Targeting productions such as live sports, which feature a lot of graphics that change throughout the show, Broadcast Pix now offers a new option for its Granite and Slate integrated production systems that streamlines the creation of data-intensive CG graphics. The new Fluent Rapid CG automatically integrates databases, RSS feeds and custom actions such as scorekeeping into templates for customized graphics that require significantly less manual effort.
Users drag and drop a Microsoft Access or XML database into Rapid CG, link it to a template created in Inscriber GS CG (included with every Broadcast Pix system), and the information is automatically updated in specific fields within the template. There's no re-keying of data necessary. And because Rapid CG operates within specific fields, the operator can only change the data, not the templates. Data can include text and graphics, so photos can be changed automatically as well. RSS feeds can also be used to update weather and other information from the Web automatically.
This highly automated process can be applied to a number of templates simultaneously. For example, if a sporting event features the score on a full-screen image and a small scoreboard positioned in the corner of the screen during the game, the information can be changed once but applied to both graphics.
Users can also create custom action buttons easily to add incremental graphics if there is no automated database. For example, an action button can be designed to add six points to the score if a football team scores a touchdown, which makes data input easier and eliminates mathematical errors. Other information, such as clocks and dates, can be added as well.
The Fluent Rapid CG option is available now for both the Granite and Slate systems. Watch a short video demonstration of Fluent Rapid CG.
