Kaidan, a manufacturer of Photographic VR hardware, and the Autolycus Corporation, a new digital imaging software development company, are teaming up to develop, market and sell 3-D object technologies. The two companies are previewing their first jointly developed solution aimed at consumers this week at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
That solution is the Kaidan-Autolycus DV Object Imaging Kit, which utilizes a Kaidan motorized PiXi turntable and Autolycus SpinImage DV software, along with any DV FireWire-enabled camcorder to create 3-D object movies. According to Kaidan President Jim Anders, the capture process is simple and designed for the average consumer who owns a camcorder and a computer.
“We see this as the ‘killer app’ for those who wish to create object movies of their collectibles, eBay auction items, valuables, artwork or really any item that they wish to capture in 3-D,” Anders said.
First, the user centers the object of interest on the turntable. Then, a camcorder, connected to a Mac or Windows system via FireWire captures a video stream of the spinning object. The SpinImage DV software then converts the video stream into a QuickTime VR or a Java-viewable object movie that’s ready to be transferred to a Web site for viewing.
“We are really excited to be teamed up with Autolycus,” Anders said. “They have developed a solution that makes it easy and affordable to create 3-D object movies. Thanks mainly to Apple and their efforts with DV-enabled consumer products such as the iMac DV and iMovie, there is a ready and enthusiastic market of consumers who will be ready to start creating compelling 3-D QuickTime VR or Java object movies.”
Autolycus CEO Robert Green said the technology was developed from the user’s perspective. It simplifies the entire process and creates 3-D object movies in a matter of minutes, he added.
The Kaidan-Autolycus DV Object Imaging Kit is due this quarter. Pricing has yet to be determined.
Kaidan, big fans of Apple’s QuickTime technology, announced two new KiWi panoramic tripod heads designed to support the next generation of QuickTime VR (QTVR) last fall at the QuickTime Live! conference.
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