Mike Afford Media BLOG

Latest news, observations, and the occasional comment

HD Weather Animations

thunderstorms weather image from HD Weather Animations pack

It’s taken a few years (!), but I finally got around to packaging up the original HD (1920×1080) weather animations that I used to create my smaller animated GIF weather icon sets.

You can buy them from my store here.

They are supplied as image sequences, at full HD resolution, in lossless PNG format. It is a BIG download (over 6GB in all, split into 8 separate zipped folders). The set includes 92 different weather conditions – and you can download look-up tables to map them to loads of different weather data providers. read more »

TriCaster Virtual Set for ESPN

Virtual Sports Set for ESPN UK

I’m pleased to see one of my recent virtual studio sets is starting to make an appearance over at ESPN UK.

It’s a multi-angle virtual set designed for their TriCaster with a wide angle, close-ups for presenter and guests, plus a standing position with big screen.

The studio is completely customisable. The monitor at the front of the desk can be fed with any image (for example a logo, as shown in the larger image above). The desk can be removed completely to allow the set to be used with real furniture (that’s how they’ve been using the set for their F1 discussion videos – see the two smaller images above). read more »

Virtual Set for Champions League 2015

Here’s a quick look at my latest virtual studio set for the new Champions League programmes from Setanta Sports. As usual it’s rendered in real-time with full camera tracking thanks to the awesome power of RT Software’s tOG 3D system. read more »

TriCaster Virtual Weather Set for The Weather Network

Virtual Weather Set for The Weather Network UK

I’m delighted to see that my latest virtual studio sets have now gone live over at The Weather Network UK.

Earlier in the year I embarked on a great project which involved two of my special interests – weather graphics and virtual studio sets. The brief was to design a brand new virtual environment that the Weather Network team could use for their video content. As well as a vritual set for the main weather forecasts, they also needed a ‘news’ position, and a special ‘science corner’. read more »

TriCaster studio set for Microsoft

TriCaster Studio Set for Microsoft

Here’s a few images of the custom TriCaster virtual sets I designed for Microsoft Technology Centres (MTC).

The work was project managed by NewTek in the States and I’m very grateful for their support throughout the process.

There are two separate studio environments. One is the ‘primary’ set – designed to look more like a multi-camera television studio. The other TriCaster set gives the impression of a ‘remote’ location – designed to look more like a studio built within a working office space. Both of the designs try to tie in with the existing look and feel of the real presentation areas and working spaces within MTC’s worldwide. read more »

TriCaster studio set for sportdigital

I have recently been working for the German sports channel sportdigital designing a brand new multi-angle virtual studio set for their NewTek Tricaster. I was sent some footage yesterday showing two of the camera angles (more angles to follow when the new cameras arrive..!) and I’m really pleased to see that everything is working so nicely.

The design of the set was inspired by the sportdigital logo, with a lit section running through the middle of the studio, the outer step of the riser as the circle element, and the centre spot appearing as a lit section in the middle of the desk.

Virtual Studio Set for sport digital

sportdigital Virtual Set

If you’re familiar at all with the quirks of virtual studios, and in particular NewTek’s TriCaster, you should be pleasantly surprised to see the talent resting his hands and paperwork on top of the desk. No mean feat as it turns out, since the entire desk is virtual in this case. Also, the talent is reflected in the virtual desk. read more »

Tricaster custom studio set for Intel

I was very pleased to be sent a few grabs earlier this week from INTEL showing a new virtual studio set I designed for them a little while back. Great to see it in action and working so nicely.

The studio set runs on a TriCaster, and has a large ‘virtual’ studio space with a number of monitors that are set up to take either a live input, or a static source. I made a load of different camera angles for them including seated positions for discussions like those shown here, and also a number of standing positions with a desk for demo-ing products.

Virtual Studio Set for Intel UK

image © Intel Corporation (UK) Ltd

Apart from adding some depth of field on the close-ups, there’s a couple of other interesting little touches I’ve incorporated into this set.

read more »