In a Studio Production first for METexpo, Magna System’s stand at this year’s event will contain a live, virtual studio courtesy of Magna’s technology partner Zero Density. Zero Density provide virtual studios to complement Magna’s studio production solutions by using Reality Engine to provide an unprecedented real-time broadcast compositing system and an image-based keyer for the ultimate virtual studio environment. Zero Density is also a software solution using COTS-based hardware.
As Magna Systems group sales and marketing manager, Paul Maroni, explained, “With virtual production transforming the art of storytelling and the practices for linear media producers, Zero Density is helping shape the future of broadcasting by enabling users to deliver the most comprehensive set of virtual studio, AR and broadcast graphics automation solutions. This will all be demonstrated live and in real-time on our stand at METexpo 22.”
The Zero Density live virtual studio that Magna will be demonstrating has, at its core, Reality Engine, a unique, real-time broadcast compositing system enabling real-time visual effects pipelines featuring video I/O, keying, compositing and rendering in one single machine. Reality Engine uses NVidia Quadro GPUDirect technology for high performance video I/O in order to streamline real-time 4K UltraHD workflows.
Maroni added, “As the most photo-realistic real-time production solution, Reality Engine® provides the tools to create the most immersive content possible and revolutionise story-telling in broadcasting, media and cinema industry.”
The Zero Density solution also incorporates Reality Keyer, the world’s first and only real-time image based keyer that works on GPU. Reality Keyer provides spectacular results for keying of contact shadows, transparent objects and sub-pixel details like hair. Reality Keyer® can work also with 4:4:4 RGB camera sources. The keyer also supports 3D masks for “force-fill” and “spill bypass” buffers besides garbage mask.
Maroni said, “Those masks enable hybrid virtual studio operation which lets you combine virtual and real environments. Besides the quality of its results, Reality Keyer is still very easy to setup and operate.”
As a unique approach in the industry, Zero Density’s Reality Engine composites images by using 16-bit floating point arithmetics. Having the control of full compositing pipeline, all gamma and colour space conversions are handled correctly. By using this technology, the real world and the virtual elements are blended perfectly.
Paul Maroni concluded, “Zero Density’s unique approach to live virtual studio production is ideal for broadcasters who want to minimise costs and give the impression of a much larger studio whilst not compromising on the quality of their production. Apart from mainstream broadcast production studios, this approach particularly appeals to educational facilities, corporate productions and small studios that run multiple productions. All of this functionality and production excellence can and will be experienced on the Magna stand at METexpo 22.”
Visit https://www.magnasys.tv and https://www.zerodensity.tv