World Cup 2022
3D Interactives

Role • Graphics for 3D moment
Client • New York Times Graphics Desk

The New York Times Graphics desk and  NYTimes R&D teams joined forces to model key moments of the World Cup using machine learning and 3D reconstruction. As FIFA does not allow for any news organization to capture video at the stadium (besides channels broadcasting the games live) our team decided to recreate key actions of the World Cup by 3D reconstructing the scene in 3D from photographs using ICON (Implicit Clothed humans Obtained from Normals). This allowed for a more natural way to experience motion and (inherently spatial) high level sports, compared to still photography. Team : Karthik Patanjali, Mark McKeague, Alexandre Deveaux, Malika Khurana & Or Fleisher.

ARTICLE LINKS
Richarlison, Messi and Pulisic: Three Stunning Goals Frozen in Time
How Pulisic Crafted the U.S. Goal in Its World Cup Opener Belgium’s Long-Ball Goal Sinks a Determined Canada
Weston McKennie Is Going to Want This One BackGermany’s Late Equalizer Revives Its World Cup Hopes Watch Christian Pulisic Send the U.S. Past Iran and Into the Knockout Rounds
New York Times : 2022 Year in Graphics

The method we developed in creating 3D imagery through machine learning became compelling for the World Cup as the New York Times and other media outlets are only authorized to shoot still photography from a single vantage point on-site. The still photography medium however, is not best suited to deconstruct motion, position and gesture in space, which sports journalism benefits from.

Through this method, we were able to extrapolate spatial information from a single photograph, allowing a reader to see the game from different perspectives and gaining more insight into the reality of goal scoring.

You can read more about our process in the New York Times R&D research article Modeding Key World Cup Moments with Machine Learning.

(Img) One of the world cup immersive articles on the New York Times home page

PROCESS OUTTAKES