Innovative HD graphics in the BBC’s Olympics 2012 coverage came from providers using Vizrt technology and a mix of custom devices and applications.

Two London-based graphics providers – Mammoth Graphics and deltatre – worked with the developer to design and manage the delivery of the live HD graphics operation, based within the broadcaster’s studio at the International Broadcast Centre.

Vizrt has supplied BBC Sport with HD engines for its graphics suite equipped with 12 character generator systems, with each of six Trio live graphics systems paired with six Viz Engine HD/SD rendering systems for realtime compositing of HD video and graphics.

Two of the combinations are dedicated to BBC-1, while two more support different events being carried on BBC-3, which has a relatively younger demographic. The remaining two serve as spares for failsafe redundancy.

The systems have access to all live video feeds coming into the IBC from all the venues, and many live graphics will integrate live video.

“All graphics and templates have a unique BBC style, as well as a visually riveting 3D ‘medals table’ that illustrates the medals count by nation,” Mammoth Graphics managing director Phil Long says.

Most of the graphics for nearly three dozen sports – roughly 2500 events – are live and come from the Vizrt boxes. The platform has been customised to support specific applications.

Mammoth Graphics collaborated with another live graphics vendor, Kenziko, to create a bespoke device called KineTrak, which debuted on the London Summer Games. KineTrak detects and interprets human movements to allow on-camera presenters to control and manipulate the presentation of live graphics.