NAB Event News
Chyron Virtualizes Art Room With AXIS System, AP Partnership
By
Apr 13, 2008 - 1:32:58 PM

By Carolyn Braff

Chyron has broken a new boundary in online graphics creation by partnering its new AXIS online graphics system with the Associated Press. Chyron announced at NAB that the new collaboration will incorporate current news, entertainment and sports content directly from the AP into the AXIS system, offering producers the ability to immediately utilize AP content in their graphics templates. Chyron acquired AXIS Graphics in January 2008 and has since fully integrated Online’s feature set with its graphics portfolio for use in both online and television applications.

“Online graphics will be every bit as important to our future as TV graphics,” explains Michael Wellesley-Wesley, president and CEO of Chyron. “AXIS helps users build graphics first, build graphics once and build graphics better.”

With the easy-to-use system AXIS system, which is on display at NAB, producers can build topical graphics utilizing images from the up-to-the-minute AP GraphicsBank without farming assignments out to additional artists or relying on complex software. Users simply drag and drop browser images into existing graphics packages for instant content creation.

“AXIS interfaces directly with the content suppliers,” explains Kevin Prince, COO of Chyron. “None of these graphics are of any value without content being available.”

The world’s first online content creation system for broadcasters and new media providers, AXIS is a Software as a Service package that operates solely over the Internet. Without the need for additional hardware or software, art directors can create the graphics from anywhere.

“The art department does not have to be present at any particular facility,” Prince says. “Anybody can live anywhere and create graphics for any environment, so graphics operators don’t have to be in the trucks – they can be anywhere in the world. The virtualization of the art room will be very important as time goes on.”

Additionally, as long as production trucks have strong internet hookups, Prince explains that setup times can now be reduced to mere seconds.