KIRI Innovations is harnessing NeRF technology and delivering it to a smartphone. The startup will officially demo a beta version of this app at CES Las Vegas 2023, booth #9671.
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KIRI Engine is a free 3D scanning app for iOS and Android, developed by Kiri Innovation, a Canadian company that specializes in photogrammetry, and powered by a state-of-the-art photogrammetry algorithm. With this app, it is possible to create high-quality 3D assets with just a smartphone by taking pictures of an object from various angles and heights.
Just recently, the KIRI Innovations team announced that it is bringing NeRF to Android phones as well as to iPhones with or without LiDAR.
Via its KIRI Engine app, startup KIRI Innovations has already pioneered the way to powerful yet affordable photogrammetry 3D scanning. It’s one of the small handful of 3D scanning options available for non-LiDAR users and good photogrammetry apps are even scarcer on the Play Store. That’s mainly because it’s challenging and time-consuming to develop an app that leverages low API levels like cameras and gyroscopes for such a diverse Android smartphone market. KIRI Innovations’ freemium offer provides recurring free exports, without paywalls on specific file formats, zero watermarks, and free access to most of the app’s features like in-app cropping and Camera pose.
As they have done with photogrammetry, KIRI Innovations is thus excited to make NeRF easily and affordably available to anyone with a smartphone, package it in a lightweight and intuitive app, and continue to offer support on Discord for the community to understand and grow with NeRF. The founding team will be demoing its all-in-one NeRF 3D scanning workflow at CES 2023 and aims to launch an open beta version in Q2’2023.
“It might take a bit of time for people to grasp and adopt NeRF. But once it's understood, I don't think anyone, including ourselves, is ready for what NeRF will unlock. This is super exciting, we can't wait to see what people do with this tech available on their phones!”, says Jack Wang, CEO, and Co-founder at KIRI Innovations.
Camera Pose for nerfstudio
A new KIRI Innovations' Camera Pose feature allows exporting NeRF-ready data to nerfstudio to create the final NerF and view and explore it. The open-source nerfstudio API was developed by the incredibly talented researchers who discovered NeRF in 2020 and other skilled contributors that have since hopped on the NeRF train. KIRI Innovations share that its Camera Pose option is officially recognized by the nerfstudio team as a reliable source for NeRF input.
KIRI Innovations’ Camera pose is also currently the first and only option for smartphones that does not require LiDAR, and hence the only option for all Android and iPhones (iOS 13 and up) that can record 1080p video. In addition, its data can be processed about twice as fast as the data from current, free PC-based options.
The developers note that the key goal is to empower more researchers, content creators, students, and 3D-everything enthusiasts to explore and learn more about NeRF’s seemingly endless and universal potential.