Live From FIFA World Cup: Amazing AR Studio Leads ITV Sport Production for Russia 2018 By Fergal Ringrose, SVG Europe Tuesday, July 3, 2018 - 10:23 am
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The undoubted star of the Russia World Cup presentation from ITV Sport has been the dramatic cathedral' studio in Red Square, with a backdrop of St Basil's ahead and the Kremlin on the left. ITV Sport's studio uses various elements of AR to enable a small studio space with restricted height to look much larger and see the full height of St Basil's Cathedral.
Screen view of ITV Red Square studio, with anchor Mark Pougatch and pundits Slaven Bilic and Henrik Larsson preparing for Brazil vs Mexico match, July 2
It also incorporates a UHD 180 camera feed from host broadcaster HBS to transport the viewer into the venue. An intensive work effort in a tight timescale with partners Deltatre (AR system), Gearhouse (studio build), Stype (Red Spy optical camera tracking), Telegenic (OB facilities) and White Light (LED screens, D3 server and lighting) went into the intricacies of the design, especially for a temporary setup. A trucking system for the LED screens was built to enable screens to be moved in, across the window, in a short space of time.
BAFTA Award-winner Paul McNamara, Senior Director/Executive Producer Major Events for ITV Sport, held overall creative responsibility for the ambitious and challenging set, with design by Paul Sudlow and set construction by Scott Fleary. Alex Dinnin was graphics/AR designer and lighting directors are Chris Hollier and Andy Cottey. Vision supervision is provided by Mark Dunning and Adrian Turpin, with Nicos Chrisdoulou as studio project manager.
ITV Sport Technical Consultant Paul Bateman, who played a central role in planning its World Cup operations across Red Square and the IBC, told SVG Europe The set receives a virtual extension in the shape of an augmented reality ceiling designed by Alex Dinnin to be like the inside of a chapel, complete with a virtual window fed by two HD cameras. Two side LED screens have a further two HD cameras to provide views to the left and right of the real window, providing an unrivalled panoramic view of Red Square.
Screen view of actual' studio without the AR ceiling
To complete the effect, the AR ceiling and two side screens use the tracking to provide perspective movement, giving the impression the windows are real.
The same system is then applied to the incoming UHD stadium feed, but with one significant difference: three further LED screens are placed in front of the actual window, with the stadium feed mapped across the five LED screens and virtual ceiling.
deltatre's delivery uses eight Vizrt Engines with Stype Red Spy providing the tracking. A further two Engines provide the onscreen graphics and match clock, and the IBC is set up for post-production NLE rendering, said Bateman.
Anchor Mark Pougatch is miked up before Brazil vs Japan game
Leading the team in the Telegenic truck at Red Square are Senior Unit Engineer Jason Langford and Deputy Head of Vision Tom Read. Langford told SVG Europe, there are four HD cameras, two centre cameras and two side cameras, and they give us our AR paintbox'. And then we move around within that vista, with data from the track camera - all working in real time.
The D3 server is handling all the content going to the screens. And we've got another screen that comes in the back wall to do the perspective tracking, when in Red Square tracking mode. The data from the jib camera is sent to deltatre, and they send us track data to match the Red Square perspective, said Langford.
We also do a stadium tracking mode with data from the Stype camera, and when we're in full stadium mode it looks like we're faking a perspective through the window. We build up the entire set in a 3D world and then manipulate around that. And that's it in a nutshell! he said.
The studio has been very tough, ITV Sport Technical Director Roger Pearce told SVG Europe. We've been through the depths and come out of it with something I think we can be proud of. It's been the biggest technical challenge and the biggest technical achievement.
And it's been about the people: the Telegenic engineers, the White Light guys, deltatre. Tom Reed from Telegenic, whom I've known for a long time, said this has re-energised me.' All the contractors had to work really closely together.
Part of the challenge was joining the real world with the AR world, and everything has got to be extremely accurate and precise as to how it joins up, with perspective tracking between virtual cameras and static cameras. And then you add on the AR of the ceiling, which is absolutely virtual and has to match in with all the screens below, with colour balancing.
The vision engineers and shaders have done a fantastic job, said Pearce. We've really been through the depths where everyone has thought, oh my God this will never work' to my God we've done it!'. You had a load of people who have never worked together before, and you're trying to do something new and on the edge. People were saying, I don't think this can be done' - and that was two weeks out! From a technical point of view, we're very proud of the studio.
At the IBC and around the country
In total ITV Sport has around 150 people in Russia, plus some ancillary staff for security and translation. Within the IBC, which is located at Moscow's Crocus Expo International Exhibition Centre, Gearhouse has provided ITV with facilities including production offices, a master control room and a transmission gallery. This is then linked to ITV's studio in Red Square.
Work on the studio took over a year, with a mock-up built in London before everything was shipped to Russia to ensure there wou
