Upskilling students using the latest Hollywood technology
The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne has opened an innovative new facility to help students, researchers and industry practitioners gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving global screen sector.
About the Volume Studio
Cutting-edge virtual production technology that’s being used in Hollywood, is now available to students and industry practitioners at the University of Melbourne, with a new facility opening at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music’s Southbank campus.
Boasting the highest-resolution screen of its kind in Australia, the Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) Volume Studio is designed to up-skill film and television students in the University’s Victorian College of the Arts, offering them real-world experience and helping them gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving global screen sector.
This high-tech studio sees creativity unleashed. Real-time game-engine graphics, realistic and imagined backgrounds, photogrammetry, animation and visual effects come together to enable immersive experiences that are limited only by imagination.
This Studio facility delivers genuine benefit to our students and the broader creative arts industries, equipping the next generation of storytellers with innovative and practical skills that will see them light up screens for years to come.
Enabling digital research
Our high-tech new Southbank studio, coupled with a strategic industry partnership with NantStudios in Melbourne’s Docklands, enables the Faculty to push further into digital research. This significant infrastructure investment, delivers genuine benefit to the creative industries, enabling our researchers to explore and communicate new knowledge, push boundaries and embrace a broader understanding of our place in the world.
Technical specifications
Technology that's changing the creative sector
LED wall
High resolution 4 x 10m LED wall with 1.5mm pixel pitch.
LED side walls
Two additional 2.4m2 LED side walls with 3.75mm pixel pitch.
Real time camera tracking
Real time camera tracking for accurate perspective, parallax, and lens characteristics in virtual environments.
Real time environments
Real time environments via Unreal Engine, traditional media served via Pixera and other media servers.
Cinema cameras
State of the art cinema cameras, GrandMA lighting desk.
Networking and storage
High speed networking and storage array for asset management.
Render hardware
State of the art render hardware.
Boasting the highest-resolution screen of its kind in Australia, the LED Volume Studio is designed to up-skill our film and television students, offering them real-world experience and helping them gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving global screen sector.
Study with us
Have you ever wondered how virtual production works? Are you interested in learning how to use game engines and work with an LED wall to create in-camera visual effects? If so, consider one of our of micro-credentials in virtual production. Each course is 5-days in length and includes time in our Southbank studio along with online, self-directed modules.
Hear from our students
Chloe Kemp
"In the studio, we could pause at any time, reset the plates and go for a retake in a matter of seconds. This was the first film I’ve directed where I was given the time to get exactly what I envisioned out of the actors. There also would have been a lot of compromise on location for the limited camera-set ups available, but in the studio we could shoot any way our hearts desired!"
Madeline Blake
"There are so many creative advantages to using this technology. From a producer’s perspective in a nutshell – Occupational Health and Safety, logistics and cost! Prior to receiving the opportunity to shoot in the studio, we were prepared to invest hundreds of dollars of technical equipment to rig the car, tow it with a trailer, close down roads, book traffic management and safety supervisors, all just to portray that the car is driving."
Learn more about our disciplines
Training the next generation of experts
Capabilities in volumetric capture offer significant potential for translation into industry. Beyond the applications in traditional screen media, volumetric capture provides opportunity to expand the Australian gaming industry’s global impact and create new paradigms in product visualization. Learn more about how we’re training the next generation of experts through our undergraduate and graduate course offering.