January 30, 2018
2017
2017 is the year: Fraunhofer HHI and UFA GmbH produce the first walk-in film in Germany in a joint test production and thus set a milestone in the history of volumetric film.
The sensational film "Gateway to Infinity" had its premiere at the NAB Show in Las Vegas in 2017. The film gives viewers a unique volumetric Virtual Reality experience where they become part of the movie scene. The basis of the project is the revolutionary "3D Human Body Reconstruction (3D HBR)" technology developed by Fraunhofer HHI, which allows the realistic 3D image of a human being to be transferred into a virtual world.
The required images are recorded with 32 pairs of cameras. The different perspectives allow an exact reconstruction of gestures, facial expressions and textures, so that facial expressions and movements of clothing and hair can be reproduced realistically. The 3D models of real people appear dynamically and surpass the realism and authenticity of classic animations of virtual characters.
The special feature of the future-oriented Volumetric Video technology is that the 3D models of the characters are then integrated into a virtual scene, which takes place in a three-dimensional environment. Within the scene, the viewers are able to move around the actors with VR glasses, which gives them the opportunity to view the actors from any perspective and thus experience the story from up close.