How Phish turned Las Vegas’ Sphere into the ultimate music visualizer

“We started with the idea of doing 70 percent pre-rendered scenes, which is done more in a traditional way with CG and all, and 30 percent real time using Unreal Engine and Notch and some AI,” Jean said. By the time the shows rolled around, that balance ended up looking more like 50/50.

Moment Factory also built a mini-dome for test viewings at its Montreal home base. When not there, the company’s artists and designers spent many hours in virtual reality, working with a digital representation of the Sphere to sample how their visualizations and CGI set pieces would look from every angle in the place. “As much as we can prepare for a show like this, there’s no way we can see the outcome before it’s happening in real time,” Jean said. Reading that vibe and responding to it is where the Unreal and Notch-powered animations can prove valuable.