Fremont, CA, USA - Blackmagic Design today announced that Raleigh based North Carolina State University (NC State) has created a state of the art Virtual Production Lab complete with a 22x12 ft. LED wall, Unreal Engine, VIVE Mars CamTrack systems and numerous Blackmagic Design products. As one of the few colleges in the U.S. that offers virtual production courses and the first in North Carolina, the university completed its maiden semester with students shooting on the Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF digital film camera.

NC State’s College of Design faculty designed a comprehensive setup for the studio, which is managed by filmmaker and certified DaVinci Resolve trainer Ryan Khan. In the lab, students experience a diverse range of applications, including filmmaking, AR/VR, concept development and live events.

“Blackmagic Design’s ethos of empowering the creative is the reason NC State chose its products for the lab,” began Khan, virtual production lab manager for the college’s Virtual Production Lab. “The College of Design encourages a research driven and collaborative culture, which is based on real world technologies and enables students and faculty to participate as much as possible. Alongside my typical responsibilities of teaching and troubleshooting, I also bring my two decades of filmmaking experience to show how virtual production can enhance storytelling and bringing a creative vision to life.”

For the initial semester, students were given access to an URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF and a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K digital film camera. “While most students had no prior experience with either camera, I had anticipated that most would choose the Pocket due to its ergonomical design,” Khan noted. “However, they opted for the URSA, preferring to practice on a camera that mimics an ENG style. They also marked the image quality thanks to the OLPF.”

According to Khan, the studio employs a standard Unreal Engine nDisplay setup, which includes the LED flat wall running Unreal Engine 5.5, as well as a VIVE Mars CamTrack system to track the URSA Mini Pro 12K OLPF. “A signal is sent from the camera to the computer into the DeckLink 8K Pro card, while genlock from the Mini Converter Sync Generator is used as house sync to ensure synchronization with the camera, Unreal Engine, VIVE Mars CamTrack and the video processor for the LED Wall. Additionally, we split the signal on several LCD TVs for monitoring and analysis. This comprehensive setup enables a diverse range of virtual production oriented executions, spanning from mixed reality to presentations,” he said.

As a certified trainer, Khan also shares his knowledge of DaVinci Resolve Studio with the students to further their filmmaking education. “I made the switch to Resolve, as the vision of creating a haven for filmmakers and access to high quality editing and grading tools perfectly align with my own philosophy,” he said.

NC State plans to expand its course offerings to include broadcast and livestreaming techniques and will integrate further Blackmagic Design equipment, including ATEM switchers, Ultimatte real time compositing processor, and DaVinci Resolve panels.

“Blackmagic Design’s commitment to versatility, quality, and accessibility at an affordable price makes it an academic touchstone that enables creatives to realize their ideas, regardless of their experience,” concluded Khan. “Its extensive range of broadcast and post production equipment aligns with our curriculum and our program’s wider focus of production specialisms, giving our students a great foundation for their future careers.”