At NAB 2026, Emergent Vision Technologies showcased a cutting-edge 36-camera array. The multi-server system with GPUDirect processing is designed for high-resolution volumetric capture and renders out a 4D Gaussian splat. A 4D Gaussian splat is a 3D video that allows creators to manipulate perspectives after filming, and Emergent’s capabilities now include synced sound recording. The perspective and background can be edited in post production to create truly immersive content in VR and entertainment.

Also featured were ZENITH high-resolution, high-speed cameras built on new Sony camera sensors. These cameras are capable of up to 105MP and 811fps, with a range of resolutions and framerates in-between. These cameras are being deployed in sports and immersive content industries to capture realistic motion at very high resolutions.

Watch the video to learn more!

BAD HAMBURG, Germany—Maxon, a maker of 2D and 3D design and motion graphics software, has tapped Steve Forde as chief product officer.

Forde will lead Maxon’s global product organization, working closely with Chief Technology and AI Officer Philip Losch to drive product strategy, execution and long-term innovation, Maxon said.

Forde has held senior leadership roles at such companies as Adobe and Amazon, where he led product, engineering and design teams for such large-scale platforms as Adobe After Effects and Prime Video, Maxon said. Earlier in his career, he founded and led two successful startups, including Gridiron Software, where he oversaw the development of Adobe After Effects plug-ins, where he first worked closely with the Maxson team, the company said.

“What drew me to Maxon was the convergence of people, technology and a fundamental shift in how creative content is made,” Forde said. “The proliferation of games, advertising and social media is driving 3D from niche skill set to mainstream job requirement. With the right combination of product innovation and intelligent workflows, it can become accessible to an even broader audience. Maxon is uniquely positioned to lead that transformation, not just by building powerful tools, but by delivering experiences that scale with creators as their needs evolve. I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines while it happens.”

As Maxon’s CPO, Forde will focus on establishing a clear, long-term product vision while scaling its product organization to support global teams, increasingly complex customer needs and sustained enterprise growth, ensuring teams can deliver cohesive, high-quality experiences without losing the creative spirit that has defined the company, it said.

“Steve brings a deep understanding of both where Maxon comes from and where the market is heading,” Maxon CEO David McGavran said. “His ability to connect long-term vision with practical execution makes him an ideal partner as we continue to grow. This appointment strengthens our leadership team and positions Maxon to lead the industry through the next phase of creative evolution.”

A key component of Forde’s mandate is to guide the integration of emerging technologies into Maxon’s products in ways that respect artistic craft and amplify human creativity, the company said. He’ll focus on using technology to remove friction and expand possibilities, the company said, allowing artists to spend more time creating and less time navigating complexity.

Maxon’s products include the Maxon One ecosystem, a comprehensive suite of solutions.

PARAMUS, N.J.—Sony Electronics has released the software development kit (SDK) version 2.4.0 for its Spatial Reality Displays (SRD), designed for 3D content creation.

With added multidisplay support, viewer log functionality, and extended development platform compatibility, this update allows content creators to produce even more immersive and high-impact 3D content, Sony said.

SDK version 2.4.0 introduces the ability to combine multiple Spatial Reality Displays for larger and more engaging visual setups. This new functionality offers:

• Vertical Array: Stack up to four displays for life-sized, full-body figures or tall content that brings a lifelike presence to immersive installations.
• Horizontal Array: Align up to three displays for wide-screen, panoramic 3D content, ideal for large-scale presentations and events.
• Grid Array: Create a 2-by-2 grid of four displays, producing the equivalent of a 55-inch screen, perfect for displaying large objects or creating impactful viewing experiences.

Another key feature of SDK 2.4.0 is its new viewer log capability. This tool allows content creators to gather quantitative data on viewer engagement, including the number of viewers and viewing duration, providing valuable insights into the performance of 3D content at exhibitions, events, and installations. This data can help optimize content and improve visitor engagement.

In addition, SDK 2.4.0 offers expanded support for leading development platforms. Those include: Unreal Engine 5.4; Unity Plugin DX12; and extended OpenXR compatibility

These advancements make it easier for developers to integrate the Spatial Reality Display into existing workflows, enabling the creation of highly realistic 3D content with more intuitive, efficient development processes, Sony said.

Alongside the SDK release, Sony will introduce firmware version 1.30.00 for the ELF-SR2 model at the end of November.

This firmware update builds on the display's capabilities by improving facial recognition performance, making the 3D viewing experience even smoother and more seamless. It also expands color gamut support with DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 compatibility, allowing for more vibrant and accurate color reproduction. The firmware also introduces side-by-side stereoscopic 3D viewing, which can be activated through the function (Fn) button, further enhancing the depth and realism of 3D content, Sony reported.

For more details and to download the latest SDK, visit the Spatial Reality Display developer site here.

PARAMUS, N.J.—Sony Electronics is adding a new model to its Spatial Reality Display portfolio with the addition of the ELF-SR2, a larger 27-inch, 4K option that provides highly realistic, three-dimensional content without the use of special glasses or VR headsets. 

Highlights of the new offering include an upgraded high-speed vision sensor, image quality enhancing technologies and installation flexibility. Additionally, the ELF-SR2 enables more robust functionality through its support of applications and development. It is optimized for industrial design, surgical planning, architecture, engineering, construction, signage, retail, software/application development, game developers and entertainment applications, Sony reported. 

“Our original Spatial Reality Display continues to captivate customers by bringing 3D content to life with an astonishing authenticity and sophistication that demands to be experienced hands-on,” said Rich Ventura, vice president of professional display solutions, Sony Electronics. “While our users love the technology, we keep hearing the same question from professionals; ‘does this display come in a larger size?’ As we expand into more B2B verticals and environments, I’m happy to say that in addition to a bigger screen, we’ve added some powerful and commonly requested features to enhance content production. These include a wider color gamut, a newly developed engine, more advanced high-speed sensors and rich support for applications and their development – all for an extremely competitive price.”

The display’s visual fidelity is amplified by its immersive depth of field and detailed resolution, in addition to its larger size. A new generation of high-speed vision sensors enable high-speed processing, as well as low latency for reduced motion blur and crosstalk. 10-bit processing supports a wide color gamut that covers Adobe RGB at approximately 100% for accurate color reproduction. The super resolution engine provides upscaling from 2K to 4K. Additionally, the new model offers color moire correction to better address fine details, patterns and lines, Sony said. 

The ELF-SR2's enhanced facial tracking and recognition senses a viewer’s eyes to provide a natural and comfortable visual experience, while the wide viewing angle enables consistency and accuracy from numerous vantage points.

The ELF-SR2 is also designed to promote application compatibility, as well as efficient and streamlined development through software development kits (SDKs). With support for leading SDKs including Unity and Unreal Engine, it also allows for development with Open GL, DirectX11/12 and Open XR (coming later this year). In addition, the Spatial Reality Display enables simplified VR and AR digital content creation, the company said. 

A new Spatial Reality Display App Select website will also be available, where users can easily find applications compatible with the display, as well as relevant case studies and information. In addition, Sony will offer an intuitive Spatial Reality Display Player app, which supports various 3D file formats to easily show 3D projects on the display, the company explained. 

The Spatial Reality Display also allows for the use of specialized, industry-specific applications highlighted in these partnerships:

• 3DICOM MD, Singular Health's FDA-approved 3D software has been designed to work with Spatial Reality Display and enables highly accurate, detailed, glasses-free 3D medical visualization for diagnostic applications.
• Digital Nation Entertainment (DNE) provides end-to-end production and creative services for mixed reality and live experiences. DNE uses Spatial Reality Display to pre-visualize content from their volumetric capture studio.
• Developed by Arcturus, HoloSuite powers digital humans by editing, compressing and streaming volumetric video for virtual production and the metaverse, as well as AR/VR viewing on the Spatial Reality Display.
• KiksAR's platform brings real life shopping experiences to the digital world. Ultra realistic 3D configurators and personalized digital try-on experiences for jewelry and watch stores can be achieved in 3D using the Spatial Reality Display.
• Magnopus forges design, art, and technology to create new experiences across augmented reality, virtual reality and traditional reality. They’re designing 3D entertainment content specifically for Spatial Reality Display and use it in their Virtual Production pipeline.
• Pixomondo (PXO) delivers Virtual Production and Visual Effects expertise and solutions for Film and Episodic content. PXO is using Spatial Reality Display to pre-visualize 3D assets built in Unreal Engine before final presentation on an LED volume, replacing a head-mounted display, for creators’ comfort and convenience.
• SHoP Architects uses Spatial Reality Display for client presentations and has developed a mobile app to wirelessly control and navigate 3D models on it.
• Sketchfab is the leading platform for 3D and AR on the web. Using the Sketchfab API, Spatial Reality Display users will be able to download and view 3D models.
• WhiteMoon dreams, a leading independent game studio, uses Spatial Reality Display to evaluate 3D characters, creatures, textures, lighting, colors, and effects, instead of printing the 3D characters. This provides a faster and more sustainable real-time 3D evaluation.

In addition, the easy-to-use ELF-SR2 Spatial Reality Display’s updated sensors and high-speed hardware processing provide accommodation for a wider variety of PCs to support different use cases and needs. With a detachable stand, the portable display can be installed in multiple different environments and configurations. It also accommodates the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) mounting standard for further flexibility and compatibility.

The ELF-SR2 is planned to be available in May 2023 in the United States and Canada through Sony’s professional channels. It is expected to have a MSRP of $5,000 USD and feature a 3-year limited product warranty. The 27 inch model will be on display at NAB Show April 16-19 in Las Vegas in Sony’s booth (C8101) and can also be seen at Augmented World Expo (AWE), May 31-June 2 in Santa Clara, CA and at InfoComm, June 14-16 in Orlando.

More information on Spatial Reality Display can be found at https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/spatial-reality-displays. 

More information on new AV products and solutions from Sony Electronics is available at https://pro.sony/prodisplaysolutions.

MELVILLE, N.Y.—Canon has introduced the RF5.2mm f2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens, bringing stereoscopic 3D virtual reality (VR) capture to the EOS R5 camera as part of the EOS VR System.

The digital interchangeable dual fisheye lens is capable of shooting stereoscopic 3D 180-degree VR imagery with a single image sensor, streamlining the complexities of virtual reality production as well as the ability to view content in full capacity, the company said.

To enable viewing the content captured by this system in its truest form, use of compatible VR headset, such as the Oculus Quest 2, enables viewers to immerse themselves in the content by moving their heads, it said.

“At Canon, we innovate so creators can push artistic boundaries, and this commitment to innovation is what led us to introduce the new RF5.2mm F2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens. As Canon’s first entry into the world of virtual reality image capture, the EOS VR System represents an important milestone in our company’s rich history as a lens manufacturer and welcomes a bright future for VR content creation,” said Tatsuro “Tony” Kano, executive vice president and general manager of Canon U.S.A.’s Imaging Technologies & Communications Group. “This new RF lens produces a stunning 8K virtual reality image and sets itself apart through its simplified workflow. Our goal is to make immersive storytelling more accessible for all.”

The new lens features high-quality L-series optics engineered with an interpupillary distance of 60mm for delivery of 3D imagery in VR with natural parallax, closely resembling human vision when viewed through a compatible headset, it said.

With a 190-degree field of view captured from two separate optical systems they deliver outstanding results for 180° VR viewing platforms. With subwavelength coating technology offering impressive flare control in backlit conditions, VR creators can have freedom to shoot regardless the time of day or position of the sun. The dual fisheye design provides versatile exposure control with a maximum aperture of a bright f/2.8 to a deep depth of field of f/16 with electronically controlled apertures allowing the dual fisheye lens to operate just like other RF mount lenses, it said.

Canon’s free Camera Connect app and Canon's EOS Utility program both will be updated in the future to offer remote control live view functionality for monitoring purposes while on-the-go, it said.

The EOS VR System’s workflow is based on recording left and right fisheye images to a single full-frame image sensor. This helps to solve common VR challenges of stitching and syncing, by outputting one single image file. Canon is currently developing two paid subscription-based software solutions as options for completing the post-production process, it said.

The EOS VR Utility will offer the ability to convert clips from dual fisheye image to equirectangular and make quick edits, as well as select the resolution and file format before export. With the EOS VR Plug-In for Adobe Premiere Pro, creators will be able to convert footage automatically to equirectangular and cut, color and add new dimension to stories with Adobe Creative Cloud apps, including Premiere Pro, it said.

Features of the new lens include:

• A close-focusing distance of 7.87-inches/0.2m is possible; max magnification is 0.03x.
• Aperture range of f/2.8 to f/16 with a 7-blade aperture and simultaneous electro-magnetic diaphragm for both left and right lenses.
• Built-in gelatin filter holder, which allows ND gel filters to be used in bright environments if a bright aperture is desired.
• Fluorine coating on the front lens elements, with a dust and water resistant design.
• Extremely compact size, allowing the lens to be used in different types of productions.

The RF5.2mm f2.8 L Dual Fisheye lens is scheduled for December availability and has an estimated retail price of $1,999.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SAN DIEGO—Sony Electronics has launched a new display technology that enables visual creators from a wide variety of industries to bring their ideas to life in 3D without the need for a headset of virtual reality glasses, the company announced.

Called the Spatial Reality Display, or SR Display, the new display makes it possible for creators to combine the virtual and physical worlds and make them viewable with the naked eye, the company said.

“We’re excited to bring the world’s best technology to bear, moving the design and creation industry forward, particularly as the shift to digital has become so pronounced,” said Mike Fasulo, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics North America. “This technology drives new versatility, allowing us to advance an entirely new medium and experience for designers and creators everywhere.”

The SR Display relies on a high-speed vision sensor that follows exact eye position in space on the vertical, horizontal and depth axes at the same time. The display monitors eye movement to the millisecond while rendering the image instantly based on the location and position of the viewer’s eyes.  

Doing so makes it possible for creators to interact with their designs in a realistic, virtual 3D environment from any angle.

The SR Display uses an original processing algorithm to display content in real-time, which allows stereoscopic images to appear as smooth as real life, even if the viewer moves around. 

A micro optical lens plays a key role in enabling 3D viewing. It is positioned precisely over the 15.6-inch (diagonal) LCD display and divides the image into the left and right eye views, enabling stereoscopic display with the eye alone.

Sony has released a software development kit (SDK) for the SR Display. It is compatible with industry tools like Unity and Unreal Engine, making it possible for designers to work within familiar production environments. The workflow can be used to develop interactive applications in gaming, VR, construction and automotive design.

To highlight what the SR Display can do, Sony Electronics collaborated with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures subsidiary Ghost Corps for the movie “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” scheduled for a 2021 release. 

SR Display was used to bring familiar and new film characters to life. “We have been working with the Sony team to bring ‘Ghostbusters’ characters and assets to life using Sony’s Spatial Reality Display,” said Eric Reich, brand and franchise executive at Ghost Corps. “Moving forward, we could see potential benefits from pre-visualization to 3D modeling. The display offers a new approach to visualizing concepts and characters, making understanding the finished product that much easier.” 

The SR Display has a suggested retail price of $4,999 (U.S.). Sony will begin taking orders on its direct e-commerce website and through other retailers in November. 

Sony will host a virtual demo of the SR Display Oct. 22 at noon Pacific Time. Registration is available online.

Information about the SR Display SDK is available online, as is more information about the display.

Las Vegas, NV – Electronics innovation will be on vibrant display in the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s (HKTDC) 43rd annual Hong Kong Pavilion at CES, featuring 47 companies in bold and exciting exhibits that showcase why electronics is the number one export for the world city.

Strategically located in the heart of Asia, within a five-hour flight to half of the world's population, Hong Kong has long been a hotbed of entrepreneurship. The city boasts the fifth-fastest growing start-up ecosystem in the world and was the world's #1 IPO center in 2019. It's strong global financial hub, coupled with the city's supportive regulatory structures, low taxes, attract top investments to help fuel new and long-term development.

Today, more than 3,100 start-ups call Hong Kong home, a 21% increase from 2018. Co-organized with the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP)

20 of these start-ups will be exhibiting in Eureka Park, including 6 winners from the Start-up Express – a development program launched by HKTDC to assist Hong Kong start-ups in building networks, marketing their business and enhancing brand awareness globally. There are also two winners from IPHatch Hong Kong – an open-innovation competition to bring business concepts to fruition by commercializing the intellectual property and technology portfolios from renowned multinational corporations.

As a key international sourcing hub, 27 Hong Kong innovators will also be featured in the Design and Source to supply the needs of global buyers who attend CES this week.

Exhibitors representing a broad spectrum of applications will be on display, including:

1. Artificial Intelligence: Jedies Advance Tech, Veztan

2. Wellness/Wellbeing: CYC Motor, Contact Beverage

3. Lifestyle: Knitwarm, Maxconcept

4. Wearables and Medical/Healthcare: Taison Digital, MedEXO, Incus

5. Eco/ Smart Home: AIRXED, Hi-Cooler, Epro

6. Smart City: RaSpect, , Affluent Growth & Innovation Tech

7. IoT & Sensors: R-Guardian, Prodigy, Meridian Innovation

8. Lighting: LiPhy, Rayson

9. Safety & Security: GL Technologies, KiLax

10. R&D: NAMI, Innoplay

11. AR/VR: PPK, Kazoo

12. 3D: PlusD,

13. E-commerce: LinkedMarts

14. Electro/Acoustic: Innovation Technology, Kan Tsang, Chiba, Shiba

15. Testing & Certification: ECTest, STC

As the world’s freest economy for the past 25 years, and ranked as the world’s third best and easiest place for business by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2020, Hong Kong presents an ideal opportunity and platform for companies seeking to enter the fast-growing Asian market. Electronics products are currently Hong Kong's biggest export, accounting for over 68% of Hong Kong's total exports in 2018 and supplying global demand for high-tech products including telecommunications equipment, semiconductors and computer items, etc.

For more about HKTDC, please visit www.hktdc.com and for registration details for CES, please visit www.ces.tech.

To learn more about the 47 Hong Kong companies exhibiting at CES, click here.

About HKTDC
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 to promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's trade. With 50 offices globally, including 13 in Mainland China, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a two-way global investment and business hub. The HKTDC organizes international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to create business opportunities for companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the mainland and international markets. The HKTDC also provides up-to-date market insights and product information via trade publications, research reports and digital news channels. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. 

The end of the decade is upon us and time to take a look at how the last 10 years impacted broadcasters. As usual, it’s a mixed bag of successes and a few failures, illustrating the rocky path for our industry as we transition from television as we knew it to a whole new paradigm.

In 2010, I acquired my first streaming box and talked about it in these pages. At the time, I referred to my second-generation Apple TV box as an “IPTV” box—a quaint reference a decade later. Back then, I would classify my opinion as “cautious optimism,” calling Apple TV’s biggest attraction its price, easy setup and user interface. I don’t think there’s any question about how the Apple TV box ushered in a revolution of OTT and streaming services that not only influenced how we watched but what we watched. The mobility of television—prompted by the influx of more powerful devices, faster connections and more efficient compression—was perhaps the biggest jump in television technology during the decade.

The desire for the “next big thing” however, led us down several precarious paths. After HDTV had taken hold in the last half of the previous decade, programmers and manufacturers needed a hook to increase interest and the bottom line. At that point, we hooked our star to 3D, which came and went in a flash. Even though the concept had been around for decades, we seemed to think that high-resolution displays and better production technology would spur new interest among consumers. But in the end, it was unrealistic expectations hampered by what has been 3D’s Achilles heel since its inception: the need to wear glasses, lack of content and the limited viewing angles.

3D managed to hang on at the movie theater for several more years but now is hardly anywhere to be seen (at least domestically). File 3DTV in the “what were we thinking” files and perhaps, next time, we won’t be so eager to glom onto “the next big thing” just because we were looking for it.

Another technology that never really got off the ground (literally) was mobile DTV (aka “ATSC 2.0). What started as an opportunity in the latter part of the last decade to take advantage of excess digital spectrum to broadcast signals to screens (even in a car going 75 MPH) flamed out quickly. The reasons for its demise, however provided a teachable moment for our industry: the lack of cooperation from a cellular industry that was itself just beginning to see profits from streaming video. Samsung, which has been involved in the development of ATSC standards, did offer up a few handsets with a mobile DTV chip and a few dongles were made available at retail, but the refusal of Apple and cellular providers to incorporate mobile DTV chipsets was the final nail in the coffin.

Although the development of the next version of ATSC 3.0 had already been planned during that time, the failure of mobile DTV was an important lesson to our industry as we reached outside of our business and beyond the traditional TV set to insert our presence into the increasingly mobile world. Although a lot of naysayers are skeptical because of its lack of backward compatibility, ATSC 3.0 (aka NEXTGEN TV) offers our industry the best hope of relevance in an IP-based world. Next year has been hailed as the “breakout year” for the fledgling standard and by next December, we may be able to better judge its success.

The threat of cellular to the broadcast industry made its biggest impact during the latter half of the decade when the FCC finally moved ahead with its promise of auctioning off broadcast spectrum—a battle broadcasters had been fighting since before the decade began, (“Broadcasters Ready to Fight,” was the headline on the Jan. 6, 2010 issue of TV Technology). This has forced our industry to adjust to fewer channels and spectrum availability, with the threat of additional auctions on the horizon. In adapting to this new world, however, we are using new standards and concepts such as single frequency networks to ensure signal reliability.

IP is what prompted the mobile screen revolution during the decade and it’s IP that may have the biggest impact on our production capacity in the coming decade. To say we as an industry are moving too slowly, though is to ignore the standards that are expected of us. Streamers use the term “broadcast quality” to characterize the Holy Grail of programming—low latency, high resolution and enhanced audio. Our industry established that standard many decades ago and although IP brings with it enormous flexibility, viewers look to us to provide the five 9s of reliability and quality. That won’t go away anytime soon, as evidenced by last month’s rocky rollout for Disney+.

To all our friends and colleagues, have a fantastic holiday season and we’ll see you in the next decade!

OSLO, Norway—The Future Group has introduced Pixotope, a software suite for commodity hardware that makes it easy and affordable to use 3D, VR, AR and data technology in video productions.

Available as a subscription-only package, Pixotope enables broadcasters and video producers to create real-time, cinematic-quality, cross-reality content, the company said. The new product closely integrates the Epics Games Unreal Engine to make possible creation of real-time graphics.

Pixotope’s real-time graphics processes include reflections, distortion, shadows, lightwrap and virtual camera moves.

The Pixotope software suite includes: Pixotope Director to control all aspects of the system; Pixotope DataHub, which offers an API for easy integration of multi-camera workflows, including MOS, custom control panels, DMX light control and GPI triggers; Pixotope Controller, which allow design and integration of control panels inside browsers on any device; and Pixotope Editor, which supports a WYSIWYG workflow for level layout, lighting, vfx, animation and compositing.

Pixotope tools include the Text3D GG, Pixotope Keyer and Pixotope Studio Creator virtual studio generator.

The software allows users to:

• Create virtual sets and AR with cinema-quality real-time graphics;
• Work with a single camera or multi-camera productions in which everything is synchronized and dynamically linked;
• Make all graphics work, from personalized sets to entire content sequences, data-driven
• Use off-the-shelf hardware and CPUs.

Monthly subscriptions are priced at $2,500 per camera channel.

More information is available on the Future Group website.

Four researchers at the University of Washington have collaborated with Google and Facebook to turn video into fully interactive holograms.

The team of researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm capable of transforming 2D football clips into 3D reconstructions.

They use video of matches, track the movements of each player individually, and then map the players into 3D models. These 3D models have been extracted from the video and projected as a 3D representation onto a football pitch on a table top - allowing the audience to watch the match without the need of a screen.

Viewers can watch the game from multiple angles and the 3D replay will also be available a few minutes after the match ends.

“Our goal is to enhance the viewing experience of sports,” Konstantinos Rematas, one of the researchers on the project, told Digital Trends. “Instead of watching a soccer game or highlights on a flat 2D screen, we convert the original video into 3D and visualise it in augmented reality. Essentially the game becomes a hologram, where you can move around and look from different viewpoints, generating a more immersive experience.”

“The next steps are about increasing the quality of the game reconstruction,” Rematas continued. “In particular, we want to estimate precisely the location of the ball and reconstruct better the players — occlusions, full 3D shape estimation, [and more].”

You can read the researchers' paper here.

INDIANAPOLIS—Anthony Schoettle of Indianapolis Business Journal writes: Within weeks of its opening last fall, the Indiana University Mark Cuban Center for Sports Media and Technology began flexing its considerable technological muscle.

Students and faculty running the center rolled out eye-popping virtual reality technology at the basketball teams’ opening practice Oct. 22—an event known as Midnight Madness. It gave fans the feeling they were on the court.

IU also became the first school in the nation to use the freeD technology—or Free Dimensional Video technology—a kind of 3D system that uses camera angles from 360 degrees to produce 3D replays on the video scoreboard inside Assembly Hall.

Click here to read the full story.

BERLIN—Virtual reality is adding a bit of the real-world, as Fraunhofer HHI has announced that it has developed a new camera system that allows for 3D human body reconstruction, creating a 3D model of someone and placing it into a virtual model.

The camera system from Fraunhofer is at its base a stereo camera, which records an image with two lenses, similar to what people do with their eyes; the results creates a 3D impression. More than 20 of these stereo cameras are used to map a person, with each camera focusing on a specific part. The different images are then merged to create a single picture.

Once the image is completed it is transmitted into the virtual world, where the person can move freely in the dedicated capture area. Fraunhofer’s eventual goal is to be able to have a person be able to directly interact with the virtual world.

Fraunhofer will demonstrate its new technology at the upcoming IFA fair in Berlin and the IBC 2016 Show in Amsterdam.