ᐈ AR/VR Apps Development Company

ALTstage: Leave the Screen Behind!

Transforming screens into stages with AR

2021

Year

Tech

ALTstage

Client

What’s ALTstage AR App?

ALTstage is the world’s first technology that brings AR together with live events and video content. It came to life using Azure Kinect hardware and volumetric videos.

The main goal of this Augmented Reality use case is to let the watchers enjoy the three-dimensional views of performers, whether at home or live. Just with the help of their mobile phones.

Learn more about ALTstage

Client's Wants & Needs

Breathe Life into Live Video Performances

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, more live performances are being broadcasted than ever. However, the two-dimensionality of videos quickly became an issue. Videos take away the thrill of the theater as they just can’t convey the beauty and grace of a performer at work.

Combine Live Performance with AR Technology

We were tasked with developing an app that would solve this problem with AR technology. The app was required to allow viewers to see performers in motion in augmented reality.

Accessible 3D AR App

Our clients wanted the audience to have three-dimensional views of performers, whether at home or live. The app was required to be compatible with modern gadgets and also suitable for low-budget projects.

Scalable ALTstage Platform

The ALTstage app is the first step in a broad project. Our clients’ end goal is to develop a big ALTstage platform that will be used by performing artists around the world.

How We Did It

Client's Needs

As always, the first step for the WeAR Studio team during any project is getting a clear idea of what our client hopes to achieve. We worked hand-in-hand with the Ukrainian Platform of Contemporary Dance and the German Post Theater from start to finish to ensure that we achieved the best results.

Video Recording

After understanding the project, we proceeded to a Chromakey studio to record a volumetric video. We then processed it to procure a material in which the performers were taken out of the background. That way, we were able to add any background we desired.

Shooting a Volumetric Video for AR

We got this project done using the Azure Kinect hardware. The team had to use a 12-megapixel camera along with an infrared sensor.

We recorded 2D images with the camcorder and measured the distance between the device and the pixels of the image with the sensor. That way, we were able to transform the video from 2D to 3D.

Synchronization

We developed a software environment that synchronizes AR with the performance on a screen. Two devices were needed for this; a laptop for playing the video and a mobile device reproducing the augmented reality.

The synchronization in space was done with the aid of markers. They transmit the details of the desired location and size of the AR object to the app via the camera of a smartphone or tablet.

However, time synchronization is a new technology created by the ALTstage team. The principle behind it is simple: the laptop’s video player and the ALTstage app receive instructions from a server to play video and AR. This way, the performers in the video and AR can interact.

Debugging of UI & UX

This process was all about making the technology easy to use. The importance of this was to allow viewers to enjoy live events instead of concentrating on the complexity of the technology.

Challenges We Overcame

Identifying the goals of the project

Converting 2D images to 3D

Developing time synchronization

Mastering volumetric video technology

Combining two modes (live and home) in one AR application

Building a foundation for the ALTstage platform

Project Results

This technology isn’t restricted to the art industry alone. As long as your event has an audience, you can give them spectacular views with ALTstage.

After the presentation is held in a few cities across Ukraine, the ALTstage platform will be fully launched so that anyone can use it. What this implies is that performing artists around the globe will be allowed to create their projects on the ALTstage platform.

Cookie	Duration	Description
__cfduid	1 month	The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information.
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
__hssrc	session	This cookie is set by Hubspot. According to their documentation, whenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set to determine if the visitor has restarted their browser. If this cookie does not exist when HubSpot manages cookies, it is considered a new session.
__hstc	1 year 24 days	This cookie is set by Hubspot and is used for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, utk, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).
_ga	2 years	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gid	1 day	This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information on how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number of visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visited in an anonymous form.
id	2 Years	DoubleClick uses cookies to improve advertising. Some common applications are to target advertising based on what’s relevant to a user, to improve reporting on campaign performance, and to avoid showing ads the user has already seen.
NID	180 Days	These cookies allow our websites to remember information that changes the way the site behaves or looks, such as your preferred language or the region you are in.

Cookie	Duration	Description
_gcl_au	90 Days	Used as a conversion linker tag in web and AMP containers that can be configured to link across domains for cases where you have the landing pages and conversion pages on multiple domains for Google Adsense
_gcl_dc	Impressions - 14 days; Clicks - 30 days	Used as a conversion linker tag in web and AMP containers that can be configured to link across domains for cases where you have the landing pages and conversion pages on multiple domains for Google Campaign Manager
_uetsid	Session	Used by Microsoft Bing Ads and is a tracking cookie. It allows us to engage with a user that has previously visited our website.
_uetvid	15 Days	Used by Microsoft Bing Ads and is a tracking cookie. It allows us to engage with a user that has previously visited our website.
IDE	Impressions - 14 days; Clicks - 30 days	Advertising cookie on non-Google sites.
MR	180 days	Analytics cookie that's used to pass user action information to the Bing advertising network.
MUID	390 days	Used widely by Microsoft as a unique user ID. This bing.com cookie enables tracking by synchronising the ID across many Microsoft domains.
MUIDB	390 days	This cookie registers data about you from multiple visits and on multiple websites. This information is used to measure the efficiency of advertisement on websites.
NID	30 days	Microsoft Bing Ads. Helps advertisers determine how many times people who click on their ads end up purchasing their products or services across devices.
RUL	1 Year	DoubleClick uses cookies to improve advertising. Some common applications are to target advertising based on what’s relevant to a user, to improve reporting on campaign performance, and to avoid showing ads the user has already seen.
test_cookie	1 Day	Doubleclick, used to check this if the user's browser supports cookies

ALTstage: Leave the Screen Behind!

The results of the ALTtage project were presented in July 2021 in Kyiv.

During this event, the audience was given a demonstration of how both the home and live versions of the technology works.