UFC to make its 360° debut with an assist from RCS hardware

 

The UFC 212 main fight card gets underway this weekend in Rio, but this time around, the action extends beyond Pay-Per-View. Fans will be able to immerse themselves in the blood, sweat and tears of each match as UFC streams its first-ever 360° live production, accessible to Samsung Gear VR owners via VR Live Pass on Gear VR.

VFX and immersive media powerhouse Digital Domain is the mastermind behind the 360° stream, which will include all of the standard UFC graphics created by RCS last year for its Pay-Per-View broadcasts. Six 360° camera feeds, Digital Domain’s proprietary tracking and calibrating software, and a custom RCS solution will power the stream.

For the graphics to work in 360°, Digital Domain needed a system that could output key and fill 1080i SDI graphics and move them around the virtual space. Our team built a new, portable mini-remote Vizrt system, perfect for this sort of production environment. As live immersive content continues to catch on, we expect to see more of these systems in the field.

The event will also be broadcast in HD on Pay-Per-View, for which we’re providing six of our dual-channel Bullet mobile graphics workstations to power real-time graphics. Tune in this weekend on Pay-Per-View or on your Samsung Gear VR to check it out.