JVTech news Take the place of LeBron James in a live game thanks to the completely insane virtual reality of the NBA
The All Star Game was the sporting event of the weekend, but we’re also thankful for technology, and this simply stunning new feature that the NBA boss showed us: 3D scanning to take a player’s spot during a live game.
A busy All Star weekend, with a little surprise for the NBA app
If you follow basketball news at least, you already know that the All Star Weekend just ended. And whether you watched it all live or preferred to sleep content with recaps, there was nothing to be bored about.
Among the different competitions that take place during this traditional mid-season break, the dunk contest has somewhat recovered its image. Much criticized in recent editions, Mac McClung won it by getting all his dunks on the first attempt, and not just any.
The main event is still the All Star Game, with the best nuggets in the league competing in a match. Not as entertaining as last year, the scoring record was just broken: 55 points during an All Star Game by Boston Celtics star Jason Tatum.
That’s all well and good, though we’re here to talk about technology. And Adam Silver, the head of the NBA, gave it to us during a conference dedicated, among other things, to the new features coming to the NBA mobile app. And the least we can say is that he surprised us all with this new feature for scan a person and place them in place of a player, all live.
Virtual 3D explanations and images to replace a player on the ground
Live from Salt Lake City, Utah, the big boss of the NBA showed us the future of entertainment in the NBA app. During the conference, he brings Ahmad Rashad, a former American football player and sports commentator, to the stage. After, Adam Silver grabs his iPhone to use its cameras to scan Ahmad’s body. It takes a few tens of seconds, the time to pass around.
Then, after a brief load time, Adam opens a paused replay of an NBA game and an interface appears where it is possible select the newly created 3D avatar to transpose it in place of one of the players. Here, Ahmad’s avatar replaces Talon Horton-Tucker. When the game resumes, the avatar follows Talon’s movements precisely, even running to the basket and hitting a huge dunk. You can watch the replays from various angles.
It is very well done but what is even more impressive is that This feature will not only work in replays but also in live matches. This means that each player will be tracked in 3D to enable this lag-free virtual reality tracking.
The NBA doesn’t give no indication of when we’ll be able to get our hands on this new technology. In addition to this stunning novelty, the NBA application will see many other small changes, such as the addition of new languages, new camera angles or the ability to transport matches to virtual backgrounds. For example, placing a Lakers-Bulls game on the moon or in the tropics. Why not !