Hungarian company Zinemath announced the launch of zLense, a platform for augmenting video captured by a camera in real time. The essence of zLense's technology is that its camera mounted depth sensor augments the image captured by the camera with spatial information for every single frame. Using this information, their proprietary software is capable of constructing a 3D model of the space and to track the position and movement of the camera continuously. This allows zLense to match and align the 3D model of space with the actual camera image in real time.
In television broadcasting and filmmaking, creating computer generated images (CGI) is possible by creating a 3D model of space. There are a number of arrangements for doing this, but they all require a prearranged sensor setting, usually involving several cameras and sensors distributed in space. With its single camera mountable sensor, zLense can eliminate current expensive and time consuming arrangements in a manner that ensures considerably greater creative freedom. zLense accelerates and simplifies the method of tracking the 3D position and orientation of a camera, making the nowadays costly technology available to a significantly larger group of professionals.
"We view zLense's technology as a paradigm shift with the potential to revolutionise the TV and film industries. The size of the market is enormous, estimated at $2000 billion globally. This new technology could cause explosions in several of its segments. The functionality of the zLense Platform is way ahead of the technologies used today, it is easier to operate and, last but not least, it represents a noteworthy degree of cost efficiency for productions relying on virtual effects." - said Zoltán Varga, General Manager of the Central Fund.
The company began to develop the zLense Platform at the start of 2012, following an investment by Central Fund, a Hungarian venture capital fund. The leadership of this fund management company, noted for their experience in international investments, have implemented a total of more than 50 investments over the past years, through various funds. The Central Fund finances innovative firms in early-stage and makes investments into SMBs entering a phase of growth.
