Virtual production with crea8.STUDIO

Virtual production with Unreal Engine is on the rise. Companies like crea8.STUDIO help brands, creatives and production companies to maximize the benefits of this technology for their projects. Crea8.STUDIO builds workflows, tools and provides the right advice based on years of experience in the industry. In this interview I spoke with Marc Kleinmann, founder and Chief Creative Technologist at crea8.STUDIO.

Marc, could you tell us more about yourself?

Hi, I'm Marc Kleinmann, Founder and Chief Creative Technologist at crea8.STUDIO. Prior to starting crea8.STUDIO, I was Founder & CEO of VIRTUALhaus and also started and ran a residential design/build firm - Bauhaus Modern Homes - in Dallas, TX, which is owned and headed by a former employee today. When I originally moved to the US in 1996, I worked in the VFX and Software industry for several years before starting Bauhaus. During my almost 15-year stint in the design and construction industry, I developed a strong desire to make the industry more efficient, more people friendly and more environmentally sustainable. As CEO of Bauhaus and a director and longtime chairman of the "Green Built Texas'' program, I was able to study the problems, deficiencies and needs of the industry. To solve these problems, I developed the idea of the “VISION” platform which culminated in the founding of VIRTUALhaus in 2018. We initially raised a $2.6m Seed round and landed one of the top 3 building materials distributors as our first client - we almost got there. Unfortunately, VIRTUALhaus folded in October 2022 after we were unable to raise a follow-up round.

Tell us about crea8.STUDIO. How are you helping other production companies?

I started crea8.STUDIO in March 2023 with the idea of bringing cutting-edge technology, currently only available to the developer community, to an audience that can greatly benefit from advances in real-time 3D technology and AI - the brands & startups, creatives, directors and production companies that create content every day and need to create more content, on tighter timelines, for more media than ever before. What if you could pitch a project quickly and within your budget, then shoot that project on a Virtual Production Stage within 5 days of winning the project, then spin off a game collaboration and an OOH digital billboard campaign? That's what we build at crea8.STUDIO!

When did you start using Anchorpoint?

I started using Anchorpoint in July ‘23 and was immediately hooked after battling with Perforce for years.

Was it easy to get started?

Super easy to get started and a super enjoyable experience. The team is super responsive to questions and it was quick and painless to set up.

What problems does Anchorpoint solve for you?

We are a small distributed team and not everyone working on our projects is a developer, and some team members have never worked with version control before. For me personally, it was a breath of fresh air when I started using Anchorpoint, with its modern UI and workflow designed for smaller creative teams. Initially, I was only interested in the Unreal Engine version control part, which allows us to quickly distribute updated plugin code or set changes internally and to our virtual production partner studios. But today, Anchorpoint solves several problems for us, starting with replacing Perforce with Anchorpoint as our Unreal Engine version control system. Since many of our projects also involve large media files, we've also integrated Anchorpoint's Cloud NAS functionality into our workflow and are in the process of integrating the review process.

How does Anchorpoint fit in a virtual production pipeline?

Anchorpoint allows us to

1. Quickly update plugin and client project code for our distributed, remote team reliably to enable a rapid iteration workflow in Unreal Engine without being version control admins.
2. Push plugin and set updates to Virtual Production Studios in an automated pipeline
3. Make live updates during a production without the need for being physically present. This means that even though myself or someone else might be on set during the production, our entire team can pitch in to make last minute changes.
4. How did you hear about us?

I do not remember exactly but I think it was in an online forum and I joined the Discord server shortly after.

Would you recommend Anchorpoint to your friends?

150%! In fact, anyone using Unreal Engine needing a reliable source control workflow should look no further. Anyone using Perforce should look at Anchorpoint if they want to stop wasting countless hours administering the beast. And lastly anyone working with crazy huge media files (aka all my filmmaking friends) should look at Anchorpoint and it’s Cloud NAS integration.

Thank you Marc for the interview. Learn more on crea8.STUDIO's website.