Virtual Sets the Easy Way: Joe Herman Reviews Intensikey

nycpp by Joe Herman

Running your own virtual studio just got a lot cheaper, not to say easier.

Virtual studios aren’t new, of course. If you’re a network or large production company you can sink some cash into slick, real-time systems from Vizrt and Brainstorm, for example. Someone with a TriCaster rig, meanwhile, can get by for less via NewTek’s $1000 Virtual Set Editor.

But Intensikey will only set you back $299 for the HD version. Introduced at this year’s NAB, Intensikey certainly makes the whole process of setting up and creating virtual sets a lot easier.

What exactly is a virtual set? In simple terms, a virtual set is a 3D environment complete with lights, materials/textures, props and cameras created in a 3D modeling program. Your talent? Simply shoot them in front of a green screen. After keying out the green, you can place them inside the virtual set and create camera moves with insensitkey’s virtual camera while they speak.

To those who are familiar with what a virtual set is, you already know how cost effective and practical this solution is. True, you could create a virtual set from scratch in a 3D program, but if you do you’ll have to learn a complicated 3D program (no easy feat), design a cool-looking set, texture it, light it, set up a camera and composite it together with a compositing system. If you’ve mastered all of that, it will probably look pretty good. If you’re not quite on that level, it’s a different story. read more...

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