Company Profile: Assimilate Inc.
Assimilate Inc.’s Live FX line represents the company’s most significant venture into virtual-production media servers, seamlessly bridging on-set compositing, LED-wall rendering, and in-camera VFX from previsualization through final pixel output. Real‐time playback of 2D, 2.5D, and 3D content – complete with camera tracking, projection mapping, image‐based lighting, and live-links to game engines – Live FX Studio packages these capabilities into an all-in-one software solution designed for both green-screen and LED-volume workflows. Below, you’ll find an in-depth look at Live FX’s key features, its role within Assimilate’s broader product ecosystem, market applications, licensing options, and standout customer successes.
Live FX & Live FX Studio: Feature Deep Dive
● Live Compositing: Live FX Offers live green-screen keying, multi-layer compositing, masking, and OFX-plugin support, with separate RGB and alpha outputs or NDI streams for downstream tasks.
● Image-Based Lighting (IBL): Both, Live FX and Live FX Studio integrate DMX/ArtNet/sACN lighting control to sample color-managed HDR images as live lighting sources, synchronizing LED fixtures or intelligent lights directly from the media server.
Supported are also so-called video fixtures, like the Kino Flo Mimiks.
● Game-Engine Integration: Live FX and Live FX Studio connect via Live Link to Unreal Engine and Unity, enabling GPU-level texture sharing and direct control of virtual cameras for previsualization or final pixel ICVFX.
● Metadata & Version Management: Captures camera tracking and other dynamic metadata into sidecar files, records live composites on-set for instant review, and provides an organized media-centric workflow harmonized with SCRATCH’s metadata model.
● Media Server Functionality: Live FX Studio plays back content at any resolution or frame rate to LED walls, supporting 2D (flat), 2.5D, 360/180° (equirectangular), and full 3D environments with real‐time camera tracking via protocols like FreeD or hardware such as Mo-Sys StarTracker, Ncam, OptiTrack, Stype, Vicon, and Antilatency.
● Full color Control: Live FX and Live FX Studio both feature the most advanced color toolset available to the market, bringing all the color tools, professionals know from post production, to the LED screen. All packaged in an easy-to-learn UI that speaks the same language as creative professionals.
Integration Within the Assimilate Ecosystem
Live FX sits alongside SCRATCH, Play Pro Studio, Live Looks, Live Assist and Dailies Online to form an end-to-end toolchain:
● Pre- and Post-Production: SCRATCH handles look development, conforming, color grading, compositing, and finishing up to 8K/HDR/VR, while Assimilate Dailies Online facilitates cloud-based review and annotation.
● On-Set Workflows: Live Looks and Live Assist provide traditional DIT monitoring, LUT management, multi-channel recording, and instant replay—all feeding into Live FX’s live compositing and LED control capabilities for a unified on-set solution. Play Pro studio acts as the offload and backup tool of choice to secure camera media.
● Virtual Production: Live FX Studio packages the above into a single subscription or perpetual license, minimizing the need for multiple applications and specialist operators.
Market Applications
● LED-Volume Shoots: Enables filmmakers to place talent within fully programmable LED environments, using Live FX Studio for real-time background playback, keying, and camera-tracked parallax correction.
● Green-Screen Productions: Live FX provides turnkey keying and compositing tools for broadcast, commercials, and low-budget features, eliminating post-production delays by delivering live composited output.
● Automotive & Brand Demos: Used by OEMs (e.g., Toyota) and expos to showcase products within photoreal virtual sets, leveraging Live FX Studio for in-camera VFX demos at trade shows.
● Remote & Hybrid Workflows: Through integration with NDI, RTMP, and Dailies Online, teams can collaborate globally on dailies and live-grade sessions, reducing facility overhead and speeding decision-making.
Licensing & Support
● Live FX Studio Subscriptions: Monthly auto-renewal subscription ($695), quarterly ($1,295), annual ($4,995) licenses available, all including support and updates.
● Perpetual Licenses: One-time purchase ($7,495) with one year of updates/support, ideal for long-term studio deployments.
● Compatibility: Windows 10–11 and macOS 10.15+, requiring 8 GB RAM (12 GB recommended), GPU support for NVIDIA Quadro/AMD Radeon Pro, and CPUs from Intel, AMD, or Apple.
Evolution & Innovation
Since its inception in 2003, Assimilate evolved from a digital-cinema engine partner into a virtual-production pioneer:
● Early Years: SCRATCH introduced high-performance post-production workflows for ARRI, RED, and Sony formats. Now at V9.8.
● On-Set Expansion: Live Looks (2020) and Live Assist (2020) responded to DIT demands for real-time grading and metadata capture.
● Virtual Production Breakthrough: Live FX (2021) added LED-volume and IBL support, while Live FX Studio (2022) consolidated all VP tools into one software suite.
Customer Success Stories
● Mo-Sys StarTracker: Used Live FX with Mo-Sys hardware for seamless camera tracking on major feature shoots, praised for reducing calibration time by over 50%.
● Car Process Demo at NAB: Employed Live FX Studio to drive an LED wall showcasing a virtual-production car reveal, integrating Unreal Engine content in-camera for live audiences at The Studio B&H booth in 2025.
● S4 Studios: S4 Studios LLC is a seasoned creative powerhouse specializing in virtual production and visual storytelling. Based in Burbank, California, we’ve spent 25 years pushing boundaries in visual effects, animation, and motion design. In 2020, we made a bold pivot into Virtual Production, bringing decades of experience into the emerging space of ICVFX (In-Camera Visual Effects).
● The Helicopter Heist: The mini-series, The Helicopter Heist, is based on a true event that took place in Stockholm. A cash depot was robbed when a helicopter landed on the roof, and the thieves smashed a window before climbing down the atrium to steal the cash. They escaped with $5 million USD. Live FX Studio played a pivotal role in driving the massive LED volume required for this shoot.
Through Live FX and Live FX Studio, Assimilate has positioned itself at the forefront of virtual production – empowering creators with a singular, data-centric platform that accelerates workflows from concept to camera to final pixel.