Scan: Education in effects

Virtual production has been revolutionising filmmaking, but bringing a high-tech studio to life requires specialised expertise and top-tier hardware. That’s why Final Pixel, a creative innovation agency with offices in London and New York, turned to SCAN’s 3XS Systems to build a cutting-edge workflow for VP.

Final Pixel Academy provides courses in VP techniques for the next generation of filmmakers, including the Virtual Production Fellowship course. This is a nine-month training program for mid- to senior-level crew across film, TV, games, broadcasting and live events who wish to upskill and learn core VP competencies, including both the creative and technical skills required to work in these high-pressure environments.

Following months of research and proofs of concept, the final studio configuration comprises multiple systems powered by NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada GPUs, custom designed and built by SCAN’s 3XS Systems division. Final Pixel CEO Michael McKenna said “The SCAN 3XS Systems we’ve used in Final Pixel have been fundamental for a lot of the world building and testing we do before we get on the volume. The systems have high-quality graphics cards in them, which allows us to get through and optimise the virtual environments in no time. They’re incredible.”

Dr Jodi Nelson-Tabor, head of Final Pixel Academy, said “What underlies all this training is to fill skill-gaps and to evangelise VP, getting filmmakers excited about this bleeding-edge technology, because this is definitely the way the industry is going. More digital literacy and technical capabilities will open the doors to better sustainability and innovation; that’s what we want to be part of.”