LAS VEGAS — At NAB 2014, Vizrt (www.vizrt.com), a provider of content production systems for the digital media industry, demonstrated how high precision, immersive graphics integrated with live 4K pictures can be achieved with a handheld camera.
The demonstration featured a handheld Red One camera, fitted with an Ncam tracking system, shooting 4K images at Vizrt’s booth. The images were then processed through Vizrt’s realtime 3D compositing system, Viz Engine, which added virtual elements to create an immersive augmented reality experience of 4K live video in realtime.
Viz Engine generates the graphics using an Nvidia Quadro K6000 graphics card and video key and fill is being output from two Matrox dsxle 3 4K cards. The output was shown on a Christie Quad-HD 84-inch flat panel LCD display and a Panasonic 65-inch 4K Ultra HD display.
The combined setup offers the ability to create immersive graphics tied to a freely moving camera, at full 4K resolution, and allows the operator to capture quick shots at any location. In turn, producers have the ability to quickly set up a shot from any location, with immersive graphics added for branding purposes and production value.
“Through this ground-breaking collaboration with partners, Ncam and Red Digital Cinema, we’re able to give those experimenting in 4K on the move, functionality that’s as good as anything they have today in HD — more so because handheld cameras and immersive graphics are still tough to bring together,” notes Gerhard Lang, chief engineering officer at Vizrt. “It calls for a lot of processing power to provide this level of realtime rendering, so this is a terrific demonstration of what we can do today.”