And according to what was published by the NPR news radio website, the new feature depends on the user making a virtual copy of his entire body through the LIDAR sensor in his smartphone camera, directly from within the NBA application, after which the user chooses the live broadcast of the desired match, and then chooses to place his copy. The default replaces one of the players.
The new feature is supported by a technology developed by PolyCam, which allows users of iPhone phones, an application of the same name, to create virtual 3D models with high accuracy.
The video presented by the National Basketball Association shows that the process of making a full-body virtual model provides great accuracy in capturing the details of the human body, which gives greater realism when a player is replaced by a virtual model, as well as an accurate display of clothing colors and facial expressions.
The video showed the ability of the new feature to simulate the movement of the player who will be replaced, and to make the virtual model of the person’s body move with complete fluidity, as if he is the original movement performer.
It has not been revealed when the new feature will arrive, but it is expected that it will soon reach users’ phones.
The LiDAR optical radar sensor is one of the most important additions that have appeared in smartphone cameras recently, as well as smart cars rely on it, and it is a type of sensor that uses light waves to measure distances between various objects.
On the level of smartphones, the LiDAR sensor is useful in the process of measuring the dimensions of objects from the camera lens, and therefore it will be easy to measure lengths and dimensions through the camera, as well as facilitating this by adding virtual elements to different scenes during photography to appear more realistic, and this is what is called AR.
Apple has added a LiDAR sensor inside the iPhone since the release of the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max in 2020, as well as iPad Pro 2020 and newer devices.