For its latest engaging trick, Silicon Graphics Inc and its Silicon Studio arm have come up with a system to enable television companies to create virtual environments – have the weatherman reporting from the heart of the jungle, put the weathergirl atop Mount Everest. The three-dimensional Virtual Set technology uses Silicon Graphics’s Onyx RealityEngine2 graphics supercomputers and custom hardware and software from Silicon Studio partners to create computer-generated three-dimensional environments in which live announcers and on-camera personalities can be placed. The set is created in real time in three dimensions in the television studio so it can be instantly changed, and broadcasters can input live video into the three-dimensional graphics background. They use a combination of traditional blue screen backgrounds to capture the image of the on-camera personality, and the computer-generated graphics. Virtual Sets are already used by the British Broadcasting Corp here in London, and on the SAT.1 sports network in Germany and Antenna 3 in Madrid. The technology also can be used for post-production, film making and interactive game development. Companies contributing to the system include Accom, Brainstorm Multimedia, ElectroGIG, Innovative Medientechnik und Planungs GmbH, ORAD and RT-SET. ElectroGIG, based in San Francisco, is providing some pre-designed or packaged sets for broadcasters so they can start using the system without training, and also plans to train news producers and set engineers in how to produce environments. Silicon Graphics Onyx computers starts at $350,000.
