LOS ANGELES, CA, Feb 5, 2021 – Global volumetric video leader Arcturus announces a new partnership with Japan’s top wireless carrier, NTT DOCOMO, created to help stream volumetric videos of any length over a mobile network for the first time. Now, anyone on DOCOMO’s 5G network – from the average user to professionals in industries ranging from ecommerce to healthcare and beyond – can stream the future of video directly to their mobile devices.
“We want to put volumetric video technology in the hands of anyone with a mobile device,” said Kamal Mistry, CEO of Arcturus. “DOCOMO’s 5G capabilities are among the best in the world, which gives us the opportunity to really push the technology forward by leaps and bounds.”
Although volumetric videos have seen a steady increase in everything from entertainment to education, the recent introduction of lidar cameras for mobile devices is poised to turn anyone with a compatible phone or tablet into a new type of content creator. But with the complexity and size of the files – which include detailed 3D geometry and multiple camera angles – volumetric videos have not been suitable for streaming anything beyond short clips. This new partnership changes that, giving 5G mobile users the ability to stream volumetric videos of any length without a drop in quality, so they can explore every angle of the video directly from their browser. Users can also access volumetric 3D models as AR or through VR, all in real-time.
To bring volumetric videos to mobile devices, DOCOMO is leveraging its 5G network speeds and CDN expertise, with Arcturus’s compression tools, adaptive bitrate streaming solution and video player, capable of adapting to a device’s bandwidth to maintain the highest quality possible. Utilizing these tools, playback length in volumetric videos is no longer an issue, and users browsing on a web browser, or experiencing them in AR or VR, can now explore travel hotspots, explore retail locations, watch full workout videos and more, all from their chosen point-of-view, and all on their mobile devices.
“Working with Arcturus, we are able to anticipate the needs of our customers now and in the future, and offer them solutions before they know they want them,” said Naoto Matoba, manager, innovation management department at NTT DOCOMO. “Volumetric videos offer an entirely new way to experience content, and now that we can offer them to anyone with a mobile device, we expect the interest to grow rapidly.”
This partnership follows Arcturus’s release of its industry-leading volumetric video content delivery platform, which allows artists to easily edit and compress clips, then distribute them to third-party tools, including post-production software, real-time game engines and more. As the global rollout of 5G technology continues, individual and commercial studios alike have access to the tools they will need to engage with the next stage of the evolution of video.
The partnership between DOCOMO and Arcturus will be showcased during the “DOCOMO Open House 2021,” an online event created to highlight the latest news and features from Japan’s top wireless carrier. Volumetric videos will be featured in the “Virtual Booth,” beginning on Thursday, February 4 and running through Sunday, February 7.
Pricing/Availability
Arcturus’s “HoloEdit,” the first non-linear editor and post-production tool for volumetric video, and “HoloStream,” a tool that offers streaming options for volumetric video, are both available now. Annual licenses are available now for commercial and private use. Special education pricing is available as well upon request.
About Arcturus
Arcturus is the global leader in authoring, editing, and distributing volumetric videos. Founded in 2016 by innovators with deep backgrounds in storytelling and technology from Pixar, Dreamworks, Autodesk, Google and YouTube, Arcturus was ideally suited to create “HoloSuite,” a SAAS post-production platform, offering tools for editing and distributing volumetric video. HoloSuite consists of “HoloEdit,” an optimized pipeline for the editing and compression of volumetric video, and “HoloStream,” an adaptive streaming solution that streams polygons directly to the viewer.
Arcturus also helps others navigate the volumetric video ecosystem. Consulting work includes Hulu’s Emmy nominated “Light as a Feather” Magic Leap activation at VidCon, and Madonna’s volumetric holograms at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, the first ever live broadcast of a volumetric performance and the winner of the Advanced Imaging Society Lumiere award.
