Specialty cameras with AR – a great way to take TV sports production to the Next Level

Specialty cameras, apart from being a useful tool to deliver unique shots and various camera angles, also drive AR usage in sports production. Using AR on a cable-suspended camera system is not an innovation anymore, but as time has passed, modern AR graphics have become more realistic, complex and engaging. Robycam with baked-in Compass AR technology is designed to work with various types of graphics. The main competitive advantage for Robycam is incorporated tracking system which is coordinated with the camera.

Movicom engineers have simplified the whole process by calculating the positional data, the location of the camera and head in 3-dimensional space, and processing it before sending it along to the graphics engine (which reduces the work of the graphics team), which is one more step in making the process 'plug and play'. “Last year we have fine-tuned out tracking technology to eliminate the drift associated with internal tracking on a gimbal. Now it’s driftless. It’s relatively easy to show objects that “float” in the air, but we can show graphics that are mapped to other objects on the ground and doesn’t drift, as in the case of ‘set extension’. That’s what makes our technology special”- says Victor Pakhomov, Movicom CEO.

Since the internal tracking doesn’t need any mapping markers, Robycam is suitable for outdoor work with AR and delivers the same result as indoors. One of the best recent examples would be AL Arabiya US Elections coverage. Although, it wasn’t a sports production, however it has been a great example of how a field can be turned into massive AR set-up. This experience can be extrapolated to a soccer, football, golf, rugby or any other field of play. The game won’t look the same.

Apart from mapping graphics objects to a particular point on the ground, Robycam delivered real-time athletes AR tracking during recent ISL season that has ended a couple of weeks ago. Event´s main graphic provider Girraphic in partnership with Swiss Timing were sending real-time data on athlete’s ranks, and those ranks were mapped to the swimmers on the lanes. That enabled producers to show the heat of the competition and viewers were able to see how the positions between the leaders could change less than in a second.

“Our whole team is very excited to be part of this project for the second year in a row. The production team uses our technology to its full potential, not as an add-on camera, but also as a main tool to tell the story. This makes us very proud. We feel that we have created the technology that delivers noteworthy results and enables people to come up with new creative ideas and tools to show off the beauty of the sport, the competition and the participant’s emotions. We are always ready for a challenge and we are willing to work on technical side to achieve the maximum creative result”- says Victor Pakhomov.

Speaking of AR innovations - RobyRail - a track-based camera with R3 gyro-stabilized head was used and tested with AR for this season. The idea was to test inserting the AR graphics to a railcam system and it worked out fantastically. The trackcam with AR can deliver quite illustrious pictures for biathlon, athletics, swimming and many other racing sports. It is up to a creative team to decide which types of graphics they want to work with. It can be either informational: records, personal best or real-time tracking or some fun entertainment graphics to mix up the final picture for the viewer E-sports broadcasters are champions in using the AR graphics for live television production.

Unsurprisingly, the games theme open doors to many creative opportunities, e.g replicating characters, adding other different elements to the competition coverage. It all fits naturally into the whole games-related environment and really makes the viewer experience more interesting. “One of the most complicated projects with complex graphics that we have ever worked with is usually associated with e-sports, one can remember the graphics CS:GO Forge of Masters in Kyiv in 2019 or the map with moving planes for PUBG”- says Mikhail Galenkov, Movicom tech engineer.Unsurprisingly, the games theme open doors to many creative opportunities, e.g replicating characters, adding other different elements to the competition coverage. It all fits naturally into the whole games-related environment and really makes the viewer experience more interesting. “One of the most complicated projects with complex graphics that we have ever worked with is usually associated with e-sports, one can remember the graphics CS:GO Forge of Masters in Kyiv in 2019 or the map with moving planes for PUBG”- says Mikhail Galenkov, Movicom tech engineer.

Apart from 3D cable-system and trackcam, Movicom launched a new point-to-point cable system built around its Robyhead R3 with integrated tracking. The system hasn’t been used with Augmented Reality yet, but it can be and is more than ready. The system is designed for a linear speedy movement at length of 1000 m and more. Potential graphics packages may include various informational pieces. The cablecam beauty shots always look phenomenal due to the dynamic movement. Mapping geographical names, sightings or explanatory data on various segments of the sports field can offer proximity of an event to the viewers enjoying the coverage from their homes.

No matter how complicated the task may seem, Movicom’s team is up to any creative and technological challenge and is ready to try to show things no one has done before. That’s the Movicom difference