Rugby World Cup: Canon to capture Free Viewpoint 3D video for host highlights

For seven matches of Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, Canon will provide highlight footage created by the Free Viewpoint Video System to host broadcaster International Games Broadcast Services (IGBS). These video highlights feature viewpoints and angles not possible with conventional cameras, delivering an experience that is said to “feel like being right on the field.”

Canon will create Free Viewpoint Video content during each of the matches to be held at the International Stadium Yokohama. Captured video footage will be curated into highlight reels. Generated video will be provided to IGBS, who will then distribute the content to rights holders for broadcast, streaming, news, sports commentary programmes and other forms of content viewing. In addition, the content will be made available on the Canon homepage approximately 24 hours after the conclusion of each match.

Canon has continued to refine such aspects of the Free Viewpoint Video System as camera positioning, method of image capture, image-processing algorithms and hardware to achieve higher image quality and faster content generation workflows.

The system comprises multiple high-resolution cameras set up around a stadium, which are connected to a network and controlled via software to simultaneously capture the game from multiple viewpoints. Afterward, image processing technology renders the videos as high-resolution 3D spatial data within which users can freely move a virtual camera around the 3D space, resulting in video that can be viewed from various different angles and viewpoints.

Rugby World Cup 2019 matches to feature Free Viewpoint Video content