news 2020 4 min read

100,000s of Gadget Show viewers experience disguise xR

100,000s of Gadget Show viewers experience disguise xR

The Gadget Show, Channel 5’s flagship technology and innovation programme, paid us a visit at our London HQ on Friday 27 November to witness the power and versatility of our extended reality solution.

Our team showcased the award-winning disguise xR technology highlighting how extended reality offers virtual production and performance in immersive real-time video environments.

Launched in 2004, The Gadget Show gives its audience exclusive access to the latest technology trends and future innovations. Presenter Georgie Barrat was treated to an all-encompassing xR experience, stepping onto the stage at our London HQ and filming a series of one-to-one interviews about the origins and ambitions of xR technology with members of our executive leadership team, including CSO Tom Rockhill and CTO Ed Plowman.

Discover disguise’s latest launch of xR technology

Georgie took viewers through the disguise workflow; providing a centralised control and delivery system for virtual environments that can be witnessed both on physical set screens and via fully virtual content in camera. The presenter was also introduced to the disguise engine as it coordinated camera tracking, real-time content rendering, presentation to physical displays (LED panels), performance capture, spatial and temporal reconstruction, composition and final output from a single environment.

 

The segment also explored the ways disguise continues to herald a new dawn of virtual production with these innovations. Our team explained how demand for remote and virtual production following the cancellation of live events has seen a huge uptake of high profile customers helping make mixed reality mainstream. As a result, we’ve invested more resource into xR development, helping it reach a level of maturity that provides endless options for productions with limited access to staging and crew.

Teleportation between stages in action

We also took Georgie and the team to West London where they experienced a cross-location meeting on White Light’s SmartStage at the Science Museum. Utilising multiple inputs including a Zoom call and the ‘teleportation’ of a guest onto the stage, White Light Technical Solutions Director Andy Hook took The Gadget Show through the features that make xR truly unmeasurable in terms of virtual production. Hook said, “It was fantastic to see xR and our SmartStage solution getting such a great reaction from mainstream media coverage on The Gadget Show. As disguise’s Certified Solutions Provider, we have used their advanced media server platform to turn many of our clients‘ ideas and visions into projects. It was the natural choice for us to work with disguise when we started our xR journey more than three years ago. It's amazing to see the tools we’ve helped develop since then being used across a wide range of industries. White Light is now regarded as the world leader in designing and installing xR solutions and our SmartStage packages have been deployed around the globe helping bring the power of xR to broadcast, corporate and education clients.”

Over 80 extended reality stages have been built in 30+ countries worldwide with many more planned as the industry recognises the growing importance of immersive, remote real-time production. These stages have been instrumental in spearheading xR across a variety of applications, from broadcast events like the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards and America’s Got Talent, live music performances from artists like Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Alicia Keys, corporate presentations from SAP and Lenovo, and on-set virtual production for some of the world’s leading film production companies.



Considering the popularity of some of the shows utilising disguise, many viewers will already be familiar with the kind of virtual studio productions made possible using the disguise workflow. Now, looking to the future, the team outlined our ambitions for xR technology on The Gadget Show. Ed Plowman CTO said, “Our goal is to further integrate the virtual and physical side of production workflows, so the two elements are largely seamless to the production team. Our vision for the future for xR is to increase the creative freedom of virtual production to the same level of physical production, handing more control to the Director of Photography and enabling them to realise their vision for a shot.”

“In an unforgettable year when the world had no choice but to find virtual solutions due to the impact of the pandemic, disguise xR continues to go from strength to strength, powering many virtual events, performances and productions, in entertainment and corporate settings across the globe. We were thrilled to host The Gadget Show at our London base and at White Light’s SmartStage, providing the nation with a holistic view of how xR technology is changing the production workflow, and is now becoming accessible to all,” says disguise CSO, Tom Rockhill.

Book a demo or speak to our team about the possibilities of xR

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