Fox computer graphics during NASCAR races

[MrFloppy]

I’m currently kicking back with a cold Boddingtons watching NASCAR. My neighbour tells me I should be drinking Budweiser but that would break one of my ‘life rules’.

Anyway, the Fox coverage has a rather nifty feature and I’m wondering how it is done.

Let’s say there is a wide angle shot with several cars in the FOV, Fox displays a graphic in a small box with a particular car number, speed and RPMs, driver’s name etc. That isn’t hard to do with telemetry but then the box has an arrow that points to the car in question and moves with the car as it shuffles back and forth in the field.

How the heck is that done? My Google Fu is lacking.

I will now return to my pint of Budw…err…Boddingtons and my wad of chew baccy, yup!

[Garfield226]

Sportvision also creates the K-Zone for ESPN baseball coverage and the yellow first-down line used in football broadcasts. Those are a bit easier, given a baseball diamond and football field are relatively uniform in dimension from park to park. For racing, where all the tracks are different, three-dimensional topographical maps of all 23 tracks in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series have been created from aerial surveys of the properties, and each camera has a GPS unit that tells the truck exactly where it’s located. This lets Sportvision’s computers know where the car is within 10 centimeters. It also lets TV viewers see cartoon-like thought bubbles follow cars around the track that show real-time speed and the “dot racing” graphic that shows how far a car is behind the leader on a graphical representation of the track.

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[Musicat]

Sportvision also pushes the data out in a compact data format over a T-1 (with a back-up dial-up connection) to Turner Sports in New York…

I sure hope they don’t have to use that backup connection in a real race.