As visual and interactive expectations of audiences grow, studios are faced with the challenge of creating and delivering news productions that adapt to and incorporate forward-thinking innovations. These may include such things as 3-D graphics and streams embedded with live video content, as well as interactive, in-studio video walls. The challenge is to produce real-time motion graphics and incorporate 2D/3-D graphics with live or archived video content, Web content or various other real-time streams — all while providing the talent with easy-to-use, multi-touch functionality to deliver compelling content.

This complex broadcast environment requires a tool that offers an open framework to seamlessly integrate with a newsroom graphics production infrastructure. This challenge also requires a graphics engine that delivers a nonlinear and high-end authoring environment paired with control functionality for a wide range of external components.

Interactive design

One such tool is Ventuz Broadcast, an on-air graphics and virtual design tool from Ventuz Technology. This open and flexible authoring environment provides the building blocks for the integration of 2D/3-D content (graphics, video, objects and text) and animation. Its nonlinear nature allows news production teams to make changes during any point of the news production cycle, in real time. This software is built around a concept that allows it to interact with any interface — whether it be touch screens, interactive video walls, USB devices or different control devices.

The software runs on standard Windows hardware and integrates seamlessly with other software. Therefore, creative boundaries and complex newsroom presentations are limited only by hardware power.

Ventuz Broadcast graphics creation software is designed around Microsoft DirectX, a collection of APIs for handling a variety of multimedia tasks. The software development team chose this platform due to its ability to provide facilities with the freedom of individual hardware choice, thus removing technology barriers.

Each broadcast facility is able to take full advantage of the functionality of its existing professional equipment, while incorporating an updated broadcast graphics pipeline. Custom hardware options, bundled as a turnkey solution, are also available, depending on the size, desired capacity of power and scalability of the newsroom presentation. This type of software offers a wide range of possibilities to further modernize the way newscasters interact with each other, with their content and ultimately, their audience.