Alongside my primary VR work on Star Trek: Discovery, I spent production downtime photographing the finished sets in 360°. These captures ended up serving the production team in several ways:
- VFX plates. Clean background references for the visual effects department.
- HDRI lighting. High Dynamic Range Images used by the Art Department to light 3D renderings realistically.
- Remote set reference. A virtual window that let writers and producers in Los Angeles step into the Toronto sets at any time.
- Public release. A selection of the 8K images was officially published by StarTrek.com.
- Promotional use. One of the Bridge 360° photos appeared as the backdrop for a Season 5 promotional video.
The source files were captured at 14K resolution—high enough that, on a few occasions, the images were used as digital backdrops for scenes shot after the physical sets had already been struck.