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HypeVR

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HypeVR
Information
Industry Volumetric video, virtual reality
Founded 2015
Founder Tonaci Tran, Ted Schilowitz
Headquarters San Diego, California, United States
Notable Personnel Tonaci Tran (CEO), Ted Schilowitz (CSO), Caoyang Jiang (CTO)
Products Volumetric capture systems, Mesha volumetric video codec, Enbly
Website https://www.volygon.com


HypeVR is a San Diego, California company that develops volumetric video capture, compression and streaming software. Road to VR reported on it in March 2015, describing a camera rig that combined 14 RED Dragon cinema cameras with a Velodyne LiDAR scanner to record live-action 360-degree video with depth data, so that a viewer could lean into a scene instead of watching it from a single fixed point.[1] In January 2017 Intel used a HypeVR capture of a waterfall in Vietnam in its CES press event, and the two companies said they were looking to bring HypeVR content to Intel's Project Alloy headset.[2]

The company is a California corporation incorporated in 2015, according to its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[3] In 2020 its volumetric video business used the name 3nfinite, which the company's site called "a division of HypeVR".[4] As of October 2026 it operates as Volygon; its job listings describe the company as "HypeVR (doing business as Volygon)".[5]

Reviewed 21 October 2026. Checked every cited source (Road to VR x3, ProVideo Coalition, Intel release and white paper, LiDAR News PDF, Fortune, Stanford Daily, Variety, SEC Form D XML filings, Google Patents, Volygon pages, Meta store, 3nfinite archive) against the claims they support. About review dates.

History

Background and founding

According to the company's own history, co-founder Tonaci Tran ran a digital film production company in Vietnam and met Ted Schilowitz, whom the account calls a co-inventor of the RED camera, at the NAB trade show in 2010. The same account says the two moved from stereoscopic 3D work to 360-degree video after Tran tried 360-degree footage on a prototype Oculus headset at CES, and that HypeVR was formed when they began building a volumetric video software stack with six degrees of freedom.[6] Speaking to LiDAR News Magazine in 2015, Tran said he had first experienced live-action 360-degree video in VR about a year and a half earlier and had found stitching footage from several cameras "incredibly challenging"; he said that led the company to develop in 3D space using LiDAR.[7]

The SEC filings give 2015 as the year of incorporation. The first Form D, filed in November 2016, names Anthony Tran, Sean Hunter, Jason Juang and Edward Schilowitz as executive officers and directors.[3] The company's press page congratulated "our co-founder" on receiving Variety's Innovation Award, an award Variety gave to Ted Schilowitz, then futurist-in-residence at Paramount Pictures, in 2019.[8][9]

LiDAR capture rig (2015-2016)

Road to VR reported on HypeVR's rig in March 2015. It used 14 RED Dragon 6K cameras mounted to cover a 360-degree field of view, recording at 60 Hz with 90 Hz planned, plus a Velodyne LiDAR scanner that the article said could capture "up to 700,000 points of 3D depth information every second at a range of up to 100M". Tran, named as a co-founder, said the company wanted to develop "more compact and affordable systems" so that other VR filmmakers could create "6 degree" live-action VR content, and he pointed to the upcoming Oculus Crescent Bay prototype and the HTC Vive as headsets suited to it.[1]

An article in LiDAR News Magazine, written by Velodyne's director of sales and marketing, Wolfgang Juchmann, identified the scanner as Velodyne's HDL-32E and called HypeVR a "Southern California startup". It described a patent-pending method that combined the company's "Hyper Stitch" algorithm with the LiDAR data, so that stitching happened in 3D space. Each camera captured 6K by 3K pixels; Tran said: "Some think that our first flagship VR rig, with 14 Red Dragon cameras, is overkill." Tran said the company was "starting at the top" and would "in time, scale down to reach more market segments"; the article added that the patent-pending capture method was camera-agnostic.[7]

In October 2016 Road to VR published video of HypeVR's playback, in which a looping coastal scene on a tablet shifted as Schilowitz, then the futurist at 20th Century Fox, moved his position. The article asked how the large amount of captured data could be made transferable and rendered on consumer devices, and said that remained to be seen.[10]

Intel and CES 2017

At Intel's CES 2017 press event in Las Vegas on 4 January 2017, audience members were shown the Ban Gioc waterfall in Vietnam.[11] ProVideo Coalition reported that HypeVR's "proprietary volumetric capture and playback engine" powered the live-action VR exploration of the waterfall, and that Intel and HypeVR announced they were "looking to partner" to bring HypeVR volumetric content to Project Alloy, Intel's all-in-one merged reality headset, in 2017.[2]

Ben Lang of Road to VR tried a HypeVR demo made "in conjunction with Intel" at the show. It was a 30-second loop of a valley in Vietnam, viewed on an Oculus Rift with room-scale movement, in which he could walk around within part of the captured area. He wrote that the rig fused texture and depth data to produce "60 volumetric 'frames' of the scene per second".[12] The planned Project Alloy release did not happen: in September 2017 Intel shut down the Project Alloy headset initiative.[13]

Compression and streaming work (2018-2020)

HypeVR's later work moved from capture toward compression and delivery. The company says it applied its compression to inward-facing human capture with RED cameras, worked on lower-cost human capture with Intel RealSense cameras, and got volumetric playback running natively on mobile chipsets.[6] At the second annual Confluence Summit in Menlo Park, California, on 25 October 2018, Tran, as CEO of HypeVR, was one of the speakers on a panel of mixed reality and VR leaders moderated by Schilowitz, then a futurist at Paramount Pictures, alongside Hayes Mackaman, CEO of 8i, and Steve Sullivan, general manager of Microsoft's Mixed Reality Capture Studios.[14]

A 2019 Intel white paper, "Enabling High Quality Volumetric VOD Streaming Over Broadband and 5G", lists contributors from Comcast and from HypeVR (Tonaci Tran, Jason Juang and Caoyang Jiang). It compares HypeVR's Mesha codec with Google's open-source Draco library as ways to cut the bandwidth of volumetric video on demand from about 1 Gbps to about 100 Mbps, a target the authors set for 5G and home broadband. The test content was captured by HypeVR with eight RealSense cameras: 900 frames at 30 FPS with roughly 65,000 mesh vertices and 2K textures, played back on a third-generation Apple iPad Pro.[15]

3nfinite and Volygon (2020-present)

By 2020 the company was using the name 3nfinite. Its press page links to a Forbes.com article by the analyst firm Moor Insights & Strategy, dated 2 September 2020, under the headline "HypeVR Becomes 3nfinite And Launches Enbly App Enabling Spatial Volumetric Video Over 5G".[8] The 3nfinite site described 3nfinite as "a division of HypeVR".[4] On Meta's store for Quest headsets, 3nfinite lists Enbly as "a showcase volumetric video demo app". The listing describes a 30-second, six-degrees-of-freedom loop of Ban Gioc Detian Falls in Cao Bang province, Vietnam, first shown at Intel's CES 2017 presentation, captured with 14 RED cameras (seven stereo pairs for depth) plus a DSLR for photogrammetry of near-field objects, recorded at 48 FPS and playing at 30 FPS on the Quest 2.[16]

The company's current site uses the name Volygon, gives its contact address as [email protected], and describes the business as holographic video codec software for compressing and streaming immersive content.[17] It lists Tonaci Tran as CEO, Ted Schilowitz as CSO and Caoyang Jiang as CTO.[18] The site also shows 3D Gaussian splatting work combined with the company's own depth technology,[19] and as of October 2026 its app page still says "Volygon app launching first half 2025", with live holographic artist concerts marked as to be announced.[20] HypeVR filed a Form D amendment with the SEC in August 2025 for an equity offering that began in 2022.[21]

Funding

HypeVR has raised money through exempt private offerings reported on SEC Form D. The amounts below are the totals the filings report as sold; they are not a complete record of the company's financing.

Filing Security type First sale Offering size Amount sold (as reported) Investors
Form D, 23 November 2016[3] Debt 25 September 2015 US$800,000 US$800,000 9
Form D, 20 January 2017[22] Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) 21 July 2016 US$1,850,000 US$628,172 10
Form D/A, 17 March 2020 (offering first filed 22 January 2018)[23] SAFE 19 November 2017 US$4,000,000 US$3,292,000 30
Form D/A, 15 August 2025 (offering first filed 4 August 2022)[21] Equity 15 September 2022 US$5,000,000 US$3,517,953 86

Technology

HypeVR's first patent, filed in February 2016 with a February 2015 priority date, describes capturing a scene with stereo camera pairs and LiDAR. It describes a depth-from-stereo algorithm whose output is combined with three-dimensional LiDAR data, with the LiDAR data taking precedence, to model the captured space.[24] Road to VR described the general approach as using the video to texture the depth data, producing a 3D model of the scene for each frame.[12]

According to the 2019 Intel white paper, the Mesha codec is a proprietary, lossy volumetric video codec for content with textures up to 4K and meshes up to 60,000 vertices. Textures are compressed with standard video codecs such as H.264, H.265 and VP9, while HypeVR's own mesh sequence codec removes spatial and temporal redundancy between frames; for typical content grouped in sets of eight frames, the paper gives a mesh compression ratio of about 14x. Compressed textures and meshes can be packaged in an MP4 container and served over ordinary HTTP. In the paper's iPad Pro tests, Mesha decoded faster than Draco (2.52 to 3.82 ms per frame against 6.54 to 26.00 ms), while Draco reached higher compression ratios on large untiled meshes.[15] The company's own site claims that its compression reduces data sizes by 15 to 20 times, and lists support for Intel RealSense, Volucam and RED cameras, nine patents filed, and live real-time point cloud streaming.[25] It also says it can stream live multi-view volumetric video at 30 fps using RED cinema cameras.[26]

Selected patents

Patent Title Filed Granted Inventors
US 9,369,689 Lidar stereo fusion live action 3D model video reconstruction for six degrees of freedom 360° volumetric virtual reality video 18 February 2016 14 June 2016 Anthony Tran, Jason Juang[24]
US 11,025,882 Live action volumetric video compression/decompression and playback 24 April 2017 1 June 2021 Jason Juang, Anthony Tran, Jiang Lan, Caoyang Jiang[27]
US 10,469,820 Streaming volumetric video for six degrees of freedom virtual reality 28 September 2017 5 November 2019 Caoyang Jiang, Jiang Lan, Jason Juang, Anthony Tran[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Paul James (2015-03-04). "HypeVR Captures Ultra-High Def 360 Degree, Depth-Mapped Video Using a 14 x 'Red Dragons' and LiDAR". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/hype-vr-captures-ultra-high-def-360-degree-depth-mapped-video-using-a-14-x-red-dragons-and-lidar/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jose Antunes (2017-01-05). "Intel: merged reality will change video". ProVideo Coalition. https://www.provideocoalition.com/intel-merged-reality-will-change-video/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "HypeVR - Form D, Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities (filed 2016-11-23)". SEC EDGAR. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2016-11-23. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1690505/000169050516000001/0001690505-16-000001-index.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Volumetric Video - Holographic - Spatial - 3nfinite". 3nfinite (archived copy, June 2021). http://web.archive.org/web/20210618024500/https://www.3nfinite.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  5. ↑ "Careers". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/careers. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Our Story". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/our-story. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wolfgang Juchmann (2015). "As LiDAR Goes to Hollywood, HypeVR and Velodyne Are Deep in 3D". LiDAR News Magazine, vol. 5, no. 4. Spatial Media. https://lidarmag.com/wp-content/uploads/PDF/LiDARNewsMagazine_Juchmann-LiDARandHollywood_Vol5No4.pdf. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Press". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/press. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  9. ↑ Joe Otterson (2019-12-04). "Bill Hader, Greg Berlanti, Margie Cohn and Cindy Holland Inducted Into Variety Hall of Fame". Variety. https://variety.com/2019/scene/news/bill-hader-greg-berlanti-netflix-cindy-holland-variety-hall-of-fame-1203424201/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  10. ↑ Paul James (2016-10-03). "Watch HypeVR's Impressive Volumetric 360 3D Video In Action". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/watch-hypevrs-impressive-volumetric-360-3d-video-in-action/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  11. ↑ "Intel Jump Starts CES 2017 With News and Experiences". Intel Investor Relations. Intel Corporation. 2017-01-04. https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/254/intel-jump-starts-ces-2017-with-news-and-experiences. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ben Lang (2017-01-10). "Believe the Hype: HypeVR's Volumetric Video Capture is a Glimpse at the Future of VR Video". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/believe-hype-hypevrs-volumentric-video-capture-glimpse-future-vr-video/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  13. ↑ Jonathan Vanian (2017-09-22). "Intel Just Killed Its Project Alloy Virtual Reality Headset Initiative". Fortune. https://fortune.com/2017/09/22/intel-virtual-reality-project-alloy/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  14. ↑ Olivia Popp (2018-11-09). "'Crazy Rich Asians' screenwriter, VR leaders unite at second annual Confluence Summit". The Stanford Daily. https://www.stanforddaily.com/2018/11/09/crazy-rich-asians-screenwriter-vr-leaders-unite-at-second-annual-confluence-summit/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Anna Qingfeng Li, William Cheung, Robert Kawiak, Dusty Robbins (2019). "Enabling High Quality Volumetric VOD Streaming Over Broadband and 5G". Intel white paper (archived copy). Intel Corporation. http://web.archive.org/web/20210906110607/https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/white-papers/v2-volumetric-vod-streaming-whitepaper.pdf. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  16. ↑ "Enbly". Meta Quest Store. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/experiences/3710780315666962/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  17. ↑ "Volumetric Video - Holographic - Spatial - Volygon". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  18. ↑ "Team". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/team. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  19. ↑ "3D Gaussian Videos". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/3d-gaussian-splatting. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  20. ↑ "App". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/volygon. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "HypeVR - Form D/A, Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities (filed 2025-08-15)". SEC EDGAR. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2025-08-15. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1690505/000169050525000002/0001690505-25-000002-index.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  22. ↑ "HypeVR - Form D, Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities (filed 2017-01-20)". SEC EDGAR. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2017-01-20. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1690505/000169050517000001/0001690505-17-000001-index.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  23. ↑ "HypeVR - Form D/A, Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities (filed 2020-03-17)". SEC EDGAR. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2020-03-17. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1690505/000169050520000001/0001690505-20-000001-index.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "US9369689B1 - Lidar stereo fusion live action 3D model video reconstruction for six degrees of freedom 360 degree volumetric virtual reality video". Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9369689B1. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  25. ↑ "Technology". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/software. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  26. ↑ "Capture". Volygon. https://www.volygon.com/volumetric-capture. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  27. ↑ "US11025882B2 - Live action volumetric video compression/decompression and playback". Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US11025882B2. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
  28. ↑ "US10469820B2 - Streaming volumetric video for six degrees of freedom virtual reality". Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US10469820B2. Retrieved 2026-10-21.
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