Vizrt Graphics Speed Productivity and Update Look on Colombian TV

After a successful three-month test run, Colombia’s RCN Television has purchased a Vizrt broadcast graphics system. The Vizrt platform, which includes the latest versions of Vizrt’s Viz|Artist real-time 3D animation software, Viz|Content Pilot content management and control software, and Viz|Trio character generator system, has allowed RCN to design enhanced on-air-graphics and character-generated animations for its four daily news broadcasts, sports programming, and election coverage.

Before RCN implemented Vizrt’s demo software last November, we had about four or five graphics designers painting every graphic still required for the news broadcasts, said Andres Galeano, VP technical area for RCN. Now our graphics operation has completely changed, due mainly to Vizrt s sophisticated templates that enable the designers to store these templates in the server and reuse them at the push of a button.

The new system allows RCN s designers to program and automate complex graphics and animations that connect to an external database, thereby increasing their productivity by reducing the time spent creating and completing projects. The result is high quality on-air graphics, which are visible in RCN s daily programming.

Galeano reports that Vizrt s support has been exceptional, which is critical for a live news broadcaster: Immediately after we purchased the system, Vizrt came to Colombia to train our designers on the software, Galeano said. They are always immediately available to assist us with any needs.

RCN also utilized the Vizrt graphics system for Colombia s Congressional and Senate elections that took place this past March, as well as the first round of the Presidential elections last month. The software was used to create all of the titling and graphics, including bars, pie charts, pictures and more.

Two other Colombian television networks, Canal Capital and Caracol, have also recently upgraded their graphics systems with Vizrt software. Canal Capital acquired Vizrt s Trio NV, an entry-level version of Viz|Trio, to produce its news programs, and Caracol purchased a Viz|Trio character generator system to display statistics and election results during the country’s March and May elections.