Did Andy Lau come? Let's discuss the "cool" technology of the Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Ox

The annual Spring Festival Gala has come to an end. Have you spotted all the high-tech features? Cloud stage, quadruped robot, naked-eye 3D, 8K ultra-high definition... Let's review the "technological style" of the Spring Festival Gala.

Written by reporter Zhao Tianyu Edited by Liu Zhao

New Media Editor/Fang Yongzhen

Every year on New Year's Eve, in addition to the family reunion dinner, the annual Spring Festival Gala is an indispensable focus of discussion. In addition to the wonderful program content, CCTV Spring Festival Gala has also been constantly trying technological innovation in stage effects and visual presentation, making the Spring Festival Gala more "technological".

Stage special effects that transcend reality and virtuality, lifelike cloud stage technology, beautiful and creative performances, lively robot performances... The many "black technologies" of the 2021 Spring Festival Gala not only make the stage effects more cool and realistic, but also are a perfect fusion of art and technology.

Keywords: Cloud Stage

First of all, it should be stated that Andy Lau did not come to the Spring Festival Gala. He completed a "cloud performance" in Hong Kong.

Due to the epidemic this year, some celebrity actors were unable to perform in person at the Spring Festival Gala. However, the comprehensive use of interactive photography control systems and holographic projection technology, and the perfect "cloud performances" by actors such as Andy Lau and Jay Chou, gave the audience an unexpected experience, and even achieved a "fake but real" effect.

▲Andy Lau, Guan Xiaotong and Wang Yibo "sing on the same stage"

▲Jay Chou "personally" attended the Spring Festival Gala

How to achieve the cloud stage effect? ​​First, the interactive photography technology was used for the preliminary shooting. This photography technology can synchronously control the camera, the object being photographed, the lighting, etc., and can shoot according to the set motion trajectory. Actors who cannot be present at the Spring Festival Gala can use this technology to shoot them in a different location along the same trajectory without any error.

▲Schematic diagram of 3D holographic projection technology

After the pre-shooting, the actors need to be "projected" onto the stage using holographic imaging technology. Holographic imaging technology, also known as virtual imaging technology, uses the principles of interference and diffraction to record and reproduce the real three-dimensional image of an object. What is finally presented to the audience is an extremely real illusion generated in the air.

Keywords: AI+VR naked eye 3D

In addition to the cloud stage, many programs of this year's Spring Festival Gala have added creative elements - "cool" is the most intuitive feeling of many netizens about the visual presentation of this year's Spring Festival Gala stage.

Indeed, from Donnie Yen and Wu Jing's martial arts "Heroes of Heaven and Earth", to Chris Lee's "Shangri-La", to Jay Chou's "Mojito", singers and actors "shuttle" back and forth between ever-changing virtual scenes and real scenes, filling the screen with beauty and fantasy.

All of this is inseparable from the support of science and technology. In the past, if you wanted to realize a virtual scene on a TV screen, you had to use a blue-green screen cutout, which not only had a limited application range, but also had an unrealistic imaging effect. Now, with the "AI+VR naked-eye 3D" shooting technology, actors can interact immersively with the virtual elements around them.

We also saw the stage effects of mountains, flowing water and flying leaves in "Heroes of Heaven and Earth".

▲Naked eye 3D technology presents the effect of flying leaves all over the sky

▲Jay Chou sings "Mojito" and shuttles back and forth in the scene

▲The fashion show "Landscape Colorful Clothes" has a grand and beautiful stage effect

The so-called naked-eye 3D actually uses visual displacement to "cheat" the visual nerve. When a person's two eyes see an object forming an image on the retina, the images on the left and right sides are combined to obtain the final three-dimensional feeling, and this effect of obtaining a three-dimensional feeling is visual displacement.

During the shooting, three LED screens constructed a visual virtual three-dimensional space. The photographer used two cameras to simulate the visual displacement difference between the left and right eyes and shot two videos respectively. The camera tracking system on site provided the actors' position data in the virtual three-dimensional space. The dynamic virtual scene was presented in real time on the LED screen through the VR rendering engine. The two videos were then projected onto the screen. Finally, after the two images were superimposed in the brain, we could see a picture with a three-dimensional sense of depth.

▲Schematic diagram of naked-eye 3D imaging principle

▲ Diagram of naked eye 3D shooting

Keywords: 8K ultra high definition

With the popularity of 4K TVs and the advent of 8K TVs, 8K has become one of the brightest elements of this year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala, from stage screens to broadcast signals.

▲8K background large screen brings clear display effect

The main difference between 4K and 8K is the resolution. 4K resolution has a pixel size of 3840×2160, reaching 8.2 million pixels, while 8K resolution has a pixel size of 7680×4320, reaching 33.17 million pixels, which is four times the resolution of 4K.

Why is 8K clearer than 4K? Video is the effect of picture movement, so the number of pictures directly affects the visual effect. The refresh rate of 4K TV is 60 frames per second, but the 8K TV standard is forced to refresh at 120 frames per second, making the picture closer to the real picture that the human eye can recognize.

▲8k ultra-high-definition screen brings stunning visual effects

The biggest impression left on the audience during this year's Spring Festival Gala was the large screen behind the stage, which was actually an 8K ultra-high-definition screen. Thanks to the clear 8K display effect, it matched the changes in the stage programs and brought a different visual experience to the audience.

In terms of live TV broadcasts, if your family has already purchased an 8K TV, then this year you will be able to watch an 8K live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala on the 8K UHD test channel. In addition, more than 30 8K UHD large screens and 8K TVs in public places in 10 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou also simultaneously broadcast the Spring Festival Gala in 8K resolution.

▲ 8K resolution diagram

Keywords: quadruped robot

In recent years, robots participating in Spring Festival Gala performances have gradually become a "trend". This year, robots performed the creative program "Niu Qilai" with Andy Lau, Wang Yibo, and Guan Xiaotong. Whether it was the "Niu Jiongjiong" who was good at rotating and jumping or the "Trailblazer" who was full of joy, it was a series of hard-core technologies of the "quadruped robot" that were behind it.

▲Pioneer cattle participating in the performance

Quadruped robots are also called "robot dogs". Compared with traditional wheeled robots or tracked robots, they have high autonomy and strong adaptability. For example, the "pioneer cow" has a high-performance real-time main control system, force-controlled servo drive, full dynamics optimization algorithm, laser radar positioning and navigation algorithm and many other black technologies, involving more than 2,500 patent applications.

▲Pioneer cattle participating in the performance

▲Niu Benben "spins and jumps" on the stage

In terms of the development of robots, quadruped robots are an inevitable form of robots in the history of technological development. However, due to the constraints of technology itself and market demand, the era of large-scale application of quadruped robots has not yet arrived in China. Some analysis and research believe that in the future, quadruped robots will have great market potential in the fields of inspection, security, and logistics and transportation.

▲Schematic diagram of the disassembly of the quadruped robot

On the other hand, the collective appearance of quadruped robots on the Spring Festival Gala reflects the development path of domestic intelligent robots in terms of application. In order to build global competitiveness with technology as the core, China's smart manufacturing is running at the "Chinese bull speed" by pioneering and innovating.

Keywords: virtual singer Luo Tianyi

In the children's song and dance "Listen to Me", a virtual singer Luo Tianyi sang with Sister Moon and Wang Yuan. This was the first time a virtual singer appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage. Although she was a virtual singer, many viewers couldn't help but sigh that "her voice was so beautiful".

Luo Tianyi is the world's first VOCALOID Chinese voice library and virtual image created based on Yamaha's VOCALOID3 speech synthesis engine, that is, a virtual person synthesized by computer technology.

▲Virtual singer Luo Tianyi sang on the same stage with real actors

Although it was her first time to appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage, Luo Tianyi has actually become quite famous in the industry in recent years. In addition to her TV performances, Luo Tianyi's previous offline concerts also used holographic projection technology and real-time motion capture technology to present stunning stage effects, allowing virtual and reality to be seamlessly connected. Even in her collaboration with world-renowned piano master Lang Lang, Luo Tianyi not only sang but also played the piano, performing many famous piano pieces, giving classical music a new glow through technology.

Produced by: Science Central Kitchen

Produced by: Beijing Science and Technology News | Science Plus Client

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