What's new?
We are introducing our newest iteration of Pixotope, featuring Unreal 5.4 and yet again emphasizing improvements to your workflow.
Unreal Engine 5.4
With Unreal Engine 5.4, Epic Games has introduced a new business and subscription model for Unreal. This does not affect Pixotope’s products! All licensing of Unreal is handled by Pixotope on behalf of our customers.
We have now updated to Unreal's version 5.4.2 which brings very relevant improvements to virtual production. Here some highlights:
Motion and Production graphics
Motion and production graphics can now be created directly in Unreal.
Unreal Engine 5.4 introduces a new Motion Design mode with tools for 2D motion graphics.
Developed with feedback from top broadcasters, this mode enhances user experience and productivity.
Features include 3D cloners, effectors, modifiers, animators, and more.
Animation Improvements
Animators have access to a new Motion Matching framework for animation selection and transitions.
Character rigging now includes Modular Control Rig, Automatic Retargeting, Skeletal Editor, and Deformer Graph.
New tools for animation authoring include Gizmos, improved Anim Details, enhanced Constraints system, and Layered Control Rig.
The Sequencer has several improvements.
Rendering Improvements
Nanite now supports dynamic tessellation, displacement, and spline mesh workflows.
AnimToTexture now works with Nanite geometry.
Rendering performance has improved with better parallelization and GPU instance culling.
Heterogeneous Volume Rendering supports fire, smoke, and fluids with shadow-casting and compositing enhancements. Pixotope now adds full support for proper compositing of volumetric effects!
And much more
Revamped color pipeline
Setting up a color pipeline is no easy task. Spaces, profiles, linear, log, gamut, HDR…, it is easy to get lost in terminology and theory. With this update we have simplified the setup, but at the same time handle the complexity under the hood for you.
We have also included a checklist and did a complete overhaul of our color documentation demystifying the key concepts, covering the whole production pipeline.
Learn more about how to Configure the color pipeline
Automatic delay detection
Calibrating the delays between video and tracking can be cumbersome. For your convenience we have added the ability to do automatic delay detection. You then only have to move the camera and we figure out the delay.
Learn more about how to Use automatic delay detection
Bringing the AR and XR machines in sync could also be challenging. For this we have introduced a new XR syncing display mode helping you get them to sync in no time.
Learn more about how to Calibrate delays between AR and XR
Area defined keying
When producing for hybrid studios, transitions from a green screen (VS) into a physical set (AR/XR) are essential. The new Chroma Screen actor lets you define in which area the keyer will be active, ensuring a seamless transition.
Learn more about how to Set up an AR+VS level
Together with the improvements to the color pipeline the keyer can now be used regardless of the color space you are in or transitioning to.
Adjustments 2.0
Making changes while you are running Live is very important. However, the way adjustments originally worked was not transparent and could lead to inconsistencies between render engines. So we reinvented it. We now store Live changes centrally. This way any render engine will always have the latest changes. Even the ones joining late.
If your workflow requires one or more render engines to deviate and have different settings, we introduce the concept of Group overrides. Group overrides allow you to override a setting running on a specific render engine or a group of engines.
Learn more about Adjusting levels - Live changes and Group overrides
XR/video wall improvements
Even though XR gives you the ability to render everything perfectly in 3D, there are cases where a simple 2D media playback is needed in addition. We have now added an option allowing you to map media inputs directly onto specified areas on the LED wall.
Learn more about how to Playback 2D media on the LED wall
When creating the Digital Twin from a highly detailed geometry which was imported, you can now manually merge XR walls to reduce their count and making the Manual Twin easier to handle.
For cases where the curvature of the LED wall is not regular, you can now use the Spline Twin tool to generate a Manual Twin based on a spline, also giving you granular control of its details.
Learn more about how to use the Spline twin tool
And XR color matching now allows limiting the LED color profile to a specific mapping.
Asset hub improvements
There are times where you need to be picky. With this release you can be as selective as you want. Not happy with the changes you made, just discard them. Only want to pull a single file? Go for it.
Learn more about the new options
And then there are times where you want to draw on abundant resources, not being limited to the size of the installation drive. Now you have the ability to move the Synced storage folder to a different location giving you the flexibility and space you need.
Learn more about how to Change the Synced Storage folder location
New products
Embed tracking data into SDI
With the Tracking Data SDI Embedder for Pixotope Tracking, you can embed tracking data directly into an SDI audio channel together with the video feed. This allows you to run a single SDI cable without the need for a separate network infrastructure for tracking.
And inside Pixotope Graphics the de-embedding is now supported natively!
Learn more about SDI Audio Embedder
Pixotope Broadcast Graphics
The Unreal Engine's Motion Design Mode is an environment meticulously crafted to empower motion graphics designers. Equipped with specialized tools for the 2D canvas and an enhanced world outliner it provides a comprehensive suite including 3D shapes, cloners, effectors, modifiers, animators, and features for non-linear animations. This dedicated mode is engineered to elevate the broadcast graphics design experience, offering a robust and user-friendly platform to bring your creative visions to life.
Together with Erizos, our partner, we offer a full broadcast graphics solution based on Erizos Studio. With its full support for Pixotope AR, VS, XR as well as Unreal Motion Design, it allows broadcasters to control any amount of engines and multiple aspects of their show simultaneously. It integrates with various Newsroom control systems using the MOS protocol and offers support for automation driven playouts. You can use any external data, and of course it comes with the ease of use and reliability which you are used to with any of our products.
→ Read more about our Broadcast Graphics solution
Learn more about Using Unreal Motion Design with Erizos Studio
Data mapper
Want to use live data from external sources? With our new Data mapper, you can easily set up, and link external sources to any destination inside Pixotope. Whether you are dealing with RSS feeds, public APIs or Google sheets. We handle them all.
Learn more about Using Data Mapper
Automatic server failover
"You shall not fail." We understand the pressure you are in and want to bring you peace of mind. Even though our server infrastructure is built for reliability there are always cases of unforeseen events. For this we are introducing the option to run an additional backup server which seamlessly takes over in case the main one does not respond anymore.
Learn more about how to Set up a server failover system (Backup server)
Upgrading to Pixotope 24.1
Check out Upgrading to 24.1
Changelog
Log in to the user section of the → Pixotope Cloud
Go to Downloads
Known bugs and limitations
Check out Known bugs and limitations