VR Veteran Jaunt Develops Portable 3D Capture Service for Volumetric Augmented Reality Content

Better known among consumers for its virtual reality apps, Jaunt is now pivoting toward solutions for augmented reality developers.

The company's latest innovation, called the Jaunt XR Platform, is a lightweight volumetric capture system that yields real-time 360-degree video content via scanned subjects that are viewable on mobile devices.

Using an easily transportable setup comprised of six depth-sensing cameras attached to strategically placed mounting stands (as seen in the image below), a volumetric model of a person can be quickly captured nearly anywhere. The images are then merged into a 3D image via Jaunt's software and delivered to apps and other end-points through Jaunt's streaming technology.

VR Veteran Jaunt Develops Portable 3D Capture Service for Volumetric Augmented Reality Content — *Image via Jaunt*

By comparison, capturing volumetric content typically requires dedicated studios, which are still relatively scarce and expensive.

The result is the kind of live holograms that science fiction dreams are made of, offering business customers and developers alike a more portable and seemingly affordable (pricing for the system hasn't been announced) volumetric capture system.

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"At Jaunt, we're always thinking about expanding the boundaries of storytelling by exploring the full immersive content spectrum; from virtual reality, to augmented and mixed reality, volumetric, and even new formats that our advanced development teams are working on," said Arthur van Hoff, Jaunt CTO and founder, in a statement.

"But our primary focus is empowering our partners to harness these evolving technologies, using the Jaunt XR Platform as the foundation for delivering their cutting-edge immersive content. Our ongoing research and development will serve as a cornerstone of the XR Platform's evolution, and our volumetric capabilities are only the first step in this initiative."

The new system comes from the company's research and development efforts for the Jaunt XR platform that gives developers the tools for building augmented reality experiences. In addition to volumetric capture, the company is working on a method for generating content via machine learning.

"Standing as one of the early, major players in the virtual and augmented reality space, we've taken our consumer-facing technology and storytelling capabilities and made them available to our partners," said van Hoff.

"Our B2B focus addresses a need for companies to be able to deliver AR and VR, and we see our XR Platform's real-time volumetric capabilities as yet another avenue for them to share engaging stories through their own channels. It's just one of the ways we're continuing to push the boundaries of XR content at Jaunt."

The continued growth of augmented reality has stoked further demand for easy ways to create 3D content. While 3D models are more accessible to developers, volumetric capture gives them the ability to present more realistic content that doesn't require coding original animations or physical behaviors.

Ultimately, a system like Jaunt's has the potential to make lifelike content even more commonplace in augmented reality experiences.