Backstory
San Francisco PBS and NPR member station KQED is one of a growing number of broadcasters worldwide that are debuting their second generation (and more) virtual sets. Having first approached leading LA virtual production design agency, Full Mental Jacket (FMJ), to create avirtual set for their pledge drives the broadcaster returned to the agency again when it came time to revisit the concept following a major building renovation at their headquarters.
Big Challenge
“KQED wanted to create more virtual productions in their new studios,”says Ronen Lasry, Creative Director, FMJ. “As a result, we’ve completed virtual set designs for the station’s on-air pledge drives, the weekly television news magazine KQED Newsroom, and are just finishing up work for a third show.”
The new KQED Newsroom set highlights some of the advances made in the virtual set space over the four years since the broadcaster’s first deployment of the technology. In addition to the upgrade in quality using Viz Engine, one of the standout new features is FMJ’s use of Viz Arc and the way Lasry handles the keys to iterating and evolving the set to theKQED team themselves.
“We no longer need setup and strike days between different studio productions using different sets in the same studio,” adds JarrettMcPeek, Director of Technical Operations at KQED. “Unlike many TV news operations primarily utilizing a single set for daily newscasts, we work with multiple content units – each with their own unique studio production needs and sets. In addition to the vast creative opportunities of virtual, we were seeking increased operational flexibility and efficiency.”
Viz Arc
Viz Arc is Vizrt’s augmented reality control system that allows users to drive AR graphics and virtual sets from a single interface. Using Viz Arc within KQED enables Lasry to work the way he prefers, in a true partnership with the client. The collaborative effort allows Larsy to design and build a virtual set and hand it over to the station along with the tools to drive the set forward on a day-to-day level. The result is that KQED can now develop and grow an extremely powerful virtual set in-house with comparatively little experience – simply leaning on FMJ to assist and provide high-level expertise when required.
Viz Arc lets collaboration happen more intuitively than before. Now, the broadcast team can do the simple tasks from inside a GUI and see exactly what changes they are making in real-time.
“Everything’s fluid, everything’s live,” comments Lasry. “It’s remarkably simple to build the controls and KQED is much more unlocked in terms of how they feel like they can play with the set and change things as a result. I can quickly set up controls and it’s really easy to teach them how to build and modify their shots or set positions, which enables the team to be more creative. That is the key to making a good show; having the operators always feel like they have more creative freedom in using the set and not depend on me.”
The use of Viz Engine enabled Lasry and the FMJ team to fulfill a design brief that Lasry describes as “having a very San Francisco Bay Area aesthetic.” The virtual set features dark wood panelling for a less traditional news look.
The physical KQED studio includes a rug and custom designed news desk — to be used simultaneously or individually — and a set of chairs that can be brought in for more informal interview options. The virtual set itself features a mixture of different wood and metal accents along with classic art-deco patterns, as well as a variety of location and background elements that can be updated and fed dynamically with branded or topical graphics.
Easy to operate virtual sets for anyone, featuring special guest Full Mental Jacket
Full Mental Jacket recently completed a successful design and delivery of a Viz Engine virtual set to mid-size station KQED in San Francisco.
“Those [wood] textures would definitely have been a challenge in the past,” he says. “The tools for creating virtual sets have gotten better, the baking has gotten better, as well as the ability to fine-tune the design. The latest shaders from Viz Engine have opened up the design palette significantly.”
The virtual set uses Mo-Sys StarTracker for camera tracking and camera robotics from Vinten, but its Viz Engine’s ability to handle more advanced real-time rendering techniques than ever before that has raised the production standard.
Lasry describes the KQED set as being at the completion of its first phase now, namely getting everything on air, working and optimized. The next stage is where KQED and FMJ truly start to drive their collaboration forward. The teams have plans for more data-driven content and an increased use of charts and graphs as well as a fourth camera type, motion graphics, and more. By establishing Viz Arc as a central component of the workflow, Lasry ensures KQED has more control and greater opportunity to expand the creative usage of the sets – leading to a better on-screen experience for the station’s many viewers.
“KQED wanted to create more virtual productions in its new studios. As a result, we’ve used Vizrt solutions to complete virtual set designs for the station’s on-air pledge drives, the weekly television news magazine KQED Newsroom, and are just finishing up work for a third show.”
Ronen Lasry
Creative Director, Full Mental Jacket
Easy to operate virtual sets for anyone, featuring special guest Full Mental Jacket
Full Mental Jacket recently completed a successful design and delivery of a Viz Engine virtual set to mid-size station KQED in San Francisco.
Designers Full Mental Jacket used Viz Engine and Viz Arc to create an autonomous augmented reality-driven virtual set for San Francisco’s KQED.
When it came time for San Francisco PBS and NPR member station KQED to implement a virtual set in the newly renovated headquarters, the broadcaster and LA-based virtual design agency, Full Mental Jacket (FMJ) turned to Vizrt software-based solutions for operational flexibility and efficiency.
Using Viz Arc and Viz Engine, FMJ’s Creative Director Ronen Lasry ensures KQED has more control and greater opportunity to expand the creative usage of the sets. “KQED wanted to create more virtual productions in its new studios,” says Lasry. “As a result, we’ve used Vizrt solutions to complete virtual set designs for the station’s on-air pledge drives, the weekly television news magazine KQED Newsroom, and are just finishing up work for a third show.”
The use of Viz Engine, enabled Lasry and the FMJ team to fulfill a design brief that Lasry describes as “having a very San Francisco Bay Area aesthetic.” The virtual set features dark wood paneling for a less traditional news look.
