Aljosa Smolic
Hochschule Luzern (HSLU), Switzerland
Volumetric Video Content Creation for Immersive XR Experiences
Abstract
Volumetric video (VV) is an emergent digital media that enables novel forms of interaction and immersion within eXtended Reality (XR) applications. VV supports 3D representation of real-world scenes and objects to be visualized from any viewpoint or viewing direction; an interaction paradigm that is commonly seen in computer games. This allows for instance to bring real people into XR. Based on this innovative media format, it is possible to design new forms of immersive and interactive experiences that can be visualized via head-mounted displays (HMDs) in virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR). The talk will highlight technology for VV content creation developed by the V-SENSE lab and the startup company Volograms. It will further showcase a variety of creative experiments applying VV for immersive storytelling in XR.
Speaker’s Bio
Dr. Aljosa Smolic is lecturer in AR/VR in the Immersive Realities Research Lab of Hochschule Luzern (HSLU). Before joining HSLU, Dr. Smolic was the SFI Research Professor of Creative Technologies at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Advanced Video Technology group at Disney Research Zurich as, and with the Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (HHI), Berlin, also heading a research group as Scientific Project Manager. At Disney Research he led over 50 R&D projects in the area of visual computing that have resulted in numerous publications and patents, as well as technology transfers to a range of Disney business units. Dr. Smolic served as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing and the Signal Processing: Image Communication journal. He was Guest Editor for the Proceedings of the IEEE, IEEE Transactions on CSVT, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, and other scientific journals. His research group at TCD, V- SENSE, was on visual computing, combining computer vision, computer graphics and media technology, to extend the dimensions of visual sensation. This includes immersive technologies such as AR, VR, volumetric video, 360/omni-directional video, light-fields, and VFX/animation, with a special focus on deep learning in visual computing. Dr. Smolic is also co-founder of the start-up company Volograms, which commercializes volumetric video content creation. He received the IEEE ICME Star Innovator Award 2020 for his contributions to volumetric video content creation and TCD’s Campus Company Founders Award 2020.