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e d i t i o n i , 2 0 2 0 c g w 1 3 ume, ILM environments supervisor Enrico Damm had teams do traditional location scouting and photogrammetry capture of real-world locations. "We brought all that data back here, did our proprietary magic to de-light it so it could be re-lit for lighting choices on the day, and reconstructed it so that the final could be played in real time," Porter says. Meanwhile, in close collaboration with se- ries DP Barry "Baz" Idoine, Richard Bluff, and the episodic directors, Jones and his crew built the physical sets, many of which would need to tightly integrate with the virtual environment inside the StageCra volume. Sand dunes built by the production team that were on set, for example, fit seamlessly with the photography. "We may make minor adjustments on the physical side and/or on the virtual set, moving little pieces, making color tweaks if the virtual didn't match the color in the real world," Porter says. "We had a tech team working behind the scenes to integrate the physical and virtual environments even on the days we were shooting. On dailies, we couldn't tell where the set ended and the virtual environment started." Scenes were oen lit with HDR photos of real lighting instruments – that is, with virtu- al lights in the volume's LED walls and ceiling. In StageCra, DPs Idoine and Greig Fraser could have bounce cards and other lighting modifiers that would affect the physical environment. "The DP could instantly put up a card anywhere in the world without having a grip hold a card," Porter says. "The DP could say, 'I want the le side of the sky to come down two stops,' and it could happen immediately. They loved shooting in the virtual environ- ment. They could have magic hour 24 hours a day. They could say, 'I want the sun over there,' and we'd move it. And actors loved being in a final environment. They hate talking to a tennis ball in front of a green- screen stage. Instead, they could concen- trate on being the character without having to imagine what was going to be there later. The best praise we got was from the actors." The changing perspective wasn't even a problem. To give the environment the correct perspective, the view the camera saw was calculated just for that camera. The virtual environment is fully 3D, rendered correctly from the camera position and put into the wall. Then photography is projection mapped onto the spot the camera will see. "If the environment didn't change as the camera moved, it would look like a picture on a wall, not like a real environment," Porter explains. "That's one of the key pieces of technology that makes this work. The change is not that distracting; it happens quickly. The computation is really fast. I sup- pose if you were to stand in the middle and we'd spin the camera all the way around, we could make you sick in minutes, but of course we don't do that. That fact that it could, though, is a testament to how much you think the world is real." Not Only Virtual In addition to the virtual environments inside the StageCra volume, the crew also shot exteriors and sets on a backlot and sets on a traditional stage. The prison break in Chapter 6, for example, was shot on stage in a practical prison ship set. Scenes on the sanctuary planet were shot outdoors with pools of water, landscaping to 20 yards, and bluescreen beyond, with digital set exten- sions composited in later. And, for the scene with the AT-ST walker crashing through woods, the filmmakers built a forest surrounded by bluescreen on a stage for some shots and used a virtual forest for others, depending on the action. Creatures For animation supervisor Hal Hickel, though, the show was business as usual – as usual for a Star Wars film, that is – except for the television schedule. Shots in The Mandalorian have digital creatures, droids, and ships, and as did early Star Wars films especially, shots Compositors added digital characters and ships to plates filmed in the virtual environment.