IBC 2016: The Future Group, Ross demo mixed reality

The Future Group (Oslo, Norway) is demonstrating new technology at IBC in tandem with Ross Video that uniquely combines feature film-quality 3D rendered scenes with people and objects in real-time.  

Emerging from stealth as a company co-founded by Bård Anders Kasin, a Technical Director at Warner Brothers on the team responsible for the visual effects in the “The Matrix Trilogy,” Frontier by The Future Group is a highly scalable 3D visual effects platform. Using Frontier, any production can instantly create both live photorealistic effects and virtual sets that are seamlessly integrated with anything or anyone from the real world to create MR – mixed reality.

Frontier will be the core of an upcoming software platform for Interactive Mixed Reality that is powering several of the world’s biggest new live game shows, as well as worldwide sporting events and scientific visualization projects to be announced in 2017. Frontier uses an enhanced version of the renowned Epic Games (Cary, NC) Unreal Engine as the render engine, which provides highly realistic scenery through state-of-the-art features such as particle systems, dynamic textures, live reflections, shadows, and even collision detection.

“The Future Group is using Unreal Engine technology in a way that blurs the lines between broadcast TV and what has only been possible in video games,” says Kim Libreri, CTO of Epic Games. “We look forward to seeing how this impacts how live entertainment is created and consumed.”

With capabilities far beyond first-generation virtual sets, Frontier enables incredible levels of creative freedom through its hyper-realistic rendering quality. Even the most complex graphical elements – from raindrops and fire, to live shadows, lens flares and dynamic highlights – can now be created quickly, easily and with unprecedented realism.

Used as a backdrop renderer, Frontier works side-by-side with the Ross Video XPression motion graphics system, which renders all the foreground elements. This guarantees the best of both worlds – photorealistic backgrounds and unparalleled creative freedom partnered with unmatched data connectivity, visual logic programming and full support for most major workflows.

Workflows can be kept intuitive and easy-to-manage thanks to Ross Video’s UX Virtual Tracking System; a single interface for configuration, setup and day-to-day operation. This continuity in operations means that Frontier can be added to existing workflows with only minimal disruption to production facilities.

• Real-time graphics pipeline built on Unreal Engine which provides:
  • HDR workflows
  • FBX 3D file format support
  • Support for animated 3D models
  • Dynamic textures
  • Real time shadows and reflection
  • Support for particle systems and collision detection
• Seamless integration with remote studio cameras and virtual cameras
• Photorealistic and immersive virtual environments with 4:4:4 internal processing
• Based on new XPression M6 hardware platform and full integration with UX v3.0
• Support for most tracking systems and protocols through UX