Horizon2020 research project POPART crosses the finish line

The POPART project was among Simula´s first four Horizon 2020 projects, awarded in 2014. Funded through the ICT-18 call in the LEIT program of Horizon 2020, the project consortium have developed the next generation of pre-visualisationsolutionsthat enable thepreview of digital effects on set.POPART further aims to heighten the efficiency of postproduction work considerably by realisingan extremely ambitious technical objective: an integrated, cheap, accurate and high-quality solution for pre-visualisation of 3D effects on a movie set. Current industry solutions are expensive and do not deliver the integrated, on-set visualisationthat is possible throughPOPARTtechnology.

Groundbreaking pre-visualisation techniques

The POPART project has developed a groundbreaking solution thatcan use fiducial markers or natural features to detect the positioning of the video camera in the room. This is key to aligning the virtual world with the real world, making it possible to give directors, photographers, camera operators and other set members the ability to get a live preview of the final video. The solution is completely wireless, runs on battery and is easy to set up in a studio or external location. Furthermore, the solution provides a even higher quality render which is automatically executed directly after the shooting is done, which allows post-production toimmediatelystart working on making the final video.

The final project solution was demonstrated for the European Commission's reviewers duringthe final review on August 24th.The POPART project broughttogether leading actors in research and academia: Band Pro Munich GmbH, Germany, Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France, LABO Mixed Realities AS, Norway, Mikros Image, France, and Simula Research Laboratory AS, Norway.