SMPTE publishes virtual production metadata guidelines for public comment

The initial release targets the use of traditional VFX as a step toward future releases that will cover camera and lens metadata for on-set virtual production and camera tracking metadata, said SMPTE

By Jenny Priestley

Published: April 25, 2023 Updated: April 26, 2023

The initial release targets the use of traditional VFX as a step toward future releases that will cover camera and lens metadata for on-set virtual production and camera tracking metadata, said SMPTE

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>

SMPTE has released the initial findings of its Rapid Industry Solutions (RIS) On-Set Virtual Production Camera and Lens Metadata project.

The RIS On-Set Virtual Production initiative seeks to achieve the interoperability of all on-set equipment. According to the organisation, improving the consistency of camera and lens metadata is an important step in meeting that goal.

The initial release targets the use of traditional VFX as a step toward future releases that will cover camera and lens metadata for on-set virtual production and camera tracking metadata, said SMPTE. The work is hosted in a public repository where SMPTE members and the public can provide comments and feedback. Reference code is also provided that converts the output of camera makers' tools into a normalised JSON format.

This release is the first of many free, open documents SMPTE will offer through the work of our RIS initiative, said SMPTE executive director David Grindle. Through the combined effort of our RIS team, and the community as a whole, we are working to refine these new tools for storytelling.

Jim Helman, CTO of MovieLabs and a member of the SMPTE board of governors, added: SMPTE RIS was able to bring together key experts from the major camera and lens makers with cinematographers and VFX experts to define the metadata parameters that are most important for downstream use in traditional VFX.

For years at MovieLabs, we've been hearing from our studio members about how important metadata from on-set doesn't make it downstream in a usable and trusted form, resulting in wasted time in finding, reconstructing, or back engineering that metadata, he said. These metadata tables and code are an important step toward improving that situation and fit well with our own work on metadata and ontology in the MovieLabs 2030 Vision for media creation.

SMPTE RIS is also aiming to release an Interactive Virtual Production Wall Chart which will be available by the end of 2023 and showcase how virtual production works from start to end.

Information about the Camera and Lens Metadata project is available here.

LINK:	https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/smpte-publishes-virtual-prod...
	See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines