This Tuesday, volumetric capture firm Yoom (formerly Tetavi) raised roughly $15 million to expand its real-time 3D (RT3D) avatar creation solution amidst a company rebranding.
Yoom got its capital from representatives of various entertainment giants, including Interscope Records, Beats Electronics, and Finneas O’Connell, a Grammy Award-Winning Artist.
Yoom’s volumetric video capture solutions enable brands to digitize artists for Metaverse and Web3 experiences, such as concerts and digital live events. For example, Yoom partnered with the Los Angeles Kings to transport the national football league (NFL) team into the Metaverse.
Additionally, the international extended reality (XR) firm adds that its volumetric service applies to gaming, TV, and location-based entertainment (LBE).
Investor and the Co-Founder of Interscope Records, Beats Electronics, Jimmy Iovine added,
“This team and the proprietary technology they’ve built levels the playing field for creatives and widens the space where communities can grow. I’m inspired to help define what the future of entertainment can look like”
What is Volumetric Capture?
Volumetric capture technology uses a sound stage with multiple high-quality cameras that photograph a subject at countless angles. The process creates digital twin holograms of an individual, set, or object for use in XR experiences.
Yoom Chairman Aaron Stone said that volumetric capture technology would revolutionize media and social interactions.
He added,
“YOOM will partner with artists to create content that can engender enhanced feelings of presence, enabling new and different ways for people to emotionally engage and connect”
The news comes as major technology firms invest in volumetric capture. International chipmaker AMD teamed up with Cannon to leverage its Versal AI Core series processors for immersive broadcasting.
The partnership uses machine learning to enable live digital twins of sporting events using Cannon’s Free Viewpoint Video System, which gives viewers at home the ability to enjoy a broadcast from various angles, enabling viewers to participate in live event monetization and game statistics.
In a similar vein, Unity unveiled Metacast in October 2021. The volumetric capture technology scans athletes in real-time during live sports broadcasts, transforming competitors into RT3D visualizations with a rough output of five million voxels per second.
Unity worked with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to capture athletes on a volumetric stage, converting a sparring session into an RT3D animation.
More recently, the UFC invited Meta CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg to a private event in October to partner for broadcasting sports events in the Horizon Metaverse.
