US volumetric video (VV) capture technology vendor Avatar Dimension announced on Thursday it had opened direct sales of its technology to clients following a significant rise in demand.
The CEO of Avatar Dimension, Dennis Bracy, commented his clients “asked so many times” about setting up volumetric stages in customer locations, adding that “given the amount of equipment needed, it didn’t seem practical.”
Previously, clients had to travel directly to an official studio to use the VV hardware, but now clients can purchase capture technology to establish an in-house VV studio.
Avatar Dimensions’ transportable stage allows firms to purchase the same technology used at its Washington, DC-based studio, which uses 70 IQ Industries branded 12-megapixel volumetric cameras to create digital twin holograms of an individual, set, or object for use in films, games, and immersive extended reality (XR) experiences.
Bracy added,
“Bringing our volumetric capture stage directly to clients opens the door for the many businesses interested in growing their audience reach with innovative, mixed reality experiences, but need the capture session to come to them”
The Washington site is the only VV capture stage on the US East Coast certified by Microsoft, allowing Avatar to use its high-fidelity capture and rendering pipeline with Azure’s data management platform.
Nova Southeastern University
The news follows developments at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) to establish a VV capture studio on campus to train students before entering frontline working conditions.
NSU will use the technology to create 360-degree videos of situations such as crime scenes or operating rooms to familiarise trainees with high-intensity environments.
The news comes after lawmakers in Congress awarded the campus via an equipment request with roughly $1.94 million USD in capital to establish a VV studio and an artificial intelligence (AI) lab.
US Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz helped NSU secure the funding to provide a space for entrepreneurs, students, educators, and businesses to reap the benefits of the technology.
She added:
“What its designed to do is help them fund the equipment for artificial intelligence, spatial computing, and expand their curriculum so they can bring in high-tech companies and also recruit minority students so we have diversity in the innovation space as well”
The NSU-based AI lab plans to host research related to smart cities, machine learning, robotics, and autonomous technologies.
