Ready to capture your first Vologram? Follow these instructions step by step to make sure your results are amazing. If you have any other questions, please get in touch with us and we will be happy to give you further guidance.
Volu Pro and Vologram Messages include premium features (longer sequences, 3D skeleton, different file formats, and even WebAR), and allow you to use your own camera: smartphone, professional or any other, no app required! If you are a Volu Pro or Vologram Messages client, please follow point 1 to set up your camera for the best results. Otherwise, you can directly skip to point 2, as Volu takes care of your camera settings for you.
The video you record sets the quality bar. If you share a bad, low quality video, it will be a bad, low quality vologram.
✔️ You can use any camera or smartphone for your capture, but remember to record in portrait (vertical), instead of landscape (horizontal).
✔️ Use a tripod and make sure the subject's body is fully visible (2m or 6.5 ft from the subject works well).
✔️ To achieve the best results possible, note down as many of the following parameters as possible: height of the subject (e.g., 1.68m or 5.5ft), focal length you are using (e.g. 50mm), and model of your device (e.g. iPhone 13 Pro, or Canon 70D).
✔️ Set up your camera at the highest resolution, and shoot at 30fps. Make sure HDR is turned off.
✔️ During the recording, maintain the same distance between the person and the camera.
✔️ The best way to test your setup is trying a free 5s capture with Volu. That will give you a pretty good idea of what results you can expect.
✔️ Lastly, review all these points once again just before recording 🙂. We promise this will lead to best results!
No need for professional lighting but better lighting produces better results!
✔️ Make sure the light source faces the front of the person: turn on your lights 💡, open your windows, or face the sun if capturing outdoors ☀️.
✔️ When was the last time you cleaned your lens? 📷 Now it’s a good time!
❌ Avoid dark rooms, lighting from the sides or worse, from behind. Captures at night won’t come out well 🌛.
This helps our segmentation algorithm and avoids confusion with background elements.
No need to get a green-screen, a simply a background that doesn’t move and is not the same colour as your clothes and body!
✔️ A simple wall will work fine 👍.
❌ Avoid moving objects, or other people in the background! One person at a time. 👯
To help our segmentation algorithm and avoid confusions with background elements.
No need to get a green-screen, simply a background that doesn’t move and it’s not the same colour as your clothes and body!
✔️ A simple wall will work fine 👍.
❌ Avoid moving objects, or other people in the background! One person at a time. 👯♀️
Because having half a body in AR is a bit creepy.
✔️ If you are wearing a long skirt make sure that the camera sees your feet/shoes clearly.
✔️ Try to stand at around 2 m (6 ft) of distance from the camera 📏. Always face the camera 🤳🧍
❌ Avoid capturing half bodies 🙆
Because having half a body in AR is a bit creepy . If you are wearing a long skirt make sure that the camera sees your feet/shoes clearly.
✔️ Try to stand at around 2 m (6 ft) of distance from the camera 📏. Always face the camera 🤳🧍♀️
❌ Avoid capturing half bodies 🙆♂️
The clearer you see your full arms and legs, the more accurate your vologram will be. Arms or legs that are partially hidden or pointing towards the camera may be shortened or misrepresented. You can see some examples below.
✔️ Keep body parts as visible as possible.
❌ Do no point to the camera or create unwanted occlusions
🚫 DON'T DO THIS
Here you can see how our AI managed to reconstruct the arm, but not the hand 😅, which ended up projected onto our friend’s sweater. Try to avoid creating occlusions with your own body.
🚫 DON'T DO THIS
In this example, our friend was pointing to the camera, which created occlusions and was wrongly reconstructed. Make sure your hands are not pointing directly to the camera to avoid this effect.
🚫 DON'T DO THIS
And in this other example, you can see how the hands were partially reconstructed, but fingers ended up getting projected onto the t-shirt. Terrible lighting conditions, btw! We give this vologram a 👎.
✅ DO THIS
This example worked pretty good. You can see the full shape of our friend’s arms and legs. Our AI didn’t have to guess anything, it was all visible.
✅ DO THIS
There is no need to keep your arms still, you can open them while you are talking, and our AI will reconstruct them perfectly.
✅ DO THIS
A great standing pose you can combine with others while you are being recorded. Arms are perfectly visible, and therefore, perfectly reconstructed.
⚠️ CAREFUL
Crossed arms normally work well, but the movement of crossing them might cause occlusions, and artefacts. Try moving them as close to the body as possible.
⚠️ CAREFUL
Just like in the previous example, his hands are very close to the body, avoiding occlusions, but moving them there might introduce unwanted errors.
🤣 HAVE FUN
But the point is to have fun! Keep all these rules in mind, but break them if you want to experiment and achieve fun results! 🤩
Animals or other objects are not recognised, so they will cause strange effects, probably holes in your model. This might also happen with large earrings, bracelets, with some big and shiny watches, conference lanyards, etc. Also glasses are normally ok, but they may get “printed” onto your face. You can choose your own trade-off between creativity and perfect results. If in doubt, try a free short capture with Volu to see how the vologram will look.
Animals or other objects are not recognised, so they will cause strange effects, probably holes in your model . This might also happen with large earrings, bracelets, with some big and shiny watches, conference landyards, etc. Also glasses are normally ok, but they may get “printed” on your face. You choose your own trade-off between creativity and perfect results . If in doubt, try a free short capture with Volu to see how the vologram will look.
With limited resolution it’s very complicated to get individual fingers, but Volu is able to get your full hands. Similar issues can occur with
high-heels or some hair styles.
⚠️ IMPORTANT
Our experience tells us that this is the tip is commonly overlooked. People feel unnatural at first speaking without gesticulating with their hands in front of their bodies with fingers open - so please practice as much as needed. Try a free capture with Volu first, playing close attention to your hands.
🚫 DON'T DO THIS
In this example, our friend kept his right-hand fingers wide open, and they ended up getting chopped off ✂️
✅ DO THIS
Here our friend kept his fingers together, so his hand was reconstructed fine. Thumbs are typically not a problem, btw.
With limited resolution it’s very complicated to get individual fingers, but Volu is able to get your full hands. It will happen the same with high-heels or some hair styles.
⚠️ IMPORTANT
Our experience tells us that this is the tip that gets more often ignored. People feel unnatural at first speaking without gesticulating with their hands in front of their bodies with fingers open - so please practice as much as needed. Try a free capture with Volu first, playing close attention to your hands.
🚫 DON'T DO THIS
In this example, our friend kept his right-hand fingers wide open, and they ended up getting chopped off ✂️
✅ DO THIS
Here our friend kept his fingers together, so his hand was reconstructed fine. Thumbs are typically not a problem, btw.
Very fast movements can produce blurry images without much detail, which affects the final result. For you expressive people out there: yes! This includes your hands!
After capturing, watch the video and re-reading this list of tips & tricks to confirm everything looks great. Try a 5s capture with Volu first - it’s free! You can repeat until everything looks great.
✔️Pro tip: with Volu, you don't need to wait until your vologram is processed to capture more. Capture a few and they will all come back almost at the same time!
But keep in mind that results might be wild too 🤣. In other words: if you are trying to get real Pro results, make sure to follow these tips and tricks one by one (or be ready to re-capture!)
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