Hi guys, today I want to talk about Virtual Production using in the Fashion industry.
During the lockdown, Balenciaga fashion house they have presented its products in a new way.
First of all, for those unfamiliar with Balenciaga, Balenciaga is a luxury Spanish fashion house founded in 1917 by the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga in San Sebastian.
He became famous for his bubble skirts, which created the strange, modernist, but feminine silhouettes that have become his trademarks.
This year, the Covid pandemic led to the cancellation of the vast majority, of live catwalk events worldwide.
Last December 6th, for the autumn 2021 collection, Balenciaga decided to present their clothes in an unusual way, by launching their new collection using a virtual catwalk.
People could participate by wearing VR glasses to be part of the audience sitting along the catwalk in the live streaming event. This VR experience using Oculus glasses was only visible through a headset sent to a limited number of guests for virtual fashion.
The virtual collection was called “Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow“, and was also launched as a video game.
This was the first video game ever produced by a fashion brand, by Demna Gvasalia came up with this concept, and he is the creative director at Balenciaga. The games are called Afterworld: The age of tomorrow, and is set in New York in the year 2031.
The first-ever videogame produced by a fashion brand.
Players choose an avatar and take it on a hero’s journey into the future. The game starts in a Balenciaga shop. After choosing the player, the character goes out onto the streets of the city, then gets on a bus which morphs into thin air.
The player is allowed to move around to the five zones, from visionary cities to enchanted forests. Accompanying the player on this strange journey is a “white rabbit” who guides you through the forest to a secret rave.
The aim of the game is to find a mythological sword in the cave and stay awake until dawn.
What is the technology behind this product?
Photogrammetry is a technique that extracts 3D information from 2d photographs.
Photos are taken from every angle of the object; then the software can calculate the 2D information and export it to create 3D images. Photogrammetry is often used by, architects, designers, and now in the world of fashion.
Once we have the 3d model, we can build it in the virtual space, which is done in Unreal Engine.
Unreal Engine is a 3d real-time software, normally used for making video games. It is now becoming popular in design advertising and the film industry use it for virtual production.
In fact, this new technology was used to create the Star Wars set Virtual Production. Unreal Engine is free, and you can go to the web site and subscribe for a free license and download it without restrictions. You only pay for the software once you start making money using it, they ask for a 5% licence fee on any money made using the software.
Basically, is a 3D software interface, and one of the cool things about this software if you have access to a massive library that you are free to use. For instance, if we have to simulate a city or a metropolitan scene, you just go to the marketplace and download and import 3d elements in your scene.
- Download Unreal Engine: /download/
- Here the tutorial library: /tutorial-library/unreal-engine-tutorial/