Editor’s Note: Synapse Virtual Production (in collaboration with Sony) has won the 2025 Commercial Integration Award for Best Higher Education Project! Be sure to visit our official announcement page to see the full gallery of award-winning projects as we update them.
For the project, Synapse Virtual Production and Sony Electronics collaborated with Texas A&M University’s School of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts (PVFA) to deliver a state-of-the-art LED volume installation, purpose-built to empower the next generation of creative technologists, filmmakers and storytellers. The Virtual Production Institute anchors Texas A&M’s commitment to blending education, cinematic storytelling and virtual production workflows within higher education.
How Synapse and Sony Brought The Texas A&M Vision to Life
Texas A&M was looking for more than hardware, they needed a trusted systems integrator who understood both the cutting-edge tech and the academic use cases behind it. Synapse’s track record in education, including work with RIT MAGIC, made them a natural fit. Sony, with its display and camera systems, aligned with this vision from the beginning and provided the technology and collaborative support.
The team designed the LED volume from the ground up to be modular, accessible and highly educational. At its core is Sony’s Crystal LED VERONA wall, integrated with camera tracking systems, real-time engine workflows (Unreal Engine) and color pipelines tuned for cinematic-quality output.
Synapse designed and installed a full pipeline, from ingest to playback, that mirrors professional studio environments. The system allows for hands-on learning with camera-matching, real-time lighting shifts, environment rendering and live compositing. The team optimized every piece of the solution for learning outcomes — balancing high-fidelity output with technical transparency, so students can both create and understand the systems they’re working with.
The stage was also built to scale, says the team. Moreover, future expansion phases are mapped, ensuring TAMU’s campus can grow alongside emerging technology and evolving curriculum needs.
Overcoming Challenges of the Project
The installation occurred between Q3 of 2024 and Q2 of 2025 and involved extensive collaboration between Synapse’s engineering team, Sony’s hardware specialists, university IT/facilities departments and external rigging partners.
Challenges included adapting high-performance studio tech to academic infrastructure, ensuring safety compliance within university parameters, and building systems that could serve both technical research and cinematic production. Other key considerations comprised custom cable runs, HVAC coordination and software tuning for student-friendliness.
Despite a tight turnaround and academic year constraints, the team completed the installation on time and tested with students prior to full curriculum integration.
Synapse & Sony Achieve Great Results at Texas A&M
According to the companies, the result of the project led to a clean, functional and inspiring environment ready for immediate educational use. “Texas A&M’s certification reflects our commitment to shaping the next generation of virtual production professionals while proving that great stages can exist beyond Hollywood. This would not be possible without great partners, and Synapse Virtual Production is a key partner in how we put it all together,” says Tim McLaughlin, dean of the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.
