Increasing Realism and Supporting Content Planning for Dynamic Scenes in a Mixed Reality System incorporating a Time-of-Flight Camera

For broadcasting purposes MIXED REALITY, the combination of real and virtual scene content, has become ubiquitous nowadays. Mixed Reality recording still requires expensive studio setups and is often limited to simple color keying. We present a system for Mixed Reality applications which uses depth keying and provides threedimensional mixing of real and artificial content. It features enhanced realism through automatic shadow computation which we consider a core issue to obtain realism and a convincing visual perception, besides the correct alignment of the two modalities and correct occlusion handling. Furthermore we present a possibility to support placement of virtual content in the scene. Core feature of our system is the incorporation of a TIME-OF-FLIGHT (TOF)-camera device. This device delivers real-time depth images of the environment at a reasonable resolution and quality. This camera is used to build a static environment model and it also allows correct handling of mutual occlusions between real and virtual content, shadow computation and enhanced content planning. The presented system is inexpensive, compact, mobile, flexible and provides convenient calibration procedures. Chroma-keying is replaced by depth-keying which is efficiently performed on the GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT (GPU) by the usage of an environment model and the current ToF-camera image. Automatic extraction and tracking of dynamic scene content is herewith performed and this information is used for planning and alignment of virtual content. An additional sustainable feature is that depth maps of the mixed content are available in real-time, which makes the approach suitable for future 3DTV productions. The presented paper gives an overview of the whole system approach including camera calibration, environment model generation, real-time keying and mixing of virtual and real content, shadowing for virtual content and dynamic object tracking for content planning.

Interactive Ray Tracing for Virtual TV Studio Applications

In the last years, the well known ray tracing algorithm gained new popularity with the introduction of interactive ray tracing methods. The high modularity and the ability to produce highly realistic images make ray tracing an attractive alternative to raster graphics hardware. Interactive ray tracing also proved its potential in the field of Mixed Reality rendering and provides novel methods for seamless integration of real and virtual content. Actor insertion methods, a subdomain of Mixed Reality and closely related to virtual television studio techniques, can use ray tracing for achieving high output quality in conjunction with appropriate visual cues like shadows and reflections at interactive frame rates. In this paper, we show how interactive ray tracing techniques can provide new ways of implementing virtual studio applications.

Digital Illumination for Augmented Studios

Virtual studio technology plays an important role for modern television productions. Blue-screen matting is a common technique for integrating real actors or moderators into computer generated sceneries. Augmented reality offers the possibility to mix real and virtual in a more general context. This article proposes a new technological approach for combining real studio content with computergenerated information. Digital light projection allows a controlled spatial, temporal, chrominance and luminance modulation of illumination – opening new possibilities for TV studios.