Stagecraft

Industrial Light & Magic
2022
UI/UX Design

Popularized by the Mandalorian, ILM Stagecraft enables principal photography on photo-real, virtual sets that are rendered in real-time and indistinguishable from their physical counterparts.

I worked with two outstanding R&D engineers to create a first design system for their iPad controller app that would improve usability and be scalable for a growing set of features.

Domain Context

During shoots, a significant amount of crew spend time physically in the LED volume. The iPad app was developed so that elements could be moved and controlled in real time while standing in the volume. The primary app users are DPs (Director of Photography) and VFX supervisors.

A lot of the volume is lighting work, so primary features are moving white cards, flags, and bounce cards and change the light’s size, intensity, and softness in real-time. Color correction, garbage mattes, color, and exposure blend can also be done in real-time. Given that these are the top artists in the industry, the focus was on being able to achieve great precision and tuning in the controls.