Try volumetric capture in your next project, now it’s mobile, easy-to-use and free!
Bringing real humans into AR, VR, video games or any other 3D platform (Metaverse, anyone?) is a challenge for creators. The complexity, cost and lack of accessibility of established solutions have limited this creative resource to large projects and deep pockets. What if we could solve it with a smartphone, an app and a bunch of open-source tools?
We are so happy to tell you about something we have been working on during the last few months 😃.
Since we launched Volograms back in 2018, countless professionals have got in touch with the same frustration. They had learned about volumetric video and were fascinated by the possibility of bringing real people into their immersive experiences, but had realised the challenges of using this technology in practice. The need for complex studio setups, specialised staff, long timelines, and generous budgets was a crucial barrier for most creators and projects out there. At Volograms, we have addressed this barrier from the early days: reducing the number of cameras needed from 100+ to 10+, simplifying studio setups, streamlining the processing on the cloud, cutting the cost to a fraction of what it was… but we were still far from making it as accessible as most wanted it to be!
One year ago, we announced Volu at SXSW, the app that turned a single smartphone into a volumetric capture device, which was finally released to the App Store last September: From 100+ cameras, to 10+ to 1! From professional studios to capture-wherever-you-want! From days of processing to minutes! From tens of thousands, to thousands, to free!
“Can we use the volograms we capture in the app in other platforms?”
The first time we got this question was as early as Volu’s announcement event and it has never stopped since then! Professionals, prosumers and even hobbyists haven’t stopped requesting the expansion of Volu into an open creation tool. In an effort to guarantee a seamless end-to-end experience from the get-go, Volu was first released as a self-sufficient platform: volograms could be captured and enjoyed directly within the app. Our objective has always been ambitious: powering reality capture for the future of content, media and communications!
Just over a week ago, also at SXSW, we shared a sneak peek of Volu Pro: Volu’s expansion to become an omni-platform content creation tool. In short, Volu Pro adds to Volu’s core functionalities to support creators that are building the next generation of content. We are starting with the capacity to export volograms captured with the app and a set of tools that enable their integration into platforms such as Unity, Unreal, Blender, WebXR, social media lenses, and many more.
We are excited about the endless opportunities it unlocks! Some of the applications we are starting to see volograms being used in are:
- Activations and fan engagement campaigns using AR
- Fashion marketing campaigns
- Photorealistic rendering environments and virtual production
- Creation of realistic characters for video games
- 3D printing
And many other amazing use-cases we’ve seen studio-based volumetric video already in… We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
If you are interested in bringing real people into your work through mobile volumetric capture, please join our waitlist. We will soon share access to the export feature and to an initial set of tools. Lots of new exciting features will be released soon for Volu, as well as more tools to increase the interoperability and versatility of its exports. Stay tuned by following us on social media (tw, li, ig, fb) and subscribing to this blog (and please give us a clap 👏).
Thanks so much for reading!
The Volograms Team
