Using Metahumans in Large-Scale Sports Production

What if you could accurately simulate a major football match in a virtual environment and view your favourite moments of the game at a level of detail that would have been impossible through a traditional broadcast? With today’s advances in game engine graphics, with realistic 3D humans, or MetaHumans, that future is closer than you’d think. In this technical paper, we will investigate how MetaHumans and digital doubles are changing sports broadcasts today, and explore the possibilities that they’ll bring to future match day coverage. First, the paper will give an overview of broadcasters who are already using real-time virtual production for everything from match commentary to remote interviews in sports productions all around the world. As a case study, we’ll then describe how MetaHumans were implemented during the Qatar World Cup coverage by TelevisaUnivision — the world’s leading Spanish-language media and content company. Together, the Televisa team worked with disguise Creative Services to use MetaHumans as part of their analysis show, TUDN. That meant journalists and former footballers could more accurately analyse gameplay, thanks to real-time data that was fed into 3D digital doubles of the players. This presents interesting possibilities for the future, including the potential to scan players into 3D digital replicas, then mirror their movements using markerless camera tracking technology enhanced by artificial intelligence.