Stockholm-based Starbreeze said it has acquired Belgian VFX studio Nozon, developer of the Presenz technology for interactive parallax in VR environments, for a total of $7.8 million U.S. (€7.1 million), including about $5 million (€4.6 million) in cash and the remainder in Starbeeze stock.

During a 10-year earn-out period following the acquisition, Nozon's founders will receive a percentage of revenues from the Presenz technology after Starbreeze recoups $2.2 million (€2 million) of its investment in Nozon.

Starbreeze said the Presenz technology will be incorporated in its StarVR head-mounted device.

“Presenz technology for multiple virtual reality applications will allow for room scale scanning and virtualization, and high quality computer graphics rendering at almost movie level polygon counts,” said Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint in a prepared statement. “The future of VR is undefined but it is easy to imagine with this technology, where a space can be scanned and rendered in high quality CGI, the applications where you could render a space like the Louvre in Paris or Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and provide interactive guided tours. Additionally, one could potentially use computer graphic assets from a blockbuster Hollywood movie to create a cinematic VR experience.”

Nozon was at SIGGRAPH this year showing off Presenz with a VR demo that showed how six degrees of parallax greatly enhances the realism of a rendered 3D scene. Nozon refers to the spectator's vantage in its volumetric movies as a "zone of view" rather than just a point of view. Within a standard rendering unit that measures one meter by one meter by 60 cm, a headset-wearing viewer will see parallax in a fully rendered image as they move their head around inside that space, revealing previously occluded background details or getting a better look at an object in 3D space. 

Nozon was set to see Presenz implemented in a V-ray plug-in by the end of this year.

Starbreeze: www.starbreeze.com