Lightcraft Technology unveils Spark Story at Siggraph 2026, a browser-based interactive previsualisation tool designed to streamline and democratise scene planning for film and television production, with real-time compositing and open-standard integration.
Lightcraft Technology used Siggraph 2026 to push Spark Story, an interactive previsualisation tool that aims to cut the cost and complexity of planning film and television shots. The system runs in a browser and on mobile devices, and is designed for directors, cinematographers, producers and virtual production supervisors who want to block out scenes collaboratively from the earliest stage of a project. According to Lightcraft, the platform can use scripts, Gaussian splats, imported USD assets and camera movement to generate live, editable previs quickly, with a rolling beta now under way ahead of a planned autumn release and a monthly price of $29.95.
The company is positioning Spark Story as the first module in a wider production platform rather than a stand-alone app. Lightcraft says Spark acts as a shared production record that links scenes, shots, assets, scans, takes and lens data in one graph. Spark Story covers early design work, while Jetset handles on-set capture. The company has been building that system around open standards, including USD, USDZ and standard Gaussian splat formats, so it can sit alongside existing pipelines instead of forcing a wholesale replacement.
A central feature of the new release is real-time compositing. Lightcraft says users can place live performers inside virtual environments during a shoot and see the composite immediately, with each take then synchronised back into the browser and matched to the correct scene and script section. The company also says Spark now supports a 3D asset and environment library, direct USD file loading and improved iOS capture, including 4K recording at 24 and 25 frames a second. That matters because it allows previs to become a practical production tool rather than a static planning exercise.
Eliot Mack, Lightcraft’s co-founder and chief executive, said the booth response at Siggraph was dominated by senior visitors, including virtual production leads, previs specialists, VFX supervisors, studio executives and educators. He said the platform’s appeal lies partly in the demo format, which builds a live shot in front of visitors, and partly in a wider shift in the industry as new films draw attention to more ambitious, lower-cost production methods. Mack argues that the economic case is strongest for independent filmmakers, for whom prep time often determines whether a project can be made at all.
Lightcraft’s broader pitch is that Spark Story can reduce wasted shoot time, compress previs cycles from weeks to days and make early visual decisions concrete before money is committed. The company acknowledges that the tool is not a final render engine, but rather a collaboration and previs layer intended to work with downstream finishing workflows. It says beta users are already developing real projects in the system, including feature-length work, and that the first public case studies should follow in the coming months.
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