Football is a major pastime in the United States . child play in the Pop Warner football game conference , some progress to high school day football game , some of those play college football game , and a very prize few play professional football in either the NFL or CFL . This funnel shape toward greatness go forward until the first Sunday in February , when the elite of football game ’s elect play in a game that people all over the macrocosm pucker to watch : theSuper Bowl , the patronage game of American professional football .
One of the main objectives in American football – and a helpful one if you want to mark point – is to gain afirst down . In social club to get a first down , the offence must gain 10 yards within a series of four plays , or downs . If the umbrage arrive at the necessary yards ( or more ) in four downs or less , the team return to first down and the process begins anew until the offence fails to derive ten yards , scads , or turns the glob over to their opponents .
One problem that football participant and officials have always had to deal with is exactly how to appraise the 10 yards involve to take in a first down . First downs often decide game , but collegiate and professional football game officials often measure them using a by all odds antediluvian length of metal string bind between two perch .
Television viewing audience have had trouble figuring out where the first - down line is in coition to the crime . A small pointer locate below the end pole is n’t unremarkably seeable on yourtelevision screen . If you ’ve watched any football games since 1998 , however , you ’ve probably noticed that fluorescent yellow or orangish melodic line that seems paint on the line of business from one hobby to the other . In fact , the line iscomputer generated , represent the exact spot that the offense must reach for a first down .
Sportvision , a company based in New York City , debuted its " 1st and Ten " organization on during a secret plan between the Bengals and the Ravens , broadcast on ESPN on September 27 , 1998 . Football fans everywhere exuberate . Since that first game , Sportvision has continued to put up ESPN , ABC and FoxSports with the ability to raise their football telecasts with this technology ( you may view image from actual games that used the first - down line on their Web site ) . Other networks use like engineering . In this article , we ’ll attend at how the1st and Ten systemworks .
The Technology
One of the quirkier expression of computing machine - bring forth video effects is the Brobdingnagian amount of sweat it takes to do seemingly simple thing . The most basic conception can sometimes take a mammoth amount of travail to implement ( seeHow Centropolis FX Creates Visual EffectsandHow Industrial Light & Magic Worksfor interesting ground ) .
Painting avirtual first - down lineon a football subject is an excellent example of this process ; the construct of painting a first - down transmission line across the field on citizenry ’s idiot box screen for certain sounds simple . As it turns out , carry out this is improbably complex . It takes a tractor - poke trailer truck of equipment , including eight figurer and at least four mass , to fulfil this task
Here are some of the problems that must be solved in order for this system to work :
A key piece of computer hardware used in the system is aspecial camera mountthat holds the television camera . This mountencodesall of the camera ’s motion ( such as tilt , pan , soar and focus ) . The information the mount produces help the computing machine read on the dot what each television camera is doing in real Another fundamental piece is acomputerized 3 - D modelof the field . The electronic computer know exactly where the tv camera are locate in the3 - five hundred modeland can orient the practical first - down line on the field accordingly . The theoretical account also calculate for thing like the top of the field and the location of the yard lines on the field .
Color palettesare also critical to the system . The computers must be able to distinguish betweengrass , on which the crinkle should be painted , and everything else ( players , referees , the ball , etc . ) , on which it should not . Color palettes solve this problem . you’re able to see the palettes at oeuvre in this frame :
The participant does not have the line paint over his jersey because of the color palettes .
All counted , there areeight computersused in the organisation :
These special computers ' sole task is to enter expression of each camera ’s movement 30 multiplication per arcsecond from the tv camera mount , and then send that data back to the production truck for psychoanalysis and use .
Up next , how the lineage is actually draw .
Drawing the Line
to determine where the line should go , acentral computerutilizes several pieces of information :
Once the computer determines exactly which pixels should be colored yellow , this entropy , along with the raw video feed of thetallied ( on - atmosphere ) television camera , is sent to a computer that draw the yellow line60 times per second . The line is then sent to a analog keyer to superimpose the yellow-bellied line onto the program video . Since it take time for all this to pass off , the program TV is sent through several frame hold so that the generated yellow air and detain program video can besynchronizedand turned into what you see on your TV screen .
On game day , it film four people to launch the system :
Altogether , the operation of produce a first down line for viewers at home is far from wide-eyed . Any football game fan watching at home would distinguish you , however , that it ’s well deserving the sweat .
For more information on the first and Ten system and related topics , tick out the links on the next page .
