Despite delaying the decision in the hope that NAB  2021 would be the opportunity to again meet with customers, partners, providers, and the market in general, the current situation is so uncertain in terms of travel bans, social distancing, and other health and safety measures, that Brainstorm has reluctantly decided to withdraw from the exhibition. For Brainstorm the well-being of its staff, visitors and others involved in the Show is of paramount importance, for which the decision, although extremely difficult, was made with everyone’s health and safety uppermost in mind.

Brainstorm appreciates the enormous efforts that the NAB committee has made to ensure a safe show, however we must face the fact that the situation in the wider world is outside of their control.

According to Ricardo Montesa, CEO and founder of Brainstorm, “It is with great regret that we announce this decision not to attend NAB 2021, but the safety of our staff, customers and partners is the driving force behind it, despite the new features and announcements we had in mind for the Show. Since 1995 we have been exhibiting with great success, and as members of NAB we are very much looking forward to exhibiting at NAB 2022.”

Brainstorm is already beginning to work on its participation at NAB 2022, in the hope that it will represent the return of the shows as we know them.

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.

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.

InfinitySet can receive the video and tracking information from the Sony cameras and render the virtual scene or the AR objects in real-time, even using photorealistic rendering and Unreal Engine, which creates a stunning visual experience for the viewers, affordable at the same time for any kind of production facility or broadcaster. On top of that, Brainstorm allows the Sony camera remote control RM-IP500 to direct InfinitySet’s virtual cameras. InfinitySet is the only virtual set and AR solution that allows this feature, allowing operators to run complex 3D virtual scenery in a familiar production environment.

In combination with InfinitySet, the BRC-H800 and X1000 are a powerful solution for enhancing storytelling and providing in-context AR graphics from external data sources, due to the advanced features of InfintySet, resulting from Brainstorm’s experience of more than 25 years in the development of real-time 3D graphics, virtual set and augmented reality solutions. The resulting workflow brings advanced AR to companies of any size and budget, by providing a PTZ tracking workflow that avoids the hassle of more complex tracking systems.

“Many of our products and solutions are built with modality and integration in mind so we’re always delighted to see them integrated in new and innovative workflows that broaden creative possibilities for producers and operators. Brainstorm has a series of truly distinctive software for virtual and AR set ups and we’re glad to be partnering with them here”, commented Norbert Paquet, Head of Live Production, Sony Professional Europe.

According to Thierry Gonzalo, Brainstorm’s Product Manager, “Our seamless integration with the Sony BRC camera line-up provides companies of any size to accomplish projects involving virtual sets and AR requirements, by using the PTZ tracking data and exceptional image quality from such cameras. Also, our ability to allow the Sony camera control to command InfinitySet’s production mode permits live production operators with no experience in virtual environments to run any virtual or AR show with total ease”.

Brainstorm and Sony will demonstrate this integration in a public webinar scheduled for March 5th, 2021, so anyone that wants to know more about this advanced workflow can register here.

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.

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.

InfinitySet, Brainstorm’s award-winning virtual set and augmented reality solution, performs at its best by using the camera view plus the tracking data provided by the different Spidercam systems. Such systems not only provide creative camera angles, but by using InfinitySet for adding advanced, real-time 3D AR content, allows for new and impressive ways to deliver Sports and other live events’ content to a worldwide audience.

“Brainstorm seems the perfect combination for Spidercam” says Jan Peters, CEO of Spidercam. “The camera angles and flies Spidercam provide can also be enhanced with the real-time 3D augmented reality graphics by InfinitySet, providing an enhanced storytelling to impress an increasingly demanding audience”.

Brainstorm and Spidercam enjoy a considerable track record of mutual co-operation and have successfully deployed installations in events such as the coverage of the WWE season, including Royal Rumble and other events. With the advanced rendering capabilities of Brainstorm’s InfinitySet, including the Combined Render Engine with Unreal Engine, real-time ray tracing or PBR materials, the photorealistic results provided can be as real as reality itself.

According to Miguel Churruca, Marketing & Communications Director of Brainstorm, “Working with Spidercam has always been a pleasure because of the way they track big spaces allows for our augmented reality elements to stand out thanks to the wide camera movements they can provide. The willingness and vast experience of their staff makes the collaboration seamless on a human level. At Brainstorm we are always pushing the envelope when it comes to technology, and integrating with Spidercam seems only natural since they’re on the cutting-edge of robotics camera technology”.

Suite 4 introduces a key feature that changes the game regarding how Aston and InfinitySet deal with broadcast workflows, while providing additional playout possibilities. It is called LAYERS, and its foundation rests on the capability of Brainstorm Suite 4 for creating Simultaneous Multiple Independent Renders using a single workstation. With LAYERS, Brainstorm Suite 4 can now deliver several outputs from a single instance, in both Aston and InfinitySet, or combine several outputs in a single one as required.

InfinitySet 4 also gains major updates to the rendering features and especially the management and compatibility with the Unreal Engine. This effectively enhances the way the Combined Render Engine, Brainstorm’s seamless integration between the company’s eStudio render engine and the Unreal Engine, works in practice. Another key development is that InfinitySet now features an Unreal-native behaviour, so InfinitySet users can achieve anything Unreal Engine provides in a workflow fully integrated into Unreal. The added value of this configuration is the multitude of benefits of including more than 25 years of Brainstorm’s the experience in broadcast and film graphics, virtual set and augmented reality production, including data management, playout workflows, virtual camera detach, multiple simultaneous renders and much more.

Brainstorm is also introducing the InfinitySet Unreal Engine Controller, a new module that directly controls Unreal Engine from InfinitySet’s own interface, adding a user-friendly, live production-oriented control interface. The Unreal Engine Controller can identify any blueprints, objects and properties in the UE project, and control them directly from InfinitySet, which results in a new, unique and revolutionary workflow that does not require to previously prepared blueprints in Unreal Engine to create actions or edit the project. Unreal Engine Controller works in a bi-directional way, so not only can blueprints, objects and properties be controlled from InfinitySet’s interface, but it can also transfer any input to Unreal for use as a texture, including movies, live video, images or even Aston projects with StormLogic.

On top of that, the InfinitySet Unreal Engine Controller provides additional compatibility for video hardware devices not available in Unreal Engine, including support and driver updates for video IO boards and virtually any tracking device.

Aston 4, Brainstorm’s 2D/3D motion graphics creation, CG and playout solution, also gains a number of enhancements that further improve its capabilities, like shader-based 2D fonts or the ability to open multiple projects simultaneously for playout. And thanks to the LAYERS feature, the Aston family of applications is enhanced with the addition of Aston Multichannel. With this, Aston provides extended workflow possibilities, including playout of multiple channels from a single workstation or from different workstations, which can also be combined with multiple simultaneous projects. Additionally, InfinitySet now includes an Aston Crosspoint for further flexibility. Aston the PBR materials within Aston are further enhanced, and taking full advantage of Nvidia’s GPU Movie Decoding feature.

According to Ricardo Montesa, Brainstorm’s CEO and founder “With Suite 4 we have made a significant leap forward on what can be achieved in virtual sets, augmented reality and real-time broadcast motion graphics. We have worked hard to match and even surpass the high-end requirements of our customers. So now the integration of InfinitySet with Unreal Engine is even tighter, and we have included industry-unique features like the Unreal Engine Controller, that can fully control not only the Unreal Engine projects but also its blueprints, objects and properties directly from InfinitySet’s own interface. We’re very excited with this release and the response received from our customers is excellent.”

Added to all the above, Brainstorm is also introducing the Web Controller, an independent, HTML5-based application designed to control the Playout mode of InfinitySet from a remote computer, using Ethernet protocols, and greatly simplifying the setup and control of multiple workstation installations.