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Aston - Designers’ Choice for 2D/3D Motion Graphics

Aston is a motion graphics creation, CG and playout system developed with the designers in mind, created from the ground up to be extremely user-friendly so the operators can concentrate on creation rather than pure operation.

Broadcast design is a demanding task and the pressure is constant to quickly deliver or modify high-quality graphics that enhance a channel’s branding and program content. Designed for a robust on-air operation, designers can create, manipulate, animate and perform last-minute changes, even while on-air. Aston enables the design team to change any of the attributes on the template in real-time making the improvement process easier and faster.

Aston is resolution independent and works with any HDTV flavour, 4K or even higher resolutions for larger screens. In addition, Aston is MOS compatible and also supports a wide range of 3D formats such as .fbx, .dae, .obj and.3ds, to name a few.

Aston 4 gains a number of enhancements that further improve its capabilities, like shader-based 2D fonts or the ability to open multiple projects simultaneously for playout. And thanks to the LAYERS feature, the Aston family of applications is enhanced with the addition of Aston Multichannel. With this, Aston provides extended workflow possibilities, including playout of multiple channels from a single workstation or from different workstations, which can also be combined with multiple simultaneous projects. Additionally, InfinitySet now includes an Aston Crosspoint for further flexibility. Aston now takes full advantage of NVIDIA's GPU movie decoding, while its PBR material rendering has been further enhanced.

Created for designers

Aston has been created from the ground up to be extremely user-friendly, so designers can concentrate on creation rather than on pure operation.

Intuitive drag-and-drop creation

Adaptive Contextual Interface. The basic tools are always present, but as the design grows the required contextual tools become automatically visible

Properties and attributes. Objects always display all their properties, so designers have all the information at hand, anytime.

Supports a wide range of 3D formats such as .fbx, .dae, .obj or .3ds

Advanced primitives, objects and materials

Brainstorm supports a wide variety of objects and primitives, from simple spheres to intricate curves or arrows, which also allow for multiple properties. Practically all the parameters (geometry, size, appearance, materials…) of the wide variety of objects and primitives supported by Aston are editable.

Aston includes a wide variety of primitives: Basic primitives (sphere, cone, cube…), curves, data bars, particles systems and much more, all with multiple parameters.

Parameters are fully editable and animatable: geometry, size, appearance, materials… Also, objects can be adhered together, grouped and work as a unit when required.

Font and text management

Aston supports advanced real-time 3D Fonts with extremely precise rendering quality and extensive features and parameters with real-time render and operation.

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AstonElections is cost-effective and extremely user-friendly, template-based intuitive application intended for graphics coverage for broadcast elections, and the result of more than 20 years of experience that Brainstorm has in delivering election projects to a large number of major broadcasters all over the world. It can be used as a standalone solution or users of the InfinitySet virtual studio application can combine it within a virtual environment.

AstonElections combines the necessary key features to control all aspects involving data management. So, once data is loaded -manually or via a CSV file, Aston Elections automatically reorders data, rearranges the graphics and divides them into pages depending on the number of items to show, always ensuring they are displayed fluidly on screen.

Why AstonElections

AstonElections is a simple, easy-to-use application that provides customization and on-air playout of Elections and business graphics based on pre-defined templates

Allows for hassle-free operation for broadcast and corporate environments.

Combines the advanced graphics and CG features of Aston with the powerful playout features of OnDemand.

Template-based graphics

AstonElections provides customization and on-air playout of Elections and business graphics pre-defined templates, allowing hassle-free operation for broadcast and corporate environments. AstonElections does not require specialised election knowledge. AstonElections’ highly intuitive interface allows for the simple and easy use of complex, high-quality and eye-catching graphics.

AstonElections can sort the data for you, reformat the graphic with the data and divide it into pages depending on the content. In addition, AstonElections allows the entry of data manually. Use the same template with different data as many times as you want by loading an independent CSV file in the rundown mode. AstonElections comes with 20 customizable templates.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Video Production » Production automation systems »

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.

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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.

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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.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Production graphics and CG »

Brainstorm’s pathway to broadcast graphics management

Neuron is a MOS-compatible, template-based system that integrates graphics creation and management into most common newsroom, continuity and broadcast traffic operation environments. Allowing users to integrate high-quality pre-defined 3D graphics to their workflow without the constant input from the Graphics department.

Neuron is fully scalable and can be tailored to match any client’s requirements or budget while it integrates in most types of broadcast content management including traffic and branding. Initially designed for news operation, Neuron currently integrates in most common broadcast workflows, transcending the newsroom to support continuity and broadcast traffic.

Produce » Real-Time Production » Real-Time Production Graphics » Production graphics and CG »

OnDemand is a flexible yet powerful playout solution that fits perfectly in any broadcast environment regardless of its complexity, allowing the playout and immediate broadcast of Aston graphics and templates, and edit them on the fly if required. OnDemand even allows users to control Aston projects when embedded in InfinitySet.

The control and playout of graphics is becoming increasingly complex as the number and combination of graphical elements to be displayed multiplies. OnDemand can control all such elements and is able to launch graphics simultaneously, sequentially, in random order and combine them as required.

OnDemand provides operators with a flexible toolset to create rundown lists, modify them on the fly, and delve into the details allowing individual editing of elements such as graphics, videos and on-air shots, and then playing them out to air. It is a powerful playout application that enables the easy management and playout of complex graphics templates in any order and combination, for broadcasters who require more than a simple rundown system.

OnDemand has the ability to operate in multiple modes, making it the ideal tool for any playout situation: live sports, channel branding, gameshows, news, tickers, election graphics and many more. The integration with Aston is such that OnDemand’s powerful playout even understands the specific behaviour of any Aston graphic.