ILMxLAB Uses NVIDIA GPUs and VRworks VR SLI Technology

Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB, was meant to build experiences for a new generation of immersive platforms. In addition to releasing their new VR experiment, Trials on Tatooine, the laboratory has recently announced a partnership with mixed-reality startup Magic Leap to create original Star Wars-related content.

ILMxLAB developers create their art using HP Z Workstations equipped with NVIDIA Quadro professional GPUs. The usage of NVIDIA VRWorks VR SLI technology allowed artists to dramatically accelerated stereo rendering.

VR SLI has nearly doubled our rendering power and allows us to create higher fidelity renderings

Lutz Latta, ILMxLAB Principal Engineer and Technology Development Lead

For those of you not aware of this project, ILMxLAB is a new laboratory for VR. ILMxLAB is now into developing, producing and releasing premium, story-based immersive experiences for the home, theater and public venues.

As we cloud-streamed a movie to a tablet, the black bars around the movie disappeared and the viewer was suddenly immersed into an entirely interactive CG world. It was an example of where VR was heading and how we could find new opportunities for storytelling and engaging the fans of our own stories.

Lutz Latta, ILMxLAB Principal Engineer and Technology Development Lead

Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine VR experience, now available on SteamVR, shows he potential of VR storytelling.

There is a fine line between a VR video game and an interactive cinematic experience that engages users in the story. “We want engagement with the story and the world it plays in, but less of the competitive nature of a video game. Trials on Tatooine was our first step in creating something meaningful.

Lutz Latta, ILMxLAB Principal Engineer and Technology Development Lead

Don’t miss Latta’s talk on the technologies behind cinematic VR in the NVIDIA Theater (booth 509) at SIGGRAPH, July 24-28 if you’re somewhere near. He’ll give a talk on how to repurpose offline rendered movie-quality assets for real-time rendering in the sub-11 milliseconds per frame necessary for VR — and some of the lessons he learned along the way.

Without a doubt, laboratory’s production is heavily influenced by NVIDIA’s power:

We’re experimenting with using four to eight NVIDIA graphics cards working together for rendering. We’re also closing the gap between creating movie assets and VR assets with an eye towards continually increasing frame rates.

Lutz Latta, ILMxLAB Principal Engineer and Technology Development Lead

Source: NVIDIA