LOS ANGELES—Seven companies have come together to form the Volumetric Format Association, dedicated to ensuring interoperability across the volumetric video ecosystem. The founding companies are Verizon, Zeiss, RED Digital Cinema, Unity, Intel, Nvidia and Canon.
Volumetric video is a new way to experience content in holographic 3D, giving the viewer a more immersive and interactive experience, VFA says. It is characterized by the process of simultaneously capturing content from multiple cameras, which can then be viewed from any angle at any point in time.
The goal of the VFA will be to facilitate collaboration, innovation and technology sharing to establish a collection of specifications that will help drive faster development, adoption and ecosystem growth.
As VFA members, the companies will be able to share intellectual property within the confines of the organization while protecting the value of that IP. The VFA Technical Steering Committee has defined four initial working groups to create the specifications, including Capture Acquisition, Interchange of Data, Decode & Render and Persistent Metadata.
"The Volumetric Format Association is leading the way in how content, especially in sports and M&E, is being presented, and we are seeing the biggest shift since B+W went to color" said Tian Pei, head of business affairs for sports at Unity. "Volumetric technologies encompass the process of capturing, viewing, and interacting with the real world and here at Unity we are pushing the limits of what's possible and transforming the interactive experience forever."
VFA is opening membership to other companies. For more information, visit www.volumetricformat.org.
