Realtime Video Underlay for Accessible Television Graphics

Realtime graphics in televised sports have become a staple of the genre. While impressive and effective, existing tools for integrating 3D graphics into televised playing areas are complicated and expensive, limiting their use to only a handful of large-scale television productions. Existing hardware-based solutions are costly and offer limited flexibility. This paper presents a software-based approach for implementing realtime sports graphics on consumer-grade equipment, potentially serving a range of stakeholders who would benefit from the technology but do not have the requisite infrastructure or financial means. Using a combination of open source and widely supported commercial tools, Realtime Video Underlay instead leverages a new approach to tracking physical objects in space and controlling realtime graphics by adapting concepts from augmented reality software and integrating with existing television production and streaming platforms. The results of this research show the potential of software-based methods as a key contender for accessible sports broadcasting for groups with limited resources or technical knowledge. The paper outlines the key components and design of the tool with a specific case study, identifies strengths and weaknesses, and provides an overview of the next version of the tool currently under development. By demonstrating that an inexpensive software-based approach to traditional hardware-based methods is feasible and effective, while offering countless opportunities for further development and expansion, Realtime Video Underlay paves the way for accessible, flexible, and impactful visualizations.