RetroPixel Digital

04/08/2022

We love Unreal Engine!

30/07/2022

Anyone from out of town who will be in Vancouver during SIGGRAPH, or any of our local friends who is interested in Mocap/VP…

Join us at the Motion Capture / Virtual Production Mixer (hosted by RetroPixel Digital )

https://meetu.ps/e/LjQ1r/6gZ3s/i

Tue, Aug 9, 7:00 PM PDT: SIGGRAPH is in town, and so are a lot of our friends! This seems like the perfect opportunity to get together, have a few drinks and mingle! Come join us downtown at 7pm (

28/07/2022

We just created a new meetup group here - https://www.meetup.com/virtual-production-motion-capture-vancouver/ for Virtual Production and Mocap here in Vancouver!

Since Siggraph is in town this year, I'm hoping to bring a lot of our friends from all the big tech companies in, and maybe a lot of our local (and global) friends to have a drink, chat about VP and mocap, or just to hang out and meet!

Interested in Virtual Production and Motion Capture? Interested in working in games or films, using some of the latest technology? Or, do you work in these fields now, and want to learn more or meet l

21/07/2022

We're excited to announce that the video game project we've been pouring our life and soul into lately is now live on Steam! Green Hawk Down can now be wish-listed! ETA for full release: October 2022.

Wish-list it now (if you can) and help support our efforts in bringing a really neat, nostalgic, kid AND parent friendly game to the world!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2077890/Green_Hawk_Down/

Steam

GREEN HAWK DOWN is an action-packed, multi-player FPS that allows you to fight in the smallest army in the world! Team up with other plastic toy soldiers and wage war against other teams for control of the kitchen, bedroom or back yard!

26/04/2022

So, here are some updates on the Mini Metahuman project, "E-10" (which is named after Nick Romick's 8 year old son, Ethan)

We're working on the finer animation using Faceware Tech, Inc. Analyzer to use machine learning to get really cool results...

03/03/2022

As we get a bit closer to releasing the official Steam page for Green Hawk Down, we've been working on building up our presence...

Follow our new page here - https://www.facebook.com/greenhawkdown and get the latest updates about the game!

'Green Hawk Down' is an upcoming free-to-play multi-player battle royale game (brought to you by RetroPixel Digital), where players can live their childhood dreams and become tiny plastic army men...

03/03/2022

Anyone who has Steam, and wants to become part of our Green Hawk Down community, join us! We've just created a Community Group for the upcoming game!

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/greenhawkdown

Ever play with those little green plastic army guys as a kid? Well, so did we. We just wanted to bring these guys back into 2022 and give them a make-over. Battle as a plastic soldier with, up to 64 players in the kitchen, living room, bedroom or backyard! Yes, there have been a few games out there....

02/02/2022

So a few months ago, we went into Pixel Light Effects to do a 3d scan for Nick's 8 year old son, Ethan. We did 10 expressions, plus a neutral pose. This was all for a metaverse project we are working on, using full body motion capture, like Xsens MVN Link suit, Manus Prime II gloves and Faceware Tech, Inc. Studio, Analyzer and Retargeter.

The process is a long one, converting raw 3d scans into beautiful meshes that can be animated for facial motion capture. Luckily, we found a neat software package called Wrap3, which helps a lot with that process (and it's node based!) Adding textures and shaders to give the character life. Rigging the character, connecting him to Faceware software, making blend shapes from scans and bringing him into Unreal Engine are all part of this process.

Using software like Marvelous Designer to design clothes is a very nice touch. This week, we made a lower poly version of Ethan (E-10 will be his metaverse name) to put into a video game (because Ethan loves video games and wants to make one! But the higher quality version is expected to be similar to a Metahuman, with realistic hair grooms and beautiful lighting.

Here are a few of the updates and behind-the-scenes of us working on this project that we've come up with so far, but be ready for E-10 to enter the Metaverse soon...

25/01/2022

No matter how many times you fall, just keep getting up. Stay strong. The patience and determination will pay off one day…

#

Brad Palmer Vlad Pavel

25/01/2022

So, we did a bit of motion capture today for the Green Hawk Down cinematic trailer. Really amazing job to the team for the performance capture and behind the scenes! Special thanks to Shoreline Studios, Xsens, Faceware Tech, Inc. and MANUS for being behind us the whole way.

Not only is an amazing trailer headed your way, but we’re also releasing a ‘behind the scenes’ video on our entire virtual production process!

07/01/2022

It's official! We've just announced one of our first video games, slated for a mid 2022 release!

Here is the official 'Green Hawk Down' trailer... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZpmPva0ijY

'Green Hawk Down' is an upcoming free-to-play multi-player battle royale game (brought to you by RetroPixel Digital), where players can live their childhood ...

15/12/2021

Vlad and Nick playing around with live mocap data in a wannabe version of Project Sirius, using the Xsens MVN Link suit and Manus Prime II gloves.

Yeah, we tend to get a bit side tracked...

22/11/2021

Doing some more mocap tech tests... Getting ready for some big stuff!

17/11/2021

Just a fairly quick tutorial on how to connect an Xsens mocap session to Unreal Engine, including the setup of the character to work with it.

We'll be adding a bit more on hands using a tracking solution like Manus very soon!

https://lnkd.in/gexp8pUV

In this video, Nick explains how to connect MVN Animate Pro with Unreal Engine 4.26 using the Xsens Live Link plugin. Once that is set up, you will learn how...

15/11/2021

What are we working on this month? Other than Project Sirius, we're working on some really cool motion capture projects, including a short skit for our YouTube channel, that features MegaBloks, Nerf and some really cool visual effects and motion capture.

Here, Vlad talks a bit about the process of real-time previz and motion capture, using Xsens, Manus and Unreal Engine to put together some really fun stuff!



https://youtu.be/qhCJuv68vB0

What are we working on this month? Other than 'Project Sirius', we're working on some really cool motion capture projects, including a short skit for our You...

11/11/2021

As RetroPixel Digital expands it's mocap department, we've been playing around with some physics and new pipelines to do real-time interaction between virtual objects and motion capture gear... This is our first test, showing you which direction we are headed in...

The simulation is run in Unreal Engine, then data is streamed from Xsens MVN Animate Pro in real time. This particular example is using a looped animation from a test we did with the suit the other day, but once we rig up our actors, we will be doing live tests.

There's a bit of work to be done fine tuning the physics, but this is very promising for our projects' direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4GbTUeTX1s

First test using motion capture (MVN Link) and combining it with a physics system in order to smash virtual props real-time.Credit to Dries Deryckere for thi...

10/11/2021

Had some fun with Xsens MVN Link motion capture system this week!

Hands down, our favorite body mocap system!!

04/10/2021

We have some really exciting things happening with our new game, Project Sirius... If you aren't already a fan of that page, you should be! :)

15/09/2021

https://youtu.be/HhmSPCDqy-U

In this video, Nick demonstrates how to add the sound of basic footsteps to your third person character in Unreal Engine 4. Applicable to all versions of UE4...

04/09/2021

Always wanted to make a game like this.... :)

02/09/2021

We're adding some really cool weather effects to our games... We added it to the Unnamed Battle Game, and it looks really cool!

31/08/2021

"I LOVE getting right into Unreal Engine, playing around and testing out new ways of doing things, reverse-engineering existing content and adding more and more effects (explosions, rain, atmospherics)

Here's my latest mini-game I've been playing around with. It's just a sandbox of different game mechanics I'm working on & developing, so don't get too excited about it actually being released... Although, it IS multiplayer already (since I'm working on those mechanics too!)"

- Nick Romick

https://youtu.be/Ox_lvzT0XlQ

28/05/2021

So, here is a bit of an update on our project and workflow for Darth Vader vs. Master Chief... Expect this trailer to drop very soon!

https://youtu.be/R_V4GY_xaPM

We've taken a bit longer on this project than originally anticipated, and for that, we apologize.Having said that, it's still in production, and shouldn't be...

02/05/2021

At RetroPixel Digital, we have too much fun...

https://youtu.be/eeMn6M4_zvU

This is one of the first times we've played around with MetaHuman Creator... Yes, we know. It's been out for a while, but we've been busy with our films!We c...

24/04/2021

While presenting for the Xsens Mocap Content Creator Conference today, we had a very common question.. and that was how we rigged our characters for Unreal Engine to accept .fbx mocap data without having to retarget...

This is how we do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCyIIsgd388

This is a popular question we get.. and that is how to set up a rig for Unreal Engine that can easily have FBX mocap animation applied to it without setting ...

16/04/2021

Nick Romick from RetroPixel will be a guest speaker at the Xsens Mocap Content Creator Conference next week! Tune in to hear Nick and some very talented creators talk about their journey!

https://www.xsens.com/mccc

How to create compelling video content using Xsens motion capture. Hear from the pioneers in this field how they are using Xsens motion capture to take their content to a next level.

12/04/2021

Explosions in Unreal Engine!! love it!

https://youtu.be/xUUq-QSP4c8

10/04/2021

The Shotgun shots are in for the Darth Vader vs MasterChief trailer!

Intense motion capture is going to be going on this weekend, using Xsens MVN and Manus Prime II gloves! Stay tuned!

Thanks to our talented Bulent Hasan for the storyboards!

08/03/2021

For those who may have missed the 'Cookies 4 Breakfast' stream tonight, here is the video...

https://youtu.be/dEh5E1sezOs

Welcome to the first episode of 'Cookies 4 Breakfast'; which is an online video chat / podcast series, which will feature members of RetroPixel Digital, as w...

05/01/2021

The best part of working for RetroPixel, is that we still get to play with toys... We rendered this concept out for an upcoming skit we're working on, using Xsens motion capture suits and Manus gloves!

24/12/2020

The virtual camera rig is coming along nicely... Just need to iron out a few slight issues...

23/12/2020

We created a tutorial on how to create a simple virtual camera in Unreal Engine 4 that would bind to a HTC Vive controller... and could be hooked onto a physical shoulder rig/tripod/etc.

https://youtu.be/2W1XuOkN6Kk

In this video, Nick explains how to create a virtual camera in Unreal Engine 4.26 (but this will work in other versions), that can be controlled by an HTC Vi...

18/12/2020

Over the past few months, RetroPixel Digital has been working on some really cool new Virtual Production workflows and with some very exciting technology.

Thanks to partnerships with Xsens, Manus, Epic Games and Unreal Engine, we've been able to learn a lot of amazing new workflows.

Right now, we are building a Virtual Camera, using HTC VIVE hardware, and porting it into Unreal Engine for real-time rendering!

2020 is going to be a pretty interesting time for everyone!

24/11/2020

So, we've been able to finally give the Manus VR Prime II mocap gloves a try today... We didn't do anything really that exciting, but it's really neat to see how they work out of the box!

We did a quick calibration, so more will need to be done, but damn! These things are cool already!

Here's a video of VanCity Nikolai playing around with the gloves for the first time...

https://youtu.be/gNN1h0eV_wE

This is the first time we turned on the Manus VR gloves, and have been able to play around with them. There's definitely some more calibration to be done, bu...

18/11/2020

Hey. Why not follow us on Instagram to find out what's up with us?

https://www.instagram.com/retropixel.digital/

09/10/2020

We're working on some FREE HDRI's for our amazing community! Coming soon!

Any particular HDRI scenes you would like to see? Let us know and we will try to add them to the collection!