Arcturus, a tool for editing and distributing 3D videos, announced that it has completed a $5 million seed round investment led by BITKRAFT Ventures and participated by HBSE Ventures, NTT Docomo Ventures, Build Ventures, Marc Merril and Craig Kallman.
Unlike stereoscopic video, volumetric 3D video is completely 3D and can be viewed from all angles, which makes it very suitable for augmented reality and virtual reality. However, due to the challenges in capturing, storing, editing, and distributing, volumetric 3D video has not yet achieved large-scale popularization.
Arcturus hopes to simplify the use of volumetric 3D video through "Holosuite" (HoloEdit, HoloCompute and HoloStream), making editing, management and transmission easier.
Regarding this investment, Arcturus said it plans to use it to "expand the size of the software development team, focus on sales growth, and expand the product line with the focus on live streaming."
Company CEO Kamal Mistry said: “Arcturus’ mission is to create a future where everyone can capture digital holograms from reality, customize them, and even interact with others in real time. This It can include digital customer service agents, human avatars, virtual 3D concerts and fashion catwalks, or it can provide the perspective of sports athletes. With the support of investors such as BITKRAFT Ventures, we believe Arcturus will become a popular mass video creation. A catalyst that enables millions of users to create a new form of interactive content."
Shooting real-view 3D video is still a complicated process, which usually requires a dedicated studio and dozens or even hundreds of cameras. Compared with traditional video or even stereo video, the generated data set is very large.
However, due to the development of hardware and software, this situation is likely to change in the future. For example, in recent years, researchers have used machine learning methods to reconstruct 3D videos from traditional video clips, and have achieved convincing results. Hardware built specifically to capture volumetric 3D data (such as Microsoft's Azure Kinect or LiDAR-equipped mobile phones and tablets) can simplify the capture process and further expand the use cases of volumetric 3D video.
Arcturus is not responsible for the actual capture of volumetric 3D video, but it counts on the growth in demand for volumetric 3D video and hopes to prepare a set of tools for creators to store, edit and stream related content. The pricing for Arcturus's Holosuite is: $7,500 per user per year. For more information, please visit the company's official website.
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