Case study — 03

The Nevers

Volumetric capture — HBO

Client: HBO
VFX Supervisor: Johnny Han
Role: Volumetric capture — design, build & on-set operation
Array: 6 × Azure Kinect DK
Studio: Titan Studios, London
Year: 2021

The Nevers — a figure formed of light and electricity, arms outstretched, in the Victorian ironwork set — The Nevers — HBO

A six-camera volumetric rig hidden inside the set, capturing an actress's performance as a point cloud live during the take — not in a capture volume afterwards, the way it is normally done.

The brief

In September 2021 Johnny Han, VFX supervisor at HBO, called with a problem. The team wanted to capture an actor's performance volumetrically in the middle of the set, while the scene was being shot — not in a capture volume afterwards, the way it is normally done.

I'm a programmer and I like a challenge, so I took it. It was my first step into virtual production. A few weeks later I was at Titan Studios in London with an Azure Kinect in my hands.

The rig

Connecting one or two Kinects to a PC is trivial. Six to ten is another problem entirely.

The machine driving them couldn't sit on set. It had to live ten metres away, behind the walls of the shooting set — which meant 20 m USB-C runs that had to hold a stable connection for the length of a take.

On the day, with the wranglers and the electrics team, we placed six cameras around the set. The props department built small blue boxes so each one could disappear into the dressing.

Calibration

The hardest constraint wasn't the wiring. It was the clock. If we lost tracking I had to re-calibrate between takes, without touching the shooting schedule. That gave me a budget of sixty seconds.

After long days and weekends at the studio testing one approach after another, we landed on a cube carrying an ArUco marker on every face. Walk it through the volume and all six cameras solve into a single coordinate space in under a minute.

What it produced

The scene is a scientist bringing her mother back through electricity. The rig captured the actress's performance as a point cloud, recorded live on the take — same lighting, same blocking, same moment as the plate. That geometry is what the final shot is built on.

Azure Kinect
Volumetric capture
ArUco calibration
Depth
Virtual production

From capture to screen

A performer in a lab coat, arms outstretched, reconstructed as a volumetric point cloud inside a wireframe capture volume on screen — Point cloud playback0:12

The actress in her period costume, reconstructed as a volumetric point cloud inside the wireframe capture volume — Costume capture0:14

The finished shot — a human figure formed entirely of arcing orange electricity, standing in the Victorian ironwork set — The finished shot1:02

On the floor

The shooting set — a Victorian ironwork interior with stained glass, traffic cones marking the capture volume, and a figure holding the calibration cube at its centre — The setVolume

The capture volume marked out with traffic cones inside the set, crew standing at the back — Capture volumeSet

An Azure Kinect mounted in the set with its infrared emitter glowing red, cabling running away behind it — Azure KinectIn position

An Azure Kinect clamped to a pole mount among the set's period light fittings, emitter glowing — Camera mountRig

An Azure Kinect rigged overhead, sitting among the set's brass and ironwork — Rigged overheadRig

The set mid-work — crew around the capture volume, the calibration cube on its stand, cones marking the edge — Calibrating on the floorCrew

The calibration cube on a stand at the centre of the set, an ArUco marker printed on each visible face — Calibration cubeArUco

Close view of the ArUco calibration cube on its stand, with the set's equipment racks behind — Calibration cubeDetail

A handwritten wall chart reading Volumetric Capture Camera Numbers, with six coloured tape strips labelled red one through blue six — Camera mapSix cameras

An operating desk built into scaffolding behind the set, an ultrawide monitor showing six depth camera feeds in a grid — Operating deskSix feeds

The workstation driving the camera array, sitting on scaffolding behind the set among cable runs — The machineBehind the wall