Ball State University in Indiana outfitted its University Teleplex virtual reality studio with three Vinten Radamec Quattro SE manual encoded pedestals topped by Vinten Vector 950E manual encoded pan and tilt heads, as well as Orad's HDVG rendering platform and Maestro controller software, and Ultimatte 11 blue/greenscreen compositing hardware.

Bill Cahoe, director of the University Teleplex, describes this project as one of the most sophisticated virtual reality systems in the world, noting that Ball State is providing "yet another world-class media facility to students." Students will produce newscasts in virtual reality and learn virtual reality techniques with access to the studio. Additionally, the facility will be made available to commercial and public organizations.

	University Teleplex Studio

"This is a facility like no other in the Midwest," says Cahoe. "We really hope to see not only students but business, government and non-profit organizations using this space. It's an asset not just for the university and our students but for the region. We are open for business and eager to see the studio become a beehive of commercial and pedagogical activity and collaboration."

Vinten Radamec, Orad and Ultimatte brought a wealth of experience from their prior collaborative projects to the Ball State facility. "We have such a long-standing and deep relationship with Vinten Radamec that we actually incorporate their tracking data into our own tracking set software," says Shaun Dail, vice president of sales and marketing, Orad North America. Dail also points to a special development Orad and Ultimatte did "to give customers the ability to have the talent move in between virtual objects."

The Teleplex houses a pair of studios: a smaller 30'x40' studio that will serve the news program and smaller projects, and the main 40'x60' space with a coved cyclorama backdrop painted entirely in chromakey green. The ability to move from one production to the next between the two studios was a major selling point to Cahoe. "We can go from one studio to the other with the three cameras, and everything remains the same; you just re-center the cameras and pedestals, and everything remains in lock." The Teleplex technical crew estimates such a move and recalibration could be done in five minutes.

The Vinten Radamec pedestals and heads provide up to one million positional data points through 360 degrees, which allows the Orad rendering engine to precisely generate backgrounds and foreground objects that move as the cameras move. "We want to look as realistic as possible," says Teleplex 3D creative director Jason Higgs. They gave high marks to Orad and Vinten Radamec for the smoothness of the background tracking, and the shadow detail the Ultimatte 11 system provides.

Cahoe is pleased with the performance of the virtual studio system. "Honestly, I really wanted a top-notch system, but in the dreaming of this I did not foresee the system as we actually have it, and I think it's going to be a great return on our investment for the university."