Doctor Who deploys Mo-Sys re-rendering service for VFX

Mo-Sys Engineering’s automated re-rendering service for on-set virtual production (VP), NearTime, was utilised to deliver VFX scenes for the three episodes marking the 60th anniversary of Dr Who.

CGI, animation and VFX specialist RealTime and studio Painting Practice joined forces with Mo-Sys last year to create cost-efficient workflow for a particularly VFX-heavy special episode of the BBC’s sci-fi TV series.

James Uren, Mo-Sys’s technical director, said: “This ambitious diamond anniversary Dr Who special was set to have more than 250 VFX shots, meaning traditional VFX approaches would be cost-prohibitive. So, we had to think differently.”

Painting Practice use Unreal Engine to create animated pre-visualisations of complex VFX sequences, and the team had to assess whether these could be brought on set with the real camera. The challenge was whether Unreal Engine could be used up to the ‘final pixel’, automatically re-rendering what had been filmed on set.

RealTime and Mo-Sys had recently collaborated on Netflix production Dance Monsters, where six cameras and eight monster characters were combined in real time, using Unreal Engine and Mo-Sys VP Pro to film it as a live light-entertainment show.

The project involved Mo-Sys and RealTime developing a pipeline for transferring the precision camera and lens tracking data from Mo-Sys StarTracker through to post-production, to help automate and speed up the VFX workload.

NearTime offers a dual workflow that enables automated Unreal re-rendering in the cloud. Tracking data is re-rendered with background plates and delivered back with increased quality and/or resolution in the same VFX delivery window, while making on-set renders available for real-time feedback.

Putting pre-visualisation, on-set camera tracking, real-time pre-viz, NearTime rendering and automated VFX pipelines together meant this VFX-heavy special could be completed with stunning visuals throughout at a fraction of the cost of traditional VFX.