VAD
From script breakdown to final pixel, the complete virtual art department for your production.
From script breakdown to final pixel, the complete virtual art department for your production.
Read First. Build Right.
Every environment begins with a script breakdown, not a mood board. We map which scenes belong on the wall, which need practical, and what each location has to do for the camera. The build follows the shoot, so nothing gets modeled that never gets shot.
Previs. Then Techvis.
Previs blocks the action, the coverage, and the camera before anyone rolls. Techvis turns that into the real numbers: lens, height, frustum, and what the volume has to render. The plan is specific enough to shoot from, not just watch.
Scan. Then Model.
LIDAR and photogrammetry bring real locations in as measured, accurate geometry. We handle 2D plate capture and processing when a scene calls for photographed backgrounds. Both feed the same pipeline, so a scanned street and a built set match on the wall.
Optimized. On Budget.
Assets are optimized to hold 60 fps on the wall, not just to look right in a viewport. You also draw on Synapse's digital asset library, so common environments start built. The result is a scene the volume can actually render at shoot resolution.
See For Yourself.
Compare a script page to the finished environment running live on the wall. The breakdown, the scan, and the optimized asset are all one chain. That continuity is what a complete art department buys you.
Full-service Virtual Art Department: previs, techvis, environment creation, scanning and asset optimization.
Previs,Photogrammetry,Digital backlot,LIDAR scanning
Full virtual art department.
Start at the script
Plan the moves
Capture the real world
Ready for the volume
From page to pixel
Start a VAD project
Bring us the script and we will scope the build.
Start a VAD package
A virtual art department builds and delivers everything the LED volume displays. Synapse runs a full-service VAD: script breakdown, previs and techvis, environment design and creation, LIDAR scanning and photogrammetry, plate capture, and asset optimization tuned to hold frame rate on the wall.
The real barrier to shooting on a volume
Finding an LED wall is not the hard part. The hard part is the content that goes on it. An environment has to be designed, built, lit, optimized and loaded before a camera rolls, and it has to survive a cinematographer changing their mind on the day. Without an art department that owns that chain, productions end up with a wall and nothing worth putting on it.
The build follows the shoot, so nothing gets modeled that never gets shot.
Start at the script, not the mood board
Every environment begins with a breakdown. We map which scenes belong on the wall, which are better practical, and what each location actually has to do for the camera. That scoping is what keeps a VAD budget honest: you pay to build the shots you are shooting.
Capture the real world where it helps
LIDAR and photogrammetry bring real locations in as measured, accurate geometry rather than an artist's approximation. Where a scene wants photographed backgrounds instead of rendered ones, we capture and process 2D plates. Both routes feed the same pipeline, so a scanned street and a built set sit together on the wall without a seam in the look.
What the department covers
- Script breakdown and consultation: what goes on the wall, what gets built
- Previs and techvis: blocking, coverage, then lens, height and frustum
- Environment design and creation: collaborative, iterated with the director, DP and production designer
- Scanning: LIDAR acquisition and photogrammetry
- Plate capture: 2D capture and processing for photographed backgrounds
- Optimization: existing assets brought up to real-time performance
- Digital backlot: access to the Synapse asset library, so common environments start built
Optimized for the wall, not for a viewport
An environment that looks right in a render is not the same as one that holds 60 fps under a tracked camera at shoot resolution. Optimization is a discipline of its own: geometry budgets, texture streaming, lighting strategy and level construction all decided against what the volume has to render. This is the step most often skipped, and it is the one that decides whether the day runs.