This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Capturing the action


S


ince opening its doors in 1995, the H stage at Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios has been home to more than its fair share of


blockbuster movies and stars, playing host to James Bond, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Tom Cruise. On a scalding hot day in June it wasn’t movie actors but rather basketball stars that graced the stage, invited by Playtech to perform for the cameras. The set-up was much more Avatar than GoldenEye, however, as almost a hundred HD cameras attached to an intricate gantry system filmed players in grey- jump suits, adorned with strategically placed ‘ping-pong ball-like’ markers, as they played a ferocious game in sweltering conditions.


4 8


Playtech had created a full-sized basketball court, complete with


competition grade flooring, which had to be covered with an additional rubber coating to


prevent reflections distorting the view of the 89 HD cameras sited above and around the players.


Playtech had created a full-sized basketball court, complete with competition grade flooring, which had to be covered with an additional rubber coating to prevent reflections distorting the view of the 89 HD cameras sited above and around the players. Building a full size court and asking the players to play basketball for 10 hours per day over four days, gave Playtech (in addition to an enormous quantity of laundry) the opportunity to capture the shots they need to recreate a ‘real game’ as part of its new Virtual Sports offering. This meant that rather than stitching together predetermined sequences, the motion captured by the cameras and digitised into high definition, photo-realistic animations, remained true to the goal of creating a simulation of


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68