In booth S1-F45, Brainstorm is presenting Suite 6, the most recent development of its InfinitySet and Aston flagship products, which includes new features and solutions. Also, Brainstorm is demonstrating the new Edison ecosystem, the company’s comprehensive and turn-key solution for immersive live presentations, which is purpose-built as a simple-to-use virtual studio in a box.

The main booth demo featuring InfinitySet displays advanced, photorealistic augmented and mixed reality contentin a highly visually and engaging presentation. Based in a green screen environment and using only one Canon N-500 PTZ camera, the demonstration features real-time in-context AR motion graphics, fully immersive talent TeleTransportation, multi-background content and much more.

Fully compatible with Unreal Engine 5.3, InfinitySet includes full integration of its own created objects, or those of Aston, within the UE environment and vice-versa. These include shadows, reflections, and AR with Unreal Engine, providing unmatched flexibility for content creation. All these new features are possible thanks to the latest ADA 6000 GPUtechnology from NVIDIA.

Suite 6 also adds up new Dual-GPU capabilities of InfinitySet, which allows control of complex productions with just one workstation, taking care of virtual productions with set extension and color correction, camera inputs, AR graphics and the interactive graphics, among other features such as real-time, seamless extra-render and set extension with color-matching 3D LUTs, in-context AR motion graphics, fully immersive talent tele-transport, multi-background content and much more. InfinitySet 6 also features SMPTE 2110 support, to be compatible with the latest broadcast workflows.

Motion graphics are essential in any broadcast workflow, and Brainstorm is also demonstrating how Aston can provide designers with the most advanced tools for data-driven, in-context, AR graphics, which can be displayed in immersive virtual environments, including UE scenes, and seamlessly interact with the scene and the talents. Aston shows how multi-channel graphics and collaborative workflows can easily and transparently be part of any broadcast show.

We are delighted to meet our clients and users once again at CABSAT, which is such an essential venue for the Middle East broadcast and audio-visual markets” says David Alexander, Brainstorm’s Commercial Director. “Brainstorm is celebrating 30 years in business and we are looking forward to performing live demonstrations that show the latest innovations of what our solutions can offer to enhance all types of virtual productions and workflows.”

Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC), a Nikon Group company, is on the front line of imaging innovation and is the leading manufacturer of cutting-edge solutions for motion control, automation, broadcast robotics, remote image capture and virtual and volumetric content production. They design, manufacture, and assemble robotic rigs, pan-tilt and multi-axis robotic heads and tracking technologies. MRMC’s robotic and software solutions are used all over the world by film studios, sports broadcasters, football leagues and more. 

According to David Alexander, Brainstorm’s commercial director, “The collaboration with Mark Roberts Motion Control proves that InfinitySet is, not only one of the most advanced, but also a perfect solution for high-end virtual content creation. InfinitySet and MRMC’s robotics are a winning combination for any kind of virtual production requirements in broadcast and film.”

“MRMC are excited to be working with Brainstorm and their InfinitySet solution for the first time at IBC this year.” says Daniel Brooks, head of marketing at MRMC. “The virtual studio environments they have created for our activation will help us create a truly immersive and engaging experience for our guests. The IBC stand set design has been crafted to demonstrate how MRMC’s robotics such as the Studiobot XL integrate with virtual graphics systems like InfinitySet, specifically illustrating key controls such as mapping positional data and aligning camera perspectives. This will allow attendees to explore this cutting-edge technology that is transforming studio operations across the world”.

Brainstorm has always been proud of supporting virtually any tracking system, which allows its clients to design the most suitable workflow for its requirements and budget, and supporting MRMC’s technology will certainly help clients to improve their content creation and storytelling by using the most advanced virtual production. 

Brainstorm believes that having a wide range of tracking choices is paramount for its clients, as separating the camera tracking from the virtual production solution allows for creating more flexible and powerful installations. The company is constantly working with camera tracking manufacturers to increase its portfolio of certified tracking systems while ensuring that all the new features they may include are updated in its virtual production, XR, AR and 3D graphics solutions. At IBC Brainstorm also announces the certification of additional camera tracking systems such as OptiTrack, EZ Track, ViveMars and Re-Tracking, that add to the company’s already extensive portfolio of supported tracking hardware.

The main demo in the Brainstorm Virtual Production Theater will demonstrate the advanced possibilities of using InfinitySet for virtual production of any kind. The demo, using a combination of chroma sets and shaped LED video walls provided by Alfalite, the European LED manufacturer, features real-time extra-render and set extension with color-matching 3D LUTs, in-context AR motion graphics, fully immersive talent tele-transport, multi-background content and much more. Most impressively, the main demo requires just one workstation, a fantastic performance that highlights Brainstorm’s commitment with sustainability by optimizing the possibilities the updated software and hardware, including the new NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation GPU, provide. Being able to reduce the hardware required for such virtual production applications, will help clients to reduce its carbon footprint and power consumption and requirements.

InfinitySet will showcase full integration of objects created in InfinitySet or Aston within the UE environment and vice versa, including shadows, reflections, and AR with Unreal Engine, providing unmatched flexibility for content creation. Not only can InfinitySet seamlessly control UE5 from its own interface, vastly improving the user’s ability to manage, edit and control UE blueprints, objects, and properties, but it also makes the combination of the Unreal Engine render with Brainstorm’s own eStudio render engine fully transparent. This allows users to decide which objects or parts of the scene should be rendered in which engine, maximizing the possibilities of the software. 

“Once again, Brainstorm proves its commitment with high-quality content creation by providing must-have technologies and features designed to ensure content creators can cope with any virtual production requirement,” says Héctor Viguer, Brainstorm’s COO and CTO.

On top of all the above, InfinitySet will also showcase multi-camera production with XR, one of the most demanding, and demanded, features in virtual production. And, although InifinitySet is compatible with most methods for XR multicamera, for the IBC demo the company will demonstrate how this feature can be achieved using existing and common technology, like production switchers, facilitating clients the access to such features. InfinitySet also announces a dedicated plugin to control Brompton Tessera.

InfinitySet 6 will be commercially available in Q4 2023 and will be a free update for all clients with a current support contract.

Aston 6 features a built-in toolset to create interactive projects that can be used with a touch screen. This toolset permits the creation of specific buttons to trigger actions, and supports multi-touch gestures, which allows for creating interactive projects that can be used while in production by presenters, on screen.

AstonWeather now includes new possibilities for manual creation of weather maps, so meteorologists can use any of the available templates and forms to custom build their own maps. These possibilities include the ability to create customized maps using a drag & drop interface with built-in forms, adding in icons and textures that can be combined with pre-built animations of isobars and satellite images to create the weather maps as required. AstonWeather also includes new data sources such as Aemet, Avamet, GFX or MetraWeather for automated data retrieval and animations, and shows the ability to present the graphics in a real or virtual scene, improving the interaction with the presenters.

With the growing interest in Esports, Aston takes advantage of Brainstorm’s advanced API to allow direct connection to videogames. This connection makes full data interchange between games and the Aston templates possible, so any data or statistic can be instantly transferred to an Aston template, that can be displayed on screen or as an augmented reality object within a real or virtual scene. Esports online or broadcasted shows can now take advantage of high-end graphics, charts, statistics and AR elements as any other Sports broadcast.

Brainstorm will also showcase an initial integration with Epic Games’ Avalanche project, which will benefit from the decades-long expertise of Brainstorm in real-time broadcast graphics of any kind, including interaction logic (StormLogic), data-driven templates, and statistics.

Aston 6 will be commercially available in Q4 2023 and will be a free update for all clients with a current support contract.

The Edison ecosystem, built around Edison PRO, is a modular proposal that seeks to transform any live or online virtual content creation into an immersive experience through AR and virtual environments. It has been developed to help users enhancing their storytelling with real-time 3D graphics and other visual elements, while including themselves in the scene. Presenters are immersed in a virtual, photorealistic environment, and can easily run the presentation with clickers or with remote devices.

The Edison ecosystem includes custom-built capture environments and apps like Edison eDesk and EdisonGO, a simple-to-use but powerful creation system like Edison PRO and allows for control devices (Stream Deck) and free applications like Edison OnDemand so any user can take advantage of Edison PRO’s powerful tools. Edison eDesk includes a portable chroma set and a desk with workstation, camera, and lights so it becomes a self-sufficient, ready-go-go solution. And if the user prefers to create fully realistic AR shows, the EdisonGO app uses an iPad Pro to provide video with tracking information to Edison PRO, which can then insert in-context AR objects of any kind. EdisonGO, available for iPhone and iPad PRO, receives new features at IBC that allow the app to be self-sufficient, including the compatibility with 3D objects and NDI inputs that allow the app to display such objects and videos in the captured scene, and rendered directly using the iPhone or iPad.

“Brainstorm introduced the Edison Ecosystem demonstrating the infinite possibilities that virtual content creation technologies provide also for smaller broadcasters, advertising, live and hybrid events, corporate presentations or education” says Ricardo Montesa, CEO and founder of Brainstorm. “Now, with the updates introduced at IBC, users of all kinds can take advantage of the most advanced virtual technology for their content creation, using a system that is both user-friendly and affordable.”

Brainstorm will showcase its most advanced technologies, starting with a spectacular presentation in the main Virtual Production Theater, demonstrating the immense possibilities InfinitySet offers for creating virtual content of all kind. The main demo will display advanced, photorealistic augmented and mixed reality content in a highly visually engaging presentation, by using a combination of chroma sets and shaped LED videowalls, provided by Alfalite, the European LED manufacturer, and featuring real-time, seamless extra-render and set extension with color-matching 3D LUTs, in-context AR motion graphics, fully immersive talent tele-transport, multi-background content and much more. Fully compatible with Unreal Engine 5, InfinitySet now includes full integration of objects created in InfinitySet or Aston within the UE environment and vice-versa, including shadows, reflections, and AR with Unreal Engine, providing unmatched flexibility for content creation.

Motion graphics are essential in any broadcast workflow, and Brainstorm will show how Aston can provide designers with the most advanced tools for data-driven, in-context, AR graphics, which can be displayed in immersive virtual environments, including UE scenes, and seamlessly interact with the scene and the talents. Aston will also show how multi-channel graphics can easily and transparently be part of any show, enhancing the information and making it more attractive for the audience. The graphics system will also showcase dedicated Touchscreen, Esports and Weather applications.

Also, Brainstorm will showcase the latest developments of its Edison Ecosystem. Built around Edison PRO, it is a complete solution that transforms any live or online presentation into an immersive experience by using AR and virtual environments. The Edison ecosystem includes control devices (Stream Deck) or free applications like Edison OnDemand. The ecosystem also includes the custom-built capture environment EdisonGO, an iOS application available for all users that provides video and tracking to Edison. This ecosystem of tools enhances storytelling with easily created real-time 3D graphics and other visual aids, while presenters are immersed in a virtual, photorealistic environment, running the presentation with clickers or other remote devices.

Also, Brainstorm and MOOV will feature a daily session at 1pm, in which Adam Lawrence, creative director of MOOV and Miguel Churruca, marketing and communications director of Brainstorm, will talk about the ITV Sport Rugby World Cup project, which extensively uses virtual production for such Sports event.

According to Héctor Viguer, the company’s COO and CTO, “For a company like Brainstorm, turning 30 years old is a fantastic achievement, which reinforces our philosophy of continued innovation and encourages us to keep pushing the boundaries of technology to make our users’ dreams come true, virtually!”

Brainstorm will be present at this year’s virtual edition of Broadcast Asia (September 29^th to October 1st) with a fully configured cyber stand at the show’s online portal. The stand will showcase information of the Brainstorm product range, including its best-selling products InfinitySet and Aston, with comprehensible brochures and videos detailing the work our customers create with our products all around the world.

The Brainstorm virtual stand will be attended by the Brainstorm Asia team, headed by Stanlly Loke, so visitors will be able to chat in real-time with the Brainstorm team to learn more about its products and services, which help companies and broadcasters all around the world to enhance their production value and retain new and larger audiences. Also, Brainstorm will feature live demonstrations of Suite 4, the latest version of its product line with amazing new features and technologies to improve virtual content creation.

On top of that, and to support the virtual exhibition, Brainstorm has extended its acclaimed Brainstorm Virtual Week, starting September 28th, allowing users to keep accessing daily webinars all about broadcast workflows, Unreal Engine and real-time graphics programmed in different time zones. Registration for these webinars and enquires for one-to-one online demos are available directly at www.brainstorm3d.com

Spanish super star tennis player Rafa Nadal is taking his methodology to the Middle East with the recently inaugurated Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait. The objective of this academy is to become a leading tennis centre in the Middle East and to support the Kuwait Tennis Federation in the development of a programme that drives the sport with a formative project.

The Opening Act celebrated in February consisted of a series of presentations and tennis exhibitions followed by a tennis match between Spanish top players Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer. More than 1,500 people attended the ceremony and watched the game on-site, at the same time that the full Opening Act was broadcast live by Kuwait Sport TV for millions of viewers at home.

For the live production of the event, Kuwait Sport TV contracted the services of Mena International, a renowned sport services provider and system integrator, and also Brainstorm’s official reseller in the region. “Aston gave us the ability to create, modify and animate all required templates and create the Augmented Reality scenes in combination with InfinitySet, Brainstorm’s virtual set solution. As we weren’t able to use a tracked camera due to scheduling constraints, we took advantage of the Aston Locator feature, which allowed us to do last-minute modifications to avoid changing camera position. All graphics were controlled and sent to air via Brainstorm’s OnDemand, which is an amazing and easy to use playout solution for live production, including live replacing of templates and texts”, explained Maged Mahmoud, Mena’s Project Manager. Omar Al-Zanki, Mena’s General Manager, also added, “It was a pleasure to work with Brainstorm. InfinitySet and Aston are wonderful software applications which allowed us to do whatever we wanted without any limitation. Another important factor was the flexibility offered by the Brainstorm’s team: they were always available to support us at any time.”

The whole team performed at its best, the live broadcast was a great success and Kuwait TV also expressed their satisfaction with the results. Mohamed Alteny, KTV’s Sports Director Manager pointed out: “I have worked for many international broadcasters and used many on-air engines, but still Brainstorm’s Aston is the most powerful, flexible and most developed system and is one step ahead of the others. It suits all graphic designer types, whether they like Photoshop, 3ds Max or any other creative software application, and the amazing Unreal Engine allowed us to achieve impressive photo-realistic GFX. Many other software companies push you to buy a lot of plug-ins to create a basic template like tickers or weather graphics, whilst Brainstorm includes everything and there’s no limitation“.

The Brainstorm staff are able to produce photorealistic virtual production with two presenters located in their own homes in different cities miles away from each other, and using a simple yet powerful state-of-the-art virtual production system consisting only of an InfinitySet, Brainstorm’s all-in-one virtual set and real-time 3D graphics solution, with Unreal Engine and a consumer camera. The InfinitySet system which is located in the home of one of the presenters, receives the signal from the other presenter, captured using a smartphone’s front camera, and combines both presenter’s signals using its internal chroma keyer, and seamlessly integrates them in a photorealistic virtual set. The result is a dynamic show that demonstrates InfinitySet’s ability to integrate different technologies and produce excellent results no matter the limited resources available. Even creating photorealistic virtual productions and showcasing complex events like live tele-transportations of presenters, placing them together in the virtual studio simultaneously and with no noticeable time lag.

In this way, Brainstorm exemplifies and demonstrates to its clients and potential customers how easy and viable it is for broadcasters and production companies to maintain, or even increase, their high standards of content creation and storytelling not only under normal conditions but also when travel restrictions and social distancing apply.

“We’ve done daily presentations from home, using smartphones and standard cameras to provide the signal to InfinitySet, which proves that content creation cannot be stopped by social distancing. Our technology can provide photorealistic backgrounds with Unreal Engine, virtual camera movements and a complete live production, even capable of tele-transporting talents to remote locations, all in real-time over the internet”, said Ricardo Montesa, founder and CEO of Brainstorm.

Also, in order to allow new customers to start operations as quickly as possible, Brainstorm can provide remote installation and training which has proven very effective. Within just a few days from delivery, customers are able to broadcast live virtual productions by themselves due to the efficiency of Brainstorm’s remote services and the ease of use of the company’s solutions.

To see how Brainstorm staff and solutions are helping customers around the world to close the social distance gap in a virtual way, there’s still time to watch the live sessions on Brainstorm’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/brainstormmultimedia.

Check out the schedule of the daily live sessions and webinars going on this week until Friday, April 24th at www.brainstorm3d.com.

The Brainstorm Virtual Week will showcase a number of public and private sessions starting Monday, April 20^th, through to Friday, April 24^th, with dozens of online webinars in different time zones. Brainstorm wants to ensure that anyone in the world has access to information about new products and features at their most convenient time and date. The webinars will be focused on InfinitySet’s photorealistic virtual sets and augmented reality including Unreal Engine, broadcast virtual set workflows using InfinitySet as a hub for a number of technologies, and Aston as the most versatile 2D/3D motion graphics creation, CG and playout system, with special interest in graphics workflow environments.

According to David Alexander, Brainstorm’s Commercial Director, “we want to ensure that our customers, users and the market worldwide can receive immediate, comprehensive and updated information on our new announcements, and, most importantly, accessible on demand. Now that many countries have restrictions in social contact and working conditions, so people can’t attend the usual events in person, Brainstorm wants to maintain the communications open and the conversations flowing”.

The Brainstorm Virtual Week will allow attendees to see the products in action and hold conversations not only with Brainstorm sales representatives, but also with demo and Production Services staff. Registration is available at www.brainstorm3d.com.