SportsCenter + Catalyst Stage
Client: ESPN / Disney
Halon | Virtual Production
Worked On-Site and Remote at ESPN’s HQ to create Virtual Sets for daily television production. Sets are designed to be incredibly performant, flexible, and visually striking. I worked with Disney’s Media and Technology Team to debut and test their real-time graphics handling system.
Studio X - SportsCenter
The official home of SportsCenter at the ESPN Headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. I was Lead Tech Artist to create a virtual set extension for the newly renovated Studio X. The environment is executed directly within Unreal, and integrated using Disney’s Real-Time graphics solution GRACE. LED Panels display the scene live, which is accurately motion tracked from the stage’s suite of cameras. The environment is benchmarked to run at 60 FPS, and is a daily fixture on television as part of ESPN’s visual toolbelt.
Catalyst Stage - Hilltop
ESPN’s fully immersive LED Stage, serving as a technology testbed for breakthroughs like AR/VR Extensions and MegaPixel’s GhostFrame. We created the flagship environment to debut the stage, serving as a malleable set to serve the production needs of ESPN’s television and internal communications. The environment is an unique Indoor / Outdoor set envisioned by Jack Morton Worldwide. Dubbed “Hilltop’, the Californian-esque set is versatile and can simulate different times of day. We worked close with ESPN to stream proprietary motion graphics into Unreal, and create checkpoints for operators to easily stage and setup shots.
Studio X - SportsCenter
The virtual set was designed to match the footprint of the physical buildout. We matched materials from the physical stage buildout and made them configurable for the operators.
Features
Day / Night Templates
DMX Color Integration
Moving Center Display for Graphics
Adjustable Lighting
Swappable Background Mattes
Cataylst Studio - Hilltop
The environment was a challenge to render through multiple layers of glass, water shaders, and ray-traced reflections. This set has been designed to be shot at multiple locations with three lighting scenarios.
