Glassworks Special Projects were approached in 2001 by Lambie-Nairn to design and develop an advanced real-time 3D Graphics Synthesiser for the BBC, intended to deliver live 3D animation for BBC4 ident on demand.
Working closely with the creative team from Lambi-Nairn, Glassworks R&D programmers spent five month collaborating on the development of this unique real-time system. Utilising the latest advances in processors and graphics cards allowed a cost effective PC based hardware solution to be developed.

Early in 2002, Glassworks Special Projects delivered this real-time Graphics Synthesiser to the BBC. The system receives a standby request from the continuity computer on the serial port, along with audio signals from both from the music server and the live on-air continuity announcer. This audio mix is processed using a near real-time Fast Fourier Transform to extract the component frequencies that are analysed and subsequently used to drive the 3D graphics, virtual lights and camera according to complex rules and functions.

The result is a unique animated sequence within constraints defined by the graphic designers. The system operates without intervention, selecting both the music and graphics style at random but within certain control parameters. The synthesiser runs continuously and can be seen by tuning to BBC4 digital.