Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Matrix Meets The NFL

Posted by michael on from the can-they-dub-in-Trinity? dept.

wirehead_rick writes "Imagine 'The Matrix' style special effects for the replay of sports action. Being able to see a 360-degree stop action view of that receiver's foot on the line in the end zone." USA Today covers some whiz-bang video technology being debuted in the Super Bowl.

6 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Silly Rabbits, they Don't Need This! by rlowe69 · · Score: 4

    They don't need Matrix technology! They just need some of that technology from Enemy of the State ....

    you know, where they take the single POV security camera from the lingerie shop and make a 3D model out of it ... now that was coo --

    oh wait, it was also impossible (did it irk anyone else when they saw it?) ... :)

    rLowe

    --
    ----- rL
  2. Soccer World Cup by mindriot · · Score: 4

    At the Soccer World Cup in 1998, here in Germany they used a virtual soccer field, freezing all players in their current position and then allowing rotation and zoom in the virtual model, making it possible to determine, for example, an off-side position and see the game situation from a player's point of view, for example before a free kick. The system was pretty accurate, and apparently working automatically plus maybe some manual corrections of the players' postures. OK, that Matrix style thingy may look cooler, but I think this virtual field was much more flexible and practical... it should have used real textures only...

  3. Cool, but... by Eg0r · · Score: 4
    Just wondering,

    Okay, so for a smooth rotation, the object is at the center of the cameras, all having the same lense settings.

    If not at the center, then you have to compensate for the error with matched zooms so that you don't have, as the viewer, the weird impression of a comet like elliptical motion (not even as they only cover 270 degrees).

    Even if you compensate for the distance with a zoom, what about the fields of view? how do you morph your different frozen camera views into one smooth video sequence, when all your field of views are different?

    My (wild) guess is that you'll see quite a lot of these instant replays at the center of the field...

    Ubercool nontheless... I wonder how much processing power you need to render your animation... and how automated the whole thing really is. 33 cameras, say 3 second animation @ 60 frames/s, 800x600 that's 247Mb uncompressed @ 24bit/pixel and 32 different morphs to compute with say 5 images each... I wonder how many anchor points you use in such a morph. Anyway, sounds highly //isable to me, so 32 processors on a nifty board or a beowulf?

    ---

    --
    "Hasta la victoria siempre!" El Comandante
  4. one word... by coreman · · Score: 4

    Cheerleaders!

  5. What else can they borrow from The Matrix? by Elkman · · Score: 4
    This new camera thing sounds pretty cool, even though every single car company has been using this technique in their commercials for the past two years. But I think they should borrow a few other things from The Matrix:
    • Whenever a player wants to go to the sidelines, he has to get on a Nokia cell phone (product placement!) and call for an exit.
    • All of the players are wearing black leather trenchcoats and carrying lots of weapons.
    • Skylons appear above the stadium and move around whenever the players touch brightly colored stones. (Oh, wait. I'm thinking of the matrix table from "Land of the Lost".)
    • Instead of coaches, players consult The Oracle for advice during the game, and inadvertently knock over a vase during the process.
    • A running back about to be tackled can jump up high in the air, spin around, and roundhouse-kick his opponent and it all looks real.
    • There is no spoon.
  6. What really sucks... by Mignon · · Score: 5
    "What do you need, Coach?"
    "Touchdowns. Lots of touchdowns."

    What really sucks about this is that now I'm tempted to actually watch the game. And it's not like it's some cool half-time stunt - this could happen at any time during the game. There goes my afternoon.