PHOTOS COURTESY LIGHTFORM

From top, Brett Jones, Raj Sodhi and Kevin Karsch co-founded Lightform, a projected augmented reality company. Lightform’s

technology lets people paint objects and spaces with digitally controlled beams of light to turn anything the light shines on – no

matter the shape or texture – into a visual display.

Lightform leaders put AR tools in non-techie hands

Shared Microsoft experience and passion for augmented reality led to creating new company

By Brad Broberg

Every day at work is a college reunion for Brett Jones, Raj Sodhi and Kevin Karsch, who became friends -- and future business partners – at the University of Illinois. 

After graduating together in 2014 with doctoral degrees in computer science, the three former Microsoft Research (MSR) summer interns founded Lightform, a San Francisco company born out of their mutual passion for projected augmented reality (AR).

Projected AR paints objects and spaces with digitally controlled beams of light to turn anything the light shines on – no matter the shape or texture – into a visual display. 

From creating special effects like transforming a stairway into a waterfall to providing information like overlaying a floor with wayfinding directions, there’s no end to the ways projected AR can enhance the real world by turning almost anything into a display screen.

“It’s always just felt magical to us,” said Raj, chief strategy officer.

The technology behind projected AR is not new, but executing it is complex. Brett, Raj and Kevin developed hardware and software that automates the process so that almost anyone can use it. 

“If you are familiar with a photo-editing tool like Photoshop, you can use our tool,” Raj said. 

The magic isn’t just about what you see. It’s also about how you see it –  with the naked eye rather than through the headsets employed by other augmented reality and/or virtual reality systems.  

“It’s an amazing experience when you can walk into a space and see objects come to life,” said Raj. “That’s the kind of magic we fell in love with.”

Although their stints at Microsoft Research (MSR) totaled only a few months apiece during their doctoral studies, the trio came away with valuable perspectives on how to build a company around a nascent technology.

On one level the environment at MSR was akin to an academic institution, but on another it was “more product focused, more business focused,” said Kevin, a 2011 intern who is Lightform’s chief technology officer.

At MSR they learned “what kind of questions are the most important to ask,” said Raj, who was there in 2011 and 2013. “It helped us be effective problem solvers.”

Internships in 2012 and 2013 were tutorials in productization for Brett as he was part of a team that turned projected AR research into prototypes for IllumiRoom and RoomAlive, which used projected AR to extend Xbox visuals beyond the TV to entire rooms.

“That was definitely an eye-opening experience to conceive a product and then create a prototype and then pitch it,” said Brett, CEO at Lightform. “It made us want to ... get all the way to a finished product.”

Lightform – the name of both the company and its projected AR system – relies on the science of projection mapping in which objects and surfaces are scanned with patterns of light to capture their geometry in three dimensions. 

Lightform’s system is built around a wireless scanner/computer that calibrates the captured data and transmits it to a desktop application. 

The app enables users to compose displays – words and images both still and animated – that fit the contours of their target. The light needed to form the displays is then beamed onto the target – anything from a wall to a sculpture to a piece of furniture – by a projector connected to the scanner.   

Lightform, backed by $8 million in venture capital from Lux Capital, Dolby Family Ventures and Seven Seas Ventures, will ship its first 2,000 projected AR systems in November after strong advance demand.  A second wave is expected to ship early next year. 

The scanner – which works with most brands of projectors –  and app list for $699.  A package that includes an Epson projector and various accessories lists for $1,499.

So far Lightform’s primary customers are businesses that want to integrate digital content into their surroundings rather than relying on screens that make their establishment “look like a sports bar,” Brett said. 

“The main markets we’re focused on are installations within retailers, hotel lobbies and restaurants and then temporary activations for events like trade shows and weddings,” he said.

In the future, when projectors shrink to the size of your fist, projected AR could become as ubiquitous as light fixtures. Jones imagines a system that responds to commands as a person walks from room to room.

“You could ask Cortana when your Uber ride is going to get there and (the information) could show up ... next to you in the bathroom while you’re brushing your teeth,” he said.