 CJP Broadcast completes virtual studio for the University of Sunderland

CJP Broadcast has completed the launch of a new 4K-UHD virtual studio for the University of Sunderland (United Kingdom). The system includes a study Mon-Sys StarTracker with a camera tracking unit, a handheld StarTracker viewer with wireless connection and a lightweight nib Cartoons For a.

CJP Broadcast has also provided and integrated luminaires LED Kinoflow Diva Lite 401 and a lighting control table Zero 88 FLX S24, plus a high quality chroma cyclorama. The studio itself has an area of 6 x 6 meters and a height of 4 meters.

Installed in the university's David Puttnam Media Center, the new resource offers students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in cutting-edge virtual studio production techniques.

Arabella Plouviez, academic dean of the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, highlights that "this investment opens up a new level of creative opportunities for students across the faculty. The green hue of the new space can be digitally manipulated to turn it into any type of environment - real or imagined - for film, television, animation or photography. It will allow our students to truly innovate with technology so new that the possibilities are still unexplored. It is an exciting new area in which we can be leaders."

The senior television technician at the university, Craig Moore, notes that "chroma key has long been a central element of our training courses. It is a production technique that has become increasingly useful in recent years, allowing broadcasters to achieve realistic graphic effects efficiently, affordably and with precise control. High-quality processing is important given the large number of viewers now watching on large screens.

"We chose StarTracker Studio because it offers us an all-in-one virtual production solution that adapts to multi-camera and cinema-style broadcast scenarios, as well as being ready for shooting LED volumes. Today's students expect to be trained in all of these aspects. StarTracker Studio is a complete virtual production resource built around the industry-standard StarTracker camera tracking system. StarTracker Studio is capable of much more than the virtual backgrounds traditionally associated with chroma key. In addition to placing static or dynamic scenes on the studio walls, you can superimpose photorealistic 3D objects in front of the presenters, allowing any type of virtual production,” he says.

"CJP also recommended and integrated a versatile, energy-efficient lighting system for use with our new background cyclorama. The cyclorama is constructed with a wide-radius curve in the corners and where the green screen surface merges with the studio floor. This means we can deploy the cameras from a wide range of angles," he adds.

A new way of producing

"We wanted to be able to offer something that other universities cannot currently offer. The success of the television series The Mandalorian, and the publicity about how it was created, opened our eyes to the live virtual production process. Our hope was to replicate a similar type of setup that would place our university at the forefront of this new method of production within the higher education sector. Our chroma key and television studios are relatively small and have little to no space to store sets. With this new system we will be able to create large sets at no cost and turn our studios into anything our students can think of. This investment will also help us forge new relationships with external companies, whether they are production companies, football clubs, the city council or whatever. The main goal is to give our students every possible advantage when they graduate, and help them find employment in their chosen field,” Moore acknowledges.

CJP Broadcast Project Director, Kieran Phillips, states that "StarTracker is an exceptionally stable tracking technology based on small reflective stars that are randomly applied to the studio ceiling. The stars are barely visible to the naked eye. An LED emitter and an in-camera sensor project discreet infrared light onto the stars, defining the star map that allows StarTracker to capture precise six-axis motion with lens focus and zoom data, all in real time. Once calibrated, the system is fully autonomous and immediately begins tracking the subject. turn it on. Since StarTracker always refers to your star chart, your position is absolute and driftless.