At SIGGRAPH 2022, Volumetric video technology company Arcturus announced new advanced video playback tools for Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) that will impact a range of industries from virtual production and video games to architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC).
As per AWN report, 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 movable 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 the 2022 fourth quarter 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. 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,” said Arcturus CEO Kamal Mistry.
At SIGGRAPH, Arcturus’ technology was demonstrated at the Dell booth and at the HP booth highlighting the potential for volumetric video in virtual production. The report further, Arcturus’ character creation potential was displayed with a look at the latest holographic technology.
At the HP booth, one could 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.