Virtual Production Projects For Unreal Engine
This repository was recently rebuilt to hold multiple Unreal Engine example projects. Please let me know if this causes you any problems. Worst case some files and directories may have been moved, hopefully you will just have to re-open them in the Unreal launcher and everything will be ok (at least, it was for me).
Before you start
These projects all require some kind of VR tracking gear, a video capture devices and a camera. Because everyone's hardware setup will be a little different most of them WILL require some modifications before they will work for you. I have tutorials on Youtube that describe how to do this. If you have never used Unreal Engine before it will make things easier if you take a couple of getting started courses on the Unreal Engine Learning Hub just to get familiar with Unreal's user interface.
Most of these examples assume you have a HTC Vive or Valve VR system with controllers, at least one base station and at least one tracking puck. All my tutorials assume you have this basic setup. It is possible to use other configurations that cost less, but it will require more work to get everything setup.
In This Repository
- UE4VirtualProduction -- my original example which composites a live camera with a virtual set
- TrackerTest -- a project that measures tracker jitter and reports it so you can tune your setup for lowest jitter
- VPStudio -- a new studio example (WORK IN PROGRESS, NOT DONE YET)
What you need to get started
Each of the examples has slightly different requirements, see their individual readme files for more details, but in general to get started doing Virtual Production you will need a Windows PC with a good graphics card. a way to get video into Unreal and a a solid color background (usually green or blue). You may also need some lights or a good source of natural light. A lot of these things are covered in more detail by the tutorials on my youtube channel
You will need Unreal Engine which is available for free.
Goals of this project
If you have been looking into Virtual Production, you've probably noticed there isn't much documentation about how to set it up and use it. This is because it's so new that the documentation hasn't had a chance to catch up yet. The purpose of this project is to figure out how to make Virtual Production easier and cheaper so more people can use it. Sometimes I will be using more expensive hardware because nothing cheaper is available (yet) but I will always be looking for low cost alternatives to make it more affordable. It is already possible to do basic virtual production with just a PC and a webcam and there are many on-line communities full of people working on making this easier and cheaper for all kinds of uses.
Tutorials on Youtube
See my youtube channel for documentation, tutorials, demos and tips on Virtual Production. There are also playlists with a lot of Virtual Production and mixed reality videos from other creators.
This may look complicated but you can get some great results from a very simple setup and since everything here runs in real-time, you can even use this setup for livestreaming!
Please Help Out!
The projects here will help you get started. It is ok to use them for any purpose. If you use it to produce a video or want to redistribute a project based on this, please credit me and include links back to my Youtube channel. Let me know what you post and I will reference your work on my sites too!
I'm hoping this will get enough people started in Virtual Production to increase the amount of information about it and make it easier for even more people to join in!