The show, featuring hosts Craig Doyle, Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora, originates from a virtual set environment created by MOOV that replicates the feel of a loft-style hangout space packed with football memorabilia.

The 3D environment features walls made largely from exposed brick along with industrial-style windows.

Throughout the virtual space are open shelves, glass display cases and wall-mounted installations of various items, including jerseys, team helmets, trophies, banners and framed photos. 

The space features multiple talent configurations, including sitting at a square table with the NFL logo on top or in front of a large virtual video window that has the feel of an oversized monitor — though its scale and ability to appear to float is a nod to the virtual nature of the environment.

Walls can also feature oversized painted branding, that include the show name and other text framed inside of an outline version of the league’s shield logo. Another area has a bold pink and teal mural, while the floor features an oversized outline of the shield and full logo.

The space also features industrial lamp fixtures as well as track-mounted spotlights. 

More subtle touches include accents such as what is presumably a Green Bay Packers branded throw on the virtual sofa along with what appears to be one of its famous “cheesehead” hats tossed on the cushion like a throw pillow.

In addition to the 3D environment, Moov also created the show’s graphics package, which includes rectangular insert graphics with angled ends. This shape is also used for on-screen score graphics, while more complex layouts such as results and standings appear in simple rectangles with the angular element inside of it and used to frame each team’s logo.

Team logos play a key role in many of the animated sequences of the look, as does side-to-side motion and angled reveals and exits.

The post ‘The NFL Show’ settles into spacious virtual loft space appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The virtual sets debuted July 17, 2023, on MSNBC’s “José Díaz-Balart Reports” with a separate model on July 22, 2023’s “NBC Nightly News.”

Both virtual sets lend some additional consistency to the on-air look of both broadcasts and also add the ability for it to appear that Díaz-Balart is standing on the actual floor of the studio thanks to wide, full body shots that attempt to account for how a floor would interplay with the camera angles.

‘José Díaz-Balart Reports’

Díaz-Balart’s edition of “MSNBC Reports” now originates from a 3D recreation of MSNBC’s Studio 3A in New York, mirroring the studio’s marble and gold accents.

For “Reports,” NBC recreated at least two key areas of the studio, including the two large LED video walls that meet at a 90-degree angle as well as the neighboring venue that combines an LED video column that segues into a ceiling element and the floor-to-ceiling video wall with the so-called “Kornacki Curve” ribbon segment.

In New York, the corner LED array typically displays a virtual set extension that was first used in the fall of 2021. These draw on a 3D environment that combines multiple curved, somewhat fantastical structural elements with nods to real sets, such as the former “NBC Nightly News” set on the west side of Studio 3A, mixed in. 

In Miami, Díaz-Balart can present from both seated and standing positions, including using an NBC peacock-themed anchor desk with a feather base and glass top. This desk had been used from when “Reports” originated from the primary “Noticias Telemundo” set and, later, the flexible modular space used for both “La Mesa Caliente” and “The Katie Phang Show.”

There’s a glitch in the matrix: Note how the anchor desk to the right of the presenter in this image has portions that disappear oddly. 

The broadcast is also able to incorporate on-camera moves and angles that interact with the virtual environment in real-time, as opposed to a more traditional chroma key background. These tend to be restricted more to simplified push-ins and adjustments as opposed to the more free-wielding handheld camera shots frequently used back in New York.

This includes bringing guests into the studio and shooting the setup with a combination of wide two-shots and one-shots on both the anchor and guest.

MSNBC also continues the practice of inserting topical graphics into various places in the virtual set extension backgrounds, including on the faux curved LED ribbon array camera left and curved wall-like structure to the right. These designs continue to draw on the blue, white and yellow look that also debuted in 2021.

Despite appearances, José Díaz-Balart is not in New York in this shot.

An alternate portion of the virtual set includes the part of 3A boasting the wraparound video ribbon element and the curved ribbon with flat video wall behind it.

Like the other recreation segments, the network can insert topical graphics across numerous parts of the simulated set and the software accounts for reflections on the shiny floor.

During a weather segment later in the week of July 17, the camera even moved in on the weather map being shown behind Díaz-Balart using the floating camera “walk and wander” and “video on video” technique that’s become popular across both MSNBC and TV news in general.

There was even an added element of realism as the camera shifted to that part of the video wall — the map became slightly out of focus to viewers. It’s not clear if this was due to an issue with the camera or virtual set implementation. While on-set video walls are not always the clearest when captured on camera, most broadcasters still attempt to keep the text and imagery on them as clear as possible and this map example bordered on being illegible. 

‘NBC Nightly News’

Meanwhile, NBC opted to use the setup with a different virtual set to recreate Studio 1A in New York.

“Nightly” moved to the space in September 2021 and takes advantage of its large, 40-foot video wall as well as various smaller arrays installed throughout the space.

Díaz-Balart can be shown standing in front of the largest video wall, with the anchor desk placed behind him, as branded and topical graphics are displayed on the virtual video wall behind him. Here to, the camera does have an on-air move, though, again, it’s not quite as dynamic or organic as the shots used in New York.

Díaz-Balart can also be shown in front of the dual video walls installed camera left of the primary area, which are used for the bulk of his reads. 

Here again, the background combines a virtual recreation of the structural elements while also inserting graphics that reflect the day’s news as needed. These shots notably do not include the on-camera jib-style moves used with weekday anchor Lester Holt in New York, though on-camera moves are still possible.

This implementation is notably distinct from what NBC had been doing behind Díaz-Balart’s Saturday editions of “Nightly,” though both techniques did attempt to create the illusion he was in New York.

A September 2021 screenshot from ‘NBC Nightly News’ from Miami prior to the broadcast getting a new logo and graphics.

For a period, Díaz-Balart had been appearing in front of what was essentially a composited image of 1A that was being fed to a video panel sitting behind him. This setup is known within NBC as a “news nook,” though it is more appropriately known as an insert studio.

These setups typically include a single camera, often robotic, with a place for talent to sit in front of a video screen that can be used to showcase graphics or live camera feeds, creating the illusion the person is sitting in front of a window, printed graphic or, in more recent applications, a portion of a real set. In some cases, insert studios also use chroma key backgrounds to insert backdrops. 

When images of a real set are used in this type of setup, it’s not technically what most would consider a full virtual set — since, for example, there is limited ability for talent to interact with the backdrop. When a physical monitor is used, there can also be a limited ability for the camera to push in or out or make framing adjustments live on air (though this depends largely on the size of the screen and position of camera).

When the camera pans, tilts or zooms on talent sitting in front of a monitor, the image of the monitor remains in a fixed X-Y coordinate behind the person since it’s not being keyed in. On-camera moves in front of chroma key are typically more limited because they create a strange effect of the key image remaining the same perspective and scale while the person moves around.

Before the implementation of the virtual set in Miami, “Nightly” was able to replicate, in a more limited manner, the feel of Díaz-Balart being in New York. The new application is notable for its wider framing and the addition of camera tracking. It also allows for shooting full-body shots of Díaz-Balart standing, ostensibly in front of a large video wall. 

This June 24, 2023 image appears to be using the virtual set technology instead of an insert studio-style setup. Note the change in lighting from the image immediately above this one as well as the slight glow on the anchor and slight jagged edges around his shoulders. 

Prior to July 17, Saturday “Nightly” editions featuring Díaz-Balart began to take on a slightly different feel with how he was lit. Small imperfections around his shoulders began to appear — and a slight, almost imperceptible colored glow appeared around him. In hindsight, it appears likely that NBC was testing out the new virtual set look in simplified ways ahead of rolling out the broader use.

So far, “Nightly” has not attempted to recreate the “video on video” floating camera “walk and wander” shots that typically accompany the top story each evening as the anchor reads copy.

The July 17 edition of the broadcast did include a similar voiceover from Díaz-Balart as graphics, imagery and maps were shown fullscreen, but the network did not attempt to simulate these as if they appeared on the actual set.

From a technical standpoint, this is understandable. These shots typically use much more complex camera moves and have to be timed tightly, so it may not have been possible to recreate these looks reliably. 

In theory, these could have been created either by piping in live or pre-taped shots from the real 1A over Díaz-Balart’s voiceover, though this would have required coordinating between two locations and having a crew to staff both studios, something that might not be logistically advisable, especially on weekends.

The network could have also grabbed imagery of the set in New York, imported them into project templates with frames for dynamic topical imagery to be inserted onto the spaces occupied by real LED and then either played them back in real time or as pre-recorded video clips. 

Why Miami?

Díaz-Balart became anchor of Saturday editions of “Nightly” in 2016. He sometimes traveled to New York to anchor the program, though that practice was slowly eliminated. The COVID-19 pandemic essentially put a complete end to that travel, though it still could happen to this day if, for example, Díaz-Balart needed to be in New York for another reason.

This meant that Díaz-Balart, who anchored for Telemundo, which is based outside Miami, would largely remain stationed in Florida and it essentially became the permanent practice for him to anchor both his MSNBC and “Nightly” from the state.

For a period, the insert studio solution was used to create some visual consistency between New York and Miami broadcasts, though they were much more limited than a full virtual set. It appears that NBC is doubling down on ensuring that Díaz-Balart can remain stationed in Miami for most broadcasts.

A different kind of virtual set

Although the setups being used for “Reports” and “Nightly” in Miami would largely be considered virtual sets by most, there is a slight distinction.

Both virtual sets are based on an actual set and use textures and imagery of those real sets, as opposed to being a fictitious 3D environment created in a rendering program like many virtual sets lean heavily on.

That’s not to say that imagery of real environments has never been used in a virtual set.

The background appears to combine still photos of studios in New York with a combination of 3D mapping and full 3D elements. 

This approach actually helps add to the realism of the virtual set. For example, the images captured of the real spaces include slight imperfections in the flooring material. There are also visible tape marks in some views.

While these could be considered “imperfections,” they also help bring the slight variations that occur in materials on real sets that make the look more believable. 

In this composite created by NewscastStudio, enlarged screen shots of the Miami virtual version of the Studio 1A set, top, and real life version, bottom, are shown. There are clear differences between the structure, depth and texture between the real and faux one; there is also a distinct lack of reflections from the desk in the virtual version.

One notable oddity, however, is the empty anchor desk that NBC typically places in front of the large video wall in Studio 1A. In New York, as shown in the detail of the screen grab in the lower part of the image above, the desk has all the shadowing and lighting variations that one would expect of an actual, physical piece of scenery sitting on a real floor.

However, as the screenshot above that shows, the desk is much simpler when it appears behind Díaz-Balart. Shadows are not nearly as detailed and the backlit blue segments are almost entirely the same shade as opposed to the varying intensities in the real thing. There are also obvious differences in the placement of the metallic piping on the front of the desk; as well as glaring differences between the materials and lighting of the base of the unit.

Because of this, the virtual version is likely based nearly entirely or completely on a 3D model of the desk. Why? Likely to because it was too difficult to get the reflections from the virtual video wall to interact properly with the “glass” top of the desk in the virtual iteration. 

Did it work?

While the virtual sets used on both the MSNBC and NBC broadcasts do help establish a consistent look with the other editions of the broadcasts, the look does ultimately still suffer from parts that don’t feel quite right.

Using a recreated real spaces does go a long way in helping create a more realistic feeling.

The MSNBC version is also aided significantly by the fact it relies heavily on virtual set extensions that appear to have been designed to straddle the space between the real and unrealistic.

Similarly, “Nightly” benefits from having a good portion of the backgrounds being graphics instead of real scenic elements. 

That said, there are still those slight issues — such as that “too perfect” anchor desk — that tug, almost at an unconscious level, that something doesn’t quite match up.

The post José Díaz-Balart gets virtual recreations of NYC studios for MSNBC show, Saturday ‘Nightly’ appeared first on NewscastStudio.

“Live broadcast coverage has turned into a competitive race to continually improve and keep giving viewers that ‘you are there’ feeling,” said Jim Doyle, director of creative services at Rocket Surgery. “With our virtual set extension technology, broadcasters can keep their graphics and data presentation dynamic with the creative flexibility to make changes and updates on the fly and give viewers an engaging, immersive experience.”

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For recent election night coverage by a cable network, the Rocket Surgery team created a trackless, augmented reality (AR) environment that extended the physical set into an immersive virtual world. The team created this environment built on multiple discrete post-process volumes to enable seamless graphic transitions from exteriors to interiors, including day and night lighting scenarios.

Powered by Ross Video’s Voyager, built on Epic Game’s Unreal Engine, the massive, highly detailed set added the ability to cull offscreen objects even when they had a custom depth stencil value, which wasn’t previously possible.

Data integration was a centerpiece of this project to drive the numbers and text displayed on-screen, as well as determine how and when the virtual world would animate. Ross Video’s Datalinq for Voyager enabled Rocket Surgery to easily bind real- time elections data to 3D infographics rendered in Voyager.

Rocket Surgery created a blueprint for evaluating the network’s data to quickly identify any changes, download candidate photos, and display race updates almost instantly.

This set extension project used a dynamic material instance workflow to create DMI files, download images from a NAS, replace texture parameters and apply the new DMI to specified meshes.

This project, like many other recent virtual set projects, showcased the latest version of the Ross Dashboard control system and Rosstalk GPI workflow which uses a plain text-based protocol to control the switcher and virtual set from an external device.

All functions of the virtual set that weren’t automated from network data were controlled from Dashboard using GPI commands. Custom Dashboard functions designed by Rocket Surgery enable operators to quickly change which graphics engines receive specific commands. For example, this is helpful when production wants one engine prepped for an AR set extension shot and another to be ready with a different shot in the virtual world.

“On this most recent project, we had a lot of unique sequences and actors to be controlled, so we leveraged the capabilities of RossTalk GPI commands to trigger a variety of events,” said Terry Daily, virtual creative services manager at Rocket Surgery. “The flexibility to choose different methods to control and trigger the project is a big advantage to the Lucid and Voyager workflow.”

GPI commands were used to play level sequences, reposition the virtual set, update poll closing times, load and unload levels, and blend between cameras.

The operator’s custom Dashboard was constantly changing, and it was helpful to be able to change the commands and the layout all at once.

The post Case Study: Ross Video drives the future of immersive broadcast with virtual set extensions appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The show combines select furniture pieces with virtual set technology powered by Unreal Engine running on the Chyron Prime VSAR platform. 

Telemundo handled all of the virtual set design, art direction, lighting, camera tracking calibration and workflow setup in-house.

The environment features multiple distinct zones that give off the feel of a sports clubhouse or bar set up inside of a loft-like industrial space. 

Virtual venues include a cleaner, modern-feeling space with a virtual staircase peeking out behind one corner and the rest of the walls adorned with virtual renditions of framed sports jerseys. A large virtual video panel on the rear wall can be used for branded or topical graphics.

There is also the option to have two people seated on red chairs around a small coffee table with three virtual video panels behind them. 

Camera center is the largest of the trio, which is flanked by two additional ones in the same size but shown mounted vertically. Each of these units has subtle lighting accents that make them appear to be offset from the wall behind, which is decorated with a pattern of dashes and plus signs. 

Another option is what is styled to be a bar area that has a bit more of a rugged feel, perhaps to evoke the feel of a sports dive bar. Talent sits on bar-height stools with a two-top high boy between them, adding to the bar-like atmosphere.

Like the sit-down area, there is a triptych of virtual video panels behind the main bar counter while details such as a freestanding arcade game and dart board continue the theme. 

This area also includes patches of exposed brick peeking out from behind the patterned tan wall.

A full-scale exposed brick wall serves as the background to another virtual space. This includes the show’s bold, lively logo painted on it above a red sofa.

On the perpendicular wall is a virtual video panel that can be used for topical graphics or tosses to footage, allowing studio talent to appear to be watching it from the sofa. This space is unique in that it is typically shot in a way that involves the camera moving past a wall that juts into the foreground, forming a sort of alcove-like space.

“Zona Mixta” also features a colorful and bold graphics package that combines a mostly flat, hand-drawn look with comic-book style typography and textural elements created using plus signs and matrices of dots.

The show’s logo sits inside of a bright yellow hand-drawn circle ringed with line segments and capped with three stars. The logotype appears hand-drawn and uses a drawing of a Telemundo microphone to form both the “O” in “Zona” and “I” in “Mixta.”

“Zona Mixta” is part of Telemundo’s Titulares y Mas franchise, which was originally a late-night sports show. It has since converted its weekday edition to a digital offering as part of a programming expansion ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

The post Telemundo turns to virtual set for ‘Zona Mixta’ appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The general concept behind the virtual set is a large, open set inside a multi-story, atrium-like space visible behind talent, designed by Jago Design and implemented by AE Live.

The virtual space, which is “built” next to a soccer training facility, includes what appear to be glassed-in rooms, large wall graphics spanning multiple stories and large, open concourses and mezzanines – with 13 total looks available for broadcast. 

Above, portions of the structure appear to be covered by a roof with open rafters while other portions allow the sky to shine through, perhaps suggestive of the hybrid nature of indoor and outdoor space in many sports arenas.

Many of the elements on these backgrounds can be customized with topical or branding elements such as the league logo in various color schemes shown on the side of what appears to be a large banner on the side of a wall. There are also large, virtual digital displays in some of the spaces that can also be filled with different graphics. In one atrium, the league mascot appears to be etched onto a large, suspended piece of glass.

The virtual set features a variety of options, including traditional desk-style setups wrapped with virtual floor-to-ceiling curved graphic panels. 

Across from the desk is a large open space looking down on the level below. Talent can stand in front of virtual railings on the opposite side of this with the anchor desk visible, at rather small scale, still in place in the background.

There’s also the option for a more enclosed area that’s finished with a 3D model boasting exposed concrete walls and structural elements and exposed utility systems.

The space is wrapped in virtual video walls suspended by thin wires in what is most likely not something that would be possible in the physical world.

Above this area are additional LED ribbons, while the virtual space’s floor can be filled with graphics to simulate the look of LED video tiles. 

Premier League’s production arm has an agreement with Endeavor-owned IMG Media for the latter to handle its broadcast production needs. The long-time agreement dates back over 15 years and is good through the 2024-2025 season, according to a May 2022 announcement. 

The virtual set is produced using Zero Density’s Reality Engine solution with rendering from the Unreal Engine and camera tracking from Stype RedSpy. 

The post Premier League programming goes virtual for new season appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Virtual production is already transforming how we produce film, TV, and live events. The adoption of virtual production workflows has undoubtedly been accelerated by the restrictions brought about by the pandemic. Not only does this approach to producing content cut down the reliance on complex location shoots, but it also allows for on-the-day tweaks from the creative team.

More and more studios and independent content creators realize the benefits of virtual production. But with so much information out there, it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you haven’t yet taken the plunge. The good news is that with an increasing number of companies offering scalable off-the-shelf products, it’s now easier than ever to get involved.

Column: 6 reasons to consider using virtual production

Want to find out how to get started with virtual production? Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:

Clarify your goals

This step is probably the most important. It’s vital to establish a clear understanding of your use case and double-check virtual production is the best approach. The planning stages are arguably more important than in traditional production workflows. It’s important to get everything in place as early as possible. Once your goals are clear, you’ll be able to discuss the possibilities with a company that offers a range of virtual production tools.

Once you’ve decided on a virtual production setup, whether that’s AR, XR, virtual sets, or a combination, the next step is to think about sourcing the right hardware and studio integration, as well as planning the creative side. Once you have decided on a specific solution, take a look at the resources available to you – there will be plenty of guidance to help you on your way.

Get everyone aligned

The next step is to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Getting all the various departments aligned on the integration of virtual production is absolutely vital. Virtual production should not be thought of as a separate entity, but rather as a vital element, just like lighting, construction, and set design. In a virtual production environment, planning needs to happen early on with clear alignment between clear technical, operational, and creative decisions. This alignment is vital as many creative issues can be solved in pre-production, rather than in post.

Finding the right talent

Seeking out the best people for the task can be challenging as the virtual production space is so new, but hiring the right talent is essential. As well as studio engineers, it’s essential to employ people that have expertise with using camera tracking systems, along with technical creatives to do on-set tweaks and fixes. It’s also important to recruit people who have experience with 3D rendering workflows. For example, our solutions are built on Unreal Engine, so finding a team with experience in working with Epic’s gaming engine is critical.

Get the right tools for the job

Finally, you need to make sure that you have the right technology and tools in place. Choosing a solution that covers everything you might need, whether that’s AR, XR or remote operation, is a good option. What’s more, a robust camera tracking system is an important part of a successful virtual production workflow. Opting for a product that covers different types of camera tracking, including marker-based and markerless, is a good approach as it gives you more flexibility for different use cases.

For example, at Pixotope, we recently acquired camera tracking experts TrackMen, enabling us to offer a variety of systems rolled into one. This means that the virtual production workflow is simplified as there is less hardware to source.

Getting started with virtual production workflows might seem daunting at first, but the steps above should help you to get started. A focus on forward planning, as well as getting the right talent and tools in place, should make it easier and quicker to bring your creative vision to the screen.

In the next article in this series, we will look at virtual production from a talent perspective, written for professionals who want to transition into the virtual production space but don’t really know how. We will cover new opportunities and roles that have opened up as a result of the rapid changes within the industry.

The post Column: Getting started with virtual production workflows appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The use of virtual production (VP) in media and entertainment is, according to Statista, set to almost triple by 2028, rising by 15% every year until then. Content producers around the world are actively exploring how to leverage modern VP tools and workflows. VP stages are being built across the globe and audiences are responding to new formats and content.

More than just the latest bandwagon to jump on, virtual production is beginning to show its true value to creators, audiences and marketers.

So what are we learning?

Real-time technology enables limitless creativity

The main components of virtual production is the combination of live-action footage with real-time visual effects (VFX). A use case would be augmented reality (AR), where the graphics are overlaid on top of the filmed images, or Virtual Studio productions where a green backing color is replaced with a computer-generated studio or location.

The key element here is real-time. Whilst the combination of virtual content and video isn’t new, the real-time application of cinematic quality elements to live video is. That’s thanks to the development of game engine technology and tools like Pixotope enabling application of that tech to a live event setting. The resulting creative potential for broadcasters is limitless.

One of the areas where this has been most apparent is live sports events, where virtual production is being deployed with true wow factor. Seen as a way to engage new audiences, attract fans to stadiums, and visualize data and information, the use of virtual production techniques for live sporting events is gathering pace.

Live audience engagement

In the NFL, we’ve seen both the Baltimore Ravens and the Carolina Panthers bring supersized versions of their mascots to life. These AR elements respond to live in-game moments or elements of the physical stadium, and have been adapted up until the last second. These adaptations have allowed, for example, the giant raven to wait on the goalposts for the director’s cue, or the menacing big cat to believably pounce on the physical jumbotron. Virtual production here is attracting fans both old and new back into stadiums by adding a new dimension to ‘game day’ and heightening fandom. 

Engaging sponsorship activations

Even corporate sponsorship is being transformed via real-time virtual production. No longer confined to banners around the stadium, corporate partners are actually engaging crowds, in a way never before possible. Take Microsoft’s Halo game landing a spaceship at midfield during halftime at an Oregon Ducks game, or the Houston Texans producing a fan-driven racing game sponsored by retail company Kroger on a mixed-reality track.

Cost effectiveness and sustainability

Virtual studios demonstrate value not only in creative terms but in financial and environmentally conscious ones too. Virtual production means that all broadcasters can create immersive, hyperrealistic narratives without the need for huge budgets. Leveraging the power of a virtual set, users don’t require any specialist equipment or costly production stages. Spanish broadcaster VideoReport Canarias for example wanted to find a more resource-friendly and visually stimulating way of producing live TV. An entirely new show format was created for the daily primetime weather show ‘Una Hora Menos’. Virtual production saw a restrictive and costly production set transformed into a versatile and multi-camera operation that can effortlessly produce a limitless number of stage scenarios. The result facilitates reporting and creative storytelling without the need for expensive LED displays or constant (and expensive) changes to physical stage fixtures and furniture.

Being able to effectively land presenters in virtual environments brings creative and cost benefits to broadcasts, but it also negates the need for crew to travel there in person. There will always be instances where taking audiences to real life locations is valuable and a necessity, but in many cases it isn’t. Virtual production can allow broadcasts to be virtually located anywhere in the globe while being cost efficient and environmentally conscious. A sunset can last forever too!

Brand new formats

Formats that would have been impossible only a few years ago have left the realms of fantasy and taken center stage. ‘Alter Ego’, which aired on Fox, was the first AR talent show in the US. Contestants perform like never before — as their dream avatar. Precise real-time engineering enabled 20 unique AR characters, powered via full motion capture by their human counterparts, to perform in front of a panel of celebrity judges and a 200-strong audience. There’s no doubt that ambitious shows like ‘Alter Ego’ are technically complex to produce. Still, the broadcast and technology community are rising to the challenge, growing in expertise and creating the tools and workflows they need to entertain audiences in completely new ways.

Some believe that virtual production is the future of content production, enabling the creation of the most impactful and informative media in the world. The tools for broadcasters to create and deploy this content, whilst maximizing studio facilities and reducing costs, are now available. Though not without its challenges, virtual production has proven its power to win over audiences, shape new kinds of broadcasts and facilitate more efficient, adaptable and sustainable ways for us to work.

In the next article in this series, we’ll offer a quick guide that will give key pointers for those new to contemporary virtual production techniques. We will be sharing virtual production workflows and camera tracking — all you need to know to get started!

The post Column: 6 reasons to consider using virtual production appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Set Design

BBC Beijing Winter Olympics

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Using the Unreal Engine paired with the latest technology from Vizrt, the project’s designers digitally sculpted mountains for the broadcast environment while carefully thinking through how to keep the visuals dynamic with data and highlights.

Jim Mann of Lightwell and Toby Kalitowski of BK Design Projects join the Broadcast Exchange to take us inside the virtual set design, the development in Epic Game’s Unreal Engine and the larger impact of the technology on the future of storytelling.

Listen here or on your favorite platform below.

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Video: YouTube

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Show Links

• Gallery: BBC Sport virtual studio
• Gallery: BBC 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics studio
• Gallery: BBC 2020 Tokyo Olympics studio

Transcript

The below transcript appears in an unedited format.

Dak: Welcome to the Broadcast Exchange from NewscastStudio. I’m your host Dak Dillon. On the Exchange, we talk with those leading the future of broadcast design, technology, and content.  Today, I’m joined by Jim Mann of Lightwell and Toby Kalitowski of BK Design Projects. The team recently completed BBC’s virtual environment for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Using the Unreal Engine paired with Vizrt to create a dynamic studio, and even building some mountains in the process.

Dak: Thanks for joining me today to talk about the BBC’s unique presentation of the Olympics. You’ve learned a lot since you created the Tokyo studios, which also relied on this heavily virtual production pipeline. Walk us through those lessons, and then how that’s set up where we are today, with Beijing.

Jim Mann: Lessons. Yeah, it’s a funny one because it’s not just lessons, I guess, from Tokyo. I think it’s also lessons from Pres 2, which is the in-house studio that we worked on for the BBC, which launched a few months prior to Tokyo. In essence, the Winter Olympics studio, it’s that studio.

Set Design

BBC Sport Pres 2

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Jim Mann: It’s from the same green-screen studio, and it’s a modified version of that virtual set. Whereas previously we were using, or the BBC have been using, a main presenting space with windows, and then beyond the windows, it’s a photographic environment.

Jim Mann: Having seen the potential of what could be done on Tokyo, well, we thought, “Well, why not? You know, let’s go for it. Let’s have a bit of fun with this one,” and decided to try out the landscape in [inaudible 00:01:46], in Unreal. We started looking at this… it was actually before Tokyo, wasn’t it?

Toby Kalitowski: Yeah.

Jim Mann: Am I right, Toby?

Toby Kalitowski: March, it was March. March or April last year. I think the biggest thing in terms of lessons learned from Tokyo was the multi-level approach, where you’re offering the editorial team various different positions they can use for different program strands.

Toby Kalitowski: That was fantastic in Tokyo. Everyone loved that, and that sense of directors being able to explore and find new spaces to create their programs. That’s kind of what was at the core of this idea of creating multiple levels and different presentation spaces outside, as well as inside.

Set Design

BBC Tokyo Olympics

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Jim Mann: I’m a huge fan of serendipity. I think there’s a lot of that in there, but I also like to think that serendipity is only going to happen if you’ve got some decent design ideas, and a decent context in terms of the design to start with. It’s about just extending on what we’ve done before.

Jim Mann: It’s a team we’ve worked with previously on quite a few jobs now, and we’ve got to know them quite well. So, we tend to know what they like, and we tend to know what they don’t like. I think that helps as a designer, when you’ve got a better idea of what will appeal to the client, and what the client can make use of.

Jim Mann: I think what’s really happened with the Beijing Winter Olympics studio is that the BBC’s taken ownership of it. They’re doing things that we thought would be good, but they’re taking it just that stage further.

Jim Mann: I guess one good example of that is, there’s a seating position where, when we were putting together packs of presentation images for the designers, in its initial stages, we were spinning around the Unreal model. We had a look back at the building from within the landscape, and immediately, it’s like, “Yeah, this is interesting. Can we make use of this?”

Jim Mann: So, of course being a design presentation, we dropped in a 3D figure, set up a fairly standard mid-shot with the building in the background out of focus, but getting that sense of a presenter in the landscape, and thinking, “Oh, this will be sort of top of the show. You know, they’ll do a quick announcement there, then move inside.”

Jim Mann: That then developed, you can tell they were interested because they then said, “Oh, well, can we have a floor?” Because the presenter was floating in the sky. So, yeah, we built a little hill for them to stand on. Of course, if it’s just snow, that’s not very interesting. So, you put some rocks in there just to break up the landscape.

Jim Mann: The next thing you know is, you’re being asked if they can sit on the rocks. So, you put in a rock that they can sit on, and then it’s, “Well, could there be a bench?” We had a little bar area, so we pulled a bench across. The next thing we know, they’re borrowing stools from elsewhere in the BBC, covering them with leftover bits of green screen.

Jim Mann: Hey Presto, there’s a brand-new presentation space called “the bench”. It’s an informal space and it just works, but it’s working because we’ve done all the hard work in the landscape and the rest of the design. I think those kind of things have been what’s really rewarding about this particular project.

Dak: Now, you mentioned Studio Pres 2. For those who are not familiar with that space, just give us a quick overview of that piece of the project that led up to this kind of design iconography that you all have settled on.

Toby Kalitowski: It was a kind of lost studio, and it was never really used. They wanted to create a green screen, generic environment, and we created a multi-level environment for them. The idea was, at the outset, that this would be something that there would be areas that we would never even think about using, possibly, in the next year or the year after.

Toby Kalitowski: It would be a constantly evolving scenario. That was embraced hugely by the BBC. It’s been very successful. It’s been massively overbooked, so much so that it’s difficult to get into the studio to do testing, and all the rest of it. So it’s slightly… we’ve been a victim of our own success in that respect. It’s been quite hard to get time to test new environments in there, but that formed the basis of this new studio.

Dak: Taking what you learned from Pres 2, you have these sleek white columns, you have this embedded fireplace, you have these sweeping panoramic mountain scenes. Walk us through the design for the Olympics.

Toby Kalitowski: The architecture was there. As you say, sleek, modern environment was there. We needed to create something that had warmth, so we added the fireplace and things like that. There were certain things we had to do within the actual set. Like, we added ice to the sunken floor areas.

Toby Kalitowski: The main thrust of the whole project, really, was the landscape. That’s where we had an amazing time. Unreal was fantastic, and Jim was amazing, and we learned so much. Yeah, creating that 3D environment, a giant map was really the thrust of the whole thing. Then, placing our presentation decks out actually in the snow as part of that.

Toby Kalitowski: We discussed things like, should they be wearing quilted jackets, and how far… I think what’s interesting about the whole thing is, you’ve got to take it with a pinch of salt because we’re not yet in the world of photorealism.

Toby Kalitowski: It’s almost… We have people in Tokyo who thought we were in Tokyo. We never thought that would be the case. I have had people say to me, “Are they out in Beijing?” I’m like, “Have you actually seen Beijing?” It doesn’t look anything like this lovely, alpine, snowy background.

Toby Kalitowski: So it was an exploration, the idea of using Unreal to create a landscape. It was a bit of a punt on our part, in that there was no guarantee of any work. It was a, “Hey guys, what do you think,” to this. It’s probably fair to say that there’s probably a bit of our inner [inaudible 00:08:30] coming into it, in that it’s almost like a Bond baddie embedded in the mountain scape.

Toby Kalitowski: It was having a sense of fun and having a play, a “what if”. “What if we did this, what if we tried that? Wouldn’t it be cool if we did this?” I think that’s where a tool like Unreal is fantastic, because we were able to just develop that and play with that, and really have a lot of fun with that kind of idea.

Toby Kalitowski: At the end of the day, there’s ski tracks in front of the building, all the paraphernalia that you might find around a ski resort, but at the end of the day it was, “Let’s have fun with this.” That’s one of the nice things about working with sport, TV sport, is that it can be quite playful.

Dak: You’ve mentioned Unreal many times. This is, I believe you’ve told me before, one of your first big projects where you’ve done most of the design and development straight in Unreal, and not necessarily in Cinema 4D or another piece of software first. How did that change your workflows, and just the way you even thought about conceptualizing these spaces?

Jim Mann: Massively, massively, because take Tokyo. Tokyo started out, it was, Toby would build a model, turn it to me, I’d do something, send it back to him. It was like this game of tennis, with models going backwards and forwards [inaudible 00:10:02] packages, which it’s not ideal. It was just swapping ideas like that.

Jim Mann: Then, our pitch presentation was rendered in V-Ray, and we did an animation for that. Of course, that meant making sure that certain parts of the model were finished so many days in advance, and that spare machines were churning away for a few days, just to render out all the frames of the animation.

Jim Mann: With this Olympics, because we just thought, “Yeah, whatever, let’s just go for it.” We’ve got the main space already, or we’ve got the shell already in Unreal. So, we just started adding to it in there, in Unreal, taking bits into Unreal. Because we have that power to move around and see things, it was about exploring, about finding out what worked. I think that helped. It helped, as we took out quite a few things, but we also saw opportunities and potential.

Jim Mann: We were able to bring that in, and not just bring it in as a suggestion, but bring it in as something more credible, something more viable. When you’d think, “Well, what if we had some decking?” So, you add some decking, and then you add a snow particle system, and all those things start coming together. It’s like the picture really starts to evolve.

Jim Mann: It’s really fluid. You’re not spending your time waiting for a render to finish, which is the most depressing thing ever now. If we had a presentation, we’d then, in a fairly short space of time, put together a short animated sequence. Being television, that showing the client something, as a volume in which a camera can move, that’s gold. That really is gold.

Toby Kalitowski: Typically, certainly towards the latter stages of developing the design, we would spend the best part of a day, or like a whole afternoon, on Zoom. We would be in the Unreal model. Jim would be moving around, and it’s just incredible. Jim would be painting snow and we’d be saying, “Okay, let’s lift the mountain here and, okay, let’s paint some trees.”

Toby Kalitowski: Obviously, there were lots and lessons to learn about resolution of things, paring stuff back, and optimization, but actually, the process of designing, it’s so incredibly fluid. Just the idea of stepping back to where we were, like Jim said, even a year ago, just feels inconceivable. The idea of waiting for something to render is just madness. So, it’s been really exciting, really thrilling, I think.

Dak: Then, the final product was integrated with Vizrt, the Viz Engine 4, and a variety of their other tool sets. Talk about that process, and making it all sync.

Jim Mann: The great thing about working with a client like the BBC is, they’ve been using Viz for forever, and there’s a good knowledge base within the BBC. It’s a really good team of people working in the graphics department at the BBC.

Jim Mann: Our main point of contact there was a guy called Andy, Andy Bowker. In a similar way to myself and Toby passing models backwards and forward at the beginning of the process, towards the end, it’s myself and Andy passing copies of the Unreal project backwards and forwards, and then making adjustments.

Jim Mann: I think what’s been really good this time is, Andy’s also been involved in the Pres 2 work. So, Andy understands not only that studio, but he understands this project, and he understands this design as well. So, he’s been able to suggest things along the way.

Jim Mann: The penguins, the deer, and the polar bear are all down to Andy. He’s been able to take on that whole process of taking the Unreal project and doing the integration with Viz. He also takes on a responsibility beyond that, in interacting with the virtual set operators, who work in the gallery at broadcast time.

Dak: The studio has a lot of virtual screens in it as well, so that way, they can bring in highlights or queue up graphics. Talk about the challenges of integrating those into a virtual space, and making sure the presenters or the talent can fully utilize and understand, even, what they’re looking at.

Toby Kalitowski: For Pres 2, we had designed into this scenario, a projector, which projects an image onto the green [psych 00:14:55]. So, we have a standing position which essentially is used for all the setups in the Winter Olympics. It’s a very, very small area of the set, to one side of the studio, where we have two standing presentation positions.

Toby Kalitowski: In between them, we have our projection zone. So, really, that then defines your position of all the screens within the virtual space. Obviously, sometimes we didn’t do that. In which case you need to have a floor monitor giving you an eye line.

Toby Kalitowski: Actual design of the screens, you wanted to make the screens feel as believable as possible. So, we actually ended up making screens quite chunky, rather than incredibly thin, bezel, lightweight screens that you can have. We just felt they were too flimsy to feel like they were believable as an outdoor screen. So, we spent a bit of time working on the development of the actual virtual assets for those.

Jim Mann: It’s almost as if things have to look not as good as they could be. You almost have to degrade the designs slightly in order to achieve a greater sense of credibility and believability. There’s also areas where we’ve got the BBC logo on the floor, but we’ve scuffed it, and scratched it, and damaged it, and just made it look like people have been walking over it for a week or two.

Jim Mann: If you’ve seen that video of Aimee Fuller practicing her snowboard in the studio, you could probably understand how that might get damaged like that. It all adds to that sense of, I guess, it’s care-worn.

Toby Kalitowski: We had lots of conversations about exactly that thing, about believability, and that fine balance, the uncanny valley thing, the closer you get, the more weird things can be. It’s quite a hard area to make sure you are in a sweet spot.

Dak: I think you just answered what I was going to ask. Obviously, when it comes to virtual studios now, we are seeing two approaches. The completely abstract, and then those that are much more grounded in reality. The ones that often fail are those weird ones that are somewhere in the middle, where it’s like, “Oh, these are the correct-size mullions on a window,” but then suddenly the ceiling is 300 feet tall.

Dak: This space, what I like about it is, it feels absolutely like a real ski lodge. It feels like something that you could find at the top of a gondola in Canada. So, it feels very believable, when some of the other studios out there, just like you mentioned, the uncanny valley effect, are they a spaceship? Where are they exactly? What’s that sense of place beyond just the snow behind them?

Jim Mann: If a viewer is looking at something and trying to think, trying to decide, “What is it? What’s it meant to be,” then on a certain level, we’ve failed. Whereas I think with the Olympic studio, I don’t think… there’s no guessing. There might be a sense of, “Where are they?” Which is very different to, “What is it?”

Jim Mann: The “Where are they” is a much more interesting conundrum to have. There is an element of that. I suspect that probably comes… my background is I’m a registered architect. Architecture wasn’t very interesting, I moved onto different things, which I’m so much more engaged in, but I’ve still got that sense of, I know how big a mullion is. I know how high a ceiling would be.

Jim Mann: If you’ve got a ceiling any higher than that, well then, where’re you getting that glass from? You can’t get glass panels… and there’s all those limiters in my subconscious. We can’t do anything too ridiculous. It’s almost like we’re saying to ourself, “Well, how would it be built? You know, what would it be made of? What would the detailing be? What would the joints be?”

Toby Kalitowski: Every element that we deal with it is true-to-life scale, so every step, every handrail, every beam, is justified. If it’s a cantilever, it has to be thicker than… it has to do its job. I think you’re right. There are lots of sets out there which have a theatricality to them, and they don’t tie themselves to those structural rules, really.

Toby Kalitowski: They may look great, but there’s something about it where you just think, “I can’t invest in it. I can’t believe in it,” and the person standing in it doesn’t feel like they’re a part of that scene. Yeah, all of our reference, all of our excitement, really comes from architecture. It’s an amazing place at the moment, to be able to play, in such an environmental way, creating spaces that are more like buildings than they are like sets.

Toby Kalitowski: I don’t feel, really, we’re set-designing anymore. I think we’re designing environments, but it is interesting how out there, people still are doing… there’s fourth-wall, quite stagey-feeling virtual sets where you just think, it’s almost like a proscenium approach to theatricality. Which is bizarre, because we can do anything, and yet we’re stuck in a Victorian theater sometimes.

Dak: For it to work really well, it has to be really spot on with all the details, or it has to be completely abstract, where then you just have a bunch of floating glass in an abstract space. Because, then, you know it’s fake and you don’t conceptualize that in your brain as being real, but even in Beijing, even the snow is fake for this Olympics.

Dak: So, everything is a little bit man-made. In terms of virtual production and what you all are doing, what challenges are still out there that really need to be solved to make your workflows better, to make the models better, just for any of it?

Jim Mann: Ooh, I think possibly performance issues. Obviously, creating a virtual environment as opposed to a virtual set, it’s much more expansive. Unreal is great at handling those large data sets, but I’m still getting used to the idea that you can’t populate every single part that you see for every shot, with the highest level of detail.

Toby Kalitowski: For me, it’s all about lighting, the quality of lighting, and the quality of contact of the presenter within the virtual space. I just want to see fantastic contact shadows, fantastic reflections. That’s limiting for us, specifically. I know Viz are developing that, and that’s obviously just around the corner, so there’s lots just around the corner, but the closer you get, the further you feel you are, in a way.

Jim Mann: The contact shadows and contact reflections, it’s coming in now. I think it may have been possible to do more with that at the Olympics, but this comes back to the issues with the popularity of the Pres 2 studio, in that it was so busy, and before the Olympics, it was busy with the Australian Open tennis.

Jim Mann: So, there wasn’t any opportunity for the guys at the BBC to actually test those features properly, to get them working properly. It’s integrating the presenter with the virtual set. A lot of that comes through… it’s either shadows or it’s reflections. If you’ve got a real floor, that’s great, but a real floor can be limiting.

Jim Mann: You have to trade off the flexibility of, are they on ice, are they on wood, are they on snow? Those are the three different virtual floors we’ve got at the moment. If we had just one floor material, that’s a magic carpet that’s traveling around this virtual world, which they are constantly stood on.

Toby Kalitowski: A thing, for me, that would be really interesting to explore more, is to have full control of the lighting within the virtual space, from the gallery, so we can work more closely with the lighting director. I’ve had tantalizing experiences of the possibilities of doing that, but haven’t fully embraced that yet.

Toby Kalitowski: That feels like a no-brainer, that has to be the way, you have to have a full control of virtual and physical lighting. Of course, that’s money. Ideally, you want moving lights, you can adjust all the color temperatures on the fly, and it’s all preset. Of course, people are doing that, but you need the budget to do that.

Jim Mann: Everything’s making a demand on that graphics card, and it all starts and finishes at the graphics card. As graphics cards get bigger, the software and the designers, we’re trying stuff more through the graphics card. So, we’re always going to need more.

Jim Mann: I’ve been doing this now since, blimey, I think my first 3D with a render was 1995, an AccuRender with Pentium 120s with like 128, not gigabyte, megabytes of RAM.

Jim Mann: You were always trying to cut the polygons down, and cut the lights down, and wait a few hours for a pretty awful, but at the time felt fantastic, [inaudible 00:24:22] render. It feels a lot like that again, but so many generations on, and it’s exciting. It really is exciting.

Dak: In terms of the R&D, you’ve talked a lot about just that process. Is it a process that is longer than a traditional scenic load-in and training, or is it something that it’s still going to be a little quicker, just getting the set up and running on the virtual side?

Jim Mann: I think when the hardware’s there, when the studio setup’s there, it’s probably pretty quick. We could probably turn something round and get it loaded in fairly short order now. As to how many day that would be, I don’t know, but everything depends on the complexity.

Jim Mann: If you’ve already thought about it properly, you already understand the limits of the physical space, and how that physical space relates to the virtual set, and vice versa.

Jim Mann: So, you already know where you expect your talent to be within that design. You already know where you expect the cameras to be, and where the cameras can’t go. This should get more fluent and faster, but again, as things get more complex, then we’ll want to do more complex things. So, [inaudible 00:25:39] again.

Toby Kalitowski: It’s a conversation we had with John Murphy, who’s head of graphics, creative head of graphics at BBC, and we were laughing and saying, “I think people… the general assumption is, if it’s green screen, it’s kind of easy, because there’s nothing there and you’ve just got to plug it in and play.”

Toby Kalitowski: But actually, in terms of time and cost, currently, as it stands, it’s more expensive than a comparable physical set install, in terms of the time setting it all up. It’s very difficult, because you can’t compare it anymore. Because obviously, we can’t build what we are building, physically. It’s not like we could even attempt to do it.

Toby Kalitowski: So, the physical elements become way simpler, and all of your time and budget is going on the virtual side of stuff. I think it’s generally costing more, I would say, at the moment, but that’s because there’s so much of ironing out of issues. But I think every production’s having that. I don’t think anyone has it easy.

Toby Kalitowski: I don’t think anyone’s cracked it, and they’re just breezing through stuff. I think everyone is having to deal with the latest versions, and graphics cards, and “Oh, there’s an issue with the [inaudible 00:26:54] box and the swop out, and do that.” Do you know what I mean? It’s constant stuff that’s happening.

Dak: To wrap up, what’s next for what you all are working on?

Toby Kalitowski: We’re currently working on a pitch for the Commonwealth games, which takes place in Birmingham this summer. I’m doing a lot of work at Bloomberg in the UK, who are expanding their studio facilities here.

Jim Mann: I’m currently working my way through every regional studio for ABC Australia. So, yeah, it’s February in England, the weather’s miserable. I have to spend my day looking at photographs of beautiful sunsets in Hobart or Tasmania. Yeah, it’s just to make me feel worse. If any broadcasters out there would like a studio designed for the World Cup, we’re ready.

Dak: They say the world of sports never stops. There’s always that next event. I’m sure soon you’ll have to start thinking about another Olympiad only two short years away. Thanks for listening to the Broadcast Exchange. Make sure to subscribe for the latest Broadcast Exchange episodes on your favorite podcast platform, or watch our video episodes on YouTube. 

The post Broadcast Exchange: Creating a dynamic virtual environment for BBC Olympics coverage appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The virtual set is powered by Brainstorm InfinitySet with rendering by Unreal Engine.

The virtual space depicts what appears to be a large open office space with thick columns and floor to ceiling windows overlooking a nighttime view. Steely blue uplighting and gold ceiling fixtures are the primary colors used inside the virtual space, though there’s also subtle hints of red.

While the structural elements and furnishings are fairly realistic, reality is suspended through the use of “floating” logos that appear throughout the 3D space as well as a standup area that has a large video wall like structure that can “slide up” from a base fixture in the floor. 

Many of the logos seen in the background might be physically possible, at least in theory, but the video wall that lifts out of the floor is decidedly more imaginative. 

Talent can be set up in a variety of positions, including an informal furniture grouping. 

Opposite the large wall of windows is a massive glossy “wall” that’s a sort of hybrid between a virtual video wall and a single sheet of glass looking into a space beyond.

Animated gold bars are used on this surface, which also depicts a dark background that appears to depict additional space featuring X-shaped elements.

While the imagery here could be meant as a video wall graphic, it also a decidedly “virtual set extension” look to it, although whatever imaginary room is behind there appears to be mostly empty and cloaked in darkness.

Meanwhile, the notion of a skyscraper is reinforced through the show’s open that depicts a series of tall, glass skyscrapers that, once viewed from above, are revealed to form the letters in the show’s name.

The post CNN Chile virtual set blends architecture with the unlikely appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The virtual set is powered by Zero Density’s Reality platform with rendering from the Unreal Engine.

The design has the somewhat unique distinction of having been built natively in Unreal as well — most virtual sets start in 3D software such as Cinema 4D and then get transferred into a rendering system.

“The size of green studios is always a limiting factor in terms of separation and camera positioning.  The Helsinki studio space was a challenge and our ability to continually test camera positions and lenses in Unreal was a vital part of the design process,” said Toby Kalitowski of BK Design Projects, who designed the virtual set with Jim Mann of Lightwell.

“The ability to pull back virtual cameras in Zero Density wasn’t a feature we had used before, but when the team at Suora added a modest camera move for an opening show shot, its impact was immediately obvious. We were able to extend beyond the studio’s physical limits, and show the depth in the virtual sets design,” said Mann.

A birdseye view of the 3D model used for the Discovery Finland hockey virtual set.

The model is circular in shape, with a more traditional studio setup in the middle of what, from above, looks like a giant wheel with spokes. 

This nexus features an anchor desk, interview area and video walls, which can also be used for standups. 

A primary background of a “video wall” is framed out by two curved elements with shapes that suggest hockey sticks ties into the shape of the desk. 

The Finnish National Men’s Ice Hockey Team’s logo, which uses the Finnish word for Finland, Suomi, is featured prominently throughout the virtual screens, as is the multicolor Discovery+ logo.

Meanwhile, the outer perimeter of the space is used to provide both depth to the scenes depicted in the center space while also serving as additional standup style venues. Topical graphics, as well as 3D “statues” of hockey players in various poses, can be placed in this area.

The outer “wall” of the space is depicted as what is presumably meant to be floor to ceiling video walls, and the network has the ability to change the graphics used here as needed.

Two Panasonic PTZ (AW-UE150) and two Panasonic box cameras (AK-UB300) are used to capture talent, which is paired with four of Zero Density’s Reality Engines. 

Discovery Finland is a similar but distinct version of the U.S.-based Discovery network, owned by a European division of the company. Discovery also owns Eurosport and produces sports coverage under this co-branding arrangement. 

The post Discovery Finland creates sprawling circular virtual set for hockey appeared first on NewscastStudio.