Arcturus Showcases Volumetric Video Tools at SIGGRAPH 2022

Volumetric video technology company Arcturus kicked off SIGGRAPH 2022 by announcing new advanced video playback tools for Unreal Engine 5 (UE5), impacting a range of industries from virtual production and video games to architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC).

Any person or object recorded on a volumetric capture stage produces a three-dimensional file that can be viewed from any angle; however, the size and complexity of those files have made them difficult to manage and playback within a game engine. The new plugin “HoloEdit” tools for HoloSuite overcomes these file limitations. Creators can take 3D recordings of real people, create puppetable skeletons, then insert the virtual characters - with a complete range of movements - into a UE5 environment for viewing, adding depth and realism to any scene. The plugin is coming in Q4 2022 as part of a HoloSuite update.

“Volumetric video is the next stage in the evolution of video, and by pairing it with Unreal Engine 5, content creators will have new options available to them that simply weren’t possible before,” said Arcturus CEO Kamal Mistry. “Volumetric video can populate environments with real performers and take virtual productions to the next level. By adding the power of UE5, the sky's the limit.”

At SIGGRAPH, Arcturus’ technology will be demonstrated in two booths, highlighting the potential for volumetric video in virtual production. At the Dell booth (#527), Arcturus' character creation potential is on display with a look at the latest holographic technology. At the HP booth (#1011), attendees can try out an HP Reverb VR headset and explore a virtual environment, complete with human performances recorded with volumetric capture, then edited and compressed using Arcturus’s HoloEdit tools.

Additional information on Arcturus, HoloEdit, and HoloStream is available here.

Source: Arcturus

Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.