CNN's holographic freakout begins, seems totally bizarre and unnecessary
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted November 4th 2008 7:48PM
posted November 4th 2008 7:48PM
If you've been keeping your eyes fixed on CNN as this election unfolds, then by now you've seen Wolf Blitzer doing a "hologram" interview with Jessica Yellin. Not only does this technology seem completely creepy, but it's without a doubt one of the most useless and unnecessary pieces of phantasmagoric TV ever enacted. Enjoy some video and two more pics of the weirdness after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
The proof for me was in the "hologram" of the 3D model sitting on the table. The camera Did pan around that. It actually tracked quite well. Only...some intern probably, moved the entire model position when they went to the second camera and the building was hanging off the edge of the table. Way to go buddy.
If that was truly a hologram it would have been in the same place no matter which camera they used.
Actually, this is accomplished using a method known as "glyph" tracking and is completely unrelated to the "hologram". A special marker is placed on the table, which is used to determine where the camera is in relation to it. As long as the computer knows the physical size of the marker in question, the position and orientation of the camera used to view it can be extracted by examining the amount of distortion between the marker's edges as a result of perspective. This effectively tells the computer where the surface of the table is and where to render the 3D model used in the broadcast. (Again, this is all post-processed, and is not visible outside of the broadcast feed.)
This same technology was also used in the PlayStation 3 card trading game, The Eye of Judgement that came out a couple years ago. The game utilized the PlayStation Eye camera, which allowed the system to superimpose moveable, fully animated 3D representations of each card's monsters on top of the real-world view of the cards themselves.
Am I the only one who, when I saw this, wondered if I'd been in a coma for 30 years? Freaky! Is this for real or is this CGI or something?! Amazing if it's for real.
BTW - Way to go with the elections people. Us here in Aus are proud of you!
It looks a lot like Cisco Telepresence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfNC_x0VvE
check it out.
All I could think after that initial segment ended was, "I have no idea what she just said." My mind instead was working on how the heck this could improve anything at all.
c'mon. this technology will definitely be pervasive in the future and it's great to have it being showcased worldwide.
This looks like this is the first time they did something like this live. It's an interesting post-processing technology and while for CNN right now it was just a gimmick but I'm sure we're going to see some amazing uses for this technology in the future.
For instance, imagine a cameraman running around a war-zone or a disaster area, and they post process in one of their major anchors from a studio in NYC or LA to the image. I'm sure this is just a crude idea to use this technology.. we really don't know where this technology is going.
So now instead of watching a split screen where the two newscasters talk to me I can watch the back of his big dumb head...useless
@djmoon,
For $398million I'm sure Darth Palin will offer to build a bridge to the Death Star.
At least she'll only have one or two lines in the movie.... hehehe..... *ahem* ;@b
I think it was cool!!!
Am I the only one who wants to take over the projection suite in a Sith Lord outfit?
wow, someone figured out how to take the same concept as the digital first down line marker in football and turn it into a completly pointless application. Call me when you can see the person in the room.
If you give me the video footage, within 10 seconds, I can put someone dancing onto your f***ing nose. It still is funny that they tried to pass keying off as a hologram. Unless it was a real hologram...I always knew CNN was hiding something...
It was cool. It was fun.
There seems to have been a lot of backlash about it on a lot of blogs but I think people just need to lighten up and enjoy creative uses of current HD technology.
It is a small step in telecommunications technology and an important one for the overall process of advancement. For those with sentiments of it being a trick or lame, perhaps let's think of the joy such a "trick" would bring to a small child who hadn't seen mommy or daddy for months because they are serving in Iraq. We need to step out of our own little disdaining perspective and just chill a bit.
I give CNN points for trying, but have to agree it doesn't really add much, except for "WTF?"...
That's cool as hell. Too bad I missed it last night.
is this available on the app-store yet? Cant wait to have an iphone holo-deathstar at my convenience... whaddya mean thats been done already!?!
It comes as a surprise to me that a website that promotes technology would call something like this "creepy" and "useless and unnecessary".
At best it's a tech demo of what we are currently capable of. At worst it's a marketing gimmick of being "the first" to do something. Either way, it's pretty impressive how they pulled this off. I don't think it's creepy at all.
It'll be much more effective in porn, can't wait for "Erection 2008 starring Wolf Blitz-Her and Jessica Screamin'"
Seriously, why would they go through all the trouble of green screening it, if it wasn't possible? Also, I don't think they have anyone on there staff that would do that instead of the usual. Do you really think they'd go through all that trouble when they could just do it? Besides, if anyone would have to be on a green screen, it would have been the guy in the studio. He did say that it was like talking to her in the studio... plus she would have only looked 2d because we were watching it on a tv screen. There's also the fact to consider that Blitzer said what one of the advantages was, that the person being interviewed isn't in front of a million people... which means that they'd be heard better on our end, and they wouldn't have to compete with the sound a million people make! It really does not seem plausible, to me, that they would do it green screened, because that's a lot of work. Another advantage to using holograms for that kinda stuff, is it's more personal, or "intimate" if you will...
It was brought to you by wordl leading TV graphic firm, Vizrt. Not exactly something they have been putting too much resources into as far as I know, but a fun thing that CNN wanted them to create. It's been a good election for Vizrt having most of the networks as costumers.
I think its a little misleading to call this technology a hologram when its basically real time keying and tracking. wolf can only see jennifer in front of her when he looks on the monitor and not in front of him as a 3d projection which in my opinion is the true definition of a hologram. Its cool technology just a little misleading in my opinion.
It is NOT an hologram but an INSERT. A hologram is a REAL image built up on a surface. Here, as explained by the journalist in Chicago, the NY journalist doen't see anything facing him. The image is made for diffusion ! Message from France. Hurrah for BO !! BO is beautiful !!!