CASE STUDY

Title SavannahCollege of Art andDesign (SCAD) open
Disguise xR stage intheir ﬁlm studio
To provide creative students with the highest level ofeducation, the Savannah College of Art and Design(SCAD) recognised the need for an Extended Reality(xR) stage as part of their landmark 10.9-acre
expansion project of Savannah Film Studios.

www.disguise.one

At a glance
In this case study, you will discover how MEPTIK
integrated the Disguise xR workﬂow with DeNyse
LED solutions to install the ﬁrst full scale, turnkey,
collegiate xR volume that now allows numerous
students from diﬀerent majors to become
designers and ﬁlm producers of the future.
In Entertainment Arts and Digital Media schools, staying on top of
the latest technological developments is crucial to help grow thefuture generation of ﬁlmmakers. Recognising the rapid
development of Extended Reality technology within thecreative industry, SCAD decided to build an xR stage so theirstudents would have a much-desired skillset upon graduation.
In search for an implementation partner, who could design thebackend, systems, and overall workﬂow for the stage, virtualproduction specialists MEPTIK provided the expertise andexperience in successfully implementing the xR technology.
MEPTIK is also heavily composed of SCAD alumni - making thisproject's success a personal mission, especially for co-founder ofMEPTIK Nick Rivero.
"Being a SCAD-founded, SCAD-driven company, it's exciting toinvest the skills we've learned in xR to ignite generations ofstudents to come", explains Rivero.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The challenge
SCAD was looking for a reliable partner to execute this large
scale project, that would determine the future for countlessstudents. After visiting one of MEPTIK's previously installed xRstages and discussing all needs for and beyond the volume,
SCAD felt conﬁdent that MEPTIK was the right partner for theproject.

Fast approaching deadline
The time frame from project initiation to a fully functioning
stage was tight. Within nine months, the building, LED volume,and backend systems had to be designed and built.
Programming, training, and commissioning also had to becompleted. The whole project needed to be executed
ﬂawlessly in order to be ready to welcome students for the fallsemester of 2021.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The challenge
Shipping delays
The challenge was to create a schedule that would work for allvendors, giving each entity enough time to execute their part ofthe install. Shipping delays accounted for shifts in theschedule, pushing the install phases closer and closer to theﬁnal launch date.
The team at MEPTIK and Disguise had to work around thesetbacks in delivery to make up for the lost time.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The solution"We worked closely with LED provider DeNyse, whose designof the LED wall laid the foundation to integrate the xRtechnology, to come up with diﬀerent phases of the install. Inthe end, MEPTIK had to work around a three-week window toproperly calibrate and train the staﬀ on the workﬂow,” Rivero
explains.
While the LED volume was assembled, MEPTIK started
installing the processing and server systems to ensure thatsignals were received. To seamlessly integrate virtual
production capabilities, MEPTIK brought on leading visualstorytelling technology partners, Disguise. The entire studio is
powered by Disguise xR technology, running on Disguise VX 4and RX II, all connected through the Disguise Fabricpre-conﬁgured network switch. Workstations enable multi-user
editing and previsualisation of assets before showtime.
To ensure proper operation of the system, the MEPTIK teamand Disguise trained the SCAD faculty on best practices andprovided documentation on further support moving forward.
The stage is now fully operating and in use by SCAD students.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The results
The xR stage is made up of a 60 x 16 ft curved LED wall with a
1.6mm pixel pitch and a 38 x 20 ft LED ceiling with a 1.9mm
pixel pitch, also featuring stYpe RedSpy tracking a RED
Komodo 6K camera, outﬁtted with Zeiss lenses.
The facility is geared towards training students at a collegiate
level into professional workﬂows: what they learn at SCAD,
they’re able to use one-to-one in the real world.
SCAD currently has three classes working collaboratively tocreate a branded commercial for Unreal Engine as a promotion
for SCAD and the work that they are doing on the xR stage.
The goal is for the students to continue to experiment andexplore the capabilities and limits of the technology, and topush it further than before.
"The ability to work on xR in the professional world is growing
but still very slim, and to be able to walk out of college with two
full years of experience under my belt is something that noother job or school could provide me with right now,” says
SCAD ﬁlm and television junior and Producer of the project,Sean Hussey. .

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

SCAD“As a student working on an xRstage, it is really a dream cometrue to be working on technologyof this caliber at such an earlystage in my career. It felt like I
was working within a small
production company and theability to collaborate in that way
is simply unmatched at thecollegiate level.”
Sean Hussey
Film and Television JuniorSuccess
Dubbed a “true game-changer” for SCAD, the new xR stage
oﬀers unparalleled storytelling opportunities to students acrossthe schools of Entertainment Arts and Digital Media.

9months for fullproject completion

The expansion makes SCAD’s Savannah Film Studios thelargest, most comprehensive university ﬁlm studio complex inthe country. This initial project has only increased SCAD’s
appetite for more. The teams will once again be working
together to install a second xR stage at SCAD Atlanta that isscheduled to open in Fall 2022.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

Disguise equipment used

VX 4

RX IIFABRIC

Optimised for playing up to fourtimes uncompressed 4K60 andlossless 10-bit video, the VX 4
powers content of the highest
quality at any scale.

RX II is our dedicated system forhosting content from real-timerender engines, unlocking 40%
more graphics processing power
than its predecessor.

Fabric is our pre-conﬁgured
network switch that quickly andseamlessly connects Disguiseservers - streaming 4k content
without latency or dropped
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In Partnership withSystem Administrator at SCAD: Rich Rouleau
Senior Vice President for Technology and Development
at SCAD: Brad Grant
Architect/Director of Construction Operations at SCAD:
Tony Hensley
LED Wall Design: DeNyse
Camera tracking: stYpe
Images: SCAD

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