Vimeo has long regarded itself as the video-sharing site for those that want to get experimental. Well, the company has found a new medium to get creators pumped about, and I think it’s fair to say they’re near the forefront of this one: holograms.
Vimeo has partnered with Brooklyn-based Looking Glass Factory to combine volumetric video with a medium that can display the content without a headset. Looking Glass Factory’s lenticular display is intensely cool, with a particular depth impression of 3D that really offers something interesting. The startup just raked in $844,000 in pre-orders from a Kickstarter campaign; they’ve already released a few products.
The partnership is by way of Vimeo Creator Labs, a group inside the company aiming to approach new technologies and carry out some early experiments. For Vimeo, this work with “holograms” is more a mark of the group’s interest in volumetric video capture. The medium has lived in plenty of VR headsets, but Looking Glass Factory’s device allows multiple viewers to simultaneously experience content, a new twist.
“We focus a lot on trying to make these things accessible and web-first,” said Casey Pugh, Vimeo’s Creator Lab head. “I think the problem with volumetric video right now is that it hasn’t been very accessible.”
The channel is live now, though you’ll need Looking Glass Factory’s hardware before you can really check anything out. The company does have some resources available for creators interested in recording their 3D assets and getting some holograms up onto the world wide web.