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ZEISS CinCraft Scenario helps create broadcast magic at the Hubei TV Spring Festival Gala

9 April 2026

During Chinese New Year, Spring Festival Galas unfolded across major TV networks, bringing audiences a series of visually rich celebrations filled with festive spirit. The Hubei TV Spring Festival Gala was staged in a 2,000-square-meter studio, delivering a spectacular show defined by dazzling stage design and immersive visual experiences. Behind this visual impact lies the power of advanced virtual production technologies. The ZEISS CinCraft Scenario camera tracking system provided stable and highly precise technical support for the entire production.

A dramatic, cinematic scene featuring three men in vintage clothing, with one man pointing a gun at another, captured in low light and atmospheric haze to showcase ZEISS lens performance.

During the production of the Gala in 2026, the technical team deployed the ZEISS CinCraft Scenario tracking system on a jib camera setup. Using reflective marker-based tracking technology, the system captured the camera’s position and orientation in real time with high precision and seamlessly transmitted the data to the virtual production backend, establishing a solid foundation for virtual content integration.

A group of people stands outdoors while a teenage boy reads from a paper as reporters hold microphones toward him.
Two people are working with professional film production equipment, including a camera and monitor, in a studio setting featuring ZEISS lenses.

Reliable Reflective Marker Tracking in Complex Environments

Within the complex lighting environment of a 2,000-square-meter (~ 21,500 square feet) studio, the technical team installed reflective markers along overhead catwalks at a height of up to 20 meters (~ 65 feet). This elevated layout formed a dense reference point cloud covering the entire venue, ensuring that the jib camera could always detect a sufficient number of markers regardless of its position or height, thus maintaining stable full-stage tracking.

However, in addition to the overhead catwalk, lighting boxes are suspended on both sides of the stage and positioned below the marker grid, which might cause potential occlusion. During certain jib movements and camera angles, these structures can physically block the markers installed above. To ensure uninterrupted tracking, additional reflective markers were placed beneath the lighting boxes.

When occlusion occurred, the system instantly captured the alternative markers within the camera’s field of view and smoothly switched data sources, ensuring zero interruption in tracking output. Despite the significant height difference between the 20-meter overhead markers and the lower lighting-box markers, on-site validation confirmed that the system maintains smooth positional transitions with no compromise in accuracy or stability.

A group of people stands outdoors while a teenage boy reads from a paper as reporters hold microphones toward him.
Two people are working with professional film production equipment, including a camera and monitor, in a studio setting featuring ZEISS lenses.

Deep SDK Integration for One-Click Output of Tracking and Lens Data

In virtual production, accurate alignment between camera tracking data, lens profiles and virtual environments is critical to success. Usually, obtaining lens data requires time-consuming calibration performed by the virtual production team. In this production, the ZEISS CinCraft Scenario tracking system demonstrated exceptional compatibility and workflow efficiency.

Through deep SDK integration, the virtual production platform Aximmetry can directly access real-time tracking data, lens metadata and complete lens files from CinCraft Scenario. This significantly simplifies backend preparation, improves operational efficiency and ensures the highest level of accuracy for both tracking and lens parameters, laying a robust foundation for seamless compositing.

Notably, beyond Aximmetry, the CinCraft Scenario SDK also supports leading industry platforms such as: Brainstorm, Pixotope, Unreal and Disguise, highlighting its open ecosystem and broad interoperability.

A group of people stands outdoors while a teenage boy reads from a paper as reporters hold microphones toward him.
Two people are working with professional film production equipment, including a camera and monitor, in a studio setting featuring ZEISS lenses.

Full Data Recording for Enhanced Post-Production Flexibility

In addition to real-time data output for live broadcast and recording, the ZEISS CinCraft Scenario tracking system also enables synchronized recording of complete tracking datasets. These files capture all camera movement trajectories, positional and rotational changes and corresponding lens parameters throughout the entire production.

This capability grants the post-production team significant creative flexibility. Even after the live event, they can revisit and reuse the original tracking data to refine virtual content, adjusting positioning, perspective and motion behavior based on editorial and narrative needs.

This breaks the limitation of virtual production being constrained by real-time rendering results, unlocking greater possibilities for post-production refinement and creative iteration.

A dramatic, cinematic scene featuring three men in vintage clothing, with one man pointing a gun at another, captured in low light and atmospheric haze to showcase ZEISS lens performance.

Overall, the ZEISS CinCraft Scenario optical tracking system delivered reliable and end-to-end technical support for the virtual production of the Hubei TV Spring Festival Gala, with outstanding performance, enabling the seamless integration between virtual elements and the physical stage. It helped to bring to life a truly immersive experience where technology and artistry converge.