Nikon Creates Corporation

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Create new imaging value.

NIKON CREATES

INNOVATION

Revolutionizing the production process with the latest technologies.

Nikon Creates’ volumetric video produces 3D/360-degree data capturing motion with remarkable reality. Angle adjustments and zooming can be performed after shooting, greatly increasing the degree of freedom in editing. Virtual productions can be shot from dynamic angles with a robot arm against a background of high-definition images projected on LEDs. You can pursue new, original ways of expression while eliminating the compositing process.

Past and future filming
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ABOUT US

Create new imaging value.

Nikon Creates is a company that pursues the infinite expressive possibilities of imaging technologies and creates new imaging value.
To promote this vision, Nikon Creates is equipped with the latest imaging technologies, as well as pursuing never-before-seen imaging expressions through integrating their functions. Generating fresh ideas together with a new generation of creators, we will promote next-generation visual contents. Nikon Creates aims to transform the era and the world through imaging, by integrating “technology” with “sensibility”.

OUR VISION

  • Integration of technology and sensibility
    Integrating the latest imaging technologies with creative sensibilities to move towards becoming a next-generation imaging production company.
  • Respect and co-creation with next-generation creators
    We respect all creators from pre-production to post-production, co-creating with them to deliver exciting new imaging value.
  • Pursuing borderless imaging value
    Based in the Haneda, Tokyo area, we are committed to meeting imaging production needs from Japan and around the world.

INFORMATION

  • Company Name
    Nikon Creates Corporation
  • Representative
    Representative Director, President
    Kazuhiro Hirano
  • Address
    BW3-7 3F, TRC Building B, 6-1-1 Heiwajima, Ota-ku, Tokyo 143-0006, Japan
  • Contact information
  • Business Area
    Video and contents production (3D/2D imaging, XR contents, sizzle-shot videos, etc.)
    Providing the latest filming technologies (volumetric video, virtual production, motion control systems, high-speed cameras)

ACCESS

  • Address:
    6-1-1 Heiwajima, Ota-ku, Tokyo　Tokyo Ryutsu Center Building B 3F（BW3-7）

  • By train

    One-minute walk from Tokyo Monorail Ryutsu Station.
    Please use the elevator in BW after going up the stairs as indicated on the map, instead of the elevator in the main entrance (BE) of Building B.

  • By car

    Enter through the South Gate, go straight between Building A and Building B, and turn right.
    Please go up to the 3rd floor from the vehicle entrance in the center of Building B.
Conventional Production Process
New Production Process
Volumetric Video
Virtual Production

FLOOR MAP

SERVICE 01 CREATIVE

Providing full service from planning to
completion
for corporate entities,
local
governments, educational institutions
and other organizations

  • Planning
  • Filming
  • Compositing/Editing

Expanding the possibilities of imaging and creating
next-generation video contents.

Video and contents
production
Video and contents production
  • 3D/2D videos
  • XR contents
  • Sizzle-shot videos and others

SERVICE 02 TECHNOLOGY

Renewing the production process and unleashing the
sensibilities of next-generation creators.

Latest filming technology services
Latest filming technology services
  • Volumetric video
  • Virtual production
  • Motion control system / BOLT
  • High-speed camera

VOLMETRIC VIDEO

What is volumetric video?

Volumetric video is a technology that simultaneously captures the “3D data of people and other objects” and “3D data of the motion” and converts them into digital data for reproduction.
The volumetric video system, “POLYMOTION STAGE”, at Nikon Creates consists of over 100 high-performance cameras that capture a full 360°view of the subject. Using technology from Microsoft, this raw data can be generated into extremely photorealistic “moving” 3D video data. Not only can facial expressions be reproduced with remarkable realism, but also even movements of hair and clothing can be reproduced naturally. Angles and sizes can be freely adjusted after the shooting using this 3D/360°data, which greatly revolutionizes the production process.
In addition to VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality) which is a fusion of reality and virtuality are also supported. This makes constructing new spaces where real and virtual elements can influence each other possible. The metaverse can also be expected to add possibilities.

Nikon Creates is the first Japanese licensed partner of Microsoft’s “Mixed Reality Capture Studios”. Nikon Creates’ volumetric video is compliant with Microsoft, which is becoming the de facto standard worldwide.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mixed-reality/capture-studios#coreui-banner-v70r11t

VIRTUAL PRODUCTION

VIRTUAL PRODUCTION

Virtual production is a way of filming utilizing “in-camera VFX”, in which a three-dimensional video background is displayed on a large LED screen and can change in real-time according to the camera’s direction and lens angles, as well as the actors and any objects present. Employing this technology, filming can take place regardless of the weather at an actual location or time, and without requiring construction of large film sets, thus greatly reducing costs. It can also contribute to the reduction of CO2 as energy is conserved by eliminating the need to travel to actual filming locations. As any image can be used for the 3D background, not only does it become an effective alternative to location filming, but also we can look forward to video creators unleashing their full creative imagination to achieve unprecedented images.
Absen is utilized for the LED panel, realizing a wide color gamut and undistorted color even when viewed over a wide range of angles. It is also energy efficient with low heat generation.

Nikon Creates – Heiwajima Stage
STAGE A Virtual Production

Main LED LED pixel pitch 1.5 mm; 6,528 x 2,592 dot
10,370 x 4,116 mm; curved (3°arc)
Ceiling LED 1,280 x 896 dot; 6,000 x 4,200 mm
Side LED 384 x 640 dot; 1,800 x 3,000 mm
Camera ARRI AMIRA
Camera tracking system Redspy
Media server disguise vx4+ (1 unit)
Dedicated rendering server disguise rx II (4 units)
Floor area 380 ㎡*　
*Vehicles can be driven into the studio and filmed
  • CREATORS VOICE
    “Lights were used during the whole shoot, so we made use of this by adding light to the CGs.”
    HIROTAKA TAKADA

    After working as an editor, Hirotaka Takada began his career as a director. He gained attention for his music videos, station IDs and VJ works and later expanded his works into TV advertising and short films. Utilizing his unique visual aesthetics, he has worked on many TV commercials for such products as automobiles and cosmetics which require high-quality visuals. He has also mastered the photography and lighting techniques utilized in portraits when shooting fashion stills. Since 2000, not only has he been working as a general director, but also as a director of photography. He has been shooting a variety of still life photos in recent years.

  • SHOW REEL
  • CREATORS VOICE
    “I wanted to show that you can create something like this with volumetric video.”
    ATSUSHI MAKINO

    Atsushi Makino majored in TV & Film Graphics at the Academy of Arts Architecture & Design in Prague, where he learned drawing and puppet animation. He proceeded to the Tokyo University of the Arts where he completed the program at the Graduate School of Film and New Media. He works across multiple genres such as live action, art work, and animation, and works on film direction, art direction, animation direction, character design, and illustration. He has been awarded and screened at various international film and advertisement festivals.

  • SHOW REEL
  • CREATORS VOICE
    “Pop CGs have been used in the mainstream for volumetric video up until now, so I decided to do something that goes beyond that.”
    HIDEJIN KATO

    Hidejin Kato graduated from the Visual Concept Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, and his film was screened at movie festivals such as the Japan-Filmfest Hamburg. He later joined a video production company as a director. His main works include advertising videos for real estate companies and automobile manufacturers, etc. In 2015, his online drama produced in China became a hit, winning the top prize in the Tudou Festival 2015 Comedy Channel category. His works include music videos, Chinese online dramas, TV commercials, online movies and many others. He was selected as one of the top 100 Japanese Motion Graphic Creators in 2020 and 2021.

  • SHOW REEL
Three contrastive sensibilities derived from the same 3D data

VOLUMETRIC VIDEO 3CREATORS

Angles and zoom views can be freely modified during post-production after shooting. To let you experience the revolutionary production process of volumetric videos, Nikon Creates asked three creators to each produce their own video using the same source data. Unlike the usual productions where angles, frames and lighting are meticulously planned, for this project, Nikon Creates shot and produced high-quality 3D/360°data of a performance by “SPiCYSOL”, a four-member band, without the creators present. We provided this raw data to three creators with very different personalities and asked them to create a video through which they could express themselves as their sensibilities desired. Watch this showreel to learn more about the revolutionary production process of volumetric video and the new possibilities of imaging.
Artist information: “SPiCYSOL”, a four-member band that represents the current “SHONAN SOUND”. For this showreel, they have provided a performance of their new song, “Lens”.

CONTACT

Mail：

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Company Profile Concept Movie

Introducing the expressive intent of the movie and
behind-the-scenes views of its production.

VIEWMORE

Def Tech

The music video for Def Tech’s “Automatic” was produced in collaboration with Nikon Creates Corporation, making full use of various cutting-edge filming technologies.
Using a free viewpoint 3D video system known as “Volumetric Video”, “Virtual Production’” that can display various backgrounds using high-resolution LED walls, and “BOLT” which is a robot arm that can control high-speed cameras, the work was completed with Def Tech and dancers moving dynamically in a world that transcends reality.

Director :黒田賢 (P.I.C.S. management)

Virtual Production

Chief Technical Director :渕川康裕 (NIKON CREATES)
Technical Director :小倉啓 (NIKON CREATES)
Cinematographer / BOLT Operator :堀耕介 (NIKON CREATES)

Volumetric Video

Producer :詫摩裕輔 (NIKON CREATES)
Technical Director :屋比久裕 + 三浦林太郎 + 髙木元気 (NIKON CREATES)

Lighting Director :新部貴之
Grip :牛尾康成
DIT :サトウコウスケ
CG Producer :谷内正樹 + 近藤真一 (Immense Graffiti)
CG Director :滝崎将史 (Immense Graffiti)
Dancer :MASA + 中嶋美虹
Stylist :KAZU + 青木飛翔 + 赤峰尚樹
Hair＆Make-up Artist :井上京子
Off-line Editor :山岡大起
Colorist :片山健人 (レスパスビジョン)

Producer :松居秀之 (P.I.C.S.)
Production Manager :神前心 + 樋口典華 (以上P.I.C.S.)