Worked at ESPN’s headquarters 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 their real-time graphics system.
SportsCenter + Catalyst Stage
Client: ESPN / Disney
Halon | Virtual Production
Role: Lead Technical Artist
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. 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 versatile 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 Californianesque set is super configurable and can simulate different times of day.
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.
Day / Night Templates
DMX Color Integration
Moving Center Display for Graphics
Adjustable Lighting
Swappable Background Mattes
Features
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.
Multi-Level Architecture with outdoor nature and indoor props
Entire Landscape with Ocean Waves, Building + Foliage set dressing, street layouts, and time-of-day city lights
Swappable elements and graphics, incorporated into Disney’s real-time graphics solution
