Augmented Reality describes ways to enhance visual perspectives or views in a variety of media to describe information graphics applied to television programs. In essence, graphics and data interact with real characters displaying data and information in a very attractive manner.
Augmented Reality allows for displaying data-driven graphics along with real images, where real footage or live videos are mixed with virtual backgrounds or scenes, chroma keyed talents and data-driven 3D graphics, which can interact with the talents creating an attractive environment for the audience. This allows for creating virtual environments where visually engaging representations of the data can be better explained by the presenters, making complex data easier to understand while enhancing the storytelling.
AR is a team job, involving design, data gathering and management, virtual sets, camera tracking and much more. So, the perfect integration between the different real and virtual objects and the backgrounds becomes essential, but what really makes the difference for the audience is to be unable to tell whether the images they are watching are real or digital renders. So Augmented Reality must be photorealistic to ensure it matches the background feed, regardless it is video or virtual imagery.
Brainstorm has experience in real-time AR for broadcast since 1995, creating and developing technologies that are now widely used on our products. Our current range integrates perfectly to create amazing AR, combining virtual studio features and high-end 3D graphics. InfinitySet includes unique features designed to enhance content creation and output and can effortlessly integrate Aston graphics as Augmented Reality objects within the scene, with a photorealistic render quality by using Unreal Engine. InfinitySet functions as ‘Unreal native’ and, since it can be combined with the Brainstorm engine, together they provide the best of both worlds: photorealistic backgrounds alongside with real-time broadcast graphic elements such as 3D motion graphics, lower-thirds, tickers, CG and many other, within the excellently rendered and realistic background scene. This allows for adding advanced audio-visual aids such as in-context typography, motion graphics, statistics, charts and many more, all perfectly integrated in the composition both in animation, tracking, perspective matching and of course image quality.
Most of Brainstorm’s top clients have made good use of Augmented Reality, including BBC, CNBC, NHK, TVE, Antena 3 and Al Jazheera, among many others.
