The new Catalyst Stage at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut blends physical space with virtual production and an LED wall. The facility “opens new possibilities in the future of content customization and scalability” for live, multi-camera shooting that includes augmented reality and extended reality in 1080p or UHD, with 4K available for specialty work, including advertising. ESPN calls Catalyst “the first studio of its kind to support both live multi-camera productions and cinematic-quality projects. GhostFrame, Unreal Engine, Disguise XR, Pixotope and Mark Roberts Motion Control cameras are among Catalyst’s tools.

And it all runs on proprietary software developed by the technology teams at Disney Entertainment and ESPN, including the GRACE platform, which enables a graphics real-time automation and control environment.

“With 26 real-time servers at work, Catalyst Stage renders 11 million pixels, refreshes 7,600 times every second, and uses the largest and most complex Disguise XR system ever built for television production,” ESPN says in an announcement. The server processing speeds run as high as 120 Gbps, with data transferring at what the company estimates is 5x the speed of traditional servers.

Invoking the technology that powers the award-winning Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” Catalyst “moves 4K video-tracking data from each of the studio’s five robotic cameras plus any additional graphics and imagery and passes it all through the servers before the final product is displayed on the LED wall,” ESPN explains.

“This is truly a game-changer for us when it comes to creativity, scalability, flexibility, and innovation,” ESPN Director of Studio Design and Development Joseph Ferretti told SVG News, lauding the speed and convenience of real-time ICVFX.

“We can do a high-end studio show and then do a cinematic commercial shoot the same day and, the next morning, be ready for a plate shoot or a content-enhancing feature for SportsCenter,” he added. “Simply put, this is huge.”

Disney’s GRACE platform “allows operators to drive a virtual 3D broadcast studio with the same tools that control a virtual monitor,” Disney says, explaining that “GRACE combines automated tools with Unreal Engine to make technically complex changes to the space very quickly without a big crew or specialized experts. As a result, production, operations, and creative teams can easily and efficiently select and move among multiple studio environments.”

For more details and to see the tech in action, check out Disney’s ESPN Catalyst Stage 5-minute video.