MELVILLE, N.Y.—Chyron has unveiled version 1.8 of PRIME VSAR. The new version is designed to radically simplify virtual production by merging the cutting-edge graphics of Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 with Chyron's built-for-broadcast design, editorial, and live production capabilities to radically simplify virtual production.
Enhancements in PRIME VSAR 1.8 offer simple, unfettered access to Unreal Engine 4.27 and its extensive design features, alongside new built-in production tools that reduce the time, skill, and effort required for key tasks such as chroma keying, trackless camera control, and virtual scene creation, Chyron reported.
"PRIME VSAR is unique in its ability to simplify and de-skill the process of virtual production, and version Version 1.8 continues that tradition of simplicity," said Mathieu Yerle, senior vice president of strategy, Chyron. "This release offers simplified assets, control interfaces, and newsroom workflows that make it easy to bring graphics to life in a live production environment. Even more important, it constitutes a unique approach to Unreal-based virtual production. PRIME VSAR 1.8 provides an exceedingly intuitive driver's seat and dashboard from which to drive the Unreal Engine to create stunning, lifelike graphics."
Like previous versions, the 1.8 release builds upon PRIME VSAR's easy-to-repurpose graphic assets, template-based workflows optimized for producers and journalists, and straightforward control interfaces for live virtual production.
Highlights of the new release include the following:
- Unreal Engine 4.27. PRIME VSAR 1.8 supports the latest and final release of the Unreal Engine 4 Series, ensuring access to all of the features and enhancements that Epic Games has implemented over the years. The 4.27 release includes valuable features for virtual production, such as optimizations to GPU Lightmass that allow users to bake in light sources and create photorealistically lit Unreal scenes faster and with less strain on hardware.
- New Chroma Key Control Interface. Cleanly bringing green-screen talent into an Unreal virtual scene is a notoriously difficult task. Chyron has enhanced PRIME VSAR 1.8 with a new API layer that powers a new chroma keyer interface for blending green-screen talent with a virtual scene. From this straightforward chroma keying interface, users can set chroma key values, refine and fine-tune key passes, monitor all components of chroma key outputs, and easily save and load presets for different environments. Users can access the interface on local in-studio systems or as an HTML-5 interface from anywhere via web browser, which in turn supports running VSAR productions in the cloud.
- Trackless Camera Control From the Newsroom. PRIME VSAR 1.8 brings the Mercury Trackless Camera control interface into the CAMIO MOS-integrated newsroom environment. Previously, CAMIO offered control over scene and graphic elements in PRIME VSAR. Now, from any newsroom computer system, whether local or online, producers can easily queue up all their virtual camera moves within a PRIME VSAR scene. With PRIME VSAR, producers can control the entire virtual production using the newsroom interface they are most comfortable with.
- Simplified Virtual Scene Elements. Chyron has added more easy-to-repurpose scene elements to the PRIME VSAR 1.8 graphics library to give users more template-based design options in a scene. For instance, the new Billboard With Shadows effect for trackless camera shots within PRIME VSAR 1.8 makes it easy to create scenes with dynamic light and object shadows. Plus, a new AB Switch Wall Actor template offers straightforward creation of freeform wall meshes for presenting videos and images with simple AB switch playlist functionality.
Chyron reported that other key enhancements to PRIME VSAR 1.8 include an upgrade from Matrox HAL 9.6 to Matrox 10.2, with the latest driver offering native support for NDI signal connectivity.
Additionally, the solution's new API layer implementation lays the groundwork for simplified and custom control interfaces in future PRIME VSAR releases that further de-skill virtual production. Built on the gRPC protocol, the same foundation used across the PRIME Platform and Chyron LIVE to power simplified interfaces, this new API layer implementation brings Chyron solutions closer to a common content-control interface across all aspects of live production.
More information about Chyron PRIME VSAR 1.8 is available at https://chyron.com/.
