Objective

Vanitas Arts was looking to create a virtual production background of a historic space. Virtual production (VP) is a technique being increasingly used where, instead of a green screen background, a digital set is displayed on a large, curved screen behind the actors. The digital set is created and displayed using Unreal game engine and often will utilize photogrammetry backgrounds because its easier than modeling something from scratch and highly realistic.

They were able to get permission to use the Mansion House ballroom in York and sought to get a full-room model for use in VP filming. This would also need to be optimized for integration into Unreal Engine.

Approach

Photography was taken of the entire room and these images were processed using Agisoft Metashape to create a textured 3D model. Post-processing was the big challenge on this project. The client didn’t want any furniture in the model so that it could be a blank canvas for different scenes in which it might be used. However, the Mansion House could not move the delicate pieces that were placed around the room so these would have to be removed in post. This process was the majority of the work for this project as it’s not a simple thing to remove sections of a model and repair the remaining holes seamlessly.

Work also had to be put toward optimizing the model for use in Unreal Engine. This meant reducing size, cleaning, and using a file format that was suitable for its eventual import into an Unreal scene.

Outcome

The final product was a model cleaned, reduced, and prepared for use in Unreal Engine, ready to be used as a backdrop for Virtual Production filming. It was also used as a setting for a virtual reality experience created as part of a trial project. As part of that experience, users could explore the room and interact with information points that told them more about the history of the room.

Innovation

The Mansion House VP project combined cutting-edge photogrammetry techniques with meticulous post-processing to transform a historic space into a versatile, digital set for an innovative new way of filming. The integration of the Mansion House ballroom model into Unreal Engine required advanced optimization and cleaning processes, ensuring it was both visually stunning and functional for this unique filmmaking technique. By repurposing the model for an interactive VR experience, the project demonstrated how digital assets can bridge the gap between historical preservation and immersive storytelling, and how digital assets can be versatily used.