HoloStream Basics¶
What is HoloStream¶
HoloStream is a high quality adaptive volumetric video streaming solution for mobile, web, desktop, and immersive headsets. HoloStream clips stream multiple bitrates adaptively on-demand from Arcturus’s HoloStream CDN.
HoloStream is compatible with industry standard streaming protocols, giving you control of the final streaming product.
Encode Time and View Minutes¶
Your HoloSuite account needs View Minutes for HoloStream playback to users, and Encode Minutes for processing and preparing Volumetric Video for adaptive streaming playback. Contact Arcturus at sales@arcturus.studio for more information on pricing and billing.
HoloStream Features¶
Adaptive bit rate¶
HoloStream provides adaptive bit rate streaming to supply the highest quality content at all network speeds. It does this by dynamically switching to the best available quality profile for the network available.
At upload, multiple quality levels can be generated and uploaded along with your clip.
Each of these quality profiles have different mesh triangle counts, and texture resolutions.
Web API¶
The HoloStream Web API supports embedding volumetric streams directly into your Three.js (external link) webapp. The Web API provides web developers control over how and when the stream is displayed.
Unity¶
HoloSuite includes a Unity HoloSuite Player, a package for the Unity Game Engine (external link). The plugin supports streaming adaptive volumetric video into a Unity project.
Manifest URL¶
A HoloStream URL (ending in “.mpd”) is a unique string that references the server location where the clip is stored. This URL points to a manifest file which is used to load a stream into any HoloStream Player. These players use the manifest to adaptively retrieve your volumetric video stream.
The Manifest URL is displayed in HoloEdit after HoloStream Export. After uploading a clip to HoloStream, use your URL with the Unity HoloStream Player or HoloStream WebPlayer to stream your clip.
HoloStream Integrations¶
HoloStream includes pre-built integrations with the following platforms.
Unity Player¶
The Unity HoloSuite Player can play any HoloStream clip by supplying the HoloStream MPD URL to a HoloSuite Player script configured for the HoloStream format, or by using a HoloStream Asset when configured for the Asset format.
For an example configuration, the HoloSuite Unity Player plugin includes a sample for using HoloStreams.
8th Wall¶
HoloStream integrates seamlessly with 8th Wall, an AR devolvement platform that allows streams to be played in AR. An example project with HoloStream integration is provided on the 8th wall website. For more information on using HoloStream in an 8th wall project, see 8th Wall - Getting Started