NZ firm secures America's Cup graphics rights

By ADAM GIFFORD

It has built its business developing world-class animation software for everything from TV golf graphics to air traffic control training simulators.

Now Dunedin-based Animation Research has scored the big one - a multimillion-dollar, multi-year contract to supply the graphics for the next America's Cup regatta.

ARL will provide its real time 3D animation graphics software for television, internet and new media applications through to and including the main event in 2007.

The deal is a coup for ARL managing director Ian Taylor who had a key role in developing graphics software for the New Zealand regattas.

ARL will also subcontract work to Auckland company Seanet, which will handle all telemetry and data delivery to and from the boats.

ARL's win is a blow to the new Bermudan owners of Virtual Spectator, whose brand was entwined with the America's Cup graphics.

Virtual Spectator started out as a joint venture between ARL and Auckland new media company Terabyte Interactive. Its financial backers, New Zealand and United States venture firms, put it into receivership after the 2001 America's Cup and sold its technology.

Despite its involvement in Virtual Spectator, ARL continued to supply graphics of the regattas to television as a separate business and developed its own engines for internet delivery.

Taylor said the ARL-Seanet partnership provided graphics for lead-up races in San Francisco, Newport and Marseilles. Staff are at present at the Act 2 and 3 regattas being staged in Valencia.

America's Cup organisers intend to run at least three events a year leading up to 2007, mostly in Valencia, where the main regatta will be staged.

"That gives us three years to build up our infrastructure and bulletproof it," Taylor said.

"What is really good is how closely we are working with the America's Cup organisation and the various teams and umpires.

"We are feeding data to the teams every day so they can do their analysis. They have taken ownership and are coming to us with ideas on how we can improve things."

At Valencia, ARL is delivering information and graphics to two giant screens in a public part on the waterfront, to the media centre and the television broadcaster. It is also delivering data back to spectator and media boats.

"It is not just match racing but fleet racing, so we had to rebuild parts of the software."

Taylor said there was no comparable sporting event which would allow ARL the continuity to develop its technology and modify it for other formats, such as delivery to phones and handheld devices.

"We are doing this at no risk to us, because the contract requires us to develop technology which may or may not be used by the event organisers," Taylor said.

"America's Cup Management is also rolling out a major weather project, so we are talking about having access to the weather data, so the graphics and the story we tell are better."

Taylor said the project would leave ARL in a position to roll out a complete service for sports events, including high-speed internet delivery, wireless networking, equipment for boats, graphic feeds for media, television and mobile devices, as well as all the timing and scoring.