Ted acted on the set of his new show thanks to AR

The Future.Ted, the CGI stuffed bear, was really on the set of Seth MacFarlane’s new prequel sitcom for Peacock, thanks to Fuzzy Door Productions’ proprietary AR technology dubbed “ViewScreen Studio.” With the tech already being licensed out to other production companies, MacFarlane may have created his own version of George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic.

Teddy wrangler
Ted, the show, may have changed the game for how CGI characters interact with their human co-stars.

• ViewScreen Studio uses AR to project digital characters through the camera’s view so that the crew can see how scenes will actually play with the characters in them.
• This tech allows MacFarlane, who plays Ted while also directing, to have his facial expressions captured in real time and projected onto the digital bear in frame, which is manipulated by crew members using a video game controller.
• MacFarlane is able to do that without having to wear a motion capture suit or even leave his workstation.

Crucially, just because something is filmed with the digital characters inserted doesn’t mean that those shots are locked as final. VFX artists can still tweak them, as they did with Ted, at any point in the process.