The Problem

SpinChem approaced us to create a series of short commercial videos showcasing their products and their many use cases. They wanted to reach more customers and to showcase their products in a more visually engaging way.

Virtual Virtual Production?

We took inspiration from the virtual production techniques that became viral from Disney’s Mandalorian series. Where a large LED wall was used in the background to create a real-time realistic backdrop that also could be used to cast realistic reflections lighting onto the actor. We took this concept and created a large curved backdrop which we placed inside Unreal Engine 5, creating a virtual production set inside a virtual environment. This allowed us to re-use the same environment and camera movements to create multiple videos with different products and use cases without having to build a new set each time.

My role

I was responsible for creating all aspects inside Unreal Engine. This included creating the environment, lighting, camera movements, materials and finding workarounds for the many limitations of early access Unreal Engine 5. The hero product models and video backdrops were provided by SpinChem. The models were CAD-fles which I cleaned up and optimied inside Blender before importing into Unreal Engine. I worked closely with my Art Director and our client to make sure the final result was in line with the vision and brand of SpinChem.

Behind The Scenes

Here is a short behind the scenes video showing how the camera moves were made using the Sequencer with Shot tracks together with Camera Rig Rails and Camera Rig Cranes. Everything was captured in real-time using the early access version of Unreal Engine 5:

The Result

The result of this first stage was four short videos showcasing different products and use cases and the virtual environment which could be used to easily make more. Or to be used in other ways such as XR-applications or presentations. Two of these videos are linked below: