TV giants look at NZ's view

By PETER GRIFFIN

It may have been soggy in parts and left its financial backers out of pocket, but the country's premier golfing event showcased home-grown sports animations that have caught the eye of the world's largest TV networks.

Golf addicts glued to their TV screen for the four-day New Zealand Open at Paraparaumu were treated to golfing at its virtual best - with 3D fairway fly-overs, simulated shots and detailed wind direction, green slope and ball positioning information pepping up the TV coverage.

Sports graphics and software company Virtual Spectator provided the animations incorporated with TV One's broadcasts of the event.

Behind the slick 3D graphics was a tiny crew at the course and headed by Virtual Spectator director Ian Taylor.

Mr Taylor said the same stripped-down approach was taken by the team in the US, where Virtual Spectator last year sealed a 10-tournament contract to provide animations for giant broadcaster ABC.

"Essentially, four people design all the TV graphics. We haven't got masses of people working on this."

The animations are based on Virtual Spectator's GolfTrac software, which uses aerial maps of golf courses to generate digital 3D images of the terrain.

Virtual Spectator designers then build graphics such as trees, bunkers and course buildings, laying them over the terrain.

"There's a software package that costs $US30 million and still doesn't do all that this does," said Mr Taylor.

During the event Virtual Spectator's "ball-spotters", armed with Compaq Ipaq handhelds and with GPS (global positioning system) antennas strapped to their backs, shadowed the players.

Pinpointing where each golfer's ball had landed, the spotters were able to instantly determine how far the previous shot had carried, as well as working out distances to the pin and other landmarks.

That information was sent across a wireless network and, seconds later, beamed out to TV sets nationwide.

Unisys and Compaq also worked together during the tournament to test a wireless network and software that allowed spectators carrying handhelds and wireless network cards to receive regularly updated score information and leaderboard statistics.

Mr Taylor said golf animations would become available for internet users by subscription, as Virtual Spectator had done with animations for the America's Cup.

That also goes for all the crowd-pulling sports on Virtual Spectator's growing list, which goes from soccer and cricket through to yacht racing and motor sports.

Virtual Spectator's next project is a test of live World Championship Rally internet coverage from Monte Carlo this month.