{"id":339313,"date":"2017-04-26T10:21:54","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T02:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1478133"},"modified":"2017-04-26T10:21:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-26T02:21:54","slug":"lytros-light-field-vision-finally-shows-its-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/lytros-light-field-vision-finally-shows-its-worth\/","title":{"rendered":"Lytro\u2019s light field vision finally shows its worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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While many of the virtual reality experiences\u00a0being shown off at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival\u00a0are\u00a0pushing boundaries in VR story-telling techniques, \u201cHallelujah\u201d is perhaps most noteworthy\u00a0because of the cutting\u00a0edge\u00a0tech used to shoot\u00a0the experience and the story behind it.<\/p>\n

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Lytro<\/a> has been around for eleven\u00a0years; raised over $210 million from Silicon Valley\u2019s top investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners and NEA; and yet this\u00a0VR music video represents the startup\u2019s\u00a0public-facing square one as it executes on a pivot\u00a0it\u2019s been\u00a0building up for the last two years. It\u2019s all designed around Lytro\u2019s\u00a0core technology called \u201clight field capture.\u201d<\/p>\n

True light field capture technology is confusing to pin down with a simple definition but one of the things\u00a0it can enable is a bit\u00a0easier visualize: realistic live action spaces\u00a0that users wearing virtual reality headsets can explore.\u00a0You can do some of\u00a0this in today\u2019s game engine-built VR titles, but with light field\u00a0tech, the real world can be captured in 3D space as it moves, with a realism that can\u2019t be oversold.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a decidedly empowering experience\u00a0that will likely soon make Lytro\u2019s VR product, Immerge<\/a>, among the most-desired tools for creatives looking to create\u00a0high-end VR content.<\/p>\n

The technology behind the Within<\/a>-produced \u201cHallelujah\u201d is a\u00a0technical feat for the Mountain View-based Lytro but it\u2019s perhaps also proof that\u00a0the venture-drenched startup hasn\u2019t been all that unhinged in\u00a0betting so heavily on\u00a0light field tech.<\/p>\n

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Lytro\u00a0was founded more than a decade\u00a0ago, and has, for much of that time, been an ahead-of-its time technology in search of a problem to solve, all while\u00a0burning through quite a bit of cash.<\/p>\n

The startup focused the bulk of its early efforts on consumer-focused light field cameras that allowed users to \u2014 among other things \u2014 retroactively change the focus of their shots. The cameras were interesting and undoubtedly innovative but were hampered by their niche audience, price and the free falling nature of the larger consumer camera market. In 2015, the company announced it was laying off 25-50 of its 130 employees and was abandoning consumers to pivot to\u00a0VR.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a couple of years and the company is still taking risks as it looks to find the future its technology fits into. A few months after announcing development on its VR-centric\u00a0camera,\u00a0the company announced\u00a0Lytro Cinema<\/a>, an almost comically large filmmaking camera\u00a0that sports\u00a0the highest resolution video sensor ever made capturing\u00a0as much as 400 gigabytes per second.<\/p>\n

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The virtual reality rig used to shoot \u201cHallelujah\u201d\u00a0also comes with a massive form factor; Lytro\u2019s VR Immerge camera is a hulking,\u00a0data-hungry, hexagonal device made up of an array of 95 individual\u00a0cameras. The massive size of the hardware is directly proportional to the amount of space that users can walk around. Essentially, if the camera can\u2019t see the perspective, neither can\u00a0the viewer.<\/p>\n

Unlike most VR cameras, it isn\u2019t a spherical\u00a0device but instead captures\u00a0\u201cwedges\u201d of an environment. The shots\u00a0can\u00a0later be stitched together into a\u00a0spherical\u00a010K-per-eye package.<\/p>\n

The last I saw Lytro\u2019s Immerge tech, they were showing off \u201cMoon,\u201d a fun\u00a0little short on the faking of the moon landing that sought to integrate computer graphics and light field into a single project. It\u2019s been less than a year in between my\u00a0viewings of\u00a0\u201cMoon\u201d and Hallelujah,\u201d and the capture quality has increased immensely with the only limiting factor now appearing to be\u00a0the display resolutions\u00a0of today\u2019s VR headsets.<\/p>\n