NYU Tandon @ The Yard

NYU Tandon @ The Yard leverages the Emerging Media expertise of NYU Tandon School of Engineering with industry and media partners across the country to create a new media hub and must-visit facility within the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Our goals are to advance integrative research in AR/VR/XR, virtual production, and other topics relevant to experiential computing; provide our industry partners with first-hand contact with both NYU faculty and students and cultural and media organizations in New York City and beyond; and bring research-grade emerging technology within reach of media, entertainment, and cultural sectors of the city, allowing companies, museums and other arts organizations, and independent creatives to have an equitable platform in which to engage in new tools and techniques.

NYU Tandon @ The Yard is a 14,000 square foot production and research facility, consisting of two production studios as well as other systems for working with emerging media technology.

Motion Capture Studio

Our motion capture stage is the second largest in New York City: 40'x35' (30' tall) equipped with a 24-camera Optitrak Prime 13 motion capture system along with facial and hand tracking equipment. The stage has a high definition projection system as well as a large virtual production “kit” consisting of a 30-foot LED wall, camera equipment, and other equipment developed in partnership with Final Pixel. The stage has a control booth, green room, and other amenities to support professional capture.

Volumetric Capture Studio

Our volumetric capture stage consists of a 8’ diameter capture area for a 21-camera Evercoast system, supporting both streaming and cloud-based rendering of volumetric capture data up to 30fps.

Post-production Facilities

The facility supports the cleaning and post-production of motion capture and volumetric data, as well as production integration into the Unreal Engine. 

Other Equipment

NYU Tandon @ The Yard also has equipment to support development and research in emerging media, including:

• a robotic motion base for prototyping cyber-physical interactions; 
• a full suite of current XR equipment for virtual and augmented reality, including social VR; 
• a Dolby Atmos system for working with spatial audio; 
• a “Belfast-method” style broadcast system for working with real-time streaming technologies; 
• desk production space for ~60 MS/PhD students, as well as meeting and touchdown space for faculty, staff, and industry partners.

NYU Tandon @ The Yard hosts both graduate-level studio courses in emerging media as part of the MS degree in Integrated Design & Media (IDM) and Professional Education programs, including our bundle of Virtual Production courses, developed with support from Epic Games.

NYU Tandon @ The Yard hosts regular events, meetups, and workshops open to the public. Drop us a line and we’ll put you on our mailing list.

Production and event rentals

NYU Tandon @ The Yard is available for production rentals and consultations with NYU Tandon students working as production technicians and consultants. We are also available to host meetups, corporate offsites, and other events. Discounted rates are available for non-profit organizations to use our facilities. If you’re working on a production and think we can help, please get in touch.

NYU Tandon @ The Yard is the only facility of its kind on the East Coast that can represent the human form in Extended Reality (XR) in so many ways (volumetric, mocap, live performance). Unlike most emerging media facilities universities, we prototype across all industries, not just film. We are the only emerging media facility at this scale housed within an R1 engineering school, with the ability to engage meaningfully with sponsored research as well as industry.

NYU Tandon @ The Yard is actively interested in working with industry and cultural partners working in emerging technologies. We’d love to hear from you and see how we can work together. Get in touch: tandonattheyard@nyu.edu

Studio Partners

Client Partners