Microsoft has picked volumetric video company Arcturus as its primary marketing partner for its Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture Studios (MRCS) solution provider.
Announced on Monday at the SIGGRAPH 2023 event, the partnership will offer content creators a trove of solutions for their volumetric video needs. With the tools, creatives can receive comprehensive, end-to-end capturing solutions with one of the world’s most capable and advanced 3D capturing and reconstruction systems.
The enterprise’s platform also comes with an acclaimed toolkit for editing and streaming and offers a dedicated team of professionals to support its user base.
Arcturus’ solution includes over 100 cameras working simultaneously to capture a still or moving object. Later, the system’s reconstruction software stitches together the image, creating a photorealistic 3D video for export across production workflows.
The Los Angeles, California-based firm’s solution can produce volumetric videos for content ranging from visual effects (VFX), broadcasting, mixed reality (MR) content, and films.
Additionally, the studio will accommodate more MRCS functionality by integrating its HoloSuite features. This will allow users to capture and edit content from the system, stream compressed content, eliminate quality loss, and other options, under the same pipeline.
Comments on Arcturus HoloSuite
Kamal Mistry, Chief Executive, Arcturus, said at the time his company had become “obsessed” with mixed reality and volumetric video content formats over the last decade.
“Our primary goal has always been to advance the state of volumetric production as a whole,” he said.
Mistry added,
“The MRCS technology gives us the opportunity to work with some of the best creators and studios in the world. By partnering with them, we will find comprehensive solutions that can help make volumetric technology more accessible, while introducing more options for how to use it”
Licencing Benefits
Content creators that need to use Arcuturus’ volumetric video for specific purposes, projects, or campaigns can team up with licenced MRCS studios. Based on the company’s needs, licence holders can access some of the world’s top capturing companies. It also plans to expand its partnerships with global studios in the near future.
Arcturus will also provide licence and expertise support for studios seeking to partner with Microsoft’s MRCS network. For entrants to the immersive sector, the company can guide potential clients to set up their own fully-functional studios or convert existing ones.
From countdown to liftoff, industry pioneers will soon leverage the fully comprehensive set of tools providing all aspects of volumetric video-capturing processes. Arcturus can also deploy consultants on-site to guide clients with setting up and installing the technologies and provide ongoing support.
R&D Expansion, Future Upgrades
With the firm’s efforts, Arcuturs aims to expand in research and development (R&D) and advance its offerings. The combined work from MRCS licences and product production aims to build the next generation of immersive technologies for the company.
Future upgrades will include expanding artificial intelligence (AI) usage to reduce its tech footprint and boost qualitative output.
The company will also reaffirm its commitment to working with the Volumetric Format Association to boost the global volumetric video ecosystem. It will do so to develop next-generation tools across its HoloSuite solution and other capture-agnostic platforms to produce and export content from all providers.
Professionals and storytellers from across the volumetric video industry, including Pixar, Dreamworks, Autodesk, Google, Netflix, and YouTube, founded the company in 2016. This has led to the launch of Arcturus’ HoloSuite software-as-a-service platform used for post-production output.
The all-in-one solution has remained compatible with many of the industry’s most widely-used 3D creation tools.
SIGGRAPH 2023 and Camera Technology
The news comes as immersive firms step up their solutions amid the SIGGRAPH 2023, where many have demoed products for global audiences at the world-famous conference.
SIGGRAPH 2023 is taking place from 6 to 10 August at the Los Angeles Convention Centre. The world’s most influential and active firms in the immersive space, including Unity, NVIDIA, Weta Digital, IBM and others will deliver keynotes, workshops, and present research papers on the computer vision industry.
For example, computer vision and motion capture firm Vicon leveraged its camera technologies to support a major partnership with VFX firm Artanim.
Dreamscape Immersive research wing aims to showcase its markerless technologies backed by machine learning (ML) and AI. The cutting-edge solution also boosts immersion in mixed reality content, allowing studios to implement their content with fewer cameras and greater freedom of movement.
At the time, Imogen Moorhouse, Chief Executive, Vicon, stated that the new updates would highlight “the beginning of a new era for motion capture.”
Additionally, Jensen Huang, Chief Executive, Co-Founder, and President, NVIDIA, also delivered a massive upgrade to his company’s CloudXR platform.
At his keynote speech, he unveiled several graphics processors, digital application programme interfaces (API), and collaborations on OpenUSD file formats, leading to greater interoperability and innovation for industrial XR.
