◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Zhang Galen
Before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics to amaze the world, it had been rehearsed countless times on the platform developed by the Beijing Key Laboratory of Digital Performance and Simulation Technology at Beijing Institute of Technology.
Screenshot of CCTV live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games
Ding Gangyi, director of the laboratory and professor at the School of Computer Science at Beijing Institute of Technology, is already familiar with the process of the opening ceremony. After all, the team of more than 40 people has been busy for a year and a half for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.
What would happen every minute, he knew. Previously, after every rehearsal, his team would immediately make corresponding changes on the platform.
On this magical platform, you can get the best full view of the opening ceremony.
You'll enter a virtual world of replicas of the National Stadium, which has all the elements associated with the opening ceremony. You'll see the auditorium, light strips, the main stage and the stunning super-large LED screen; you'll also see the wonderful pictures flowing on the ground and vertical screens; you'll see fireworks rising and the five rings rising; and even how the actors of different shows in the opening ceremony will come on, perform and exit, and see the exquisite and complex scheduling of the whole performance. The shots that don't appear on TV or aren't highlighted are here.
Bird's nest simulation
It can be said that it is a projection about the opening of the Winter Olympic Games, which can realize the integration and integration of all elements, whole processes and all businesses of performance.
The key technology of the integrated service platform for large-scale performances of large-scale performances at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics is one of the projects of the Winter Olympics of Science and Technology, led by the team led by Ding Gangyi.
It integrates the key technologies of event planning and intelligent creative system, training rehearsal program generation system, performance rehearsal system, equipment collaborative control system and simulation broadcasting, forming a new representative performance whole process technology solution. In fact, advanced simulation technology is also the key technology in the concept of the "metacosm" that is now hot.
The platform is the brain of the performance, which can disassemble and refine the creativity of the director's creative team, and refine it into a training manual through simulation data to guide training. It can guide the rehearsal of performance elements such as actors, robots, and video projections to ensure the consistency and accuracy of performance in time and space, help the director observe the posture and formation of actors and props in real time, and actors can quickly adjust their own actions and quickly familiarize themselves with the performance plan in real time.
System interface
The rehearsal system uses visual interfaces and drawings, videos and other data output carriers to present the real effects of various performance schemes in three dimensions, assist the director in making decisions and improve the performance plan, and determine the final plan.
This set of technologies can also be used for the technical services formulated for shooting, broadcasting, and live broadcasting programs, simulating the shooting effects of different cameras at different time points.
The smooth progress of the performance or ceremony, in Ding Gangyi's view, is the cooperation of sound, actors and pictures, the coincidence of time and space, and the card point of multiple elements, and the whole process of advancement. Virtual simulation technology greatly improves the rehearsal efficiency of large-scale performances.
Multicam lens simulation effect when the five rings are displayed
The program "Li Chun" in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics was impressive. The actor used the glowing pole in his hand to make a picture of the rejuvenation of the earth and the growth of all things.
Team member Yan Dapeng introduced that at the beginning, everyone could not imagine what the effect of the show would be and how expressive it would be. The long pole is soft and will form a natural arc depending on the strength of the actor when swinging. Dance the long pole, to be neat, but also to have a sense of stretching; to scatter, but not chaotic. Moreover, the visual presentation of this dance must also take into account the perspectives of different audiences. Therefore, under the guidance of the director and the joint efforts of the choreographers, the team used the algorithm to simulate a combination of a variety of formations and swing methods, "hundreds of plans, before and after the adjustment of more than half a year."
The repeated reversals are done in a virtual simulation system, without the need for actors to experiment repeatedly.
"We're just going to solve the problem." Ding Gangyi repeatedly stressed. No matter how advanced the system, it must also meet the real needs. Their platform, while "tall", is also grounded, and can also become a "mediator" of many contradictions and conflicts.
A large-scale performance involves dozens of departments or teams, and everyone has different perspectives and positions, and often disputes over the pursuit of better performance results. For example, one show is over, the next show is ready to play, there are only four bird's nest entrances and exits, how do the actors here leave the scene, how do the actors over there enter the scene, whether you are faster, or am I slower... At this point, the virtual simulation system can simulate the flow of people, give an optimal solution for different departments that are in conflict, and let them see the adjusted effect on the system.
Team members are at work
The opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics are another "real battle" of the digital performance and virtual simulation team of Beijing Institute of Technology. They have provided scientific and technological support for a number of large-scale events: the "Singing of the Thunder" at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games, the "Beijing Eight Minutes" of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the virtual simulation exercise of the 2019 National Day Ceremony, the simulation modeling and on-site service of the 2021 Centenary Celebration of the Founding of the Communist Party of China, and the simulation of the digital stage of the 2010-2022 CCTV Spring Festival Gala...
The team has become a leader in the field of digital performance, and its technology has reached the international and domestic leading position. They also hold a number of core patents: a series of patents involving crowd behavior planning and crowd behavior simulation methods, the core technology of crowd simulation for large-scale activities, a series of patents involving virtual camera and live broadcast scheme simulation, a series of patents involving virtual stages...
Ding Gangyi told science and technology daily reporters that using virtual simulation intelligence technology, they assisted the director team to achieve the "simple, safe and wonderful" requirements of the Beijing Winter Olympics. "We are also building an interdisciplinary discipline of intelligent performance, cultivating talents, training teams, and continuing to serve large-scale national activities." Ding Gangyi said that in the future, they hope to use technology to promote the upgrading of the performance industry and the transformation of production models in various forms.
Source: Science and Technology Daily The pictures in this article are provided by Beijing Institute of Technology
Editor: Zhang Qiqi
Review: Wang Xiaolong
Final Judgement: Wang Yu