5. April 2018
The Weather Channel taps The Future Group to provide revolutionary mixed-reality capabilities
The Future Group, the leading augmented reality content and technology provider, will deliver custom immersive mixed-reality experiences for viewers, using The Future Group’s Frontier powered by Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine offers a complete suite of creation tools designed to meet ambitious artistic visions, particularly in the video game industry with games like Fortnite and hyper-reality experiences like Star Wars™: Secrets of the Empire, using the platform.
Since launching award-winning live augmented reality experiences in 2015, The Weather Channel has created an amazing amount of content that allows the network to tell weather stories, explain the atmospheric sciences and help convey important safety and warning messages to viewers. By harnessing the power of advanced, real-time graphics renderings and visual effects with Frontier powered by Unreal Engine, The Weather Channel is further pushing the limits of broadcast presentations for real-time immersive storytelling. Viewers will see towns and local street corners recreated in astonishing detail; meteorologically accurate tornadoes, hurricanes and the devastating effects of storm surge. They will look just as real as the images and video you see in the movies.
“Our immersive mixed reality (IMR) presentations will combine 360 HD video and augmented and virtual reality elements that are driven by real-time data and our expert on-air talent to transport our audience into the heart of the weather, said Michael Potts, Vice President, Design for The Weather Group. “Using The Future Group’s Frontier powered by Unreal Engine for weather broadcasting has never been done before. We are excited to continue our investment in the latest technologies that are not just cutting-edge, but on the bleeding edge of design and science.”
“TFG’s Frontier enhances the amazing capabilities of Epic’s Unreal Engine specifically for broadcast and we are very excited to be pushing the creative boundaries of real-time mixed reality for TV with the Weather Group and Epic,” said Lawrence Jones, Head of North America Operations for The Future Group.
"I am thrilled to be working with the great team at The Weather Group and look forward to creating stunning visual experiences together,” said Rob DeFranco, VP, Sales and Development for The Future Group.
“Unreal Engine’s real-time capabilities will enable powerful new visuals for The Weather Channel, letting their viewers truly see the weather like never before,” said Marc Petit, General Manager of Unreal Enterprise, Epic Games. “Through Unreal Engine, broadcasters will be able to leverage live storm data to create photoreal visual representations of how the weather will affect those on the ground, and continually update the story in real time as conditions evolve. We’re thrilled to work with The Future Group and The Weather Channel in their endeavors to keep viewers safe and informed."