McEnroe vs. McEnroe: a match between old McEnroe… and a “young” virtual avatar of himself (trailer)
The platform of streaming of sports content probably had the idea of the century: showing a match between the John McEnroe current, living tennis legend who peppered the 80s with his rants, and the virtual avatar of a much younger version of McEnroe! These 45 minutes of programs are the result of an incredible technological project, knowing that John McEnroe will be confronted with five virtual avatars of John McEnroe relating to pivotal moments in the champion’s career!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCCbAjc9Vh0
The first stage of the project consisted in recovering McEnroe’s attitudes and gestures via motion capture tools (the former champion was then decked out in a suit with sensors). These movements will then be attached to ultra-realistic 3D avatars created with MetaHuman software coupled with Unreal Engine 5 (two tools from Epic).
Then comes the most incredible part: the 3D avatars are projected in real time on the other side of the field on a screen of holographic particles (smoke type), while behind this image wall, a robot-gun launcher is synchronized with the movements of the avatar in order to give the illusion that it is indeed the latter who returns the ball! Thus, each time the real McEnroe hits the small yellow ball, the 3D Avatar and the robot located just behind move to the point of rebound; a bullet is then fired from the robo-cannon, which travels through the holographic smoke wall towards the flesh-and-blood McEnroe. McEnroe vs. McEnroe will air today on ESPN+.
