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NEP is a leading provider of augmented reality (AR) solutions that have the power to visually change the world inside your studio. By combining real life with virtual elements, our AR solutions can transform a confined area into an infinite space, or replace a green screen with a set that can be anything you can imagine to perfectly fit the content of your program.

NEXT LEVEL AUGMENTED
We have developed an augmented reality solution that combines four key elements into one workflow, creating next-level results.

TRACKING METHODS AND SCALABILITY
In order to bring augmented reality to the next level we offer the new Mo-Sys Startracker optical system. By deploying this tracking technology on any broadcast camera, we can work in an environment of mixed encoded cameras, including handheld, crane cameras, hard/pedestal cameras—even steady cams.

ADVANCED LIVE RENDERING
Creating virtual graphics that are realistic to the human eye requires live rendering capacity, realistic live shadows and realistic live reflections. All of these things were lacking in today's broadcast render engines, so we adopted the most advanced gaming technology and modified it to fit in the broadcast environment. We use Zero Density Reality Virtual Studio as a bridge between hardware and our platform CUBE.

NEXT GENERATION KEYING
High-end keying is crucial in a virtual set environment, so we have integrated the latest generation "vision" based keying into our solution. Even the most difficult circumstances are no problem.

TOTAL WORKFLOW INTEGRATION
A virtual multi-camera environment is complicated. How do you handle the delays? What do you do with clean and dirty feeds? What back up scenarios are there for the live feed? We have created a seamless integration with the entire production chain, ensuring our virtual world is reality throughout the entire production.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

Lucid Studio is a highly flexible and customizable control platform with an easy-to-use intuitive graphical user interface. Lucid provides seamless integration with tracking systems and real-time 3D rendering engines such as XPression and Voyager. It is a complete redesign of the legacy UX platform, with significant changes to the underlying code, and the graphics interface. Lucid Studio offers unparalleled customizability, flexibility and accessibility to all types of operation and operators. Lucid Studio is used for virtual set camera calibration, scene manipulation, media replacement, event triggering, MOS newsroom integration, animation control, robotic camera movement control and much more.

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Vizrt pioneered virtual set (VS) and augmented reality (AR) and continues to push the boundaries of what is possible. With a combination of efficient newsroom workflows for journalists, integration with advanced tracking systems, and rendering with the world’s most powerful graphics engine and video playout server, Viz Engine, Viz Virtual Studio is the global standard and innovator for live virtual sets and augmented reality productions.

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Reality Engine™ is world's first real-time node based 3D compositor enabling real-time visual effects pipelines featuring video I/O, keying, compositing and rendering UHD/4K in one single software in real-time. As the most photorealistic virtual studio production product, Reality Engine™ provides its client the tools to create the most immersive content possible including augmented reality productions, real-time data driven graphics and real-time ray tracing for cinematic quality rendering and revolutionize storytelling in broadcasting, media and cinema industry.

Photorealism

Reality Engine™ uses Unreal®  Engine by Epic Games, the photorealistic real-time game engine, as the 3D renderer. With the advanced real-time visual effects capabilities, Reality Engine™ ensures the most photorealistic composite output possible.

Real-time Ray Tracing

Reality Engine™ takes advantage of latest powerful technologies from world’s most leading companies like Nvidia® RTX® GPU technology to produce high quality and realistic rendering possible in the industry today. Real-time ray tracing technology brings cinematic quality rendering capability to live production and provides realistic lighting, shadows and reflections.

Real-time Compositing in 3D Space 

As a unique approach in the industry, the green screen video is composited with virtual graphics in 3D space. This technique results in real-time dynamic reflections of the physical objects and the talent on the virtual graphics.  Like reflections, refractions of physical objects are also created automatically in real-time. Reality Engine™ composites video by using 16-bit floating point arithmetic for HDR precision. Having the control of full compositing pipeline, all gamma and color space conversions are handled precisely. By using this technology, the real world and the virtual elements are blended seamlessly.

Reality Keyer

Reality Keyer™ is the world’s first and only real-time image based keyer that works on GPU. Reality Keyer™ preserves real environment details such as contact shadows, transparent objects and sub-pixel details like hair.

Reality Keyer™ can work also with 4:4:4 RGB camera sources. The keyer also supports 3D masks for “force-fill” and “spill bypass” buffers besides garbage mask. Those mask s enable hybrid virtual studio operation which lets you combine virtual and real environments.

Advanced Augmented Reality

Having the tracked camera feed as an input video, Reality Engine™ is able to render reflections and refractions of the real environment onto the virtual augmented objects. Real-time 3D reflections and the shadows of the virtual objects are also composited over the incoming camera feed simulated with 3D perspective.

Reality API

Reality.net API gives possibility to users to develop their own 3rd party control applications for specific needs such as data driven graphics.

Videowall and Portal Window

Reality Engine™ can feed your videowalls with high-resolution 3D graphics. By using camera tracking data, you can even convert your videowall into a portal to a virtual environment. Combining portal window with ceiling extension, you will be able to have a virtual studio without green screen.

Tracking Technology

Reality Engine™ supports industry standard mechanical and optical camera tracking systems. Reality can use the lens calibration data sent by the tracking devices.

Talent Tracking

When the talent tracking data acquired by Reality Engine, the engine positions the talent inside the virtual world in the correct position and depth. This technology automatically enables the creation of accurate reflections and refractions of the talent. Interaction between the real and physical is achieved with utmost realism thanks to Reality Engine’s industry first and only feature of com-positing in 3D space.

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Swift Studio offers full multi-camera virtual studios to take your productions to the next level or gives you the option of dropping 3D augmented reality objects such as score boards into live studios or outside broadcasts.

We also offer a highly cost effective single fixed camera system called Swift Studio Lite.

• Swift Studio works with all the main camera tracking products.


• Use Swift CG+ to design and incorporate 3D designs from other leading 3D design tools.


• Incorporates live data feeds for accurate on air graphics.


• Supported by our Swift Services to ensure all camera renderers are in sync.


• Scales from single self contained PC, up to large scale facility wide distributed architecture.


• Wide range of broadcast format support - HD, UHD, HDR, SDI, ST2110, NDI.


• Fonts and language support including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, etc.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

Edison PRO is an innovative, template-based playout application that seeks to transform any live, online presentation or conference into an immersive experience through AR and virtual environments, allowing users to enhance their speech and storytelling with real-time 3D graphics and other visual aids, including immersing themselves in the presentation.

Based on Brainstorm’s 25 years of broadcast experience in virtual sets and AR, Edison PRO substantially improves the impact of any presentation. Users do not require any experience in graphics, video, image or 3D, as the starting point for their sessions is a PPT of PDF document.

Based on 25 years of the broadcast experience of Brainstorm in virtual sets and AR, Edison PRO substantially improves the quality and impact of your presentations without requiring specific knowledge in 3D, virtual studios or video.

Edison PRO is a standalone product that includes a future-proof hardware to ensure the ease of operation, compatibility and performance. Installation, training and support are straight-forward, ensuring a rock-solid operation even in highly demanding, live production environments.

Compatible with standard presentation tools

Edison PRO can import standard PPT and PDF files so the slides or pages can be displayed and controlled by the presenter by using Edison’s interface. The presentation can also be controlled using standard clicker devices, smartphones or tablets.

Easy to use and control

Running a presentation is as easy as loading a template and importing the slides. Once a template is loaded, Edison PRO can key out and insert the presenter inside the 3D Virtual Reality scene, which can be further customized.

TrackFree virtual cameras that turn your virtual set limitless

Using Brainstorm’s patented TrackFree™ technology, Edison PRO takes the video feed of your fixed camera and creates virtual camera views from it. These are flexible, independent from the live feed, and can move freely in 3D space, as pedestals or cranes do in live production environments. This feature expands the virtual environment far beyond the limits of the physical chroma set. Users can change the camera view or create a new one at any time, instantly, with just a click!

Unreal Engine compatible

Edison PRO is compatible with UE scenes, which can be used as 3D backgrounds for the presentation. This improves your presentations with the ability to use hyper realistic background scenes in real-time.

Also, the optional Edison UC (Edison Unreal Control) plugin allows for controlling and editing the UE scene’s blueprints, objects and properties directly from Edison’s own, user-friendly interface.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

Reality Keyer is the world’s first and only real-time image based keyer that works on GPU. Reality Keyer provides spectacular results for keying of contact shadows, transparent objects and sub-pixel details like hair. Reality Keyer can work also with 4:4:4 RGB camera sources. The keyer also supports 3D masks for “force-fill” and “spill bypass” buffers besides garbage mask. Those masks enable hybrid virtual studio operation which lets you combine virtual and real environments.Besides the quality of its results, Reality Keyer is still very easy to setup and operate.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

The world’s first pre-configured complete virtual studio system. All the flexibility and creativity virtual sets offer without the complexity or cost.

This state-of-the-art virtual studio system provides unlimited creative freedom to generate visually impactful digital studios for every video type.

Create all your video content with a single studio

• 3-camera 4K virtual studio system – expandable to 16 cameras.


•  Pre-confi gured system with pre-calibrated lenses.


•  1 vendor for supply, installation, training, and support.


• 1 day installation.


• No additional virtual studio compositing software required.


• Works with LED wall studios or green studios.


• 4K recorders included – shoot live to air, or record for post-production.


• Includes Mo-Sys Beam In technology – include remote guests in a virtual studio.


• Uses Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) - the market leader in photo-realistic graphics engines.


• Suitable for live broadcast/streaming, real-time film workflows, and rapid reaction social media video

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

AirBox provides automated content playout for satellite channels, cable head-ends, over-the-air broadcasters and corporate TV users. It is designed to be extremely robust, in order to meet the highest reliability demands of on-air playout. Due to its unique modular architecture, it is also suitable for webcasters, hotel Pay TV channels, corporate presentations, video wall sourcing and other program distribution systems.

AirBox Multi Parallel Output allows simultaneous running of two or more SDI or IP streaming SD / HD outputs so that broadcasters can easily deliver parallel output in any combination needed to deliver the content.

AirBox supports a wide range of video / audio formats from almost every known platform for production Third-party video server files like Leitch, Seachange, etc. are supported natively.

Any modifications to the playlist can be made during the on-air session. There will be no locked videos in the playlist except the one being played at the moment. They can be changed, edited or substituted.

On-the-fly commands such as skip to next or jump can change the playback order. Such changes in order are carried out seamlessly without stopping the current session. The powerful Live Show Clipboard facilitates live productions, enabling the insertion and/or execution of different events or live streams.

AirBox enables playlist scheduling for weeks ahead for automated playout. The associated gaps and time overlaps are overcome dynamically to ensure smooth service even when timed activities interfere with each other. If content files or even entire schedules are missing and misplaced, special facilities guarantee continuous operation.

MS Windows 10 compatible.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

The Safire 3 chroma keyer is ideal for real-time applications from weather to immersive virtual studios.

It has a simple intuitive workflow for setting up a key, support for resolutions from SD to 1080p and features such as lighting compensation, colour correction and video delay to help solve common real world issues.

It's also the lowest cost of the industry's best real time chroma keyers - and includes the best support as well as a five year warranty.

Safire 3 is used by broadcasters across the world.

You can set up an impressive chroma key automatically using multi-point sampling, or you can manually adjust the picture using any of the fine-tuning tools available. These adjustments can be made using a choice of control options – from touch screen control panel to web browser.

Safire 3 is a module that fits in Crystal Vision’s Indigo frames, saving you rack space by allowing up to 12 chroma keyers (or other cards) in 2U.

 

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

eStudio - The industry’s fastest real-time 3D graphics and virtual studio engine.

Brainstorm eStudio is a powerful and flexible tool that provides solutions for any kind of real-time graphics. The eStudio is unique in the market due to its sophistication, open architecture and versatility, enabling both design and real-time playout of virtual studios and 3D graphics as well as the easy creation of customized applications. It provides excellent results for applications such as News & Sports, channel branding, weather, entertainment, charts and graphics, interactive corporate presentations or film pre-visualization.

Brainstorm has been pushing the boundaries of virtual set production and development for over 25 years. Brainstorm pioneered the application of camera tracking to 3D real-time virtual set, and eStudio interfaces with practically all current tracking systems, making integration with any production hardware an out-of-the-box feature.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Virtual sets and chromakey »

InfinitySet: the most advanced virtual set solution.

Forget all you know about Virtual Studios. Anything can be accomplished with InfinitySet, from simple virtual sets with fixed cameras to advanced and complex productions involving tracked cameras, external feeds with embedded tracking data and data driven graphics interacting in real-time with the set and the talents. InfinitySet’s advanced technologies are also user-friendly, providing the best tool to create amazing programs that engage viewers.

InfinitySet is the all-in-one virtual set and real-time 3D graphics solution, not just for showcasing a number of extremely advanced technologies, but also for the flexibility this solution gives to operators and producers alike. Brainstorm’s award-winning InfinitySet dramatically enhances production value to capture and retain new and larger audiences, while greatly reducing production costs and opening up new sources of revenue.

Why InfinitySet?

- InfinitySet is the most advanced virtual set solution thanks to the patented TrackFree technology.

- With advanced compositing features, it allows to create fully realistic real-time 3D scenes with elements that  behave like those of the real world.

- InfinitySet is a complete real-time 3D Graphics tool, as it can embed all the power of Aston within the virtual set environment.

Brainstorm’s experience of over 25 years in producing advanced 3D graphics and virtual sets is concentrated in InfinitySet, which provides state-of-the-art Augmented Reality features used daily by broadcasters all over the world to create astonishing shows using virtual sets and graphics.

InfinitySet 3 introduced a plethora of high-end, advanced rendering features which, in addition to its Combined Render Engine with Unreal Engine, allow InfinitySet to create the most realistic content for virtual and mixed reality, virtual sets, real-time postproduction and film pre-visualization.

InfinitySet 4, the latest version of the award-winning augmented reality and virtual set solution, gains major updates to the rendering features and especially the management and compatibility with the Unreal Engine. This effectively enhances the way the Combined Render Engine, Brainstorm’s seamless integration between the company’s eStudio render engine and the Unreal Engine, works in practice. Another key development is that InfinitySet now features an Unreal-native behaviour, so InfinitySet users can achieve anything Unreal Engine provides in a workflow fully integrated into Unreal. The added value of this configuration is the multitude of benefits of including more than 25 years of Brainstorm’s experience in broadcast and film graphics, virtual set and augmented reality production, including data management, playout workflows, virtual camera detach, multiple simultaneous renders and much more.

Real-time ray tracing

InfinitySet takes full advantage of the latest hardware developments found in NVIDIA RTX GPU technology. By using NVIDIA Quadro RTX GPUs, InfinitySet can deliver real-time ray tracing, which provides a much more accurate rendering, especially with complex light conditions.

PBR and HDR

InfinitySet fully supports PBR shaders as materials and can also be imported from external shader editing software. In addition, InfinitySet can render HDR in floating 16 bit per channel/component, supporting for P2020 gamma correction output. This allows for post-rendering exposure control and extended-range filtering.

Combined Render Engine

InfinitySet features Brainstorm’s Combined Render Engine, which provides with the best of both worlds, the high-quality scene rendering of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine with the advanced graphics, typography and external data management of the eStudio render engine.

DMX Dynamic Light Control

InfinitySet InfinitySet can remotely control and adjust in real-time external light panels and external Chroma Keyer settings, allowing for changing the lighting conditions of the real set to match those of the virtual set, adding further realism and accuracy to the content.

Virtual Shadows and Defocus

Thanks to the TrackFree technology, InfinitySet can create virtual shadows along with the real shadows extracted from the chroma keyer, and apply then to virtual surfaces. InfinitySet can also adjust the focus and depth of field of a scene, even within the Combined Render Engine.

TrackFree Camera Detaching

Set space restrictions are no longer a problem, because, regardless the camera we are shooting is fixed, manned, tracked or robotized, InfinitySet can seamlessly detach the camera feed while maintaining the correct position and perspective of the talent within the virtual scene.

Augmented Reality and Broadcast Graphics

Broadcast graphics have specific requirements that are far beyond from what a Game Engine can do.

With the Combined Render Engine Brainstorm makes both engines work together, so adding Aston graphics as Augmented Reality objects as required within the scene is simple and straight forward.

Also, broadcast graphics workflows require external database connections, statistics, tickers, social media, lower-thirds, such a variety of graphics that are alien to the Game Engine framework but are essential for broadcast operation.

TrackFree

TrackFree is a patented camera-tracking independent technology that provides just what its name claims: the total freedom for operators to use any tracking system, trackless or fixed cameras, or a combination of these at the same time.

Allows for combined Chroma Keying, even within the same production:

•Internal chroma key software

•External chroma key hardware

•Combination of both

TrackFree advanced features:

•TeleTransporter

•3D Presenter

•HandsTracking

•FreeWalking

Enhanced internal Chroma keyer

InfinitySet features an advanced internal, resolution independent Chroma Keyer, supporting controls for main key, spill correction, detail recovering and color correction.

InfinitySet automatically creates an secondary key for feet tracking, independent from the main one. This key permits the calculation of the talent’s feet position for the FreeWalking feature and for creating virtual shadows and reflections.

TeleTransporter

This feature seamlessly combines 3D virtual sets with real characters and live or pre-recorded video feeds, all moving accordingly with precise matching of perspective, color, shadows, reflections or focus.

InfinitySet allows the incorporation of external post-production tracking hardware and software data along with real-time tracking data, combining both with any object or set on the scene. Also, external tracking data coming from real cameras or third-party tracking software can be included as metadata in live feeds or pre-recorded videos, and immediately be transferred and applied to the virtual camera’s parameters.

3D Presenter

Converts the talent into a 3D object, achieved by generating a true 3D representation of the talent from a video feed. The presenter becomes an actual 3D object embedded within the virtual set. 3D Presenter features:

•Casts real shadows and reflections of the talent from virtual lights over virtual and real objects.

•Allows for interaction of the talent with 3D elements in the virtual set.

•Adds volumetric lighting for selective illumination and color correction of the talent, the lights interact in a realistic manner with the talent’s 3D volume.

FreeWalking

Enables talents to move freely around the green screen theatre matching their movements within the 3D space. Presenters are allowed to move forward, backwards and sideways with precise perspective matching even though the real camera is in a fixed position.

HandsTracking

Allows the triggering of events and animations just with the simple movement of the bare hands.

HandsTracking brings gestures to life, so presenters can trigger animations, graphics or data with a simple movement of the hands and without the need for any additional costly and complex tracking devices.

Advanced TrackFree features

InfinitySet 3 includes a number of advanced features which improve the realism of the final composition, while allow for the seamless integration between virtual and real content.

VideoGate

Thanks to VideoGate, a presenter in the virtual set can walk into a virtual screen, into the featured news, and be part of the video itself with full realism regardless it is shown full screen or as part of the set.

The talent enters and exits the video with full precise and accurately matched perspective, and once inside the clip it behaves correctly in terms of spatial reference and with the inclusion of realistic shadows, defocus etc.

Real Set Virtualization

InfinitySet can use real, live or pre-recorded footage to use it as the background for the chroma keyed talent. The original stage can be recorded in pre-determined shots, and the chroma keyed talent that is recorded in a remote station can then use the original studio’s shots, including its tracking data if available, to be tele-transported to that set, therefore seeming they are placed physically on that set.

This functionality allows a remote talent to enter any stage at any time, while seamlessly mixing real and virtual elements.

VideoCAVE

Brainstorm’s VideoCAVE feature is a Mixed Reality application which uses monitors on a real set to behave as a CAVE multiple window, with virtual elements coming in from the virtual windows to the real scene as seen from the tracked broadcast camera.

The CAVE concept is the acronym of “Cave Automatic Virtual Environment”, and is related to a multiple virtual window, an immersive virtual reality environment where projections are directed to a cube or room space.

Selective defocus and bokeh

InfinitySet can even match the depth-of-field of the presenter with that of the scene.

Using the real camera’s parameters, InfinitySet is able to create a selective defocus and bokeh effects on the virtual scene adding an even more realistic effect to the final rendered composition.

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality requires the interaction between sets, talents and virtual objects, often created out of external data sources. These in-context data driven objects allow for visually engaging and better explained representations of the data.

The combination of InfinitySet features makes Live projection mapping a straight forward application.

Motion graphics

As much Augmented Reality content requires advanced graphics features to guarantee the accuracy and realism of the result, InfinitySet includes graphics editing and creation features of Aston, so it can edit, manage and create 2D/3D motion graphics.

Also, Aston compositions, can be included, controlled and edited within InfinitySet allowing for the creation of great quality programs with enhanced information.

•Integrates Aston projects within the virtual set environment

•Imports 3D files into the virtual set: .fbx, .obj, .dae, .3ds…

Software Mixer

InfinitySet features a software-based Production Mixer Mode for enhanced production functionality such as full control of all the virtual cameras, with non-linear transitions such as Cut-Fade-Wipes and Flies between 3D cameras, plus controlling actions and objects.

Virtual Set Camera Controller

InfinitySet is fully compatible with Brainstorm’s Virtual Camera Controller, an external hardware that controls the Production Mixer Mode.

This hardware, also used by other Brainstorm solutions, is designed to further enhance the live production capabilities of InfinitySet, allowing full control of cameras, transitions, actions and objects.

Turnkey system

InfinitySet is delivered as a complete, turnkey system ready to use, fully and immediately integrable in any broadcaster’s workflow. Using standard broadcast plus complete IT connectivity, all Brainstorm products are prepared to work at its best since day one.