ATG Danmon Completes Virtual TV Studio Set And Lighting System

ATG Danmon has announced the completion of a virtual TV studio set and lighting system for one of Britain's leading universities.

Located in London, the facility will form the video core of a Media and Journalism teaching suite.

"This new resource builds on ATG Danmon's three decades of system design and construction for clients in the broadcast mainstream as well as the higher-education, governmental and corporate sectors," said Paul Shonfeld, Head of Sales. "Created in partnership with the university’s media training team, it forms an addition to the television and radio training hub which we completed on the same campus in the first quarter of this year. Equipped to full modern broadcast standards, the virtual studio includes a control room with all the equipment needed to gain experience in green-screen-based programme production."

"The virtual studio has a dedicated control room including a UHD vision mixer capable of sourcing from up to 16 cameras," added ATG Danmon Managing Director Jonathan Hughes. "The cameras in this case are a combination of traditional-style manually operated models and compact remotely controlled pan/tilt/zoom units. Audio production centres on a digital mixer capable of sourcing from 64 MADI channels over fibre or 16 audio-over-IP Ethernet channels.

"The virtual studio set itself is 7 metres wide by 4 metres front-to-back with a 3 metre high green-screen cyclorama, green flooring and infinity coving. Electronically sourced images can be superimposed over the entire green-surfaced area or any operator-selected subsection. We designed and integrated the set to meet the university’s precise requirements and to fit in the available space.

"We have gained a great deal of experience in virtual set building over the years. Wall to floor transitions need especially careful configuration to ensure that the camera-sourced and electronically superimposed elements are visually seamless throughout a production. The solution chosen in this case included colour-matched PVC flooring tucked into the leading edge of the cover to form a smooth transition from screen to floor.

"Lighting was an important part of the project as it essential that students understand the various light sources they will be working with to ensure that presenters and studio furnishings are clearly separated from the virtual imagery. We recommended and installed a versatile lighting system comprising key and fill luminaires, back lights, a large soft light, pantographs and a supporting grid. We also provided and integrated an operator-friendly and cost-efficient console to control the dimmer lights and LED colour mixing fixtures. The console incorporates a large touchscreen control surface with a smartphone-style interface for setup, programming and playback."

www.atgdanmon.co.uk