PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jaunt, the company pioneering cinematic virtual reality (VR), today announced the launch of a series of professional-grade camera systems specifically designed for capturing fully-immersive, 360-degree cinematic VR experiences codenamed “NEO”. The 5th generation of camera systems created by Jaunt, “NEO” has been designed and built from the ground up for VR, the culmination of two and a half years of extensive research and development, prototyping and field testing. Elevating not only the capture and quality of VR content, “NEO’s” stunning, sleek industrial design represents the technological step forward this camera system brings to the VR landscape.
With the “NEO” cameras, Jaunt Studios will scale up production of professional-grade VR content. Jaunt Studios launched in May, and is focused on developing and producing cinematic VR experiences in collaboration with leading creative visionaries. The first “NEO” camera systems will be available to partners in August 2015, with production to scale up later this year.
“With NEO we have overcome many of the technical hurdles of producing high quality cinematic VR experiences,” said Arthur van Hoff, co-founder and CTO of Jaunt. “NEO is the culmination of several years of research, its image quality and ease-of-use will allow creatives to focus on producing awesome content without the complexity of cameras built from off-the-shelf components not designed for VR.”
As Jaunt’s 5th generation patent-pending camera system, “NEO” pushes the limits when it comes to technological innovation, with major advancements in key components of previous hardware designs, making it the most comprehensive solution for professional applications.
The NEO system features:
- High quality, high resolution, full 360° capture
- Custom optics specifically designed for 3D light-field capture
- Large format sensors with superior low-light performance
- High dynamic range (HDR) imaging
- Fully synchronized global shutter sensor array
- Time-lapse and high frame-rate capture
- Compact and weatherproof form factor
- Stunning 360˚ industrial design by LUNAR
- Extensive tool set for configuration, rendering, and asset management
“Every aspect of the NEO design, from the high-speed image sensor, to the wide-angle optics, to the embedded software, was engineered with cinematic VR capture in mind,” said Koji Gardiner, Director of Hardware Engineering at Jaunt and the lead behind the new camera design. “NEO is a flexible system that offers turn-on-and-shoot simplicity for capturing spontaneous events, while also providing full manual control for creatives to set up the perfect shot.”
In addition to the NEO camera series, Jaunt also engineered important improvements to their creative workflow allowing for easier integration with the use of the leading post-production tools commonly used by today’s creatives. With these new workflow improvements, Jaunt Studios partners can now create and edit VR content using tools such as Avid, Premiere, Final Cut Pro X, Nuke, RV, Shotgun, Maya, 3Ds Max, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Scratch, Lustre and others to create the highest-quality VR content available.
Jaunt Studios will continue to support its current cameras as well as third party systems. The objective is to provide filmmakers with tools and techniques that serve their creative process, unlocking the true potential of their creative vision.
NEO renderings: https://jauntvr.box.com/s/ov8ekibit3d7sjmu2a0r3nj5w48odnbk
About Jaunt
Jaunt is pioneering the future of creative storytelling through cinematic virtual reality. Founded in 2013, Jaunt is the leading developer of the hardware, software, tools, and applications to enable cinematic VR and put the power of virtual reality in the hands of today’s best content creators. In addition, Jaunt works with leading creatives – from brands to artists to filmmakers – to create cutting-edge content through its studio arm, Jaunt Studios. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company also maintains a presence in Los Angeles and produces branded and original VR content for audiences worldwide. Jaunt’s investors include Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Peter Gotcher, Blake Krikorian, and British Sky Broadcasting (corporate.sky.com). Experience more at www.jauntvr.com.
