Vizrt Provides Graphics Creation, Management for Fusion Network

The Fusion Network, which launched in the fall of 2013 in Miami as a joint venture between ABC News and Univision Communications, Inc., has chosen Vizrt, a provider of content production tools for the digital media industry, for graphics creation and management.

Fusion Network’s unique Latin-focused programming strategy called for a different on-air look from its traditional news channels in the U.S. All graphical elements, both on screen and on set via a 9×40 foot (3×12 meter) video wall, were designed to attract a web-savvy audience with flat, minimal 3D esthetics.

According to Michael Berkman, vice president of Creative Services at Fusion, the best part of the Vizrt technology is that graphics production at Fusion is now exactly tailored to the team’s individual requirements and works seamlessly for their needs. Work orders—from both Miami and LA—get completed in a timely fashion and costs are kept to a minimum.

Fusion created graphics templates using Viz Content Pilot, Vizrt’s real-time production platform. The graphics templates designed by Berkman and his team convey a “bold, fresh, irreverent and unique” look, due to the extended capabilities of the production platform.

Graphics are designed in Fusion’s design department with Viz Artist, a real-time modeling and animation tool. The graphics team and editorial staff also use Viz World for creating real-time 3D maps.

To help manage graphics requests, Fusion has installed Vizrt’s Order Management package, a suite of software tools integrated with Viz Pilot and Viz One used to track workload, staff availability and network bandwidth.

“Order Management gives us the ability to see the workload, a tremendous advantage as we’re producing so many graphics on a daily basis,” said Berkman. “The intelligence of the system is critical to a new network like ours, where you don’t really know how many resources you’ll need until you start doing the show on a regular basis.”

With Order Management, producers can order exactly what they need when they need it, simply by filling out an online form. Once the order is saved, the graphic is placed and then the image is fed into a Viz Content Pilot template. Lead art directors like Berkman can assign a task to a specific graphic artist or more than one simultaneously. The finished graphic is then uploaded and the system automatically puts the graphic into the right template before it goes to air.

“The Order Management package really represents a different way of working on and ordering graphics,” said David Jorba, executive vice president of operations at Vizrt Americas. “Any producer or journalist can search a database for a picture, clip—bumpers, IDs, titles, etc.—or graphic, and place an order to have it created in minutes.”