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Technology has been one of the key pillars of successful businesses today. disguise is one of the companies that have not only embraced advanced tech but pioneered it to deliver spectacular visual experiences.
Since 2000, disguise has been pioneering new technology in the live events industry and was the first to deliver show-stopping visuals at concerts for the likes of Massive Attack and U2. Back then disguise’s software allowed the integration of content across all fixtures—including lighting and video. Also, the disguise server handled live camera footage from four SDI sources; compositing them together into a single canvas. disguise’s powerful capability for media playback was seen when its software could previsualize every pixel to perfection while its hardware delivered the creative vision reliably and without fail for shows that must go on.
The success of these initial shows plus many after that meant that disguise became a mainstay in the live events industry—which is an extremely important part of disguise’s heritage.
Over the years, disguise has grown into one of the leading platforms for creative and technical professionals to imagine, create and deliver the world’s most spectacular visual experiences. The company aims to be at the heart of every inspiring experience in the world and the team is collectively striving to achieve it every day.
disguise combines versatile software and robust hardware technology to help its users design, sequence, and control the world’s most spectacular productions. disguise offers training and support so its customers can make the best use of the technology and nurtures a powerful and collaborative environment where artists and technologists can bring their shared vision to life. In its two-decade-long history in the industry, disguise has backed several, renowned live events like global concert tours for artists like U2 and Beyoncé, festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury, and theatre productions like Frozen and Harry Potter.
Similar platforms might be available but the distinguishing factor for disguise is that its technology delivers the most reliable end-to-end solution that allows its users to make changes in their production on-the-fly and maintain ultimate control of all elements.
With the rise in remote production, disguise has expanded its solution offering to Extended Reality (xR). Since the first memorable realization of disguise xR by XR Studios for Katy Perry’s performance of ‘Daisies’ in the 2020 American Idol finale, disguise xR has been used to power over 600 projects around the world, including the Billie Eilish: Where Do We Go Livestream, coverage of the UEFA Euro football tournament and the Tokyo Olympics, the 2020 MTV VMAs, and even to spice up Walmart’s and SAP’s corporate conferences.
disguise xR is built for the future. With companies aiming to reduce their carbon footprint, production teams need to collaborate remotely and events need to become adapted for a virtual audience. Through disguise’s extended reality solution, the entertainment industry can not only minimize the carbon footprint but also cut the costs spent on production while still delivering high production quality and wow factor.
Through disguise’s Designer software, users can pre-visualize their projects, while disguise’s proprietary RenderStream infrastructure seamlessly manages the rendering, tracking, and synchronization of content – thereby significantly simplifying system deployment and operations. disguise also has a close relationship with the creators of Unreal Engine – owned by Epic Games. In the last two years, both teams have been working together to develop the RenderStream plugin for Unreal Engine that would allow disguise users to take advantage of the latest version of Unreal Engine from day one with minimal configuration.
Staying aligned with the latest trends of virtual innovations, disguise is using its capabilities and experience in the mixed reality space to forge a new path in the metaverse. Recently, there has been a rising inclination towards richer, and more immersive experiences delivered via the metaverse. Though Goldman Sachs has already declared metaverse as an $8 trillion opportunity, companies are still struggling with the technical elements needed to start building these new experiences. disguise’s Metaverse Solutions division is built on existing disguise solutions, to empower live events, audio-visual, location-based experiences, and virtual production content so businesses can start taking advantage of the unique opportunities the metaverse has to offer.
disguise’s recently-launched Metaverse Solutions division is powered by experimentation spaces known as disguise Labs. This will be a gateway to the metaverse – empowering the launch of next-generation experiences on web 3.0.
disguise has a good appetite for risk and in the past few years, it has been expanding into new markets while pushing the boundaries of technological innovation. These efforts have significantly increased the company’s turnover resulting in backing from investment firm Carlyle Group, with Epic Games taking a minority stake. In 2022, disguise was awarded “The Queens Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2022”, which is the highest accolade for UK-based businesses.
“Our history in live events means we have built our technology to be used in an environment where there is no room for error,” shared Fernando Küfer, CEO at disguise.
Fernando’s mission is to put disguise at the heart of every inspiring visual experience in the world, enabling anyone to realise their creative vision. Since joining disguise, Fernando has led the company on a continuous growth and expansion journey, opening locations all over the world, and growing the team year-on-year.
Fernando brings eighteen years of executive and leadership experience across retail and manufacturing, having worked and led in five countries. Prior to disguise, he was CEO at A2B Bikes, and has also held CFO and senior financial roles at Ultra Motor, L’Oréal, The Body Shop, Gillette (now P&G) and Lidl Spain. He has a BA in International Business Studies and speaks seven languages.
He adds, “disguise is fearless. We will make bold decisions in our development and go where nobody has gone before.”
Right now, the team at disguise is building the tools to access the metaverse. “The rollout of our Metaverse Solutions division will be a major gamechanger. Our unique metaverse experimentation spaces, disguise Labs, will be driving this,” shares Fernando.
Led by disguise Chief of Staff Abi Bowman, disguise Labs was first established in New Zealand by Sam Folkard (Head of Labs New Zealand), and now it will be expanding to bring together local partners in key locations such as Los Angeles, New York, South Korea, London, and Montreal. Lara Bowen, disguise’s Global Head of Labs, will be leading Labs’ global expansion.
disguise is also actively working to expand its offering to empower remote and cloud-based collaboration. Last year the company acquired leading 3D content pre-visualization platforms Mapping Matter and Previz, and this year it acquired Polygon Labs, representing the next step in disguise’s move towards this future of virtual experiences. Fernando concludes, “We will diligently strive and work together and with our community of users to imagine, create and deliver the impossible.”
Quote:
“Combining the leading experience production software with powerful media server hardware, disguise empowers brands, artists and production houses to tell stories that inspire their audiences.”
Learn more: www.disguise.one
