Evolve Technology is pleased to announce that it has established a strategic partnership with Stype, maker of cutting-edge camera-tracking technology for AR, xR and virtual production for live broadcast or movie production. The new association is based on Evolve’s rent, buy, lease, learn business model in which Evolve will offer rental, lease or purchase options for a full line of Stype products and share its knowledge of the systems through a comprehensive education and training program for customers.

“Stype is an all-inclusive suite of products that stands in the forefront of virtual production today,” says Evolve CEO Tyler Mayne. “It’s a feather in our cap to form a partnership with the market leader in camera-tracking technology. We plan to take a multifaceted approach built around our very successful business model and also showcase Stype in our exciting new turnkey virtual production solution called Canvas.”

“One of the keys to Stype’s leadership position in camera-tracking technology is the company’s ability to stay up-to-date and on pace with the virtual production industry as it changes month to month and even week to week,” notes Eli Loeffel, Director of Solutions at Evolve Technology. ““Stype is already integrated into many large productions and has earned its position as best in class. We’re happy to have Stype on board to fill out our solutions bucket for customers.”

Evolve expects to have Stype’s complete product line available at the Evolve CX customer experience center and technology playground in Atlanta and to offer a large rental inventory in late Q4 2021. The Stype product line includes the RedSpy optical camera-tracking device, the Follower object and people tracking system for physical interaction with graphics, and the new SPYDER markerless tracking system that’s ideal for LED stages.

Stype will be a key component in just-launched Evolve VPS, which develops turnkey studio-based solutions for virtual production. “Until now people have been piecing together virtual production solution stages and looking to multiple manufacturers to support them,” explains Mayne. “Evolve VPS will serve as one point of contact, one source providing a complete portfolio of solutions in one deliverable we call Canvas. An unused virtual production solution stage is like a blank canvas; we sell Canvas and the customer supplies the creative vision to bring Canvas to life. Canvas will be comprised of components from many manufacturers with Stype at the core of the system.”

To deepen the knowledge pool of Stype camera tracking Evolve plans to offer virtual production classes featuring camera-tracking fundamentals as part of its Evolve Academy. “Evolve CX will have in-person training for technicians and customers that maximizes the potential of the product and doesn’t focus on just one workflow,” Loeffel reports. Classes are scheduled to begin in late Q4 2021 and continue to roll out in Q1 2022.

“There will be a big focus on classes – they are highly sought after and in-demand these days,” notes Mayne. “We want to bring in people new to the industry and to retrain live event technicians with the tools they need to work in a new medium. Evolve is a very freelancer-centric company, we love supporting them. The freelancer we train today on Stype RedSpy may be the person looking for pride of ownership tomorrow who comes back to us to invest in equipment and build their own business.”