SIRT investigates the possibilities of virtual production with the URSA Mini Pro 12K

The SIRT research center continues to innovate in virtual production with a new studio, which has been equipped with solutions such as Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini Pro 12K.

The SIRT initiative was established by Sheridan College in 2009 as a space for training, collaboration and content creation for the audiovisual industry. The center, based at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Ontario, focuses on innovation in creative processes and digital image capture for the film, television and video game industries.

With an LED surface area of 12 x 3.3 meters, SIRT relies on the URSA Mini Pro 12K model and nine Micro Studio Camera 4K units equipped with Video Assist 3G monitors, which are connected to five HyperDeck Studio Pro devices and an ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K mixer. This sends the program signal directly to a computer, which includes a DeckLink Studio 4K capture and playout card, to enable SIRT to work with any live Internet streaming platform. The production is completed with a MultiView 16 monitor to monitor all HyperDeck Studio Pro signals simultaneously, two SmartView 4K and SmartView Duo devices, and a set of HDMI to SDI Micro Converters and SDI Distribution 4K Mini Converters.

Delving into virtual production

Jason Hunter, head of production at SIRT, believes that this method of working has helped them to demonstrate remotely in Covid-19 times: “We currently have a personnel limit at our stage, which means creatives can’t all be in our space at the same time. With our system, we’re able to stream the ATEM program feed to the video conferencing solution of the client’s choice, so they can provide real time direction and feedback.”

On the other hand, Spencer Idenouye, head of virtual productions, says that virtual productions “will change the film industry” and specifies that Blackmagic Design equipment helps them to create “demo videos and record research sessions”. In his own words, “at SIRT we facilitate creative problem solving in many forms. From testing new technology solutions to enhancing workflows, we’re driven to provide the tools that allow creators to succeed in the ever evolving technology industries.”

“As a research institute, we respect how Blackmagic Design tries new approaches and disrupts the status quo so to speak. Building this end to end infrastructure with other technology wouldn’t have been anywhere near as convenient and time efficient. With Blackmagic Design, everything works together seamlessly, whether it’s for virtual production or our other research areas across digital cinema, virtual and augmented reality, remote collaboration and more,” he concludes.