Super Bowl LVI: Ross Video's Rocket Surgery Takes AR Graphics to the Next Level for NBC Sports, Van Wagner The creative-services supplier was also involved in the broadcaster's Olympics coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, March 10, 2022 - 12:25 pm
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In the seven years since Ross Video's Rocket Surgery Creative & Professional Services Division began working on NBC's Sunday Night Football package, the broadcaster's use of augmented-reality graphics has grown significantly - in terms of both frequency in the broadcast and quality of the graphics. Last month at Super Bowl LVI, Rocket Surgery cranked up its effort yet another notch, providing AR elements not only for NBC's broadcast but also for the in-venue show produced by Van Wagner Sport & Entertainment.
Rocket Surgery provided all AR elements for NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl LVI.
Given all the irons in the fire, this is without a doubt the biggest [show we've ever done], says Rocket Surgery Director, Creative Services, Jim Doyle. Not only did we provide all the augmented-reality graphics for the NBC show itself - like we always do - but we also debuted a new look for the show and, for the first time, we actually led the creative [process] on this one. Plus, we were also doing the AR and PIERO graphics for the in-venue show with Van Wagner. So there were a lot of different areas where we played a role.
At SoFi: Big Onsite Presence for Rocket Surgery's Biggest Show Ever With Rocket Surgery playing so many roles for the big game, the team opted to roll in a mobile unit (NEP Dakota) at SoFi Stadium to serve as its operations hub. Normally, Rocket Surgery is housed in NBC's SNF trucks, but, with 14 people onsite (plus three designers/technical artists located remotely) simultaneously producing content for NBC and Van Wagner - as well as for NBC's Olympics coverage -a dedicated mobile unit was brought in.
There was a need for us to have all of our people in one place to make all that happen, as opposed to being spread out all over the facility as we typically are, Doyle explains. That was not only for communication purposes but also to make setup and teardown easier.
Dakota housed NBC's pregame show, Van Wagner operators, and designer stations, while Rocket Surgery's normal space in NBC's NEP ND1 D unit was home to the primary in-game AR operations.
The Super Bowl LVI pregame show featured AR graphics that used a Technocrane on the Lakeside set outside SoFi Stadium.
Rocket Surgery relied on Ross Video's Voyager virtual-production platform powered by Unreal Engine - along with some Ross Video XPression graphics - to drive the AR graphics for Super Bowl LVI. In addition, Ross Video gear/software used for the production comprised Lucid, PIERO, OpenGear, Ultrix, Carbonite Ultra, Gator, DashBoard, Furio VR100, TouchDrive, and Ultritouch.
As is the case on all SNF broadcasts, AR graphics were available on both goalpost cameras (13 and 14). However, instead of using the low Skycam (Camera 40), Rocket Surgery deployed AR on the high Skycam (Camera 30) using Trackmen VioTrack technology. In addition, Rocket Surgery worked with Ncam, Stype, and AVS to implement AR tracking on the on-field Steadicam wirelessly via RF.
A full arsenal of Ross Video gear was on-hand in L.A. to power Rocket Surgery's AR graphics operation for Super Bowl LVI.
We didn't radically change the workflow because we wanted to make sure it was reliable and still comfortable for the director and the production team, says Daily. But we did add a lot to that more cameras and more tracking. All the [additional cameras] were added into our normal workflow, and we still triggered everything the same way we do [typically] with DashBoard. It was just a lot more in terms of volume.
Taking the Creative Reins: Rocket Surgery Spearheads the Process Prior to Super Bowl LVI, the creative process for Sunday Night Football AR graphics was led by NBC Sports Art Director John Schleef and his team. However, with the NBC graphics team's docket crammed with the concurrent Super Bowl and 2022 Beijing Olympics productions, the Rocket Surgery team was enlisted to lead the design process for the Super Bowl LVI AR-graphics package.
[Previously,] John and teams would give us the building blocks and the main creative direction, says Terry Daily, creative manager, Rocket Surgery Virtual Creative Services. We would implement and optimize that for playback in our engine. This time was really the first time we transitioned to complete design-from-scratch service.
Daily and his creative team pitched all the concepts to Schleef from the beginning and received approval, but the Rocket Surgery team handled the design and construction of all elements. Schleef and company provided early looks at the insert package they were designing for Super Bowl LVI, and the Rocket Surgery team drew its initial inspiration from that.
Ultimately, says Daily, John [Schleef] oversaw the main creative vision and direction, but it was unique for us this time around in that we actually created the looks in-house completely with our own design team. We got to dream up how we wanted these graphics to look and how we were going to execute shots, especially in terms of how we could play off the stadium design with the Infinity Screen. We let that dictate how we designed.
Besides Super Bowl LVI, Rocket Surgery was also providing AR graphics for NBC's Olympics coverage. Announcer Mike Tirico at the L.A. Lakeside set also did double duty.
SoFi Stadium is heavy on Ross Video technology, including the state-of-the-art Infinity Screen, which is driven by Ross Video's Xpression Tessera platform. Daily says this provided his team with a distinct edge in integrating the AR p
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Super Bowl LVI: Ross Video's Rocket Surgery Takes AR Graphics to the Next Level for NBC Sports, Van Wagner The creative-services supplier was also involved in the broadcaster's Olympics coverage By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
