In addition to red envelopes, the Spring Festival Gala also has black technology

What? You’ve finished watching the Spring Festival Gala ads and grabbing all the red envelopes. Let’s talk about something high-end.

Hey, is there anything high-end in the Spring Festival Gala? Who says there isn't?

Although it is criticized every year, there is still "black magic" besides magic.

1. Yangyang and Motion Capture

Although it looks like a cartoon character, the Spring Festival Gala mascot Yang Yang has a serious job, which is called "virtual host". A more fashionable explanation is: based on the virtual studio, the host in the program is replaced by a virtual character, forming a new form of program performance. It can place the virtual host in a virtual scene, forming a "virtual scene + virtual person" model, or it can place the virtual host in a real life scene, forming a "real scene + virtual person" model.

In fact, Yangyang is not the first virtual host. The world's first virtual host was Annanova, produced by the British PA New Media Company. She attracted the attention of the world as soon as she appeared. Soon after her, a series of virtual hosts appeared, such as Yuki in Japan, Vivian in the United States, and Lusia in South Korea.

China has launched singer virtual host Alana, but the first virtual host on television was "Xiaolong" launched by CCTV in "Light and Shadow Weekly" in 2004.

However, the technology at that time was not yet developed enough to capture people's movements and expressions in real time. They used some pre-set movements on computers, so their movements were not natural and coherent enough. They only had a stereotyped hosting style and their eyes never moved, so they were quickly ignored by the audience. This was still a gap from Yang Yang.

The technical support for Yang Yang this time was provided by Noitom and the "PERCEPTION" inertial motion capture system that we reported earlier. By capturing the performer's movements in real time, the virtual Yang Yang was driven, and then combined with the actual studio and the real host, a virtual and real TV screen was finally obtained, thus realizing the interaction between the virtual character and the real host. During the 2014 World Cup, CCTV5's "I Love the World Cup" and CNTV's "Super World Cup" programs used this technology.

Although Yangyang looks ordinary, he also has high technology. Yangyang has many key technologies:

• 1. High-performance computers: mainly used for graphics rendering and big data calculations to ensure that character movements are realistic, smooth and coherent.

• 2. 3D virtual engine: The quality of the three-dimensional scene largely determines the quality of the final program. The mainstream 3D virtual engines on the market include Unity 3D, Unigine, CryENGINE, UDK, and Vizrt, which is widely used in broadcasting and television. Each engine has its own advantages in different fields. Choosing a suitable engine can make the scene construction business more efficient.

• 3. Camera position tracking: In the program formats of "virtual scene + real person" and "real scene + virtual person", the images shot by real and fake cameras will be overlapped and processed in the end, which involves the synchronization problem of the camera in the real scene and the camera in the virtual scene. The current mainstream camera tracking technologies include pattern recognition technology, mechanical tracking technology, marker tracking technology, and trackless positioning tracking technology.

• 4. Motion capture system: If this whole system wants to run perfectly, real-time collection equipment of character movements is essential. The mainstream motion capture technologies on the market are optical motion capture technology and inertial capture technology. The former has strict requirements on the lighting of the venue and complex operation experience. At present, there is no good real-time motion capture solution, so it is difficult to implement on large stages and studios. The latter is based on the principle of sensors and adopts wireless data transmission. It is not afraid of occlusion and distance restrictions. It is a better real-time motion capture solution for stage and studio.

Actually, I want to tell @春晚 and @CCAV that the author, who has collected five "Li Yang" and is preparing to put seven "Li Yang" on the market, would like to say: We are very unhappy that this sheep is not called "Li Yang".

2. Li Yuchun and Li Yuxia, Li Yuqiu and Li Yudong

My idol finally came out to sing, and he was so polite that he brought his three younger brothers as gifts: Li Yuxia, Li Yuqiu, and Li Yudong. It is said that this is the most fashionable and creative program of this Spring Festival Gala. The Spring Festival Gala crew used "holographic projection technology" to create a three-dimensional stage simulation. The workload of stage design is huge, and it is the most expensive program of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Goat.

The host of the "Asia's No. 1 Men's Band" has partially revealed the secret of the host, so I will briefly explain it here. In fact, it is not accurate for the host to call it holographic technology, and it is more appropriate to call it 3D projection technology. 3D projection technology is projected onto irregular objects. The reason why it is not holographic is that this program can only be seen in full at a special angle, and it cannot be seen completely if you turn the angle. A true hologram requires a 360-degree viewing angle. Some time ago, Jay Chou and "Teresa Teng" sang "Red Dust Inn" using this technology.

Previously, Wang Zhigang EGO introduced relevant knowledge on Zhihu, you can refer to it:

Holographic technology is actually the recording and reproduction of three-dimensional images. The first step is to use the principle of interference to record the light wave information of the object. The recording problem was solved as early as 1947. The general three-dimensional image only realizes the three-dimensional illusion of the human eye through composition and color changes on a two-dimensional plane, while the holographic image contains information such as the size, shape, brightness and contrast of the recorded object. The observer can observe the changes in the image at different angles from multiple angles, just like there is a real object there. Of course, the current technology is no longer limited to recording real images, but can also produce completely virtual three-dimensional digital images.

The second step of holographic technology: reproduction, that is, using the principle of diffraction to reproduce the light wave information of the object. This breakthrough was not made until 2001. It is mainly due to the birth of holographic film technology that makes the reproduction of three-dimensional images possible. Relying on this thin transparent film, both the colorful lights on the T-shaped stage and the illusory images on the stage can be realized. With the technological advancement of holographic films, some holographic films now have many fine wires inside. With the help of these wires, people can interact with holographic images by touching them with their fingers.

Now let's look at the outline of holographic technology. In layman's terms, it is "phantom imaging", similar to the mirage in nature. It is a naked-eye 3D technology that does not require wearing 3D glasses. The principle is to use different numbers of projectors to evenly and symmetrically project real images or digital images that have been carefully produced in advance and have a three-dimensional effect onto an imaging film. After the diffraction and refraction of light, the three-dimensional image is reproduced, and the three-dimensional picture is suspended in the air of the real scene.

In terms of subdivision, 3D holographic projection can be divided into several categories: 360-degree holographic projection, 270-degree holographic projection, and 180-degree holographic projection. The implementation methods and application fields are slightly different, so I will not go into details here.

These technologies have broad application prospects in exhibition halls, museums, science and technology museums, archives, entertainment halls, exhibitions, expositions, libraries and other venues. 3D animation is also changing people's aesthetic attitude towards traditional stage sound, light and electricity technology with this new technological innovation. The most representative one is the Hatsune Miku series of VOCALOID. Hatsune Miku is also the world's first virtual idol to hold a concert using holographic projection technology. After some preliminary exploration and attempts, the Hatsune Miku Grand Thanksgiving in 2010 achieved great success, and the production level was also better than before. The Thanksgiving Festival used the 3D holographic transparent screen of Sax 3D Company in Germany to play 3D images. In fact, this concert was actually 2.5D to be precise. The simple explanation is that 3D images are played on the screen, just like watching a movie, but this screen can adjust the transparency. For example, if it is adjusted to a fully transparent stage, only MIKU will be left for imaging. It turns out that the local particle concentration in the screen is adjusted to show an opaque effect and imaging.

The holographic technologies commonly used in business can be roughly divided into two categories: one is the rear projection method, where the projector directly projects the image onto the holographic film. The other is to use reflection to reflect the projected or LED image onto the holographic film placed at a 45-degree angle. When choosing a projection method, the most important thing to consider is the on-site environment. If we want the object to look real, factors such as the surrounding lighting, the distance between the stage and the audience, and the scale of the object all need to be taken into consideration.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.