Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of visiting with one of our top customers: CNN. CNN isn’t just a single news channel. Its family includes the CNN Airport Network, CNN International, Headline News, CNN Espanol and five foreign news channels, just to name a few. I got the Grand Tour of the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, GA with David Price, the US & International Product Manager for Graphics and Post.
David Price with me in front of the CNN Center. Due to overcast skies we look composited, but we were actually there.
The CNN offices are beautifully appointed, but mostly I was impressed with the sheer scale of the operation. Everything at the CNN facility is big, from the giant CNN logo outside to the massive offices filled with staff, all busy with a variety of news-related activities. CNN shoots a number of its shows in studios within the building, but that’s only after the staff has researched the news, collected and catalogued live feeds from around the world, and generated both still and animated graphics for any one of their hundreds of shows.
One of many live graphics control centers at CNN
CNN uses a number of TurboSquid models ranging from globes and maps and war-related scenes to space vehicles that have launched (or crashed) lately, and even sports items like baseballs and stadiums. Anything that’s in the news is bound to show up in 3D form sooner or later. The 3D team even produces the live graphics that move around and behind the lower-third banner area.
Image courtesy of CNN
The news teams at CNN often have only a few hours to put together a 3D scene. Whenever there’s breaking news, TurboSquid is one of their first stops.