By TREVOR HOGGReal-time software programs are being developed by Chaos, such as the ray tracing renderer Vantage and Arena, which does ray tracing for in-camera effects. (Images courtesy of Chaos)Virtual production could not exist without real-time rendering, customarily associated with game engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity. Still, real-time technology is also impacting workflows and pipelines constructed to produce visual effects on a daily basis. As the tool is refined to become more cinematically proficient, new challenges and opportunities have emerged for visual effects artists and production teams. My first job in the visual effects industry was working on Star Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, the first movie to do previs, recalls Kevin Baillie, Vice President and Head of Creative at Eyeline Studio. Our real-time capabilities back then were quite limited, but now fast forward to where we have these images that can look near to final quality in real-time. Not just previs, but a virtual art department to build set designs whether were looking at them through a camera, VR goggles or any other means. These incredibly powerful tools allow a filmmaker to accelerate some of the physical process, start it digitally and iterate on it quickly before we get into the tedious, expensive physical phase. When I worked with Robert Zemeckis on Pinocchio, we previsd the entire movie. As we were shooting it, we did real-time on-set composites of the scenes that involved live-action, relay down cameras for everything that was a fully virtual shot, then those cameras went into the visual effects post-production process. We made the movie three times using these real-time technologies, and that iteration helped Zemeckis narrow it down on what exactly he wanted.The introduction of full ray tracing to the virtual production process removes the need for rasterized rendering. Source: Ray Tracing FTW. (Image courtesy of Chaos)Unreal Engine became the answer when pandemic restrictions meant that not everyone could go into the same vehicle together to scout locations for The Handmaids Tale. I would go out, scan the locations, rebuild them in Unreal Engine, and we would walk through in sessions, recalls Brendan Taylor, President & VFX Supervisor at Mavericks VFX. I like to say that we are making a game called, Lets make a movie. Whats awesome about that is you can create all the rules for this world. The thing about a game is you need to be able to see it from all angles and be able to change things on the fly. When were working in film, were dealing with whats here and in the camera. Virtual scouting led to some discoveries that Elisabeth Moss applied when directing her first episode of The Handmaids Tale. Taylor explains, What we were able to do was build the set on the bluescreen stage from the plans, sit with a monitor on a little handheld rig [in our screening room] and explore the space with Elisabeth. She tried things out with just me, Stuart Biddlecombe [Cinematographer] and Paul Wierzbicki [Unreal Engine Specialist]. Elisabeth said, Theres something missing. Were so monochrome. Paul responded, Sometimes these buildings have red lights on them. He quickly put a flashing red light in the corner, and it changed the tone of the scene to give it this devilish look. It made this guy pushing women off of the roof even more menacing. We would have never known until we lived within this game we had created. For me, that was a real a-ha moment where it became collaborative again.An ambition for real-time visual effects is to have the ability to visualize, explore and iterate quickly without closing the door on the visual effects team finishing it off to get the final image. Previs from The Witcher Season 3. (Image courtesy of Cinesite and Netflix)Real-time is most useful at the concepting stage. (Image courtesy of V Technologies)Simplification is taking place when it comes to game engines and real-time. We dont have enough people who know Unreal Engine to drive a virtual production because its such a beast of a software that has been in development forever, observes Jason Starne, Owner, SHOTCALLER and Director of Virtual Production for AMS Pictures. We need some simplified things, and thats what we are starting to see with what companies like Chaos are doing. Theyre building something that allows you to have a 3D world scene that is truly a real-time path tracer, and the path tracer gives the best quality you can out of a rendered image. Real-time is an aspect of the pipeline. Its a tool just like virtual production is another toolset a studio would have. Misconceptions are an issue. The con is that the marketing has made even our clients believe this is easy to do and can be achieved without a whole lot of work going into it. In real life, we have to put work into it and make or build things in a way where we can get speed out of it. Its not just going to be real-time because its coming out of Unreal Engine. It could be, but it will look like crap. How do we get the quality versus the speed that we need?The mantra for V Technologies is content at the speed of thought, which they believe will be the next evolution of communication. (Image courtesy of V Technologies)Real-time allows digital artists to iterate way faster, which means more options for clients. Scene from Sweet Tooth. (Image courtesy of Zoic Studios and Netflix)Real-time has shifted the involvement of Zoic Studios toward the front end of the production, resulting in far less in the back end. Scene from The Sympathizer. (Image courtesy of Zoic Studios and HBO)The Chaos Group is developing real-time software programs, such as the ray tracing renderer Vantage and Arena, which does ray tracing for in-camera effects. For us, Arena is an extension of the camera that the DP already has, and as long as the DP can talk to the people who are running the stage, like to a grip or camera operator, then were in good shape, remarks Christopher Nichols, Director of Chaos Labs at the Chaos Group. We looked at what they needed to do to get the correct video on the LED walls. Essentially, we needed a system that synchronizes renders across multiple nodes and can track a camera so you can get the correct parallax. Thats the fundamental thing we added to Vantage, enabling it to become an in-camera effect solution. By introducing full ray tracing to the process that removes the need for rasterized rendering, you can make a better duplicate of the camera and dont need to optimize your data or geometry in the same way that you need for video games. Almost everything that is done in post-production uses full ray tracing, either V-Ray or Arnold. That massively cuts down on how much time and energy is used to put the CG elements behind people because its the same asset for everything. The virtual art department can focus on compositing the shot correctly or creating the right environment and not on, How do I remake this to work for a game engine?More options have become available to be creative. Were seeing concepts emerge now that would have been nearly impossible without the use of real-time tools to plan and execute, like digital twins, which are changing the game for creators, especially when budget and ambition are both high and theres no room for miscommunication, notes states Brian Solomon, Creative Technology Director at Framestore. Another area advancing rapidly revolves around how we utilize characters. Real-time allows us to previs and utilize dynamic 3D characters earlier in feature film production, especially with character-driven live-action pictures. Similarly, there are now advantages coming from production-grade real-time variants of characters. These are benefiting larger brands and animated IP owners, as a host of new formats are emerging that allow these characters to interact with the world in ways they couldnt prior and at turnaround speeds not hitherto possible. Real-time overall is broadening the horizon for characters.The visual effects pipeline at Zoic Studios has always been modular. Scene from The Boys.(Image courtesy of Zoic Studios and Prime Video)Real-time technology is positively transforming production pipelines. In the traditional visual effects world, it is allowing for faster iterations which enable additional exploration of creative options, notes Paul Salvini, Global Chief Technology Officer at DNEG. These advances are most critical in areas like animation and creature and character effects [such as the simulation of muscle, skin, hair, fur and cloth]. In cases where the final output from real-time solutions needs further processing, seamlessly connecting real-time and non-real-time tools becomes critical. The role of artists doesnt fundamentally change, but the tools will allow a more interactive workflow with better feedback. Real-time visual effects are also transforming more areas of production than ever before from previs through final render. Audience members are getting to enjoy even more immersive and interactive experiences. Salvini remarks, Some recent live and virtual concert experiences have done a great job of bringing together the best of the real and computer-generated worlds to deliver experiences never before possible for audiences, such as allowing a current artists performance to be mapped visually onto their younger selves.Technology is an ecosystem that is constantly evolving because of innovation. (Image courtesy of V Technologies)Real-time visual effects are here to stay because it is the best way to get feedback from clients or collaborators. Composite from 9-1-1. (Image courtesy of Zoic Studios and ABC)Virtual production was a key component in expanding the practical sets for Barbie Land. (Image courtesy of Framestore)More creative options have become available because of real-time visual effects. Screen capture from Agatha All Along. (Images courtesy of Framestore and Warner Bros.)Storytelling and being able to present clients with the best possible imagery are the main technological goals for Sony Pictures Imageworks, which meant figuring out how to get close to real-time with their GPU renderer Arnold. The more the client is educated with real-time and sees what the studios are doing, the more they want you to push the envelope, states Gregory Ducatel, Executive Director, Software Development at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The magic you get when you work with good creatives, clients and technology is that the creativity of those people jumps. Its crazy. Currently, if you go outside of Unreal Engine, the quality of the imagery drops, and then with lighting, it goes back up; that was not acceptable for us because artists lose the context of their work, and the creatives dont like that. This is why Spear [Sony Pictures Imageworks version of the Arnold Renderer] was brought to the table. How can we always have the highest quality possible at each given step but never go back to the previous one? The feature animation and visual effects applications are somewhat different: however, the principles remain the same. We always want better quality, more iterations. We dont want to wait for notes and for the artists to do something, then go back to notes. If you can do that in real-time, the artist can move forward, and its exactly what you want, states Ducatel.Real-time visual effects are here to stay. People who dont see that real-time is where we all should go are stuck in the past, believes Julien Brami, VFX Supervisor & Creative Director at Zoic Studios. There is time for finishing and concepting; all of these take time, but when we need the interactivity and get feedback, whether from clients or collaborators, real-time is the best tool. Real-time allows us to iterate way faster, and faster means more options. Then you can filter what is working. Instead of saying no to a client, now you have an opportunity to work with them. There are more iterations, but its less painful to iterate. The pipeline is evolving. Brami says, The visual effects pipeline at Zoic Studios has always been modular. We try to make the pipeline procedural so it can be crafted per show and be more efficient. Real-time has shifted our involvement toward the front end of the production, and we have way less in the back end. With a traditional pipeline we would have a bluescreen or greenscreen and have to key everything; all of that would have been at the tail end, which is usually more stressful.The more the client is educated with real-time and sees what the studios are doing, the more they want the envelope pushed. Scene from K-Pop: Demon Hunters. (Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks)Real-time is allowing the utilization of dynamic 3D characters earlier in the process of feature film production, especially with character-driven live-action pictures. Scene from Paddington in Peru. (Image courtesy of Framestore and Columbia Pictures)Three years ago, it was all about using game engines for real-time, but with the advances in generative AI, people are doing things even more instantly. (Image courtesy of V Technologies)Technology is constantly advancing along with the growth of expectations. Virtual production, machine learning and real-time rendering engines; all of these have been around for decades, observes Mariana Acua Acosta, SVP Global Virtual Production and On-Set Services at Technicolor. Its not like it just happened overnight. What has continued to advance is our computing power. I cant even comprehend how were going to be able to maintain all of the machine learning and AI with these new generational GPUs. What has pushed these advancements forward has been virtual production, cloud workflows, machine learning, AI and the game engines themselves. To avoid obsolete technology, hardware has to be constantly updated. Its costly for a studio to be constantly updating hardware. Maybe at some point, you get a project or want to create your own project and realize you dont have enough hardware to go and run with it. Thats when the cloud comes in, as you can scale and have the best spec machines. This is crucial because then the cloud service providers are the ones that have a lot of resources to go around when it comes to RAM and GPUs.Rendering improves with each new release of Unreal Engine and Unity. Advances in real-time rendering, such as virtualized geometry with Unreal Engines Nanite, have significantly reduced the time required to optimize assets for real-time performance while enhancing their visual fidelity, observes Dan Chapman, Senior Product Manager, Real-Time & Virtual Production at Framestore. Looking ahead, Gaussian Splatting is setting a new standard for photorealism in real-time applications. By moving away from traditional polygon-based 3D models and building on Neural Radiance Fields [point clouds that encode light information], Gaussian Splatting offers a more efficient and accurate approach to rendering complex, photorealistic scenes in real-time. Real-time visual effects have raised the expectations of audiences when it comes to immersive, interactive and personalized experiences.A wrinkle in real-time visual effects is that the various render passes that the visual effects team will be utilizing cant be replicated as easily. Building the plane for Hijack. (Image courtesy of Cinesite and Netflix)Chapman remarks, Technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality and projection mapping allow attractions to respond to guest movements and decisions in real-time, creating personalized storylines and environments that feel unique to each visitor. This shift is also taking place online, where audiences are actively participating in experiences in a way that they can shape and share with others. This is particularly evident in platforms like Fortnite and Roblox, where users engage in live events, socialize with friends and collaborate on creative projects.Sometimes, real-time solutions slow down to a traditional visual effects renderer. It can go in the wrong direction if youre pushing it too far, notes Richard Clarke, Head of Visualization & VFX Supervisor at Cinesite. Im curious if we can evolve this two-stage process where you can visualize, explore, iterate quickly, and have a good idea of what your end product is going to be, but still not closing the door on allowing the visual effects team to finish it off or push it to the cloud for higher processing. What you get back is closer to a final version. One little wrinkle at the moment is the various render passes that the visual effects team will be utilizing cant be replicated as easily. The more AOVs [Arbitrary Output Variables] youre pushing out, the more youre going to slow down the real-time. Postvis is a real melding of real-time technology and visual effects pipeline workflows. The nice thing about postvis is its not an end product. Weve got a little trick where we make a beautiful scene in Arnold, bake all of the lights and textures, output shots in minutes direct from Maya and go straight into comp. They almost look final. Thats pre-packaging things. Game engines pre-capture a lot of their lighting to make real-time. Thats where you can save on a lot of processing. The more I use real-time technology, the more I think its going to be a cornerstone of everything. Autodesk showed us a beta version of Unreal Engine in Maya. I got excited about that because weve been doing it the other way around. Having Unreal Engine in your viewport was like a hallelujah moment for me because most visual effects artists are Maya-centric at the moment.As with nature, technology is an ecosystem. What were seeing right now at the top level is the merging of many new innovative technologies, states Tim Moore, CEO of V Technologies. Three years ago, it was all about using game engines for real-time, and with the advances in generative AI, you now see people doing things even more instantly. The merging of those two is interesting; to be generative inside a 3D environment where you have all the perspectives and control. Real-time is most useful at the concepting stage. For people who have simple thoughts and want an extravagant output, AI is amazing because you can give it a little and the AI will fill in the rest. For people who have a specific vision and want it to come to life, AI becomes challenging because you have to figure out how to communicate to this thing in a way where it sees what you see in your head, and you have to use words to do that. The future can be found in the mantra of V Technologies. Moore comments, The vision for our company is content at the speed of thought, and to me that is the next evolution of communication. Encoding and decoding language into sounds and words is an inefficient way to communicate, whereas the ability to use visuals as a communication layer is the most universal language in the world. Everyone perceives the world in a visual way. That ability to make visuals at the speed of thought is the big evolution of storytelling we will see in the next 10 years.

By TREVOR HOGGPreparing for a virtual production shoot of a Vertibird featured in Fallout. (Image courtesy of All of it Now)Has virtual production revolutionized filmmaking, beginning with The Mandalorian in 2019, and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic a year later? The answer is no, but the methodology has become an accepted alternative to bluescreen and greenscreen. Even though technology continues to advance at a rapidly, some things have remained the same. Its a mixed bag, states Matt Jacobs, VFX Supervisor. Whats on my mind now when talking to people is building brick-and-mortar facilities. There was a project constructing a backlot in France, and I asked, Did you set up an LED volume because youve sunk a lot of money into this? And theyre like, No, because every time we do an LED volume, it seems that the ask is different for what the volume needs to do. Everybody comes in and says, I need it for process shots for cars. Or, Im doing playback, and I need the volume to be this size and configuration. The ability to pop up a volume, be flexible and build the volume out to case-specific specs seems to be the way to go these days.Companies like Magicbox offer a tractor-trailer studio setup. The pop-up trailer is an interesting thing, but you also have to look at that as a set configuration, Jacobs notes. Yes, its mobile, but its what the tractor trailer looks like. Do you need a volume that is semicircle? Do you need the ceiling, or is that lighting? How are you going to work a volume with a known configuration of width and height? Is it squared-off walls or a circular volume? Does it have ceiling panels that you need for reflections in a car? How are those ceiling panels configured? I was on a Netflix shoot, and we had this great volume at Cinecitt Studios outside of Rome. It was a cool setup and a big stage. The floor was a Lazy Susan, so it actually spun around. The ceiling was great, but because the tiles didnt line up perfectly, there were lines and seams across the car where there were no reflections. We had to bring in walls to do fill reflection on the front of the car. We had to do a lot of work to reconfigure that stage and bring in certain elements. Thankfully, they were nimble and had a lot of great pieces and solutions for us to work with. But it goes back to the point that the stage was probably too big for certain things, and maybe it wasnt perfect for our car shoot.LED walls are beneficial for rendering content for backgrounds but often fall short as a lighting instrument. (Image courtesy of Disney+ and Lucasfilm Ltd.)Generally, people think that virtual production is synonymous with the LED volume. I think virtual production is anytime that youre using real-time technologies in conjunction with normal production, remarks Ben Lumsden, Executive Producer at Dimension Studio. The biggest single change is you can push a lot more through Unreal Engine. Youve got a whole suite of tools specifically addressing LED volume methodologies. Theres the switchboard app and level snapshots that allow you to go back to a period of time when there was that particular load on the volume and understand exactly where everything was, which animation was where and what the lighting setup was. On Avatar, James Cameron would get so frustrated because everything was done using MotionBuilder. Cameron would return to post-production after being on set, and all the creative changes he made on the day got lost in translation through the pipeline. MegaLights from Unreal Engine 5.5 is a huge step forward. Lumsden says, Beforehand, it was geometry, which was too expensive. But then Nanite came along with Unreal Engine 5, meaning geometry was no longer an issue. Our experiments with MegaLights so far suggest that lights will no longer be an issue.Limitations still exist regarding how much you can put on the LED wall in terms of computational power. (Image courtesy of Dimension Studio, DNEG and Apple TV+)Westworld Season 4 made use of virtual production technology to expand the scope of the world-building. (Image courtesy of Technicolor and HBO)Limitations still exist regarding to how much you can put on the LED wall in terms of computational power. You dont want to drive too many metahumans, for instance, but you can put loads of volumetrically-captured people and make sure that their card is pointed back to the camera or their rendered view is relative to the position of the camera, Lumsden notes. One thing that we did that was cool regarding R&D is marrying our performance-capture technology with the LED virtual production. Weve been doing some tests where we can actually drive metahumans on the wall as digital extras being live-puppeteered on a mocap stage and interacting with the real talent; thats a new technology or workflow that we may well bring into production going forward. Sound remains problematic. There is a real issue with capturing audio because youve got this big echo chamber. There are some fantastic new LED panels coming out all of the time. But the great new panels are always expensive. Over time, that will change, as with all of these things. There are also some new and interesting technologies of people doing projector-based methodologies, which are intriguing because the price point is more applicable to indie filmmakers.The most significant single change is that Unreal Engine has a whole suite of tools specifically addressing LED volume methodologies. From Those About to Die.(Image courtesy of Dimension Studio)Virtual production is anytime real-time technologies are used in conjunction with normal production, as in Here. (Image courtesy of Dimension Studio, DNEG and TriStar Pictures)Astra Production Group has forged a partnership with Magicbox, which has developed a mobile virtual production studio setup. (Image courtesy of Magicbox)Interest rates have made productions more cost-conscious and less adventurous. The early stories of the volume being a cost-saving mechanism put volume shoots at a disadvantage because producers came in expecting to see a 10x savings in cost or whatever number they had in mind, and its dramatic but not that dramatic, observes Danny Firpo, CEO & Co-Founder of All of it Now. Now, people are realizing what the volume does well, which are process shoots for vehicles or being able to create a lot of environments in a short amount of time or being able to move the environment around talent. Hardware and software have greatly improved. The expansive rate of cheap graphic cards is increasing in power and is helping to keep the dream of a real-time holodeck-style volume within arms reach. The quality of real-time graphics is increasing exponentially, and the time it takes to create those real-time environments is decreasing due to the impressive tools that have come out on the software side. Nanite and some of the impressive tools that have come out from Unreal Engine 5.3 and all of the way up to 5.5 are creating a much better environment for artists to create the best version of what they can possibly create now. In addition, were seeing a better understanding across the board of LED and camera providers and even lighting vendors of what types of equipment flourish in an LED volume environment as opposed to trying to take live show or film rental inventory and cramming it into the volume, which we saw in the volumes during the pandemic.Technicolor Creative Studios partnered with NantStudios to construct a virtual production stage in Los Angeles. (Image courtesy of Technicolor)One particular department head remains central in being able to understand and communicate the capabilities of the LED volume to other members of the production team. The visual effects supervisor is an ideal bridge because they already exist in this hybrid or mixed reality of 2D and 3D, real-time, physical and digital environments colliding to create the finished product, Firpo states. That type of thinking is more challenging for somebody from a different department like Art, Camera or Lighting and is only used to dealing with one physical reality in a real-world space. What we have discovered is specialists are emerging in those departments who have a real understanding of that and are willing to take an extra day and pre-light or go through a virtual scout and ultimately help explore those worlds more and use the same mentalities of what they would do in a physical scout. An effort has been made to make the virtual production process more intuitive for the various departments. Firpo notes, Were moving all of the extraneous tools and features that we deal with and making a simplified UI. For example, giving a DP doing a virtual location scout using an iPad, which is ubiquitous on set, a sense of a rigged virtual camera, which feels like operating a physical one but is essentially a digital portal into that world. Getting that buy-off and sense of translation from the physical into the digital world and vice versa is where its helped bridge that communication and culture gap.Technicolor, in cooperation with the American Society of Cinematographers, conducts an in-camera visual effects demo. (Image courtesy of Technicolor)Virtual production has not only revolutionized filmmaking, but the methodology has become an accepted alternative to bluescreen and greenscreen. (Image courtesy of Technicolor)LED walls are great for rendering content for backgrounds but often fall short as a lighting instrument. LED volumes have a limited brightness, and the light spreads out, so you cant create harsh shadows, notes Lukas Lepicovsky, Director of Virtual Production at Eyeline Studios. Theyre also not full spectrum light. LED walls are only RGB instead of RGBW Amber like you would get from an on-set light. You can maybe use the LED wall as fill light, but then you definitely want to be working with on-set lighting for the actual key light. Virtual production excels with short turnaround projects such as commercials because all the decisions are made upfront. If youre a massive visual effects project, then youre probably going to want to lean on it more for lighting capabilities, like projecting an explosion that lights up the actors face in a nice way, but then leave yourself room in visual effects to augment the background with giant building destruction. This is what we ended up doing with Black Adam. We made the wall be near final, or in some cases just a previs in the background that had good lighting, which had explosions and lightning elements. We used it as a lighting instrument, knowing we would replace the background afterward. It depends on the production because, in those cases, you dont always know what your final asset looks like while youre shooting a large feature production. Because its a real-time process, you have constraints of polygon budget and render time, so you cant just fill the world with all sorts of assets. You have to have strong planning when it comes to these things.The quality of real-time graphics is increasing exponentially, and the time it takes to create those real-time environments is decreasing. (Image courtesy of All of it Now)Those About to Die was shot on the LED volume stage at Cinecitt Studios in Rome. (Image courtesy of Dimension Studio, DNEG and Peacock)Interest rates have made productions more cost-conscious and less adventurous. (Image courtesy of All of it Now)Game engines have been a game-changer and are constantly improving. Where it can stand to improve still is the integration of some visual effects technology like USD and the ability to quickly share assets between departments and make layered, modifiable changes in the pipeline, Lepicovsky remarks. Also, over time, weve seen this with visual effects; things started from a rastering approach, and eventually everything turned into ray tracing. So, Im excited to see that there are also ray tracing possibilities in real-time that are coming forward both from Epic Games and Chaos Vantage, a new entrant in the virtual production market. It is still too early to judge the impact of machine learning on virtual production. Lepicovsky adds, There are machine learning tools that generate the backgrounds, but right now, they often want nice animation with all the leaves blowing and trees swaying; that is easier to do in actual game assets. Machine learning has been interesting for us in a new process called Gaussian Splatting, which is like a new version of photogrammetry based on a machine learning process. What is different from traditional photography is that you can have reflective and see-through surfaces and capture hair. Another interesting one involves a relighting process that allows you to capture actors in neutrally-lit lighting conditions, like volumetric capture, but then change the lighting afterwards using machine learning.The LED panel is excellent because its an incredibly high output, so people like to use it for the lighting, and companies like ROE Visual are adding additional colors into the diode cluster to get better skin tones, remarks Jay Spriggs, Managing Partner at Astra Production Group. But thats not going to replace a conventional lighting instrument. We know people who are researching projection in volumes because the cost to run that is much lower, and you also have additional benefits. For LEDs, the diodes light up and shoot light out, whereas, in a projection-oriented environment, they are reflective, so you have a different quality of light and mixing, which comes from that. The Light Field Lab stuff is fascinating. I dont want to even think about what the volume would cost for that! The central question is, how do you help with what is happening in the frame? From there, you reverse engineer that into what products are not just the best for whats going to happen but also the most money-efficient so that they have enough money to bring in their people. The most cost-effective way is projecting plate photography, as there are so many more complications with real-time tracking, says Spriggs. However, Unreal Engine is making major strides with a new grading workflow. That is going to be huge for making better pictures out of the game engine because one of the biggest things has always been: how do you do a final polish pass on what is already a good lighting engine but is not perfect?The Mandalorian, along with the pandemic, have been credited for causing a boom in virtual production. (Image courtesy of Disney+ and Lucasfilm Ltd.)Not everything gets treated the same way. If Greig Fraser [Cinematographer] wants to get the highest quality lighting effect for the best skin tone, but were only doing a couple of tight shots, and he has a generous post budget, then we look at the background of the LED, Spriggs explains. We build it with the highest quality LED with the smallest pitch we can find. Dont worry about the final color that you see in the picture because the post budget will kick all of that stuff out so they can post-render and grade. All we focus on is the skin tone. If someone is trying to shoot a car commercial, theyre trying to get the closest to final pixel for the reflections. You build a volume around the car that theyre looking at with the smallest pitch so that you will not be able to see individual pixels on an LED wall with a ceiling. Shoot that and walk away. You wouldnt use that same configuration for the other one because benefits wouldnt be there. Fundamentals should not be forgotten. Advises Spriggs, If we focus too much on revolutionizing and democratizing or any such big-picture thoughts, we forget about what we have to do right in front of us, which is to make a damn pretty picture!The visual effects supervisor remains the bridge in understanding and communicating the capabilities of the LED volume to the other heads of the departments. From Time Bandits. (Image courtesy of Dimension Studio, DNEG and Apple TV+)

Last month we saw quite a few adventure games spring into action. What game from last months lineup was a fresh start? Some of the big new releases included Assassins Creed Shadows, MLB The Show 25, Hitman World of Assassination (PS VR2), and Split Fiction.How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. After the polls close we will tally your votes, and announce the winner on our social channels and PlayStation.Blog.What is the voting criteria? Thats up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? Note: re-released games dont qualify, but remakes do. We define remakes as ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds such as Resident Evil 4 (2023) and Final Fantasy VII Remake.How are nominees decided? The PlayStation Blog editorial team will gather a list of that months most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll.

In Psycho Patrol R, social media is a lot like cocaine. While doomscrolling isnt technically illegal in the games universe, it is punishable by lethal force when done in excess.The latest from Consumer Softproducts, the independent studio run by Finnish multimedia artist-designer Ville Kallio, Psycho Patrol R is a cyberpunk immersive sim shooter made up of extremes. Extreme violence, extreme aesthetics, extreme gameplay variety and open-world potential. Given all its moving parts, the fact that it coheres as well as it does feels exhilarating once you take the time to attune yourself to its quirks and peculiar rhythms. And while, as of this writing, the early access build of the game is currently unfinished, the moment-to-moment experience is already something to behold.Set in an alternate year 2000 in Pan-Europa, a conglomerate nation teetering on the brink of collapse, Psycho Patrol R is described by Kallio as a policing and punishment simulator. Players assume the role of a rookie officer of the European Federal Police, assigned to work in the organizations experimental new law enforcement unit known as Psycho Patrol. Your mission? Discipline, punish, and protect, in that order.Led by an enigmatic bureaucrat obsessed with the fringe theories of Viennese psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich, Psycho Patrols purpose is nothing short of de-Hitlerifying the EFP from the inside out. In addition to rehabilitating the organizations image, Psycho Patrols official mandate is combating psychohazards, malignant thought viruses caused by unhealthy hyperfixations elicited through social media usage or illicit psychoactive substances that, if left unchecked, can manifest into violent criminal behavior.If that sounds bizarre, it is. I havent even mentioned Bion, the friendly neuro-homunculus spawned by your latent psychosexual energy who sounds like Navi from Ocarina of Time; the interdepartmental drama between Psycho Patrol and the militant Anti-Cocaine Task Force, which still punishes cocaine usage in spite of its legality; or even the fact that you pilot a giant bipedal mech with chicken legs called a V-Stalker thats armed with interchangeable, high-caliber weapons. Oh, and dont forget the hexadecimal-based hacking system, or the in-game stock market thats reactive to the choices and outcomes of your missions, or the roving militias of involuntary celibates and random drive-by aggressors who will shoot you on sight. Its a mad, mad world, and you are but a tiny cog in the blood-slicked machinery of the state.As if Psycho Patrol R couldnt be any more explicit about its themes, the exterior of the EFP headquarters resembles two of the most infamous real-life examples of Italian fascist architecture: the Palace of Italian Civilization and the Palazzo Braschi, a neoclassical palace that was renovated into the headquarters of Mussolinis Italian Fascist Party in 1934. At nearly every juncture of my initial playthrough, I found myself asking two questions: Can the masters tools be used to dismantle the masters house (the answer: lol no), and just what kind of cop am I? The latter is yet to be determined, but given that the motto of the EFP is Circulation of blood is circulation of power, Im sure you can venture a guess as to where the players actions are meant to align on the political spectrum.Psycho Patrol R doesnt waste any time ingratiating you to its dizzying array of systems and subsystems. After choosing one of six character archetypes, each with their own unique stats, youre thrust into the bureaucratic maw of the EFP immediately as you spawn in your office with gun in hand. From there, youll spend most of your initial moments floundering through EFP headquarters, accidentally kicking through doors instead of opening them, yapping with your co-workers, and eventually making your way over to your bosss office in order to receive your first mission as a member of Psycho Patrol. To be fair, the game does include a handy quick start guide in your menu screen with a list of beginner tips and default control settings, which is a lot more than can be said of Kallios previous game, Cruelty Squad.When Cruelty Squad launched back in 2021, it hit with all the subtlety of a Molotov lobbed at the broadside of a police cruiser. Casting players in the role of an augmented assassin forced to carry out corporate liquidations at the behest of demonic CEOs, Cruelty Squad was unambiguously anticapitalistic in its conceit, satirizing the myopic death drive of corporate greed and the dehumanizing infrastructure of the gig economy. Combined with an abrasive, maximalist art style of bright, clashing textures and the leering, dead-eyed NPCs inspired by low-poly 3D games from the 90s, you had an experience that was honest to God unlike anything else released at that time. It was horrible; it was beautiful. People hated it and yet couldnt get enough of it, myself included.More than three years in the making, Psycho Patrol R builds on the success of its predecessor without feeling beholden to it. While they might appear similar at a glance, it doesnt take long for this new game to distinguish itself from Cruelty Squad. For instance, youre not playing an assassin in this game; youre playing a mid-level bureaucrat cop with a bipedal mech and an unofficial mandate to do what thou wilt within the whole of your authority. Put simply: You cant just shoot everyone on sight; you actually have to talk to people to round up information and make informed decisions as to when and where exactly you can shoot everyone on sight. Unlike Cruelty Squad, Psycho Patrol R leans wholesale into the open-ended design philosophy of immersive sim shooters, giving you multiple options aside from violence in achieving your objectives.Furthermore, the thematic priorities of Psycho Patrol R, while complementary to that games critique of capitalism, are not exactly the same. The primary concern of Kallios second game is not so much with capitalism as it is with the twilight of globalism, the threat of total information collapse, the end of all consensus reality, and the naked hypocrisy of law enforcement attempting to launder its reputation while practicing the same tactics of violence to uphold order.If you liked Cruelty Squad, or enjoy inventive immersive sims in general, youll likely enjoy and perhaps even grow to love Psycho Patrol R with time. However, bear in mind that even if you love Cruelty Squad, that doesnt necessarily mean that youll immediately be proficient at this game. You will die a lot. You will fail a lot. But what lies on the other side of all that failure and confusion is an unabashedly idiosyncratic game that, while unfinished, is already shaping up to be an experience thats more than the sum of its peculiar parts.Psycho Patrol R was released March 24 in early access on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a copy purchased by the author. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygons ethics policy here.

Scorpion, from the fighting game series Mortal Kombat, has entered Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 2 as a boss.Depending on where Scorpion spawns, he can be extremely difficult to fight as youll need to deal with the terrain and other incoming players. However, once you learn how to deal with his moves and the terrain, Scorpion becomes much easier to deal with.Heres where to find Scorpion and how to beat him in Fortnite.Where to find Scorpion in FortniteScorpion can spawn at one of three Mortal Kombat locations at the start of the match in Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 2. To find out where you can find Scorpion, open your map to find an icon of Scorpions face, which will mark where Scorpion will spawn.When you arrive at the location, interact with the Mortal Kombat-inscribed gong to spawn Scorpion.How to beat Scorpion in FortniteScorpion is a fairly difficult boss to beat, but not due to his own abilities. The locations that Scorpion can spawn in particularly The Pit can be quite deadly. Since Scorpion is a new boss, players are flocking to his spawn location to test their might.Before facing Scorpion (and other challengers), we recommend that you gather some weapons, ammo, and shields, and learn about some of Scorpions most troublesome moves:Scorpion brought his iconic spear to Fortnite, and will pull you in closer to him. If you get hit, make sure to immediately back away and keep your distance.Scorpion will leap into the area and disappear before slamming onto the ground. Once he leaps into the air, make sure to keep moving to avoid the slam as it will knock you back. This attack is especially dangerous on The Pit as youll fall to your death.If youre fighting on The Pit, we recommend that you try to move in a straight line parallel to the bridge. Its surprisingly easy to fall to your death!Scorpions other attacks arent as worrisome as long as you have a full set of shields. Try to keep your distance as much as possible Scorpion likes to punch, kick, and combo your health away. Similar to other Fortnite bosses, spray and pray while aiming at the head to deal more damage until you successfully take down Scorpion.Once defeated, Scorpion will drop the following rewards:First Blood MedallionMythic Scorpions Kombat KitEpic Collateral Damage Assault RifleChug Jug

On the third floor of a building in the heart of Paris 9th arrondissement, the compact 344-square-foot BERGRE Paris IX apartment has undergone a remarkable transformation, thanks to the work of Emilie Magdelaine Interiors. Drawing inspiration from the elegance and comfort of a high-end hotel suite, the designer has reimagined the space, balancing sophistication with practicality while ensuring that every inch is thoughtfully utilized.The vision behind the renovation was to create a refined, yet welcoming environment where furniture, artwork, and decorative objects take center stage. Despite the apartments limited size, every detail was carefully considered to avoid visual clutter while maintaining a sense of warmth and style. The result is a space that feels polished but never ostentatious, where simplicity enhances the beauty of the curated elements within.A neutral color palette forms the foundation of this transformation, allowing the furnishings and decor to infuse the space with personality and vibrancy. The walls are painted in Farrow & Balls Strong White, a cool shade with subtle gray undertones, providing a crisp backdrop. Meanwhile, the headboard features Elephant Breath, a warm gray hue that echoes the texture and tone of the fluted bathroom tiles, seamlessly linking the bedroom and bathroom aesthetics.A delicate balance of straight lines and gentle curves defines the design language of the apartment. The clean lines of the baseboards and the sofa contrast beautifully with the rounded forms of the fluted headboard, the textured bathroom tiles, and the curved legs of the coffee table. This interplay of geometry adds visual interest while maintaining a cohesive atmosphere.The thoughtful use of materials further enhances this balance. Brushed stainless steel accents seen in light switches, door handles, curtain rods, and lighting fixtures lend a modern edge, while timeless Carrara marble, featured on the coffee table, kitchen countertop, and bathroom tiles, brings a sense of classic luxury. These materials create continuity throughout the apartment, tying together different areas with a sense of understated elegance.To optimize the compact layout, strategic decisions were made to utilize space efficiently. The kitchen, now positioned near the entrance, features custom cabinetry with IKEA pedestals and &SHUFL fronts in a raw finish black for the base units and light gray for the upper cabinets. Despite its small footprint, the kitchen is fully equipped with a sink, two burners, an oven, and a fridge, making it both functional and stylish.The bedroom was relocated to the former kitchen area, with a custom-designed headboard extending to ceiling height, offering both visual impact and additional storage. A trunk bed by Tediber provides hidden storage, maximizing space without compromising comfort. The bathroom was reconfigured to include a space-saving roller shutter door and a central partition that separates the toilet and shower, maintaining functionality while enhancing privacy. A transparent, reflective glass door ensures that natural light filters into the space, creating an airy feel even in the most compact areas.Lighting plays a pivotal role in enhancing the perception of space and adding warmth. In the living area, two mirrors were positioned above the shelves to reflect daylight without directing the viewers eye toward their own reflection, subtly enlarging and brightening the room. In the bedroom, a mirrored upper section of the headboard amplifies the light, while an artwork by Thomas Devaux, featuring dichroic glass, introduces dynamic reflections that generate their own glow, adding an ethereal dimension to the space.To see more from Emilie Magdelaine, visit emiliemagdelaine.fr.Photography by Florian Wattier, courtesy of Emilie Magdelaine.

If we ever find ourselves in need of a comforting beverage, there should be nothing that stands in the way. No more a bitter tea drinker or an overextracted coffee fan, BALMUDA offers a beautiful and functional response to the woes of beverage making, eliminating all pain points with a modern finish. Modeled to resemble a traditional tea vessel, take your morning routine to the next level with the MoonKettle.The MoonKettle offers precise temperature adjustment, with a range of 122 to 212 degrees. This allows for home baristas to dial in on their favorite drinks, learning to hone their skills to create even more fantastic beverages. A precise, accurately pouring spout is a gamechanger when it comes to making coffee and tea at home. With matcha, it helps ensure there are no finicky clumps at the bottom. With a pour-over, the ground beans can be saturated equally, minimizing overextration and bitterness. The rate of water also is key, some kettles intentionally restricting the flow of water for more even distribution and therefore balanced taste.The electric kettle holds one liter of water and features a strong seal to minimize the leakage of steam, while allowing for easy opening and closing with one hand as needed. LED lighting resembles flickering flames as if over a fire, while alerting the user to its boiling status. MoonKettle is outfitted with various sound options, including a Kyoto-inspired piano, a xylophone inspired by Japanese gardens, and a Chinese night market-inspired string instrument.In addition to black, the MoonKettle comes in white, creating a sense of peace and calm very much associated with the tea brewing process. This light, crisp white accentuates the carefully wrought curves of the MoonKettle, inspired by generations of tea culture that came before it.Gen Terao founded BALMUDA in Tokyo in 2003, releasing the x-base in the hopes of creating the most beautiful products on the market. Realizing that goal pretty thoroughly throughout the years, extensive research is conducted to make sure each product performs well, looks even better, and really lasts. This ideal has stayed with them throughout the decades, offering a range of thoughtful accessories that nestle in comfortably with existing accessories. Terao remarks, I believe that artistic value, which cannot be quantified, is what enriches life. BALMUDA creates ideas based on this belief.To learn more about the MoonKettle from BALMUDA, please visit balmuda.com.Photography courtesy of BALMUDA.

When venturing out into the wilds of the modern web, many people now make use of a VPN, or a Virtual Private Network. These software packages have been around for decades as ways of securely connecting to private networks remotely, but the term is now more commonly used to refer to third-party VPN services that act as intermediaries between your devices and the internet at large.The idea behind VPNs is they keep you and your data safer while you're browsing, with a trade-off in terms of speed (though the best VPNs will aim to minimize the hit on download and upload transfer rates). If you're wondering what exactly a VPN is, how these services work, and whether or not you should be signed up for one, you'll find all of these questions and more answered below.Why use a VPN?Using a VPN is beneficial in terms of both security and privacy. VPNs create an encrypted tunnel between you and dedicated servers run by the VPN company. Your traffic is then sent down that tunnel, and your VPN service of choice then sends it on to websites or other servers. Traffic going in the other direction travels back in the same way.This tunnel offers several protections. It means it's a lot harder for people on the same wifi network as you at the local coffee shop or the hotel you're staying in to see what you're up toso VPNs are often deployed by users when they're traveling and connecting to numerous public wifi networks. VPNs can let you pretend you're in places you're not. Credit: Lifehacker Connecting to a VPN also means your traffic is hidden from your internet service provider, or ISP. Your ISP can see you're connecting to the VPN, but nothing beyond thatso it's impossible for your ISP or any of its staff to snoop on you or keep logs. It also means ISPs are more limited in terms of what they can tell government agencies and law enforcement.Another reason for using VPNs is to conceal or spoof your location: Websites can only see the location of the VPN server you're using, not your actual location. That means they can't track your whereabouts as easily, and in the case of streaming services, might serve up different libraries of content depending on where your VPN server is (though streaming services are pretty wise to VPNs now, so this doesn't always work).How VPNs workand their limitationsThat idea of an encrypted tunnel covers the basics of how VPNs work: You connect to a VPN server, then it connects to the web for you. When data comes back, it first goes to the VPN server, and then to your device. VPN providers will tell you how many servers they have and in how many countrieseach time you connect to the VPN, you can typically choose which server to connect to, or have one assigned automatically.If you want to stay safe on a public wifi network, it's best to connect to a server in your countryit'll be faster. If you want to pretend you're in another country, or would like to stop websites and apps from knowing where you are, you can pick a server somewhere else. Some VPNs let you double-up servers for extra security. If you connect to a lot of wifi networks, VPNs can help keep you safe. Credit: Lifehacker It's important to recognize the limitations of how VPNs work, too. Your location aside, they aren't going to stop a lot of the tracking tech you'll find on the web, such as cookiesand of course if you log into your Amazon account, Amazon will know it's you. VPNs don't offer anonymity cloaks.In addition, you're essentially transferring your trust from your ISP to a VPN provider: Your ISP provider can't see your traffic, but your VPN service potentially can. What's more, VPNs are under the same legal obligations as ISPs when it comes to giving data to government and law enforcement agencies. With that in mind, it's important to pick a VPN you trust.How to choose a VPNAs noted above, VPNs aren't above the law, and can see the traffic they're ferrying for you. With that in mind, it's important to look for a VPN with an independently audited "no logs" policymeaning none of your data is kept permanently. That means there's less information that can be exposed or handed over to the authorities, if they come knocking.It's a crucial part of choosing a VPN, so VPN providers will usually promote "no logs" policies quite prominently. Read the policies for ExpressVPN and NordVPN, for example: You'll see mention of independent auditors, technologies that scrub data automatically, and operations that are based in countries where data retention laws are less strict (which means VPNs aren't legally obliged to keep records on their users). See what VPN providers say about their data retention policies. Credit: Lifehacker There are lots of other criteria to use when weighing which VPN provider to go for. As previously mentioned, you can look for how many servers a provider offers, and where they're based. You can also check up on the promised speeds, as well as the basics of how much you're going to have to pay and what else you get included (maybe dark-web monitoring for data breaches, for example, or a bundled password manager).Make sure you check how many devices you can connect to the VPN service at any one time, as this will varyand some VPNs may not even have apps for every platform. You can also look at what you get in terms of customer service and support if something goes wrong. And don't forget to consult reviews from trustworthy tech publications, too.How much VPNs costAs with most digital subscription decisions, cost is likely to be a big factor in your choice. Free VPNs are available, though they'll usually be cut-down versions of paid-for packages, with limitations on how many connections you can make and the speeds you're going to get in terms of uploads and downloads.Considering how important VPNs are, in terms of trusting them with your data, it's a good idea to avoid free ones if you canat least if it's not clear how they're making their money. There are trustworthy free VPN packages around, and we've listed some of them here, but make sure you go for a well-known name with a long history. Check the deal length and bundled features when comparing VPN prices. Credit: Lifehacker If you are able to pay for a VPN, make sure you weigh everything you get with your subscription: the number of available servers, the number of compatible devices, the length of the deal you have to sign up for, the customer support on offer, the bonus software included. Comparing prices is tricky because each VPN provider offers different packages for your money.While subscription tiers and pricing are changing all the timelook out for introductory deals if you're just signing uphere are a few offers available at the time of writing to give you a general idea: ExpressVPN is $12.95 a month, NordVPN is $12.99 a month, ProtonVPN is $9.99 a month, and TunnelBear is $9.99 a month. As usual, you can get lower monthly pricing by signing up for a year or two, and varying tiers with varying features are available on these services.Should you use a VPN?There's no doubt that using a VPN on your phone or your laptop means your data is more secure and more private: The question is whether it's worth paying for another subscription. It certainly gives you extra peace of mind if you're on the go a lot, and often bouncing between different public wifi networks. For secure travel, and accessing services from abroad, VPNs are definitely appealing.Then there's the ISP issue: These big internet companies keep much more detailed records than most VPNs do. If you'd rather as little of your browsing activity was logged as possible, then a VPN might be the way to go (though again, this applies to activity logged by ISPs, and not necessarily advertising companies or websites). VPNs can offer extra peace of mind. Credit: Lifehacker You've also got the built-in protection for your locationyour IP addressand the ability to spoof locations to some extent, which can be helpful if you're in a place with tightly regulated internet, or where your usual streaming services aren't available. Bear in mind, though, that as soon as you log into Google or Netflix, they know who you are and which country you live in anyway.VPN providers are usually falling over themselves to offer free trials or introductory offers, so there's no harm in signing up for a package and seeing how it suits youand how much you actually use it. You could even sign up for a couple at a time and compare them in terms of online speeds and the quality of their apps.

Take a moment to list all the digital accounts you've signed up for, and it's probably more than you realized: email, social media, banking, streaming services, cloud storage, music, gaming, and fitness...it adds up. But using the same login credentials for every service is a bad idea, and if you reuse passwords across accounts, let me summarize the simplest advice you should take away from this article: You shouldn't. But, of course, it's nearly impossible to remember as many unique usernames and secure passwords as you need for your various accounts. That's where password managers come in.Password managers hide your various login credentials behind one main username and password so that logging into the password manager gives you access to everything else. It's a secure alternative to writing your passwords down or saving them in a spreadsheet, and more reliable than your memory. They can often store other data, toothink credit card numbers, PIN codes, and authenticator keysand may also give you extra features like scanning data breaches for your credentials. If you've yet to switch to a password manager, consider this a sign to get started. It can be intimidating at first, but getting started may be easier than you think.Some of the most important password manager featuresPassword managers are all slightly different, but you'll find many of the same features across brands. First and foremost, they store your passwordsoften popping up inside web browsers and on phones whenever you need to log into an accountand provide you with your login credentials with one click or tap. As sign-in technologies have evolved, though, so have password managers. Many can now also help with two-factor authentication codes and passkeys for websites or apps that need more than just a username and password. At the same time, these password managers are secured with a main username and password you need to rememberand often with biometric authentication, too. The best password managers work seamlessly across devices. Credit: NordPass Most password managers will also suggest strong passwords for new accounts: Passwords that mix up random special characters, letters, and numbers, so they're extremely difficult to hack. With a password manager, you don't actually need to know what your passwords arethe program handles everything. You'll often see password managers offer additional security features as well, ranging from notifying you of duplicate passwords, to dark web monitoring for your email addresses, usernames, or passwords. If your login details appear in a data breach, you get an alert about it, and you can change them.How password managers secure your dataYou might wonder how password managers make sure your passwords are securely and privately locked away. Details vary between software packages, but they'll invariably use end-to-end encryption, with your main password as the decryption key, meaning that means no one elsefrom hackers to password manager developers to government agenciescan access your details without that password. Additional security measures are often implemented as well. Take 1Password as an example: It uses PBKDF2 (Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2) key strengthening, which, in simple terms, means that passwords are obscure enough that it would take decades to crack. It also gives users a secret key, known only to them, that works as an extra security layer on top of your password. A host of encryption and other security layers are applied to your password vault. Credit: LastPass In other words, you can't just use your pet's name as your password manager password. Extra security layers, including two-factor authentication and biometric scans, are often added too. Where your credentials need to be synced across multiple devices, strong encryption protocols are again deployed. Without your password, the data is useless, and only you know your password.Most password managers now combine local and cloud storage options, because we all need our passwords on so many devices. However, it's worth bearing in mind that the fewer places you have your password manager installed, the less chance there is of someone else gaining access to itso some users just keep their password manager on their phone.Why you should use a password managerSimply put, using a password manager is a whole lot more secure than other options, like listing them in a Google Doc. Say, for example, that you left your laptop unlocked and someone sat down at it. With a Google Doc, that person would be more likely to access your password document than they would a password manager where they would need extra security clearance. Apple and Google have their own password manager options. Credit: Lifehacker The free offerings from Google and Apple have improved significantly in recent years, but they still don't quite offer the level of protection, breadth of features, and cross-platform support of the best dedicated password managers. One example: In the case of Google Password Manager, on-device encryption (meaning that you manage the decryption key locally, as with a password manager, rather than Google managing it) remains an optional extra that you have to enable, rather than enabled by default.Given the protection and features that come with dedicated password managers, it's typically worth most people investing in one. Some software packages offer a free tier, but they may be limited in terms of the features you get and the number of devices you can use them on. You can expect to pay a few bucks per month for most apps, but you can also look for bundled deals that include VPNs and adblockers, for instance. Whatever brand or package you choose, though, you should begin using a password manager. You get a private password vault, a host of protections to keep it safe, and added features like data breach monitoring and strong password generators. Plus, the best password managers sync seamlessly across all of your devices, ready when you need them.

Apples Find My feature has finally been enabled in South Korea, according to a company announcement translated byApple Insider. This comes after years of public demand in which the finding network tool was absent from the country. The omission was especially odd when you consider that Apple sold AirTags throughout the region. Without Find My, they are basically just puck-shaped paperweights.The company never explicitly stated why it limited access to Find My in South Korea, but it appeared to be related to local laws that could have allowed the government access to the location data. The service first appeared during a beta test of iOS 18.4, but the official software update makes it available to everyone in the country. Find My has long been functional in South Koreas outlying territories like Baengnyeongdo and Ulleungdo."Find My is an important tool that allows users to grasp the location of the most precious things to them, such as friends, family and personal items, and I am very happy to be able to introduce this function to Korea," said David Dorn, senior director of Apple's service products, in a statement on the company's local website.The modern iteration of Find My launched in the US in 2019 as part of iOS 13. However, the tool actually dates back to a service called Find My iPhone that started in 2010. Apple recently expanded functionality to let users share the location of a lost item with other people on the network. This is helpful when negotiating the return of a lost item with a stranger.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apples-find-my-has-finally-launched-in-south-korea-151437244.html?src=rss