dock10 has announced it has received match funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency.
The Manchester-based facility joins fellow award recipients 2LE Media and the University of York, and will collaborate on a project to create AI-driven tools enabling light interactions for virtual production.
Building on research carried out by dock10 and the University of York last year, the project aims to enhance the process by which lighting elements such as shadows and reflections are transferred between actors or props and virtual environments, which currently have to be composited in post-production.
The collaboration will leverage generative AI and computer vision AI alongside green screen virtual studio technology to achieve real-time light interactions between virtual and physical worlds, said the company. By developing and training an AI neural network through the use of synthesised green screen data, the pathways by which light travels between the different elements of a production will be simulated.
Richard Wormwell, dock10 head of production innovation, said: “This R&D project aims to enable live TV productions to apply established creative lighting practices to mixed-reality environments, achieving fully dynamic light simulation across both physical and virtual worlds. We’re confident that this project will be of significant value to the UK’s creative industries, helping them to compete even more effectively on the global stage.”
