'It was great to be able to say, does this feel like the right size?' says Stockhausen. But it also allowed Stockhausen to make sure the set would meet practical considerations. Wandering through this virtual preview of the planned sets not only allowed Spielberg to consider creative choices such as angles and lighting.

And before the real-life set was even built, the filmmakers made a VR version to preview what the real thing would look like. It was built as a traditional physical set, but the resulting footage was then enhanced with digital set extension to make it look bigger (and cooler). The IOI rig room is an example of how real sets and CG technology are enmeshed in modern movies such as Ready Player One. Spielberg and Stockhausen donned VR headsets to achieve this, entering the virtual environment just like the characters in the movie. Virtual reality came into the process when the filmmakers wanted to get a better feel for the CG environments than from looking at them on a screen. Instead of being built on an actual soundstage, ILM created the backdrops of the Oasis scenes as three-dimensional computer-generated (CG) constructs.

But for the scenes set in the Oasis, the sketches went to what Stockhausen calls a 'virtual art department' involving visual effects companies Digital Domain and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).

For the parts of the film set in the real world, the art department turned these sketches into blueprints mapping out physical sets.

Simple, right? Industrial Light & MagicĪs on most projects, the production designer and his team began by collecting reference images to spark inspiration, before sketching ideas and concept art. In this scene from Ready Player One, the characters watch a virtual replay of real-life events.

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