NEW YORK—Brainstorm, a provider of real-time 3D graphics, virtual production, XR, and AR solutions, has announced it will release InfinitySet Lite.

InfinitySet Lite is the latest addition to Brainstorm’s InfinitySet product line, offering a streamlined interface and tool set while maintaining the same top-tier quality standards that have made InfinitySet a favorite in the broadcast and studio markets for virtual content creation.

Brainstorm will show the new solution, which is optimized for PTZ cameras, during NAB Show New York at booth 801 on Oct. 9 and 10. It will be available for purchase starting Oct. 20.

“With the increased use of PTZ cameras for virtual production, many of our clients requested a solution specific to such environments, that do not require the features, power or skill set that the highly complex fully tracked installations require,” David Moldes, Brainstorm’s product manager, said. “InfinitySet Lite is Brainstorm’s answer to this demand, offering the core capabilities of InfinitySet in an easy-to-use and more cost-effective solution.”

Brainstorm said InfinitySet Lite is designed to meet the demands of a broad range of virtual production setups—from simple to complex—and delivers exceptional performance and flexibility. By providing a more cost-effective option, Brainstorm said, it aims to make high-quality virtual production accessible to more creators without compromising on performance or visual quality.

The solution can be used to create a virtual production with a variety of workflows and setups. Some are extremely complex, involving several renders and tracking devices, and others are significantly simpler, using PTZ cameras to deliver the tracking information.

InfinitySet Lite has been developed to work seamlessly with PTZ cameras, providing all the tools required to create outstanding virtual content, but removing the complex setup and calibration of standard tracking installations such as pedestals or cranes. InfinitySet Lite starts with the basic features that allow any content creator to fulfill their virtual production needs using PTZ cameras, but it can be expanded with options and eventually become a fully configured InfinitySet, the company explained.

InfinitySet Lite works out of the box in SDI or 2110 environments, and it is fully compatible with Unreal Engine, allowing users to leverage the power of Unreal’s real-time rendering alongside Brainstorm’s advanced features., the company reported.

The product includes Brainstorm’s advanced Differential Chroma Keyer, but can also use other hardware keyers if the client prefers. Its operation has been limited to output 2K resolutions, simplifying the hardware required to run the system and reducing operation costs, while maintaining the raw power of InfinitySet for rendering hyperrealistic scenes.

InfinitySet Lite can be controlled remotely by InfinitySet OnDemand and can run along with InfinitySet in larger or more complex installations that include several workstations or renders per camera.

AUSTIN, Texas—Brainstorm, a provider of real-time 3D graphics and virtual studio solutions, has opened a new office and Demo Studio in Austin, Texas in a move to expand the company’s presence in the U.S. and Canada.

Located at 7400 Cooper Lane, the new Austin office features a large LED volume and Green Cyclorama powered by Brainstorm’s advanced Virtual Production and 3D Graphics products. The Demo Studio showcases the full potential of Brainstorm’s technology, providing broadcasters, production houses, filmmakers, corporations, and educational institutions with an immersive demonstration environment.

“We are excited to expand our operations in North America, enhancing our ability to better serve our growing markets and existing customer base,” said Hector Viguer, Brainstorm’s Chief Operating Officer.

In conjunction with the office opening, Thierry Gonzalo has been brought onboard as the new Senior Solutions Architect, based in Austin. Gonzalo brings a decade of experience in Brainstorm product management and development, with extensive expertise in live broadcast news, sports, and entertainment. His previous roles include serving as a Broadcast Graphics lead and chief engineer in various broadcast news and production segments.

“Our new facilities and expanded team are all about creating a quality experience for our customers, channel partners, and industry collaborators,” said Ruben Ruiz, Executive Vice President and Country Manager for Brainstorm US, Inc. “We are delighted to inaugurate our new office and studios during our upcoming annual gathering of Channel Partners in May 2024. We look forward to continuing our mission of providing leading virtual production solutions and services to our customer and user community.”

MADRID—Brainstorm will demonstrate Brainstorm Suite 5, a major upgrade to its InfinitySet, Aston and eStudio extended reality (XR) and virtual production products, at the 2022 NAB Show, April 23-27, in Las Vegas. 

Scheduled for release on March 1, Brainstorm Suite 5 offers new and enhanced features that improve XR content creation and workflow and a tighter integration with Unreal Engine. The enhancements streamline virtual content creation regardless of whether that content will be used on LED walls or chroma sets, the company said.

“Brainstorm has been deeply involved with augmented reality [AR] 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,” said Brainstorm’s COO and engineering director Hector Viguer.

The new features will make it faster for users to create XR content, particularly when creating in-context AR in LED walls, XR set extensions and backgrounds for production of films and dramatic series. 

Suite 5 has an interface dedicated to creating XR installations. This allows for modeling any type of video wall, including curved, shaped and corner installations, and mapping the desired 3D content in such models. It also enables users to create virtual AR content that can be directly displayed and seen by the camera with the correct perspective at all times, it said.

Leveraging the Layers and Stacking features of InfinitySet makes it possible to map different renders with different resolutions in a canvas of any size and aspect, Brainstorm said.

The new, tighter integration of InfinitySet and eStudio with Unreal Engine enables fully editable Brainstorm scenes and templates within an Unreal project and vice versa. When creating AR projects within Unreal, this new capability offers many benefits due to Brainstorm’s advanced data-driven graphics and compatibility with broadcast workflows.

Together with UnrealControl, the tighter integration also enables editing Unreal Projects directly within InfinitySet’s interface with total ease and control of blueprints, objects and parameters, the company said.

Suite 5 also features a new, redesigned internal chroma keyer with 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 U.E. 5, it said.

Other new features include improved HDR workflows and better integration with robotic heads from manufacturers such as Panasonic or Sony.

“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, … 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,” said Viguer.

See Brainstorm at NAB Show booth N2608.

More information is available on the company’s website.  

More information on the 2022 NAB Show is available here. 

NEW YORK—Brainstorm is set to make the new InfinitySet 4, a virtual studio and AR platform, available to consumers following a virtual showcase as part of the company’s Virtual Week from May 11-15, coinciding with the NAB Show Express (May 13-14).

The new InfinitySet 4 boasts new features designed around enhancing content creation and output. This includes tighter integration and control of Unreal Engine, as well as additional features like simultaneous renders, multiple outputs and additional hardware support for Unreal Engine workflows.

One of these new features is Layers, which is designed to create simultaneous multiple independent renders through a single workstation. Layers enables the delivery of several outputs from a single instance or the combination of several outputs in a single one. Updates to the unit’s rendering features have also been applied.

Another upgrade to the InfinitySet 4 is in the management and compatibility with the Unreal Engine, Brainstorm says. The system now features an Unreal-native behavior, so users can achieve what Unreal Engines provide, in a workflow fully integrated into Unreal. This provides Brainstorm’s experience in areas like broadcast and film graphics, virtual set and augmented reality production.

There is also the Unreal Engine Control, a new module that directly controls Unreal Engine from InfinitySet’s own interface for a live production-oriented control interface. Unreal Engine Control can directly control blueprints, objects and properties in the UE project. Unreal Engine Control can also transfer any input to Unreal to be used as a texture. The module is able to provide compatibility for video hardware devices not available in Unreal Engine.

For more information on InfinitySet 4, and other Brainstorm products that will be shown during its Virtual Week, visit www.brainstorm3d.com.  

MADRID—Real-time 3D and virtual set manufacturer Brainstorm Multimedia has announced it is now offering support for software-driven IP workflows with NewTek’s Network Device Interface. NDI will integrate into Brainstorm’s Infinity Set line of products, which will allow them to be recognized as a source by other NDI-enabled devices connected to a standard Ethernet local area network.

NDI is a royalty free technology that allows video and audio sources to be shared bi-directionally across a network. This allows Infinity Set to simplify its installations by using just a network switcher and a single cable, rather than a number of input signals with individual SDI cables.

In addition, Brainstorm plans to support additional features in NDI when its releases its updated software development kit in the fourth quarter of 2016. NDI 2.0 will reportedly offer higher performance, resolution independence, 16-bit per channel support for the highest precision color of any IP standard, 16 channels of floating point audio, improved cross subnet support, integrated fail-safe support, and network-based re-routing support.

Brainstorm recently showcased the new NDI integration at its booth during IBC 2016.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) came to Rio with six Brianstorm eStudio virtual studio applications in an effort to boost its coverage of the Olympic Games. RAI has set up two complete virtual studios that will provide augmented reality applications and smart data for distribution to RAI 2, RAI Sports 1 and RAI Sports 2 channels.

The Brainstorm eStudios are installed on purpose-built For-A workstations with internal adjustable delays and tracking systems customized by Tecnopoint and Cartoni. The work stations receive video feeds from studio cameras and external cameras located at different Olympic venues.

The eStudio toolset helps real-time graphics requirements and enables design and real-time playout of virtual studio and 3D graphics.

Both of RAI’s virtual studios are located at the International Broadcast Center in Rio.