A gorgeous model stands inches in front of you, wearing only a bright orange sarong and bikini top. Suddenly, she begins slowly spinning, showing you the outfit from every angle, as if she were a high-priced supermodel on a Paris catwalk.
In fact, she is just an image on your computer screen: a product of Autolycus Corp.’s patent-pending imaging technology that allows the simple creation and viewing of 3D, 360-degree images or movie clips on the Internet. The technology is compatible with all recent browsers, compresses the file size for quick download time, and, unlike similar existing technologies, requires no plug-in for viewing.
“This technology is not only an excellent online imaging solution, but also a great business tool,” says Robert Green, CEO of Autolycus. “Our product uses a digital video camera which simplifies the creation process. It reduces the time it takes to create 3D images to a few minutes, and costs under $10 per image. With other software products, this same process takes about an hour and costs anywhere from $100 to $750 per image.”
This type of 3D imaging technology is already being widely used by the fashion, automotive, sports and communications industries. And the real estate industry is currently using the technology to give virtual tours of buildings and homes for sale on the Internet. Sellers on eBay also use the technology to help sell items listed for auction on the Internet.
Research shows that 3D pictures help sell products from office buildings to Pez dispensers and significantly boost consumer satisfaction.
Andrew Jackson of MGI Software, an Internet software and services company, says that there is a 30 percent increase in sales and a 50 percent reduction in returned goods with the use of 3D imaging. Jackson was a featured speaker at last month’s Digital Imaging Group Technical Forum in Las Vegas, where he spoke on “The Impact of Imaging on e-Commerce.”
Though Autloycus’ software is still in a beta-test phase, it already has an impressive client list, including, New Balance, BattleBots and UUNET/MCIWorldcom. Other commercial clients include Summit Sportswear, Xtreme Wheelz, xamxam.com, Smith-Victor Corp. and Anand Jon.
The company’s revenue is going to end up at only about $50,000 this year, but it is projecting it to soar to $6.1 million next year. And it’s expecting its current 10-person workforce to jump to 26 people in 2001.
The company got its start when Andrew Justice and Jason Bowser discovered what they deemed to be a widespread problem with existing imaging technologies. So they co-founded Autolycus in April 1999 and boldly set out to find a solution.
Justice, 34, who served in the Navy for six years as a Data Systems Technician, was specifically trained for the Navy Tactical Data System and was responsible for running the code that operated the Navy’s Tomahawk weapons systems.
After leaving the Navy, Justice was immediately hired as a computer technician at a Macintosh dealership, which he now owns. “I learned everything about the Mac and then combined that with what I knew about computers, printing and graphics and focused on one cause: Changing 3D imaging on the Internet.”
Bowser, 26, who has extensive experience in professional print, video production, animation and Web development, met Justice at the Mac dealership Justice owns.
“While the benefits of dynamic 3D, 360-degree product presentation were clear when we started, existing technologies were not meeting the market’s current 3D imaging needs,” Bowser explains.
Most of the existing technology currently in use, says Bowser, is not user-friendly because it requires expensive outsourced service, technical expertise and plug-ins for viewing.
Justice and Bowser began searching for solutions to these problems by systematically testing and evaluating the performance, qualities and limitations of all the 3D imaging technologies in the market. Their research and development team composed of photographers, artists, physicists, network engineers, ectricians, mechanical engineers and software developers eventually developed an object imaging software that, according to company officials, is simple to use, requires no plug-in, and is fully integrated with existing, 3D product hardware, such as cameras, turntables and lighting.
Green, an attorney and UCLA alumna, joined Autolycus earlier this year and helped open the company’s Santa Monica office. The company’s East Coast office is located in Camp Hill, Pa. Since its founding, the company has raised over $450,000 in capital through family, friends and local angel investors.
“We developed the technology in a very self-sufficient manner,” Green explains, “relying a lot on profits derived from Justice’s Macintosh dealership.
Autolycus has already burned through most of its initial $450,000 investment, and is currently looking to raise $3 million to $5 million from venture capitalists and strategic partners to help take the technology to market.
Great expectations
The first product Autolycus will take to market is focused on the automative and industrial parts space and will be marketed under the name 3DPartsOnline. This technology enables a parts manufacturer or reseller to quickly catalog and display its products in images that can be viewed from all sides.
“We are currently beta-testing this product and the Web site will be up live next week,” Green says. The company plans to take this product to market in February.
Peter McLaughlin of El Segundo-based CarParts.com, the largest automotitive parts distributor on the Internet, tested Autolycus’ 3D imaging technology earlier this year. “The technology is promising,” McLaughlin said, “but is in its early stages, so we decided to wait.”
The company’s second product will be a Macintosh version for the consumer that creates 3D images for Internet viewing, but doesn’t include an integrated database. The company plans to unveil that product Jan. 9 at the MacWorld trade show in San Francisco, where it will be co-exhibiting with Kaidan, a leader in hardware components for the interactive imaging space. Jim Anders, a vice president at Kaidan, confirmed that his company “will announce its partnership with Autolycus at MacWorld.”
Kaidan has alliances with Apple Computer, Kodak and other leading computer and software companies.”3D imaging is such a burgeoning technology right now, even with the recent dot-com downtown,” Anders said. “It is so compelling to be able to manipulate, turn and inspect a product you want to buy on the Internet, so we saw an alliance with Autolycus as a wide-open opportunity.”
Autolycus also has two other products in development. The first would enable the user to post images on PDAs that operate on Palm operating systems (Palm, Visor, Sony, etc). The second, still in a conceptual stage, would allow parts manufacturers to adapt existing computer-aided design (CAD) files for viewing on the Web.
Autolycus is also in the process of designing virtual stadiums for sports teams that will allow Web site visitors to see what the view is from any seat in a stadium. Some of this technology can be seen on the company’s Internet site, Autolycus.com.
Visitors can also sign up to beta-test the products.
Other companies that produce 3D imaging technology for use on the Internet include Metasteam, Quicktime, IPIX and IBM.
Representatives of each of those companies said they had not heard of Autolycus.
But the Autolycus isn’t too worried about existing competition because, according to company officials, they are the only fully automated Digital Video Software solution for object movies that doesn’t require a plug-in.
“We are really opening up new markets,” Green says, then turns toward his computer, clicks on the bikini model’s 3D image and watches her spin.
