Varjo Introduces ‘Teleport’ Service for Seamless Real-World to VR Integration

Varjo, renowned for its premium XR headsets, has unveiled an exciting new offering: a smartphone-based 3D scanning service aimed at enterprise users. This innovative tool enables users to swiftly craft photorealistic settings and explore them both in virtual reality and on traditional displays.

Named Teleport, this subscription-based app empowers users to capture and reconstruct actual locations. According to the Finnish company, this process only takes between 5 to 10 minutes, a significant improvement over conventional photogrammetry approaches.

Teleport supports a range of capture devices, specifically iPhones and iPads using iOS 17 or later. This includes an array of devices from the iPhone XR upward, and Apple’s 8th gen iPad or newer versions.

The digital replicas created can be accessed on smartphones and PCs, and they can be explored using Varjo’s XR headsets or other major PC VR headsets.

The magic behind Teleport’s 3D models lies in advancements in Gaussian Splatting and NVIDIA’s GPU-trained generative models. These models are processed in the cloud and subsequently rendered on the device, requiring an internet connection solely for downloading the initial model—after that, you’re free to explore without needing to stay connected.

Varjo offers Teleport for $30 a month with an enticing seven-day free trial currently available. This subscription also grants users the ability to view various captures for free in standard and HD via its web viewer, along with access to the top-tier quality captures through its desktop client.

Alongside the launch of Teleport, Varjo has expanded its Series D funding round, attracting new investors like Beyond Capital, Nishikawa Communications, and NVIDIA. While the specific figures of the recent funding haven’t been disclosed, Varjo shared with Road to VR that it brings their total funding to about €180 million, or $188 million USD.

This financial boost aims to fast-track the adoption of Varjo’s XR equipment and software for industrial use. CEO Timo Toikkanen highlighted that the company plans to integrate AI and machine learning to enhance the merger of real and virtual environments, boosting productivity and efficiency for their industrial partners.

While Varjo is making strides in enterprise solutions, Meta is developing a similar tool for consumers. Announced back in September, Meta’s Horizon Hyperscape is a demonstration experience meant to highlight their ambition for photorealism. In the future, Meta aims to enable creators to build worlds within Horizon by scanning a room with a phone and recreating it digitally. As of now, we’re awaiting further details on when this service will become available.