Ncam Announced For Sportel 2015

Ncam is to demonstrate the capabilities of augmented reality in sport, alongside partner company Vizrt, at Sportel 2015, stand H09.

Alongside presentations of Ncam's camera tracking technology, the company's executives will seek to build on the creative possibilities of technology today, looking ahead to the next generation of creative virtual enhancement of sports coverage.

Augmented reality places virtual graphics elements into real images. For example, in sport it could be graphics in place on the pitch during the event, or pop-up players, graphs and statistics in post-match analysis. In each case, the virtual elements should remain perfectly positioned in the real image, which means tracking the view of the camera to a high degree of precision. With sports typically taking place on large pitches and outdoors, using markers or fixed references for reference is impossible.

The Ncam solution uses a sensor bar attached to the camera, automatically identifying points of interest and tracks them whatever the camera movement. The resultant stream of positional and rotational data is sent to the graphics engine for the blending of real and virtual elements.

The full Ncam Live 7D system provides six degrees of freedom in camera tracking: the position in X, Y and Z space, plus pan, tilt and roll, allowing for handheld use. Adding zoom, focus and aperture settings from the lens means that the precise field of view of the camera can be calculated.

In addition to the above, Ncam's new PTZ software will be showcased ay Sportel. The software provides a low-cost route to camera tracking when the camera is on a fixed mount and only pan, tilt and zoom are required. With the core Ncam tracking ability, the PTZ software is capable of providing realtime adjustments, i.e. if the camera is on a high platform or a crane which will have its own uncommanded movements.

Nic Hatch, CEO of Ncam, said: "Augmented reality is already having a huge impact on sports television, and Ncam is enabling industry leaders like Fox Sport, ESPN and BT Sport to achieve remarkable immersive coverage. At Sportel we want to show what can really be achieved with today's technology, but we also want to talk to the leading sports broadcasters from around the world about their vision for television coverage in the future, and how our technologies could be developed to help them reach their goals."

www.ncam-tech.com

(JP)