Disguise

Overview

disguise (stylized lowercase) is a British manufacturer and software platform for real-time media playback. In the film and TV sector, disguise is primarily known as the control center for LED volumes and virtual production stages: The disguise media servers feed the LED walls with virtual backgrounds (In-Camera VFX, ICVFX) while keeping image, camera movement, and render engine synchronized.

The platform consists of two parts: the hardware (media servers and render nodes) and the "Designer" software, where the scene, LED geometry, xR set extension frustum, and playback are programmed. disguise originally comes from the live event and show sector and continues to be used there for projection, stage screens, and concert visuals.

Platform Components

• Designer: the central software for designing and controlling playback; integrates external content engines such as Unreal Engine, Unity, Notch, and TouchDesigner.
• RenderStream: the proprietary, bidirectional protocol that exchanges camera tracking data, rendered images, and control parameters between disguise and the render engine, distributing the render load across multiple nodes (cluster rendering).
• Hardware Ranges: disguise markets several server series, including the powerful VX and GX servers (with RenderStream and mixed reality functions) as well as the RX render nodes, which serve as pure rendering machines for the engines.
• OmniCal / Calibration: tools for calibrating projection and LED setups.

On-Set Usage

In an LED volume, the disguise server takes on the task of passing the perspective reported by camera tracking to the render engine (typically Unreal Engine) in real-time, retrieving the rendered image, and outputting it precisely onto the LED walls. This allows the virtual background to move with the camera in correct perspective, and the LED walls simultaneously serve as a practical light source visible in the image for reflections, highlights, and ambient light on actors and the set.

Important for the lighting department: what is displayed on the LED wall is simultaneously set lighting. The brightness, color, and movement of the content played through disguise directly act as interactive lighting. disguise and LED volume technology thus belong to the interface of video, VFX, and set lighting, and do not replace traditional fixtures but rather provide the image signals that make the LED surface usable as a background and light source.