Television's legendary ability to craft illusions is being greatly extended by a new technology that not only creates more elaborate visual effects but can save money and time in the process. It's virtual sets, and some say it's better than the real thing. On the Set, A New Reality Virtual set technology is a far cry from the blue screen used for weather forecasts. It lets producers create live productions using real actors surrounded by a graphically generated, three-dimensional environment in which they can walk around objects, behind and in front of them, even cast shadows. The advantages of virtual set technology to networks and local news stations are partly logistical.
Virtual sets can appear large but take relatively little space for filming.
Because the sets exist on computer disk, storage space isn't an issue, and a set can be changed in seconds, freeing studio space for multiple productions. A Snap to Store, Move The potential financial benefits are also great, although complicated by a range of production factors. Hard sets, the ones that exist in the real world, add costs to a show when they are used in a shared studio because they take time to dismantle and set up. By contrast, it takes only seconds to change sets in the virtual realm, and no physical space to store them is needed because they reside in computer data bases. Deconstructing Construction Costs A grid on a blue-screen background keeps the movement of camera and virtual set coordinated.