Daily Pulse

UK Company Conduit Aims To Make VR Livestream Production Affordable

Kryder's avatar.
 – Kryder’s avatar.
Conduit want to make this kind of technology available at an affordable price.

Conduit is a Brighton-based company, which aims to make real time interactive performances more accessible by giving artists the tools and technology, including motion capturing devices, at an affordable price.

Conduit uses a game engine developed by Unreal. It is the same technology used by major VFX studios for their CGI productions. Disney, for instance, relied on the Unreal Engine to create productions like the recent Star Wars Mandalorian series or the Marvel CMU movies, amongst others.
The developers behind Conduit believe that the livestream format needs to evolve in order to stand out from what they describe as “head-in-a-box style livestreams that have flooded social channels in the last year.”
A motion capture suit is included in Conduit
 – A motion capture suit is included in Conduit

It gives artists a set of avatars and virtual arenas to choose from, as well as a motion capturing suit to convey their moves into the virtual space. Artists can also create bespoke avatars and environments, if they choose Conduits premium-priced offering.

In terms of live performances, the action is captured via a series of virtual cinematic cameras that combine to create a sense of real connection to the artist and the performance.
Prices range from $1,500 to $5,500. The main difference is the amount of freedom and tools artists receive in order to make their livestream more bespoke and accessible. 
Conduit Founder and Creative Director Clarke Noone commented, “After a few rounds of iteration and finding the right tech partners, we moved to integrating a Rokoko full body motion capture system that feeds live animation data into the Unreal Engine – a high end game engine that is becoming very popular in the VFX and film industry. 
“The beauty of using this cutting edge technology means that we are well equipped for what is round the corner and already hard at work on what a holographic version of the product looks like.”
The video below shows English DJ Kryder create his own avatar and virtual world for his recent Insomniac TV performance.

“We partnered with Conduit for a series of virtual performances after they wowed us with the technology and its possibilities,” commented Kryder, who says the result “blew people’s minds.”
Conduit also used the game engine to create a series of trailers and visuals for ilan Bluestone’s upcoming album ‘Impulse’ on Anjunabeats which can be seen in this video.

Anjunabeats’ Amy Wiles commented: “We have been working with Conduit on the new ilan Bluestone album campaign which visually has turned out to be a roaring success across our social media platforms and has brought the campaign and ilan’s visual world to life just how we imagined.”
Bluestone himself said, “Working with Conduit and their technology has been absolutely mind blowing. The graphics and animation potential of the Unreal Engine and the creative ideas from the Conduit team is just on another level as they showed in the trailer for my new album ‘Impulse’.’
The artist added that he was “excited to see this technology evolve and can’t wait to start using it as visuals for my live shows.” 
Said Noone, “With a couple shows now under our belt, people are starting to see what is possible with Conduit and quickly firing ideas back at us for how we can use the tech for live stage productions, VR experiences and Augmented reality. Our quick-fire response: ‘Anything is possible!'”
Conduit is very much at the forefront of this exciting new technological development, so now is the time to get involved and remain truly ahead of the curve as you bring a whole new visual dimension and heightened sense of occasion and experience to your live streams. 
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