Read the interview with Andreas Vasilakis, Nikolaos Vitsas, Anastasios Gkaravelis, Georgios Papaioannou, and their winning proposal: Holographic Optimized Processing Engine (HOPE)
Andreas Vasilakis, Nikolaos Vitsas, and Anastasios Gkaravelis from PHASMATIC, and Georgios Papaioannou from AUEB-RC
The consortium, which consists of PHASMATIC and AUEB-RC, brings extensive expertise in 3D computer graphics and geometry processing technologies, along with a strong track record in applying these skills to the web & XR use cases.
Founded by Dr. Andreas Vasilakis, Dr. Nikolaos Vitsas and Dr. Anastasios Gkaravelis, PHASMATIC helps companies enrich visual user experiences with cutting-edge 3D, XR & AI photorealistic technology.
On the other hand, AUEB-RC (led by Prof. Georgios. Papaioannou) is the leading computer graphics research group in Greece, conducting research in the frontier of image synthesis and shape analysis.
Can you give a brief overview of your winning proposal?
What are its key objectives and innovative aspects?
The HOPE project enhances the SPIRIT platform by advancing real-time holographic communication for retail applications, with a specific focus on real-time teleconference experiences. The project will focus on incorporating semantic, importance-driven compression, resampling, and filtering to highlight essential details, such as facial features, body movements and even points of interest as well as adaptive distance filtering to optimise capture ranges based on the region’s size. This not only optimises bandwidth usage but also improves the overall user experience by delivering high-quality visualisations even in bandwidth-constrained environments.
What motivated you to apply for the SPIRIT Open Call?
SPIRIT offers a unique chance to influence the next generation of immersive telepresence technologies while working alongside leading innovators and academic institutions across Europe within the consortium. Specifically, SPIRIT provides the essential infrastructure for the success of HOPE’s key objectives. The high-performance computing resources, advanced networking capabilities, and network testbeds available within SPIRIT are crucial for validating HOPE’s technologies in real-world scenarios, ensuring that the system is both scalable and adaptable to varying conditions. Furthermore, the HOPE project aligns with SPIRIT’s mission to enhance immersive experiences by leveraging cutting-edge technologies for data processing, transmission, and real-time interactivity.
How do you envision this project making an impact?
The HOPE project aims to advance the holographic communication of the SPIRIT platform, providing sustainable benefits that extend beyond the experiment’s completion. The enhanced 3D data optimisation pipeline will refine SPIRIT’s ability to process and stream high-quality holographic data efficiently, establishing a robust pipeline for future use cases. Furthermore, the HOPE project is instrumental in addressing one of the most pressing challenges faced by PHASMATIC’s clients – large 3D asset file sizes. Through the use of adaptive compression techniques, HOPE will provide high-quality 3D assets that are optimised for data transmission and visualisation, directly contributing to improved client satisfaction and enhanced user experiences. This improvement directly addresses client concerns about site performance, making it easier for them to deploy 3D content at scale across various platforms, such as eCommerce websites, XR applications, and other real time rendering use cases where seamless and fast access to high-quality 3D content is paramount.