Camino Project Highlights: Fall 2024

The Daktronics Camino project portfolio experienced substantial growth throughout 2024. The fall and winter months set new precedents with the amount of Camino graphics packages built and delivered with both professional and collage basketball and hockey venues receiving a verity of Camino content. 

University of Maryland Terrapins

The Xfinity Center in College Park, MD, received a display overhaul that includes a new rounded centerhung complete with four underbelly displays for optimal viewing to those seated in the lower seats of the bowl and courtside. The outer Camino Game-In-Progress (GIP) template design centers around the Terrapin (a species of turtle) shell that contains the game clocks, period and possession direction. When the shot clock hits 10 seconds, the shell glows and pulses red, indicating time is running out on the shot clock. 

The oblong shell shape is echoed on either teams' side of the graphic and is home to both a team stat loop (automated to begin just over a minute into each game) and manually triggered categories at the discretion of the Show Control operators. Additional looks in this canvas include team comparison stats, player stats for one or two players, automatic home stat leader (for points, rebounds and assist categories), and player milestone that features requested stats pared with player notes entered into Quick Data from the Show Control operator.

The underbelly displays feature a dedicated Camino template composed of symmetrical pillars next to the centered 16x9 video area that feature common GIP information near the bottom as well as a pregame look made up of game notes from Quick Data fields. 

In addition, the production uses Camino to harness the noise of the Terrapin fanbase in the arena using an audio interface to create a live decibel meter during key moments in the game. Data from the interface is ingested into the Camino template creating a larger-than-life sound meter while displaying the dB value; encouraging fans to max out their vocals ensuring the ultimate homecourt advantage.

Iowa State Cyclones

With the addition of a full Daktronics control system upgrade in Aimes, IA, Cyclones fans taking in basketball and volleyball games at Hilton Coliseum now enjoy a fresh GIP layout fully powered by Camino. The rounded 3.9mm pixel pitch centerhung structure design lends itself seamlessly to an immersive lower bar for game information and stats flanked by vibrant sponsor pillars that scream Cyclones red that contrast white sponsor logos on the corners. Operators designed various alternate looks for the bottom bar including larger team and individual stats along with color-coded bar graphs for team stats. With the Camino editing hardware and software included, the ISU creative staff, led by Associate Directors Phil Manley and Austin Minnihan, wasted no time making their own additions and customizations to the Daktronics-provided Camino templates.

"I was able to take the Daktronics-provided GIP design and make a version that works for our underbelly boards, ribbon boards and a slimmed-down version for our voms," said Minnihan. "I learned a lot from the Daktronics Camino project and being able to simply do a save-as, resize then move things around made my life a lot easier than re-building all that logic from scratch." 

Miami Heat

As the Miami Heat opened the NBA season in October numerous upgrades were in place to welcome the season in the Kaseya Center. The unique centerhung design features a one-of-a-kind custom flameball covered in over 2,500 square feet of LED. Complementing this masterpiece are 4 arena "corner" displays featuring an extensive Camino-driven content package.

During gameplay, the 10 players on the floor are featured with their individual stats. The stats rotate, similar to a traditional playlist. Select stat values are illustrated with donut chart visuals for ultimate fan engagement. Player substations are driven aromatically by logic allowing these graphics to be self-sufficient during the game.

On the opposite corner displays, Show Control operators focus their attention on a separate Camino file built using 3-D movements to transition between graphics. Team comparison stats serve as the home base in this package while options for leaders, player comparison and player notes/milestones can be made using Display Studio buttons. The data feeding these features is a combination of stats from NGSS ingested into the Daktronics ecosystem by Data Studio Basketball, an Excel spreadsheet and Quick Data. 

Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings leveled up with new LED displays and an extensive Camino content package as the team made their 2024 season debut in October. Looming over center ice at crypto.com arena (formerly known as Staples Center) in Los Angeles, CA, the new 3.9mm pixel pitch rounded centerhung boasts a large amount of Camino content fed from Daktronics' new Data Studio Hockey application. This app is the newest part of the Venus Control Suite workflow using cloud-based communications to bring all the data the NHL has to offer seamlessly into the Daktronics ecosystem in a structured set of feeds comprised of the latest and most engaging data available today. 

Our Camino team assembled templates for an overlay scorebar used on the four main video faces of the centerhung along with a corner template played on the rounded edges of the display. This 3-D environment, paired with the curvature of the display, brings a sleek graphics theme that creates a larger-than-life, full immersion to every seat in the venue. While the puck is in play, 5 vertically stacked cubes feature the on-ice players' headshots with space that operators can fill with either current shift time or live skate speed. Logic written in Camino automatically triggers shot speeds immediately as they happen on the ice below and overlay effects are applied based on speed thresholds set by the Kings production staff (a wisp of smoke for 70-74 MPH shots, a small fireball for 75-80 MPH shots, and a big fireball for 80+ MPH shots). 

During game breaks the Camino package features a single-player stat, player comparison stats, goaltending stats, a last goal sequence, run-of-show and a traditional game-in-progress scoreboard with plenty of room for premium sponsorship visibility. The overlay score bar animates in and out both automatically (when penalties occur) and manually when Display Studio operators click buttons to feature a faceoff stat, player notes or team stats.

2024 proved to be a busy year for the Daktronics Camino groups and we look forward to the numerous projects slated in 2025! For more information on Camino graphics packages, reach out to your regional Applications Engineer or email professionalservices@daktronics.com.