Legendary and Microsoft to Bring Movie Characters to Hololens

Feel like hanging out with a giant orc? You might get a chance, as Legendary Entertainment is partnering up with Microsoft to create new experiences using the latter's to-be-released HoloLens augmented reality headset. One of the goals is to bring movie characters to life—allowing HoloLens users to plop their favorite baddies and heros on their desks or in their kitchens, rather than simply interacting with these characters in a larger, made-up, virtual world.

"Microsoft HoloLens lets us bring characters from the worlds we create into the real world. Our fans get to interact and have fun with our characters in a completely new way, giving them a unique experience they can share with their friends through video and social media. This is exciting for us, and for the creators we work with," said Emily Castel, Legendary's chief marketing officer, in a statement

Whether animation or actors, characters can come to life as holograms

With HoloLens, creators now have more than one way to make holograms, whether characters are played by actors or are CG-based. To capture actors and real objects as holograms, we use a holographic video capture studio. We record the actors using dozens of synchronized RGB and infrared cameras on a calibrated green-screen stage. We are able to capture the motion, shape, and appearance of the performer, producing something like video but viewable from any angle, at any moment of recording. Life-sized holograms of CG-created characters can also be made using 3D data.

The result

The real magic is when fans get to see and interact with their favorite characters off the screen and in the real world. At the Hollywood premiere of Warcraft, fans got to meet Orgrim Doomhammer as a hologram on Microsoft HoloLens.