How does CBS Texas' new AR/VR studio work? Director of engineering breaks it down
CBS Texas recently launched a new augmented reality/virtual reality set, making it the only station in the region to offer the groundbreaking technology.
The new AR/VR set launched on June 23, introducing a new way to deliver weather and news, immersing audiences in the story.
Every week, we'll speak with a different person who has contributed to the project or will work closely with it. This week, CBS Texas sat down with Adam Bull, director of broadcast operations and engineering.
CBS Texas: How does this new technology work?
Adam Bull: This is some really cool tech. The best way to think about it is like being in a video game. We take a person, have them stand on a green background, cut them out and digitally paste them into a video game engine.
This person wears an infrared tracker so they can interact with and walk around objects on the screen. They look at monitors above and in front of them to see what they are doing. It takes some practice to make it look like you are interacting with something that only exists in the virtual world. Our meteorologists also use an iPad to talk to the system. They send commands like, bring up a virtual monitor or change the map on the floor.
CBS Texas: How much work went into launching this set?
Bull: Quite a bit, actually. [The IT team] took more than six months of planning, construction and rehearsals to bring it online. For the geniuses at our [CBS] San Francisco station who pioneered this technology, it took a couple of years to develop.
CBS Texas: What are you looking forward to next?
Bull: I am excited to see where the creative minds from our news, weather and sports teams take us. This technology is cool, but it is really about bringing everyone into an immersive world so our storytellers can share their vision and take the viewer on a virtual journey.
CBS Texas: What makes this set different from any other?
Everything can be changed and nothing is "set in stone." The same green set we use for news and weather, at the click of a mouse, becomes a sports set or the Sistine Chapel. As we work with this technology, there is no telling where the storytellers will take us next!
