Ventuz's real-time 3D graphics enhance BBC's 'Pointless' popularity

The technology provider Kinetic Pixel has deployed numerous elements in the contest studio that play with graphics updated in real time, giving great spectacle and emotion to the program.

Since its premiere on the BBC in 2009, the competition Pointless has broken audience records on British television. The technology provider Kinetic Pixel, in charge of the graphic display in the studio, is using the real-time platform for 3D graphics from sucker.

Pointless is a game show produced by Endemol UK for the BBC, presented by Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman. In it, questions with multiple alternatives are asked: several of the alternatives are correct but the trick is to choose the least known answer. Broadcast five times a week, it also has a prime edition with celebrities, Pointless Celebrities.

To highlight the spectacular nature of the contest, the studio has its now famous column and an LED wall made up of a hundred graphic blocks. When a contestant gives an answer, the LED column displays a countdown from 100 and stops at the correct number, creating an aura of suspense and excitement, shared by the audience.

The creators of this installation are Pixel Kinetic, a broadcast technology provider founded at the end of 2013. For this show, as for all their productions, they use Ventuz real-time 3D graphics software.

Great flexibility in graphics

Craig Hann, CEO of Kinetic Pixel, highlighted that “the countdown column is an essential element of Pointless, so we put a lot of care into the production of this installation. The animation features of the Ventuz software suite allowed us to carefully fine-tune the flexibility of the column animations based on the final value. Therefore each countdown in the column is equally exciting, regardless of whether the score is low or high.”

Kinetic Pixel also manages the screens on the contestants' lecterns, which show the score, as well as a high-definition projection with different audiovisual elements. This installation is reserved for the question screen, resource images, the program logo and other animations. "Over the years the program has undergone many design changes with different features. Luckily, Ventuz offers great flexibility and a wide variety of programming possibilities, so it can easily adapt to the needs of producers at any given time," acknowledges Hann.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxaZyLIvQG4[/youtube]