2013: Virtual Reality becomes Volumetric Video’s Raison d’Etre.

The point clouds and glitches made possible by our free RGBDToolkit software appealed to a dedicated cadre of science fiction inspired filmmakers. But it didn’t go much further than a novel visual technique. All that changed when the first Oculus Rift virtual reality HMD prototype became available in 2013.

Oculus DK1

Few of us in that small community of creative hackers would have anticipated how soon a display technology demanding volumetric video would be coming to market. Our group of early adopters began expanding rapidly as the VR industry emerged and the need for volumetric video grew.

Placing human performances into virtual space became an appealing way to combine the craft of filmmaking with the technical demands of game engine virtual reality.

2014: CLOUDS Documentary and the DepthKit

Together with filmmaker Jonathan Minard, I had been using the RGBDToolkit to amass an archive of interviews featuring the pioneers of creative coding — among them the very individuals who had made the open source Kinect drivers available. The collection had grown to more than 10 hours of in-depth conversations (no pun intended) covering all topics related to code and creativity. We called the project CLOUDS.

Jonathan and I adapted the CLOUDS documentary to the Oculus Rift, allowing the viewers to navigate the database of topics simply using their gaze. Each interview subject appeared as a data-form surrounded by code visualizations. Seeing real humans discussing the future of code, creativity, and technological progress within a fully holographic virtual space was exhilarating. We were hooked.

CLOUDS Documentary — Directed by James George & Jonathan Minard, 2014. Technique: Oculus Rift + DepthKit

Alexander and I set to work on a new toolset simply called DepthKit. We surmised that if we could expand the aesthetic range beyond point-clouds towards photorealism, we’d be contributing an important enabling technology to the evolution of film.

We weren’t alone in our realization.

2015: Cambrian explosion of Volumetric Video

While we rebuilt DepthKit to meet the needs of real-time volumetric VR, a host of other capture techniques and solutions began to emerge. From high-tech corporate research, to fast-growing start ups, to RGBDToolkit-like freeware, the diversity in approaches to volumetric video expanded rapidly.

In early 2015, a special projects team at Microsoft Research released videos and a research paper demonstrating advanced volumetric capture. Requiring hundreds of cameras, thousands of hours of processing on the highest end graphics cards and multi-core processors, the quality of the results were beyond anything seen to date.

Around the same time, 8i appeared with a web-streaming volumetric video format. To showcase their technology, they released several VR vignettes featuring their captures on Steam.

#100 Humans by volumetric video technology company 8i

Following quickly on the heels of 8i, Uncorporeal released two short volumetric scenes also formatted for VR. Allowing for interactive relighting, Uncorporeal’s captures are more visually integrated into their virtual 3D surroundings scene than 8i’s.

Alcatraz Island Lofts by Uncorporeal

While visually impressive, the use of these tools remained confined to the inner circles of Hollywood and behind the walls of research labs. We saw an opportunity to stay committed to serving the growing number of tech-forward filmmakers wanting to make the leap into volumetric video.

Our mission with DepthKit became clear: Lower the barrier to entry for creators to get started with volumetric, while empowering them to explore the entire range of stylized representation from glitchy and holographic to photorealistic.

2016–Present: DepthKit for Accessible Volumetric Video

The first brave users of DepthKit’s new photorealistic capabilities were trusted friends — the producer from CLOUDS, Winslow Porter and his collaborator Milica Zec. Their 2016 VR debut Giant takes place in a basement with a family during a frightening event. What unfolds is a rattling portrayal of raw fear and emotion. For the first time, DepthKit was able to capture the humanity of actor performance without distracting digital artifacts.

Giant — Directed by Milica Zec and Winslow Porter, 2016. Virtual Reality short Film, shot with DepthKit

Exploring the entire range between photorealistic and holographic, this year Scatter (DepthKit’s sister studio) focused on exploring the boundaries between reality and science fiction with Zero Days VR. An adaptation of Alex Gibney’s feature documentary about the Stuxnet virus, this virtual reality exposé utilizes DepthKit to portray the testimony of a mysterious NSA informant as she glitches between photorealistic character and a holographic apparition.

Scatter’s .Zero Days VR — Directed by Yasmin Elayat, Technical Direction Elie Zananiri, Production Mei-Ling Wong

The experience goes a step further at the end with a surprising reveal — the viewer finds themselves face-to-face with the informant during an out of body experience, driving home that cyber threats are not confined to the virtual realm. Using the a live stream captured from an Intel RealSense R200 camera piped into Unity’s game engine on a separate thread, we were able to put a real-time holographic representation of the viewer into VR. The R200’s small form factor and low power consumption made it a perfect fit for integrating into the installation.

Zero Days VR Installation @ Sundance 2017

Seeing yourself in VR as hologram in Zero Days VR, powered by DepthKit SDK

Intel RealSense R200 camera, used in the Zero Days VRInstallation above

Zero Days VR is an example of an ongoing art and technology feedback loop. Scatter’s creative projects generate challenges that DepthKit must rise to meet. Stemming from innovation this project demanded, support for RealSense depth sensors are planned to be folded into the features of DepthKit and made available to the community of users — offering VR creators a much more portable volumetric video solution than previously available. The Intel RealSense camera line continues to offer a way forward for low cost, high quality depth sensing for this type of innovation.

The Promise and The Paradox

From the fragmented glimpses of Thom Yorke’s pointillized face, to Microsoft’s immaculately reconstructed Maori warriors — a technology that just ten years ago was science fiction is now a reality. The demonstrations and immersive experiences created along the way point to a new frontier of media that expand well beyond the current boundaries of cinema and video games.

However, as experiences powered by volumetric video become more common, new challenges are emerging. If not couched artfully within the scene of a story, volumetric characters can easily be a paradoxical presence. While a viewer can move around them as if they are actually there, the captures are still fixed recordings. They don’t respond, make eye contact, or interact as one may hope. Without a narrative reason for them to not respond, viewers can become confused or distracted.

Despite the technology rapidly maturing, the creative grammar of volumetric video is still in its infancy.

Repeating History

Discovering successful volumetric story design will require the continued cross-disciplinary collaboration between artists and technologists. It’s my hope that over the next ten years, this blossoming creative community will define a new vernacular for blending reality, fiction, and interactivity to achieve the most moving experiences yet.

If you’re a creator interested in getting started with volumetric filmmaking, sign up for the DepthKit Beta to join our growing community dedicated to exploring the potential of this exciting new medium.