Virtual studio
Encyclopedia
The term virtual studio can refer to any number of technological tools which seek to simulate a physical television and/or movie studio. One such use of the term follows.
A virtual studio is a television studio
that allows the real-time combination of people or other real objects and computer generated environments and objects in a seamless manner. For that integration we will use chromakey technology. A key point of a virtual studio is that the real camera can move in 3D space, while the image of the virtual camera is being rendered in real-time from the same perspective, therefore, this virtual scene has to adapt at any time to the camera
settings (zoom
, pan
, angle
, traveling, etc.). This is what differentiates a virtual studio of the traditional technique of chromakey. It also differs from techniques used in film, in which scenes are edited later. A virtual studio does not need any post production because it is in real-time.
There exist many technical solutions for creating virtual studios, but most of them include the following components:
A major difference between a virtual studio and the bluescreen special effects used in movies is that the computer graphics are rendered in realtime, removing the need for any post production work, and allowing it to be used in live television broadcasts.
A virtual studio is a television studio
Television studio
A television studio is an installation in which a video productions take place, either for the recording of live television to video tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for post-production. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments for the...
that allows the real-time combination of people or other real objects and computer generated environments and objects in a seamless manner. For that integration we will use chromakey technology. A key point of a virtual studio is that the real camera can move in 3D space, while the image of the virtual camera is being rendered in real-time from the same perspective, therefore, this virtual scene has to adapt at any time to the camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
settings (zoom
Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...
, pan
Panning (camera)
In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device...
, angle
Angle
In geometry, an angle is the figure formed by two rays sharing a common endpoint, called the vertex of the angle.Angles are usually presumed to be in a Euclidean plane with the circle taken for standard with regard to direction. In fact, an angle is frequently viewed as a measure of an circular arc...
, traveling, etc.). This is what differentiates a virtual studio of the traditional technique of chromakey. It also differs from techniques used in film, in which scenes are edited later. A virtual studio does not need any post production because it is in real-time.
There exist many technical solutions for creating virtual studios, but most of them include the following components:
- Camera tracking, that uses either optical or mechanical measurements to create a live stream of data describing the exact perspective of the camera.
- Realtime rendering software, that uses the camera tracking data and generates a synthetic image of a television studio.
- A video mixer, which combines the video from the camera with the video from the realtime rendering software to produce a final video output. One of the most common ways to mix the video to replace a chroma keyChroma keyChroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
background.
A major difference between a virtual studio and the bluescreen special effects used in movies is that the computer graphics are rendered in realtime, removing the need for any post production work, and allowing it to be used in live television broadcasts.