The end-to-end 3D spatial video software provider announces deal that expands its efforts in race to capture and generate 3D digital humans and spatial video while marking an evolution of generative AI from 2D to 3D creation.
Provider of end-to-end 3D spatial video software, Evercoast has announced the acquisition of Depthkit, a pioneer in volumetric capture. The deal marks a step forward in the race to capture and generate 3D digital humans and spatial video, a field of immersive video content that allows viewers to see subjects and dynamic scenes from all angles on any digital device. The deal also marks an evolution of generative AI from 2D to 3D creation and fills a gap in needed training by tapping both the company’s extensive dataset collections.
“Practical uses of AI have grown very fast in a very short time – and that’s largely thanks to the treasure trove of 2D and text training data available,” said Evercoast CEO Ben Nunez. “But certain fields – including 3D production – have struggled to find extensive and reliable data to form the foundations of new generative AI tools. The path to get there involves making training dataset creation easy and highly scalable. GenAI 3D will require vast amounts of quality multi-camera datasets, specialized algorithms, computational techniques, and infrastructure to handle the additional dimensions effectively. Scale is crucial to developing generative AI models that possess a broad understanding of the incredible diversity in humans and other animals – and it’s that scale that Evercoast and Depthkit are best equipped to provide.”
According to Evercoast, AI platforms from OpenAI, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and others have been built on massive sources of text and 2D datasets, not 3D spatial data. Evercoast and Depthkit look to fill this void by bringing together their large customer base for 3D volumetric video. Combined the companies promise to deliver a highly scalable software platform capable of capturing and generating thousands of assets in a single day; this capability is several orders of magnitude faster and 20x less expensive than multi-camera arrays using traditional processing pipelines and expensive hardware.
"Teaming up with Evercoast represents a thrilling new chapter for Depthkit and the entire 3D content creation community,” added James George, CEO of Scatter, the company that developed Depthkit. “By joining forces, we are not just merging two leading technologies but also uniting our visions to create tools that are both innovative and accessible. We are confident our combined efforts will push the boundaries of spatial video and create new opportunities around the globe."
Spatial video datasets and models tackle unique characteristics that 2D video struggles to effectively emulate at scale:
- Real-world Variability: Human motion is highly variable and influenced by numerous factors such as lighting conditions, occlusions, and diverse environments. Real-world datasets with multiple camera views provide a more comprehensive and accurate representation of these variations.
- Depth and 3D Understanding: Multi-camera setups enable the capture of more accurate depth information, which is essential for understanding the spatial relationships between body parts and clothing.
- Cross-view Generalization: Training models using data from multiple camera views helps them generalize more effectively than monocular or synthetic datasets, particularly in scenarios with complex interactions where human performance involves other objects or individuals.
The growing base of specialized AI development in human performance capture, medical training, industrial simulation, robotics, sports performance, and higher education represents a large market for this technology. VFX and other creative technologists also are using volumetric data combined with machine learning and AI video. These verticals tightly overlap between the two companies, and the combined technology stack further expands the market by delivering a hardware-agnostic offering. Moving forward, existing Depthkit customers get full access to existing features as well as additional functionality through Evercoast.
Source: Evercoast
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
