In this section, we will go through the basics of the Unreal Engine and cover the features most used when setting up a Pixotope project. 

1.1 Key differences between Unreal Engine and Pixotope 

1.2 Creating a new project 

• Adding a new show in Pixotope Director and creating a new project using a template 
• Launching project in Editor from Pixotope Director 
  
  

1.3 UI and Navigation 

• Different UI elements 
• Navigating around the scene 
• Transform tools usage and shortcuts 
• Bringing up the Content Browser 
  
  

1.4 Project workflow 

• Style Guide 
• Use of source control 
  
  

1.5 Creating a new empty level 

• Clearing the Essential Actors
  Disabling Auto Spawn Essential Actors 
  
  

1.6 Importing assets 

• Importing Models and Textures from the source files 
  Import options 
  
  

1.7 Materials 

• Creating a material 
• Material Editor UI 
• Material Inputs 
• Blend Modes 
• Adding textures 
• Applying materials to 3D models 
• Adding map adjustments 
• Creating Material Instances 
• Translucent Materials 
• Emissive Materials 
  
  

1.8 Adding assets to a level 

• Building our scene using the finalized assets 
  
  

1.9 Lighting 

• Different types of lights and their use cases 
  
  

1.10 Lightmass 

• The purpose of baking lights 
• Actor Mobility 
• Starting the light building process 
• Volumetric Lightmap 
• Baking Emissive surfaces 
• Addressing issues and improving build quality 
  Lightmap Resolution 
  Lightmass World Setting

We will be covering some of the more advanced features of the Unreal Engine:

2.1 Dynamic Lighting, Shadows and Reflections 

• Deleting Baked Lighting information 
• Reflections 
  Screen Space
  Captures
  Planar
• Lumen
• Global Illumination
  Lumen
• Shadows
  Shadow Maps
  Virtual Shadow Maps 

2.2 Level Sequences 

• Adding actors to Sequence 
• Setting keyframes 
• Refining Animation in the Curve Editor 
• Auto-Playing the Sequence in the Level 

Blueprints 

• Blueprints UI 
• The Starting Events 
• Custom Events 
• Printing a String 

2.4 Level Streaming 

• Adding a new level as a sub-level 
• Adding Blueprint functionality to stream the level 

2.5 Landscapes, Foliage and Atmospheric Effects 

• Adding Atmospheric Effects Atmosphere
  Clouds
  Fog
• Creating a new Landscape
• Sculpting and Height maps
• Landscape Material
  Layer Blending
  Painting
• Foliage Material
• Subsurface Scattering 

2.6 Niagara Particles 

• Creating a Niagara System 
• Template Emitters 
• Creating an emitter from scratch 

2.7 Post-Processing Effects 

• Effects 
• Color Grading 
  
  

2.8 Scene Optimization 

• Poly-count
  LODs
  Nanite
• GPU Visualizer
  Console: Profile GPU
• CPU Visualizer 
  Console: stat Scene Rendering 
  Draw Calls 
• Optimization View modes

This part requires a basic understanding of the Unreal Engine, materials, lights, and general workflow.

We will go through the setup and requirements of a Pixotope production such as: 

3.1 Pixotope software intro

3.2 Pixotope Cloud

• User Management
  User Type
  Pixotope Cloud tour
• License Management
  License type
  License mode (online/offline)
• Downloading Software and example projects

3.3 Install Pixotope software and drivers

3.4 System structure

3.5 Pixotope Director Walkthrough

• UI intro
• Manage Shows
• Machine setting
• “Shows” and multi-machine setup
• Setup tracking

Tracking

Lens

• Setup Video IO

Camera input

Media input

• Video Keyer

In this section, we will create a new project and set up a simple VS scene and an AR scene. 

4.1 Pixotope Director

• Start, Setup and Production
• General walkthrough and setup in Director
  
  

4.2 Pixotope Editor

• Essential Actors
• World Settings
  WYSIWYG
  Autospawn Essential Actors
  VS, AR and XR compositing
  
  

4.3 Creating a VS level

• Adding a Compositing Plane
  Chroma Keyer
  Shadows and Reflections
• Garbage Mattes
• Render Layers
  VS floor
  
  

4.4 Virtual Monitors

• Media Input Component
  
  

4.5 Virtual Camera moves

• Adding a Virtual Camera to the scene
• Level Sequence Animation
• Blueprinting logic
  Switching Cameras
  Playing Animations
  
  

4.6 Control Panel

• Interface
• Widget types
• Adding Blueprint functionality
  
  

4.7 Creating an AR level 

• Aligning graphics to video 
• Matching the lighting 
• Render Layers 
  Catchers, Holdouts, Translucency and Excluders 
  Custom Depth/Stencil values

We will cover the more advanced features of Pixotope and special use cases such as:

5.1 Multi-Machine setup

• Roles
• Asset Hub
• Adjusting multiple machines simultaneously
  
  

5.2 Creating an XR level

• Adding an XR wall
• Using Multiple walls
  Custom Output Position mapping

5.3 Body Pose Estimation

• Enabling BPE
  NVIDIA SDK
• BPE Position and Scale
• BPE Compositing Mesh
  Triggering Blueprinting logic with BPE Mesh

At the end of the training, you will have an opportunity to take an exam to test your Pixotope and virtual production knowledge.

The exam lasts for 1 hour, and will begin starting the final hour of the Pixotope - Part 2 day.

● There are a total of 50 questions, 20 from the Unreal Engine segments, 10 from the Operations segment, and 20 from the Pixotope segments.
● In order to pass the exam, a total score of 45/50 or above is required.
● The results will be sent out the following week.

Upon successful completion of the exam, you will be issued a Pixotope Virtual Production certificate.