As LED-based XR is becoming increasingly used, Brainstorm has developed new features that allow for easier, faster and more integrated creation of immersive XR content specifically designed to be displayed on large LED videowalls. With these features, Brainstorm’s clients will see their XR content creation significantly accelerated when creating in-context AR in LED walls, XR Set extensions, or even backgrounds for film and drama production. Suite 5 has a dedicated interface for creating XR installations, which allows for modelling any kind of video wall, including curved, shaped and corner installations, and map the desired 3D content in such model. This facilitates the creation of virtual AR content to be directly displayed and seen by the camera with the correct perspective at all times. Also, by taking advantage of the Layers and Stacking features of InfinitySet, different renders, even with different resolutions and aspect ratios, can be mapped in a canvas of any size and aspect.

In addition, the unique integration of InfinitySet and eStudio with Unreal Engine is now even tighter, allowing for the inclusion of fully editable Brainstorm scenes and templates within an Unreal project, and vice-versa. This is especially useful when creating AR projects within Unreal, which benefit from Brainstorm’s advanced data-driven graphics and broadcast workflows compatibility. This is coupled with the acclaimed UnrealControl feature which supports editing the Unreal Projects directly within InfinitySet’s familiar interface with total ease and control of blueprints, objects and parameters. Suite 5 also features a new, redesigned internal chroma keyer that includes a new mode that embeds the Unreal Engine chroma keyer directly into InfinitySet. Brainstorm Suite 5 is fully compatible with Unreal Engine 4.27 and will be with UE 5.

“Brainstorm has been deeply involved with Augmented Reality and Virtual Production for decades now, and Suite 5 is the result of applying our expertise to the new display methods that broadcasters and filmmakers are introducing into their workflows” says Hector Viguer, Brainstorm’s COO and Engineering Director. “The advanced features of Suite 5 will allow any user to comply with any kind of VR/AR/XR requirement, regardless of how complex it is, and leaving them free to choose the production workflow they feel is best for their production, whether LED walls or chroma keying. We want to be agnostic so we can provide a solution for any requirement.”

Some other features are included, like improved HDR workflows, and better integration with robotic heads from manufacturers such as Panasonic or Sony. Also, Edison, the company’s virtual studio in a box product designed for live events and presentations, will also benefit from some of the above plus its own features as a result of its upgrade to V5.

Brainstorm Suite 5 will be available on March 1st, and will also be demonstrated at NAB 2022 at the Brainstorm booth N2608.

What started as a discussion concept between BBC and MOOV before the cancellation of Wimbledon 2020, developed into a full-blown project as a result of a drive to maximise the available time ahead of the 2021 Championships, bringing the focus onto the virtual facilities rather than BBC Sport to rethink the way the coverage was managed and so provide better stories, data and graphics.

Built around a green screen studio, the Wimbledon studio virtualisation effectively extended the space available far beyond its physical limits, providing new virtual spaces around the real desk, which in effect created a 360 studio. There were also new and alternative camera angles, more room to add infographics, and of course additional Wimbledon branding. The added bonus was the flexibility to change, adapt and make adjustments on demand that InfinitySet provided.

“We managed to create a virtual space that allowed for a dynamic coverage of the tournament which seamlessly combined real and virtual imagery in a way that significatively enhanced the story and audience engagement” says Nev Appleton, director and co-founder at MOOV. “This was a particularly challenging project, not only due to the time constraints, but also because of restrictions on people on-site as well as technical issues such as the requirements to re-purpose the studio for the daily highlights. But, despite the challenges, the really great results reinforced our commitment to use virtual technology for enhancing live events”.

The project had to be produced in record time, as the set designs were available only at the end of April 2021. MOOV worked closely with BBC Sport as well as with a team of talented artists, and also relied on Brainstorm’s InfinitySet to create the virtual set and AR tracking, using Unreal Engine. As the studio had five cameras, including pedestals, jibs and PTZ, to ensure the output quality required, each camera was equipped with a Brainstorm InfinitySet system with Unreal Engine. The final output combined the real set with a desk for the presenters, with actual windows looking out to show the courts, and integrating the virtual world to enable the graphics and AR information to be displayed on demand.

David Alexander, Brainstorm’s Commercial Director, adds: “Together with Paul Vanlint of Storm Broadcast, our reseller in the UK and Ireland, we’ve worked with MOOV on a number of projects but what was done at Wimbledon 2021 was at another level altogether! MOOV have a really talented team who have an in-depth knowledge of our products and how to get the most out of their rich feature sets and capabilities, whether it’s the InfinitySet or our Aston 3D motion graphics system, through to our Neuron, which integrates graphics and their management into NRCS systems. So, we were very pleased to work with the MOOV team on the BBC Sport project for such a prestigious and world renown sporting event”.

Ricardo Montesa is passionate about innovation. His studies in Industrial Engineering culminated in a graphics proposal for the audiovisual world. Little time was needed for that inner strength to become Brainstorm, a pioneer in the world of graphics, data visualisation, 3D objetcs and, more recently, augmented reality and the optimisation of resources with virtual sets.

“Thank you very much for this distinction, which surprises me personally” said Montesa, moved by the distinction.

Ricardo, university professor, project leader, a man of our time and our corridors, is undoubtedly a pillar of innovation in this industry, who uses his ideas, and shows them from virtual sets, with amazing scenarios created by software , to add – who would say – much more magic to TV.

Ricardo Montesa (Valencia, 1960) is the CEO of Brainstorm, a provider of real-time interactive 3D graphics solutions. He achieved an Industrial Engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. After his final degree project, he founded Montesa Grafics, a company dedicated to the development of specific software for real-time 3D and 2D rendering of graphics, mainly aimed at contests and elections.

In 1993 he founded, with other partners, Brainstorm Multimedia, a company of which he has been CEO and Director of Development ever since. Under his direction, Brainstorm presented and began marketing the software called eStudio in 1994, currently the world’s reference for the generation of real-time 3D graphics and virtual scenery, including applications for sports and electoral events.

Between 1996 and 1997 he joined George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) company in San Rafael, California, as a software developer for special effects. After his American experience, he returned to Spain to retake the technical direction of Brainstorm, directing the design and development of the applications created by the company, applications that are used today in many of the largest and most prestigious television networks around the world such as BBC (UK), NHK (JP), KBS (KO), NBC (USA), RTL (DE) and TVE (ES).

Ricardo Montesa is an experienced speaker with outstanding teaching experience at the University, and his vision has led Brainstorm to be awarded for its innovative work on numerous occasions”.

*Extracted from the PRODU news piece.

*The awards show was entirely produced using Edison PRO, Brainstorm’s brand new product for live virtual events and presentations. Watch following the whole PRODU Tecnología Awards Ceremony.

Based on Brainstorm’s real-time 3D technology, Edison PRO allows broadcasters, corporate, live events, education, houses of worship, influencers and online content providers to turn a simple presentation into a complete interactive show through an affordable and easy-to-use platform that does not require expensive hardware or a studio setup. A complete standalone system featuring future-proof hardware, Edison PRO is ready to work out of the box — all that is required is a camera and a portable chroma set to include the presenter in the virtual world with the presentation.

By using drag-and-drop operation, Edison can be used by anyone, and ships with a library of pre-defined templates, scenes, furniture, pointers, screens, and other objects to populate the scene, plus a number of interactive templates for quizzes and polls to further customize the event. It is also fully compatible with Unreal Engine, allowing Unreal’s photorealistic scenes to be used as 3D backgrounds for a presentation, enhancing the looks of your presentations. An optional Edison UC (Edison Unreal Control) plugin allows for controlling and editing the blueprints, objects, and properties of the UE scene directly from Edison’s own, user-friendly interface.

Installation, training, and support are straightforward, ensuring a rock-solid operation even in highly demanding live production environments. Edison PRO can be customized with options to match any customer requirement, present or future.

“By coupling advanced technology with extremely easy operation, Edison PRO helps users to bring their live and online presentations to a whole new level,” comments Brainstorm CEO, Ricardo Montesa. “It has been developed to bring the high-end quality of broadcast shows to users at a whole new price point, leveraging our more than 25 years of broadcast experience to create impactful presentations using pre-existing content, without requiring the expensive and time-consuming ad-hoc generation of new assets.”

More specifically, JB&A has initially been assigned the distribution of Edison PRO, which will be launching imminently. Through Edison PRO Brainstorm offers an affordable and easy-to-use high-end presentation tool that quickly transforms any live, online presentation, or conference session into a fully immersive experience using Augmented Reality (AR) and virtual environments.

“JB&A provides a unique approach to product and service distribution, acting as a value-added distributor,” comments Ruben Ruiz, EVP, Brainstorm, US & Canada. “They have been able to create best-of-breed product workflows at the distributor level with an extensive list of value-added channel partners, and we look forward to working with them to greatly expand Brainstorm’s footprint across North America.”

“We are delighted to add Brainstorm to our roster of channel partners,” comments Jeff Burgess, JB&A CEO. “Virtual production and 3D graphics in AR/VR/XR are technology trends in high demand in the industry across a growing number of sectors, and Brainstorm’s best-in-class product range is an excellent fit at many different levels for many different use cases.”

About JB&A Distribution
JB&A is a leader in the fields of Video, Broadcast, Production, and Pro AV. They are dedicated to bringing the most innovative and complete solutions to market including: Digital Media Management, IP Streaming, Digital Projection, and Connectivity. JB&A is staffed by industry experts, and is a unique mix of Consultant, Channel Partner, Solutions Provider and Distributor with an ecosystem of certified, tested and proven products and workflow solutions.

For more information about JB&A, please visit https://jbanda.com.

The new H2020 5G-PPP Phase 3 project 5GMediaHUB “5G experimentation environment for 3rd party media services” began its activities in January 2021 with a kick-off meeting held virtually, in which the 17 consortium partners from 11 European countries, comprising of large companies, SMEs, Universities and Research Centers, discussed the plans regarding implementation of the project over the next three years, acknowledging the significant role and potential of 5G. The project is coordinated by the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC) from Barcelona, Spain, a leader in 5G research in Europe.

The 5GMediaHUB project’s objective is to develop a testing and validation environment over two existing 5G experimental platforms located in Barcelona and Oslo, in order to create the 5GMediaHUB Experimentation Facility which will constitute an elastic, secure, trusted, all-in-one and multitenant service execution and Network Applications (NetApps) development environment.

5GMediaHUB will offer 3rd party application developers, such as service providers, the opportunity to experiment, test and validate their media applications by using the 5GMediaHUB Experimentation Facility. This will reduce the time needed for an enterprise to make its services available to end-users. The outcomes of the project will benefit the European media industry considerably, particularly SMEs, enabling it to become a force to be reckoned with at a global level.

“In 5GMediaHUB we capitalize on the experience from previous 5G projects in network slicing and orchestration. Existing well-established 5G platforms will be extended during the project in order to test 3rd party media services to enable the EU to achieve its goal of becoming a world leader in 5G”, stated 5GMediaHub Project Coordinator Christos Verikoukis, Research Director at CTTC.

The use cases that will be tested are Immersive Augmented, Virtual and Extended Reality applications; smart media production; and smart media content distribution. The outcomes of the experiments will offer valuable information and insight regarding the 5GMediaHUB Experimentation Facility performance.

“The 5GMediaHub project will allow Brainstorm to use, test and validate 5G technology with its virtual reality and augmented reality graphic applications for the broadcast sector,” adds Francisco Ibáñez, R&D Project Director at Brainstorm Multimedia.

Learn more on this project visiting www.5gmediahub.eu/

UNITEL decided to carry out a technological migration in favour of Brainstorm in 2019, which culminated in the electoral process of the same year. In the 2020 Elections, InfinitySet and Aston have been key to the generation of the graphics based on real-time data and their representation in the form of augmented reality shown in interaction with the channel anchors.

“Brainstorm’s technology, with InfinitySet and Aston, allows us to inform and deliver the data in an accurate, didactic and entertaining way with virtual elements, augmented reality and on-air graphics in real time with data of the result of the surveys and the official counts of the day of the election. Once again, UNITEL is a leader in the development of election graphics with the help of Brainstorm technology. We are proud to have been able to present the information in an attractive and understandable way to our audience,” says Andrés Guerra Vergara, Director of Production and Programming at UNITEL.

According to Sergio Amuchastegui, Brainstorm’s Sales Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean, “UNITEL’s process in Bolivia began in March 2019 when, after more than 10 years of using a technology that is now out of the market, the Interdisciplinary group made up of UNITEL producers, engineers and, of course, administrators, decided to give Brainstorm their trust for their stations in Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba. This pandemic has not taken us away from our clients, but on the contrary, it has brought us closer every day and we continue with projects of this level that we will soon discolse”.

Despite the pandemic caused by the COVID-19, Brainstorm had the opportunity to provide online support to UNITEL’s excellent team to ensure that the latest technologies presented by the Spanish brand were used to their full potential, thus providing the best possibilities for this electoral coverage.

Brainstorm se ha erigido como una pieza fundamental en los contenidos del nuevo magazín de la cadena pública valenciana À Punt, “A la Ventura”, creando múltiples piezas en realidad aumentada para ilustrar los contenidos del programa.

“A la Ventura” es un espacio conducido por la periodista Marta Ventura, que cada viernes por la noche recoge la actualidad semanal tratando los temas más destacados de los últimos días. En su estreno del pasado viernes 11 el programa contó con entrevistas y reportajes de temas de actualidad, incluyendo, cómo no, las últimas noticias sobre la pandemia o la vuelta al colegio, todo ello ilustrado con rótulos y gráficos 3D generados a partir de datos externos, presentados como realidad aumentada y creados con InfinitySet de Brainstorm.

Para Josep Pitarch, Jefe de Imagen de À Punt, “Desde À Punt siempre hemos apostado por la tecnología de vanguardia para presentar nuestros contenidos a los espectadores. En ese sentido la implementación de la realidad aumentada como un elemento novedoso y eficaz para complementar el discurso informativo es un reto que abordamos de nuevo en ” A la Ventura”, nuestro recientemente estrenado programa semanal que repasa la actualidad con información y debate. Nuestra voluntad es seguir creciendo a nivel tecnológico y ser capaces de ofrecer desde nuestras diferentes ventanas contenidos cada vez más atractivos, también desde el punto de vista audiovisual. Estamos seguros de que nuestra colaboración con Brainstorm seguirá dando buenos frutos en el futuro y nos ayudará a superar retos profesionales cada vez más ambiciosos.

Mónica Víctor, directora de servicios de producción de Brainstorm y responsable comercial para España afirma que “Nuestra relación con À Punt ha sido siempre muy estrecha, y ambas empresas hemos colaborado en la creación de contenidos de alto nivel de gráficos y realidad aumentada, tanto en programas diarios, informativos, elecciones y muchos otros. A la Ventura es una muestra más de cómo la creatividad y la tecnología consiguen un resultado atractivo y novedoso.”

La realidad aumentada se ha consolidado como un elemento fundamental en la creación de contenidos de televisión, mejorando la presentación de contenidos y la comprensión de datos complejos por parte de la audiencia. Brainstorm, por su parte, cuenta con más de 20 años de experiencia en la creación de este tipo de contenidos con toda su gama de productos, desde eStudio hasta Aston, pasando por supuesto por InfinitySet.

Brainstorm Virtual Weeks include virtual live and recorded sessions on Brainstorm’s advanced technology, products and solutions, with special emphasis on the latest developments and achievements by the company. All Brainstorm Virtual Week editions are open to anyone willing to learn how Brainstorm’s technology can help their business in these harsh times, using virtual technology with innovative solutions for broadcast, content creation, virtual events, virtual production and much more.

The upcoming Brainstorm Virtual Week will showcase a number of public and private sessions starting Monday, September 14^th, through to Friday, 18^th, with dozens of online webinars in different time zones. 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.

Brainstorm will also showcase virtual production demonstrations streamed live, twice a day, on the company’s YouTube channel. This production will show photorealistic virtual production with two presenters located 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 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.

With webinars focused on its products and solutions, as well as the virtual production demonstrations, Brainstorm demonstrates how virtual technology allows 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. On top of al the above, users can also request specific one-to-one demos.

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 innovative solutions and cutting-edge product range and, most importantly, accessible on demand. Now that many companies impose restrictions in social contact and working conditions, so people avoid attending the usual events in person and the events themselves still get cancelled, 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/virtual-week.

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.