LOS ANGELES — Virtual production software specialist Glassbox Technologies has released a realtime, collaborative software solution called BeeHive. BeeHive is out now for Unreal Engine, Unity 3D and Autodesk Maya, and content creators can download a free trial from the Glassbox Website (www.glassboxtech.com).
“Our mission is to help virtual production teams collaborate as efficiently and seamlessly as possible,” explains Glassbox CPO and co-founder Mariana Acuña Acosta. “It is with that in mind that we developed Beehive, a first-of-its-kind software solution for teams working in Unreal Engine, Unity 3D and Autodesk Maya. Beehive has been in beta since last July and now we’re rolling it out to the world. We can’t wait to hear what users think!”
BeeHive is a cross-platform software solution built to enable collaborative, realtime workflows between Unreal Engine, Unity 3D and Autodesk Maya. It removes the inefficiencies of manual import and export, allowing directors, cinematographers and artists to sync, edit and review cameras, assets and virtual scenes from multiple applications at the same time and from any location.
For instance, a supervisor can work inside of Unreal Engine or Unity 3D, alongside a connected Maya artist, to review and modify assets, troubleshoot lighting and FX, check actors’ faces and body performances, modify scenes, even build entire worlds from scratch for virtual reality (VR) experiences... and each user can see any change reflected instantly in each platform. BeeHive is also interoperable with Glassbox’s virtual camera DragonFly, enabling creators to visualize changes from a camera’s viewpoint as they occur, which is useful for virtual location scouting and realtime review sessions.
BeeHive operates as a plug-in for Unreal Engine, Unity 3D and Autodesk Maya, so different users with different roles can work together in the software platform and interface of their choice. Beehive includes a high-performance, realtime versioning system and a custom-tailored C++ database, which means all changes to files, across platforms, are instantly stored and available should a user wish to roll back to an earlier modification. Finally, Beehive is multi-threaded, so it introduces minimal overhead to other applications.
The plug-in will be sold as packages of floating licenses, based on team size, as either a ‘forever’, perpetual license, including maintenance, or a ‘for a while’, annual subscription license, starting at $5,300 annually for a team of five users.