Hibino moves into virtual production with 12G solutions from Blackmagic Design

The japanese company Hibino Corporation has implemented a workflow based on Blackmagic Design products with 12G technology in its new virtual studio Hibino VFX Studio.

Hibino offers services for live productions, such as planning, equipment rental or management of audiovisual systems for concerts and live events, in addition to importing and selling industry products. Its latest offering, Hibino VFX Studio, seeks to establish itself as one of the most advanced virtual production studios in Japan.

The infrastructure features a large number of high-resolution ROE Visual LED screens, which are installed at the top, front and sides of the stages. URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 cameras are responsible for capturing virtual images. A camera tracking system installed on this model sends position information, as well as focal length and focus information from the lens, to a server that detects the camera’s location in the virtual space. The studio then uses Unreal Engine for real-time rendering of the 3D computer graphics background.

12G solutions

The Hibino studio, based on 12G technology and fiber optics, has been built around Blackmagic Design solutions. The signal from the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2 camera is sent to a Smart Videohub 40×40 matrix via an ATEM Television Studio 4K mixer. The signals are then transmitted to various monitors, such as the Video Assist 12G HDR and SmartView 4K models, while the images are color corrected in real time using an ATEM Camera Control Panel device. Other Blackmagic products such as Studio Fiber Converter units, Camera Fiber Converter, Teranex Mini SDI to HDMI 12G converters and DaVinci Resolve Studio, which is also used on the software side.

Shigenori Kikuch, Studio Producer at Hibino, explains why he chose the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2: “To be compatible with our virtual system, we needed a camera that supported native 24p/30p/60p, so we chose the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2. Also, the camera supports various lens mounts, which is why we decided to use it as our ancillary equipment so customers can bring any lenses they like. As RedSpy’s camera tracking system supports various cameras and lenses, customers sometimes bring their own cameras.”