Many people say the entertainment of the future will rely heavily on mixed reality experiences. Virtual reality is still in its developing stages, but as more and more resources pour into this new medium, we are seeing the quality of the experiences continue to improve.
One company that is blazing the trail for the clever use of VR is Jaunt. Watch their intro video here. This San Mateo startup made a name for themselves by creating 360 degree videos and cinematic VR experiences. However since management has changed, it seems like they’ve moved more to providing mixed reality media to other companies, almost like a production company.
One of the new products they’re developing is a full-body selfie. By using Intel RealSense depth cameras, Jaunt is able to combine several images of a person into a three dimensional avatar. They then send the images to a stream of augmented reality data which can be transmitted to nearby mobile devices.
Arthur van Hoff, the company’s founder, had this to say:
“Our objective is to make streaming of experiences like this very easy and portable. We have been strong in 360-degree video and immersive content for VR, and now we are figuring out what we can contribute for AR experiences We want to be the global partner of choice for producing and distributing immersive content. In the past, we were consumer-focused. We wanted to be the Netflix of VR and have people come to a Jaunt owned and operated site. We have repositioned as a business-to-business company.”
Perhaps the most interesting part of their new technology is the fact that they don’t need to use a green screen. This opens up all kinds of new possibilities, as potential future developers will be able to place avatars in any location without the need for a studio setup (aside from a few cameras).
With investors like the Walt Disney Company and Google, it’s no wonder that they’re growing. With three offices worldwide (the other two are in Santa Monica and Shanghai and over 100 employees, this fast-growing startup is likely to be responsible for the technology that will bring us the virtual reality entertainment of the future.
What do you think about Jaunt’s full-body selfie and it’s real world applications? Let us know in a comment!
