out everything before it's shot, which can drastically reduce the post production costs and schedules. So two of these visualization techniques are previs and techvis. Previs is like sketching or storyboarding shots and actions. Techvis takes it a step further by adding technical analysis onto scenes. This helps you determine camera types, lenses, rigging, portions of sets that need to be physically built versus virtual stunt work, et cetera. So let's dive into previs first. Previs used to be done primarily with hand drawn storyboards, like a comic book version of the script. Later that became more sophisticated with animatics, which were moving animations of planned scenes. Now today, we can create highly accurate and photorealistic previews using the real time animation tools like Unreal Engine. This can significantly help your production team get on the same page and experiment with different kinds of staging while costs and pressure is low. So here's a scene created in previs with Unreal Engine and here's what it looks like in the movie's final version. As you can see, the previs is very accurate. This tool means you don't have to guess or waste time and money on shots that you don't really need. Instead, you get exactly what you want. Techvis on the other hand is concerned with working out shot's physical details to ensure it's actually possible in the real world. Cinematographers used to be wary of previs because it might depict a lens that doesn't actually exist in real life, or a scene that would be impossible or highly dangerous to capture. Instead, techvis leans into the physical simulation capabilities of game engines to depict real world lenses, physically accurate stunts, and more. You essentially get a sandbox to play with and try things out. So that's techvis and previs, two visualization techniques that can make a huge difference as you plan out your production. So we keep returning to this concept of fixing it in pre. The more time you spend planning out your show and leveraging the high quality visualization powers of Unreal engine, the better an experience you'll have during production. So plan the shoot and shoot the plan.

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