Lucid VR develops 3D 180-degree VR cameras that amps up Virtual Reality (VR) content creation by adding 3D stereoscopic imaging to a VR video capture at a price point that makes VR cameras available to the masses. Videos from Lucid VR cameras can be viewed immediately after capture on a cell phone or any Virtual Reality headset. Further, using the camera requires little effort or background. Adam Rowell (CTO Lucid VR) notes that the video file is an mp4, which makes it usable by a number of standard tools for editing and post-processing.

(Image courtesy LucidVR)

Virtual Reality is believed to be poised for widespread adoption in the near future, which makes an easy to use VR camera a must in the marketplace. Key vertical markets – all of which are a focus for LucidVR include:

• Product placement
• Interior design
• Launch events, and more

Virtual Reality is believed to be poised for widespread adoption in the near future.

“This is very exciting for consumers and Wall Street”,  notes Han Jin (co-founder and CEO of Lucid VR), “because we believe that when people are empowered, then the market will generate itself”. Following an aggressive rollout, Lucid VR will initially target European and US consumers. Lucid VR expects to address the Chinese market in 2017 or 2018. Apparently the Chinese market is somewhat challenged because people there like to wear glasses as a fashion statement, which impacts their ability to use VR headsets and consume VR content.

CEO Han Jin and CTO Adam Rowell (Image courtesy LucidVR)

Here is the Lucid VR Introduction from the Sierra CXO Summit 2015

Lucid VR Raises $2 Million, Partners with Wistron to Manufacture World’s Only 3D 180-Degree Virtual Reality Camera

Pocket-sized LucidCam captures 3D VR video as your eyes see the world and shares it instantly
SAN FRANCISCO, CA –April X, 2016—Lucid VR announced today that it has received $2.1M in seed funding and has signed a partnership agreement with Wistron Corporation, a top five global ODM (original design manufacturer) based in Taiwan. The maker of LucidCam, the pocket-sized VR camera which captures 3D 180-degree videos to be watched instantly on mobile phones using Google Cardboard or any VR headsets, has received investments from Wistron, S2 Capital, Lab360, TEEC Angel Fund, 17 Miles Technology as well as other angel investors. The funding coupled with the Wistron manufacturing agreement provides the means for Lucid VR to bring its one-of-a-kind, affordable VR camera to mass production.

“LucidCam brings people together across the world by capturing incredible immersive experiences in VR, the same way as your eyes see them, and which can be easily shared with friends and family within seconds,” said Han Jin, co-founder and CEO, Lucid VR. “With our relationship with Wistron we will be developing a beautifully designed and engineered camera that is going to surpass our original plans. We are very excited to announce that we will be upgrading our backers with a first production version of the LucidCam with double the resolution and frame rate, in addition to extended battery capacity. The viewing experience in VR headsets will be so much smoother with 2K and 60 frames per second.”

LucidVR successfully crowdfunded its first round of production cameras in December 2015, with the cameras now to be produced by Wistron Corporation and delivered in the later half of 2016. Created by a team of Berkeley and Stanford graduates, LucidCam eliminates what has until now taken hours and thousands of dollars in big-size equipment and software to do. For the first time, anyone can easily capture amazing 3D spherical videos and images with the simple touch of a button. Semi-pros and photo video enthusiasts can capture amazing cinematic 3D experiences. Game developers can easily create lifelike environments and innovators can disrupt industries by building businesses around VR content.

LucidCam is available for pre-order here.

The camera’s unique technology was created over the last two years by Jin and his co-founder and company CTO Adam Rowell, a Stanford Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering who is specialized in computer vision and image processing. LucidCam breaks down expensive Hollywood 3D production camera systems to a small form factor, making it more affordable for the masses and eliminating the long-winded postproduction process. It leverages binocular lenses to create true depth as well as peripheral vision and utilizes two microphones — essentially mimicking human eyes and ears. It fits into your pocket like a mobile phone so users can capture immersive images and videos anywhere, anytime. With a 180-degree field of view, LucidCam allows users to stick to the traditional point-and-shoot approach, simply pressing the shutter and holding the camera steady to capture everything – no panoramic sweeps required. A multi-camera setup with three LucidCams enables 360° 3D capture.

Wistron Corporation is one of the top five ICT ODMs and a global Fortune 500 company with $20B revenue and more than 60,000 employees worldwide. The Wistron partnership adds assurance and strength to Lucid VR’s product development and manufacturing by bringing substantial engineering manpower and production resources. “We are very excited and happy to be working on LucidCam together,” said Jin. “We will be bringing a remarkable VR camera with great immersive videos to life. There are so many applications for 3D immersive VR content, but the potential is limited when only a few people have access to the tools. With LucidCam everyone will be able to participate in 3D VR content creation. I can only imagine what possibilities this technology could bring to everyone.”

ABOUT LUCID VR

Lucid VR develops 3D 180-degree VR cameras to empower immersive content creation with true depth. The LucidCam captures the world exactly as the user sees and hears it. The 180-degree wide-angle lenses enable an active view, and spatial audio enhances the experience of any content being captured or viewed.

For more information, find LucidCam around the web:
www.lucidcam.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LucidCam
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Lucid_Cam

LucidCam has received the following prestigious honors prior to its public product release:
Awards
1. Lumiere’s Statue for New Technology and Innovation in Entertainment 2015
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2. Ascend Award for Best Startup at Sierra Ventures CXO Summit 2015
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3. Innovation for Future Award 2015 by Peking University and Hanhai Investment
4. Startup Disruption Award WOIC 2015 by UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
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5. Top 10 IoT startup at the Xtreme Tech Challenge CES 2016
6. Top 10 emerging startups in VR/AR at Launch Festival 2016
7. Winner of TechLab Innovation Center’s Startup Competition 2016
8. 2016 Finalist of Redherring Top 100
9. Hardware Cup 2016 by Techshop