Category: The Weather Channel

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The Weather Channel Uses MR To Showcase The Dangers Of Rising Floodwaters

The Weather Channel has done it once again and used technology to present their viewers with an immersive experience that is both scary as it is interesting. The latest use of mixed reality (MR) technology comes in the form of a presentation from The Weather Channel showcasing the dangers of rising floodwaters earlier this week.

The Weather Channel Floodwater

The short video, which you can see below, was uploaded to The Weather Channel’s YouTube channel and provides viewers with a brief explanation and demonstration of what could happen as hurricane Florence hits the Carolina coast. Though only just over two minutes in length, the video is an eye opening show of what can happen when raising floodwaters hit the main land and the use of high-quality 3D content really brings the story to life.

As reported by Inquirer, it can be very hard to imagine how your local neighborhood could look when under nine feet of water. This is why the MR experience was created to give viewers a look at the impact of a storm that they otherwise would not be able to. All of this was powered by the Unreal Engine, which is capable of delivering high quality scenes with little impact on resources making it the ideal development platform for The Weather Channel to use.

The Weather Channel Floodwater

The video features Meteorologist Greg Postel who is standing in the middle of the floodwaters and as the explanation continues and the storm rages on, the danger becomes shockingly clear. With water up to 13 feet, Postel is under the water, which is full of it’s own dangers, with it nearly double his height. As cars and houses soon become submerged in the waters and are pushed around, everything becomes a danger in a matter of seconds.

Of course, this is not the first time The Weather Channel have used this technology to build an immersive presentation experience. They used MR technology back in June to show viewers the power of tornadoes following a bigger embrace of the technology back in April of this year.

You can see the video for yourself below and all more on The Weather Channel’s MR venture in the future, keep reading VRFocus.

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The Weather Channel To Use MR To Showcase The Power Of Tornadoes

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.

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The Weather Channel Will Be Making Weather More Immersive

In an attempt to really show the impact of various weather conditions, particularly those at the extreme ends, The Weather Channel’s parent company are teaming with The Future Group to present broadcasts in mixed reality (MR).

The technology being used in the broadcasts is using Unreal Engine, one of the most popular engines for videogame VR and MR experiences, and an engine which has begin to see use outside of videogames in industry.

The aim of the use of MR is to improve public understanding of the effects of extreme weather conditions and how it can impact people’s daily lives. The Future Group have worked extensively on immersive and interactive projects, including big-name brands such as Star Wars.

The Weather Channel has previously experimented with augmented reality (AR) in its broadcasts, particularly for sports coverage, using a 3D model of a sports field and explaining how weather can affect the event.

“Our immersive mixed reality (IMR) presentations will combine 360 HD video and augmented and virtual reality elements that are driven by real-time data and our expert on-air talent to transport our audience into the heart of the weather,” said the Vice President of Design for The Weather Group, Michael Potts. “Using The Future Group’s Frontier powered by Unreal Engine for weather broadcasting has never been done before. We are excited to continue our investment in the latest technologies that are not just cutting-edge, but on the bleeding edge of design and science.”

The Weather Channel has said that it is always looking for new ways to convey important safety and warning messages to viewers. By using Unreal engine and MR technology, the Weather Channel hopes it can continue to push the boundaries for immersive presentation by showing things like tornadoes or storm surges in detail.

For further news on new and innovative uses of mixed reality technology, keep checking back with VRFocus.

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The Weather Channel Enhances Sports Coverage with AR

The Weather Channel has been using augmented reality (AR) graphics to support coverage of weather such as tornados for some time, and now has expanded into using the technology during sports coverage.

Sports reporting has long been one of the places where technology is embraced, from the introduction of slow motion and instant replay to more modern score and statistical overlays, the Weather Channel is taking it one step further with the introduction of AR graphics. This began in 2015 when the Weather Channel explained the science behind tornadoes, with Vice President of Design Michael Potts explaining: “We were looking for new and interesting ways to engage the viewers beyond having a great presenter at a map telling the forecasts. How do we dive deeper into the stories of the weather?”

Potts had previously worked for Turner Sports and saw applying the technology to sports reporting as a natural fit: “Our audience is equally receptive. They’re sports fans,” he said. “We’ve always done forecasts for events and major events, but now we’re able to dive deeper into the meanings and the reasons and attach the science behind it.”

A typical example of a segment involving the AR technology involves a reporter walking around a live 3D model of a sporting field and explaining how weather might affect the event. The AR is all applied live, using Ncam optical tracking alongside the on-screen graphics system to create realistic objects.

Presenters have, for the most part, got to grips with the technology fairly quickly. Potts says: “Most of our talent is just so excited…They get involved, there’s storytelling here that’s immersive for them.”

Audience reaction has been equally enthusiastic, with polls conducted by The Weather Channel showing that audience engagement and length of time spent watching increases for segments involving the AR technology. A video showing some of the technology in action is available to view below.

VRFocus will continue to bring you news of innovative uses of AR technology.

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Life In 360°: The Winds Of Change

Welcome to another Friday edition of Life In 360° where today we’re getting all meteorolgical thanks to The Weather Channel.

We’re now well into April, astonishing how fast the time is passing, and as we move further into spring and closer to summer the possibilities of the right whether conditions to generate tornadoes begins to climb. But have you ever considered what actually goes into a tornado forming – and no, not in a ‘well I saw Twister one time’ sense.

In order to help people udnerstand the science of a tornado The Weather Channel website weather.com has created an interactive 360 degree experience to show just how and why the four ingredients that combine to make a tornado mix: Shear, Lift, Instability and Moisture – also known as “SLIM”.

“When vertical wind shear is intense near the surface.” Explains The Weather Company’s Jonathan Belles. “It creates a rolling tube of air that is parallel to the ground. When lifted vertically, the rotating tube acts as a suction vacuum bringing up air, and that air falls as rain in areas surrounding and ahead of the strongest part of the storm. This is like the lungs of a thunderstorm that will keep breathing until the storm cannot breathe any longer. This is what makes a cell a supercell.”

You can find the experience here on weather.com, along with an in-depth explanation into the science behind extreme weather.

VRFocus will be back next week with three more visits to Life In 360°, but that doesn’t mean an end to the flow of news, so be sure to check back throughout today and the weekend for the latest.