Virtual Reality

Videogame technology enables real-time 2D to 3D conversion of soccer matches

A new system is able to convert soccer broadcasts from 2D to 3D in realtime
A new system is able to convert soccer broadcasts from 2D to 3D in realtime

Scientists at MIT and the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) have leveraged videogame technology to generate broadcast quality 3D video of soccer (aka football in much of the world) matches from a 2D source in real time. The resulting video can reportedly be enjoyed with any 3D TV or virtual reality headset, and could lead to much more 3D content becoming available in the near future.

When working to full effect, 3D technology can deliver highly immersive user experiences, but the content on these platforms is limited by the large amount of work needed to produce it. Whether in videogames or in movies, content producers must take specific measures ranging from extra programming time to specialized equipment to create content suitable for VR headsets or 3D TVs.

Past attempts at developing general-purpose systems for making the conversion from 2D to 3D automatic don't always perform as hoped, often producing odd visual artifacts that harm visual quality and break the sense of immersion.

The avenue now being explored by MIT and QCRI researchers is to focus on a relatively narrow domain (soccer games) and leverage data from videogames to help produce 3D content on the fly.

Today's sports videogames keep a detailed three-dimensional map of the pitch and players throughout the match, taking tens of 2D snapshots every second in order to display the data on the player's screen. Reverse-engineering this process, the scientists reasoned, would be a good way to build a 3D map from a flat image.

Using content from EA Sport's popular FIFA 13 videogame, researchers Kiana Calagari and colleagues built a comprehensive database of tens of thousands of videogame screenshots along with their corresponding 3D maps, reflecting the most common camera angles and game situations seen in a TV broadcast of a soccer match.

The researchers then created a system then takes a screenshot from a television broadcast, subdivides it into smaller sections, matches each section with the database, and finally stitches all the pieces back together to produce a broadcast quality 3D picture.

According to the researchers, the converted video can be played on any 3D-enabled device and features none of the artifacts from less optimized techniques: in a user study, the majority of subjects reportedly rated the quality of the resulting image at five out of five.

The system currently produces 3D video with a delay of approximately three tenths of a second from the original broadcast, but the researchers are currently working on reducing the lag time even further.

Though no such plans have been announced, it seems plausible that such a technique could be adapted to other sports. If the technology is commercially successful, the amount of 3D content that would suddenly become available for public consumption could be a driving factor in making 3D TV and VR technology more mainstream.

The researchers presented their new system at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Multimedia conference in Australia last week.

A brief example of the 3D video created by the system can be viewed below.

Source: MIT

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