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www.postmagazine.com 12 POST JAN/FEB 2023 VIRTUAL PRODUCTION WEBSTER UNIVERSITY DEBUTS NEW VIRTUAL PRODUCTION STAGE ST. LOUIS, MO — Webster University recently took delivery of a brand new virtual production stage from ARwall (https://arwall.co), making it one of the first universities in the Midwest to offer these capabilities. By partnering with LED manufacturer Absen, ARwall was able to deliver a stage featuring a new 20-by-12-foot 1.5mm pitch Absen AX Pro LED wall and ARFX Pro Server System. Students now have access to the same virtual production tools used on professional studio projects. ARwall offers consulting and turnkey solutions that incorporate creative, hardware, software and immersive XR innovation. ARwall's ARFX Pro plug-in technology requires no coding or 3D design knowledge, which greatly increas- es its usability. Orlando-based Absen provides clients with high-quality, inno- vative LED products at a strong value. Webster University recognized the need for talent in the production industry and is took action with this initiative. "Virtual production is now an integral part of the overall production land- scape, so future professionals should learn these techniques in the same ways as they learn about photography, lighting, editing and other filmmaking processes," says Eric Rothenbuhler, dean of The School of Communications, Webster University. "The industry is always evolving and we want to make sure our students have access to cutting-edge, innovative tech that will set them up for success in their careers." "Webster University is full of people eager to take advantage of this tech and move production control further into the hands of creatives and filmmakers," adds Rene Amador, CEO and co-founder of ARwall. "Students can finally real- ize the projects they couldn't create before. It's so important to get hands-on experience when you're studying. Having access to the same tools used on major productions will no doubt open many doors for these students." ZOIC'S REAL TIME GROUP EMBRACES UNREAL ENGINE NEW YORK CITY — In 2021, Emmy-winning VFX studio Zoic Studios (https:// zoicstudios.com), with locations in New York, Los Angeles and Vancouver, launched its Real Time Group, spurred by the advancements in realtime film- making technologies. For Zoic, embracing the opportunities that realtime film- making technologies provide serves as an expansion of the company's existing toolbox for elevating creative storytelling. The studio encourages clients to "think outside the volume," and has leaned into the broad applications of realtime beyond LED volume walls to offer clients creative solutions that allow for flexibility in the VFX process without massive up-front investments. In addition to a drastic decrease in rendering times, which results in achieving higher-end VFX on tighter deadlines, the decreased comput- ing power, compared to the volume, yields a much smaller carbon footprint. Zoic's realtime approach has been employed on projects for Apple TV+, Netflix, AMC, NBC, Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Television (WBTV). For Amazon Prime's sci-fi drama The Peripheral and AMC's 1970s Western thriller Dark Winds, Zoic tackled complex shots that served as pivotal plot moments, allowing the creative team realtime accessibility to a multitude of moving parts, including camera moves, dynamics lighting and effects. For The CW's The Flash and Stargirl, these capabilities served as valuable assets when blocking effects-laden battle sequences, allowing the Zoic team to iterate quickly in realtime to bring the director's vision to life. The studio's work can also be seen on NBC's Quantum Leap and Amazon Prime's Paper Girls. Recently, Zoic was named an Authorized Unreal Service Partner by Unreal Engine, which served as the foundation for crafting the highly detailed photo- real space environments seen in Season 3 of Apple TV+'s For All Mankind. This allowed Zoic to collaborate with the VFX creative team in realtime and bring a highly interactive creative process to the table. Instead of the traditional linear workflow, where pre-production renderings serve as a vague reference for what would be seen on green-screen backdrops, the realtime process allowed the VFX team to optimize the environments with the creative team before arriving on-set, and immerse the actors and crew in the CG environments with the ability to make changes immediately. The CW's The Flash NBC's Quantum Leap