The Weather Channel have revealed plans to showcase the lasted in mixed reality (MR) technology but creating their own tornado. Broadcasters have been taking advantage of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology for sometime now. The Weather Channel is hoping to use this technology to deliver viewers an immersive and realistic experience that will demonstrate the power of a tornado.
This demonstration of technology will take place on 20th June, 2018 where The Weather Channel will create a hyper-realistic tornado and show it heading directly for The Weather Channel HQ building in Atlanta, showing the full devastation it causes to everything in its path.
During the early morning hours of 6am, 7am and 8am, on-camera meteorologist Jim Cantore will walk viewers through the genesis of the storm and explain how to keep them and their families safe during the severe events. The immersive MR experience is being used to allow The Weather Channel experts to take views inside the storm like never before to educate and inform – which is particularly important as the hurricane season approaches.
To create this truly spectacular experience The Weather Channel has partnered with The Future Group to help ignite a revolution of weather presentation. The strategy employ the power of advanced, real-time graphic rendering and visual effects with Frontier powered by Unreal Engine to build a end result. Thanks to the capabilities of the technology and the Unreal Engine, viewers will be treated to the most realistic digital recreation of a tornado that will rival the real thing.
Alongside being a means to educate and inform viewers of the dangerous nature force, and how to best prepare and react to one, it will also demonstrate how The Weather Channel are working to pioneer new methods of broadcast presentation, featuring real-time immersive storytelling. The Weather Channel plans to use immersive MR technology in 70% of their programming by the year 2020.
As immersive media is used more and more within broadcasting to help bring storytelling to new levels for viewers around the world. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest so you can keep up to date with the immersive industry.