disguise And White Light To Display 'SmartStage'

disguise and White Light have teamed up to showcase the ground-breaking 'SmartStage' powered by the award-winning disguise xR (Extended Reality) platform at The Media Production Show.

Located near the Broadcast Tech Theatre at London Olympia, this fully immersive production environment will showcase the latest developments in Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) workflows for live broadcast, and explores the opportunities for creating flexible production spaces.

White Light has pioneered SmartStage, an immersive video environment which replaces the traditional green screen element of a studio and allows presenters and the audience to interact with the content around them. By creating a physical stage with real content, the need for any complicated keying is removed, along with the challenges this usually introduces. The set-up is scalable to fit any size space and doesn’t need to be installed in a dedicated broadcast studio. The innovative workflow which sits on a robust broadcast-grade infrastructure, delivers 24/7 operation in demanding live environments.

At the heart of the solution is disguise xR, which has been designed to empower production teams to deliver augmented and mixed reality within studio environments. disguise xR creates an immersive production experience within a 3D workflow and stage simulator. The element of Mixed Reality combines camera tracking and real-time rendering to create an immersive virtual environment, visible live on set and shot directly in camera. The goal of Mixed Reality is to produce more compelling broadcasting, and a more engaged audience.

disguise xR content is generated using real-time 3D engines which allows changing environments and integrates the real and virtual lighting to create a believable and captivating space, with accurate reflections, shadows, and shading without the need for post-production. The xR process gives directors and designers more control and faster calibration workflows, allowing them to explore creative options more easily, leading to better results in less time.

Andy Hook, White Light's Technical Solutions Director said: "Visitors to the 'disguise and White Light stage' will experience first-hand the latest developments in workflows for live broadcast and some of the ground-breaking solutions we have implemented. Our ‘SmartStage’ space provides the perfect environment to explore the benefits for creating flexible production spaces and our experts will be on hand to discuss how we continue to push the boundaries of technology, and how the industry can effectively adopt augmented, virtual and mixed reality workflows."

The disguise and White Light teams will present some recent complex projects which have utilised SmartStage and xR technology in live broadcast, including the ground-breaking mixed reality studio set for ITV Sports coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, as well as their work with Eurosport, where disguise powered the Eurosport Studios in Pyeongchang for the Olympic Winter Games in 2018.

In addition, the teams will be running xR demos on the SmartStage. The demos will showcase White Light’s SmartStage, highlighting the key benefits of the disguise xR workflow including talent immersion, interaction with CG elements, real lighting on actors and objects, and the use of reflective and refractive props.

Presentations and demonstrations on the disguise and White Light stage, run hourly beginning from 10.30 on both days of the show.