Augmented Reality News News
News: Occipital's Bridge Headset—The iPhone's Answer to HoloLens—Is Available Now
A new contender has entered the mixed reality ring. San Fransisco-based Occipital has just released an "Explorer Edition" of Bridge—an iPhone-based mixed and virtual reality headset that uses their popular Structure Sensor. At a fraction of the cost of a HoloLens developers kit, this could be a place many curious people use to find their NextReality.
News: Rony Abovitz Responds—Says 2017 Is Going to Be 'An Exciting Year' for Magic Leap
In response to the flurry of doubtful headlines about Magic Leap today, set off by an unflattering article from The Information, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz released a short blog post quickly detailing what to expect from the company over the next year. The gist comes down to this: big things are happening in 2017.
News: Ex-Magic Leapers Confirm the Demo Video We All Thought Was Faked... Was Faked
When the "Just another day in the office at Magic Leap" video was released last year, it was called a mind-blowing, stunning, and breathtaking take on mixed reality gaming. It was a great presentation of what the technology could be, but not for a second did I think it was anything other than a concept video, and I'm not the only one who thought that. This was a goal to reach for mixed reality, not the reality.
News: Vuforia AR Starter Kit Hits the Unity Asset Store for Free
In mid-November, Vuforia officially released Vuforia 6.1, which has full support for the Microsoft HoloLens. They also released their AR Starter Kit to the Unity Asset Store, which contains scenes that show you how to use Vuforia features. While I have yet to find any confirmation, I believe it is safe to assume that the AR Starter Kit will work with the HoloLens. I already had a Vuforia tutorial planned for this week, so as soon as I know for sure, I will begin working on it.
News: ARM Snapdragon Processors Running Windows 10 Is a Good Sign for Mixed Reality
At the WinHEC Shenzen 2016 Keynote, Microsoft showed off a system running Windows 10 smoothly on an ARM processor. This could be great news for developers of mixed reality software.
Video: PokéLens—A HoloLens Concept Game with Project Downloads
Ready to finally play some Pokémon on your HoloLens? Here is your chance! KennyWdev has released a video showing off his newest build of PokéLens, a Pokémon clone for the HoloLens similar to Pokémon GO. In the video, you get to see two Pokémon battle it out on what appears to be an office floor. Apparently, Pikachu is "super effective." This coincidentally appeared online the same day that another developer, Sky Zhou, showed off his Smash Brothers-style Pokémon game.
News: My First Hackathon—What It Took to Win HoloHack Atlanta
Beginners luck is a phrase I have always hated. But really, beginners luck comes down to not letting your experience in something get in the way of the idea.
News: Osterhout Design Group Just Raised $58 Million—We'll See Why at CES 2017
As we slowly approach its January 3 start date, CES 2017 seems to be shaping up to be an exciting year for smart glasses as well as augmented and mixed reality.
News: Brenda Freeman Leaves Behind TV & Film to Join Magic Leap as CMO
Today, December 7, it was officially announced that Magic Leap has found their replacement for the recently departed Brian Wallace. Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz has tapped Brenda Freeman, former EVP and Chief Marketing Officer of National Geographic Channel, as their new Chief Marketing Officer.
News: HoloToolkit's Expanded Spatial Mapping Capabilities on HoloLens Now Open Source
For those of us that were blown away by the spatial mapping and user experience in Fragments and Young Conker, the version of spatial mapping that came stock in the HoloToolkit was lackluster at best. It became apparent really quick that to get an amazing presentation would require some heavy shader knowledge and some badass mesh culling skills, at the very least.
News: Two Doctors Simplify Spinal Surgery with the HoloLens
True innovation tends to come from the places we least expect as developers. The Microsoft HoloLens is still a very new product, and some of the other headsets are still just ideas, so the rules for mixed reality are not set in stone. That means all the real problems to be solved are yet to come.
News: The Scaling Ratios Every HoloLens Dev Should Know for Clean Text in Mixed Reality
Designing for mixed reality, especially for the HoloLens, can present unique challenges. Dong Yoon Park, a Principal UX Designer at Microsoft with a passion for typography, recently gave a talk to the Windows Holographic Users Group Redmond (WinHUGR) about the pitfalls he ran into trying to convert what started out as a 2D iOS app 5 years ago to the newer 3D Holographic frontier with Unity.
News: Augmented Reality Helps Dutch Police Out on Crime Scenes
Dutch police are using a system very similar to Pokémon GO on smartphones, but they aren't walking around trying to catch little pocket monsters. The purpose of this system is to give augmented reality help to first responders who may be less qualified to work a fresh crime scene. If successful, the idea of a contaminated crime scene could be a thing of the past.
News: Win $430K for Your HoloLens Concept App in the US Dept. of Education's EdSim Challenge
The US Department of Education has put together a competition called the EdSim Challenge with a $680,000 purse to facilitate next-gen education. The event calls upon augmented and virtual reality, as well as video game developers, to bring immersive simulation concepts to prepare the workforce of the future.
News: Microsoft Gives Windows Insiders Peek into New Paint 3D
If you've ever been inspired to try out 3D modeling after enjoying computer-generated imagery in video games and movies, chances are you've checked out an paid applications like 3ds Max (previously called 3D Studio Max), or even free ones like Blender, then just went "No Way! It's way too complicated."
News: Windows Holographic Lands in Windows 10 Insider Build 14971
Windows Insiders running Build 14971 of Windows 10 in the Fast Ring can now look for the "Windows Holographic First Run" app to check to see if their PCs are up to the task of running Windows Holographic. It won't detect your VR headset yet, but at least you'll be able to see if your computer will be compatible.
News: Mixed Reality Headset 'Linq' Takes Direct Aim at HoloLens' Lack of Gaming
With the release of the HoloLens, Microsoft has put itself in both a great position while giving the competition a serious target to aim for. This is normally the case for anyone that is first to the market with a new idea, and now we've finally got a good competitor HoloLens coming. Stereolabs, a company known for its impressive 2K stereo camera, will be entering the mixed reality head-mounted display space with a Developers Kit as soon as early-2017.
News: Make Movie Magic on the HoloLens with Microsoft's New Actiongram Fantasy Contest
Want to go to Seattle and meet the Actiongram team?
News: Taqtile's HoloMaps Gives HoloLens Users Ability to View, Scale & Draw on 3D Maps
HoloMaps, an application by Seattle-based Taqtile, is available for free on the Windows Store. Taqtile, whose Vice President of Product Management was Microsoft's former Director of Business Development, is one of the few partners currently in the Microsoft HoloLens Agency Readiness Program. This interactive 3D map they have created, powered by Bing, offers more than just a top-down view of the world on the HoloLens.
News: Inputs for the HoloLens Can Be from Any Device... Even a Smartphone
We've highlighted the projects of Wavelength Studios a few times over recent months for their work in the augmented and mixed reality space. Since receiving their HoloLens headsets, they've been hard at work on both development community projects as well as efforts for clients. This brings us to their latest work—a way to control holograms on the HoloLens with our pocket-based modern miracles, also know as smartphones.
News: Trimble Releases SketchUp Viewer, the First Commercial HoloLens Application in the Windows Store
Visualization is one of the obvious commercial applications for technology such as Microsoft's HoloLens. The ability to see the assets of a project in different scales—from micro to larger-than-life—with a quick air tap will play a large part in the coming augmented reality revolution. Whether the assets are art for a game, interior design, raw financial data, or architecture, data visualization will play an important role in the future. This is due, in part, to our ability to absorb informat...
News: DataMesh's HoloDesign Makes Redesigning Spaces Easy with a HoloLens
What does our future hold when augmented and mixed reality finally enter the mainstream? As developers, we are always looking for the ultimate solutions to the problems our users see. Welcome the innovative minds of DataMesh Consulting and their impressive HoloLens interior design solution called HoloDesign (previously "Decoration").
News: HoloLens Can Give Tank Crews 360-Degree X-Ray Vision on Missions
As a commercial and potentially consumer product, one might assume it very unlikely to see the Microsoft HoloLens in the military marketplace. And that assumption would be completely wrong. One company from the Ukraine is currently working on using the mixed reality head-mounted computer for 360-degree vision inside armored tanks. If a tank crew could see the entire battlefield there are in, they would likely have a better chance of accomplishing their mission and avoiding damage. Tanks are l...
News: Reputable Analyst Predicts Apple's AR Ambitions Are Heading to Cars
Google and Microsoft have both established platforms and hardware for emerging digital realities, but Apple, true to form, hasn't had much to say on the subject. They've shown interest in augmented reality, and we've seen patent filings that indicate research and development, but a recent rumor points to that research ending up in your car instead of a rose gold headset.
News: 3 Ways Developers Are Already Turning Mixed Reality into a Multi-User Platform
Microsoft's HoloLens may the coolest new advancements in technology we've seen in quite some time, and anyone (with deep pockets) can buy one right now. But so far it's been an isolated platform where you experience mixed reality alone and others watch you air tap nothing but air. Developers are working to change that, and we're seeing the first examples crop up online already.
News: One Magic Leap Mystery Solved—Former Senior Dev Paul Reynolds Confirms Unity & Unreal
After many months of endless speculation over the mysterious augmented reality platform Magic Leap, software engineers worldwide have been waiting for any news of what development environment this amazing technology might use. Thanks to Paul Reynolds, the former Magic Leap Senior Director of SDKs and Apps, we no longer have to guess. Just like existing mixed, augmented, and virtual reality platforms, developers will be able to use their experience with Unity and the UNREAL engine.
News: Magic Leap's Latest Job Posting Shows They're Getting Ready for Mass Production
Few companies have maintained such intense secrecy, in the face of such extreme hype, as Magic Leap, but the closer their mysterious Mixed Reality product comes to mass production, the harder it becomes to hide the details. Hopefully we'll find out way more details soon, as a Magic Leap job posting for a supply chain manager hint that they're readying for release in the next couple years.
News: Control a Synthesizer with the HoloLens to Make Music in Mixed Reality
In the world of analog synthesizers, hitting a key, twisting a knob, or sliding a fader makes a beautiful musical (or not so musical) sound and can be an amazing and downright satisfying experience. Now it's about to get even more satisfying, if you add Microsoft's HoloLens into the mix as a means to twist those knobs virtually instead.
News: This Dev's Awesome Kinect + HoloLens Hack Lets Him Control a Hologram's Entire Virtual Body
It's no surprise that the Microsoft Kinect can provide far better motion tracking than the HoloLens currently can on its own, but at least one developer didn't want to wait for the company's own eventual implementation. Kyle G, founder and CEO of Wavelength Studios, projected his movements using a Kinect into a holographic zombie.
News: Proof-of-Concept HoloTire App Shows How Much People Are Going to Love Shopping in Mixed Reality
We've already seen plenty of shopping potential for mixed reality headsets, from holographic car showrooms to trying on clothes and picking out furniture. Very few of those ideas have been put into actual practice, but we're getting closer, and consulting firm Valorem is making headway. They created HoloTire for the Microsoft HoloLens to demonstrate the advantage of experiencing a product in mixed reality. I'm hard-pressed to think of a more boring product to put on a holographic pedestal tha...
Concept: HoloLens App 'Future Boy' Turns a Painting into an Interactive 3D Game
The HoloLens opens up new, digital locales within our physical world, so it was only natural for the HoloLens Challenge to ask developers to create a portal into one. One developer rose to the task and gave life to wall art, turning it into an interactive game called Future Boy.
News: Why Is Most HoloLens Development Happening in Unity?
Autodesk offers some of the most popular software for computer-aided design (CAD) projects, which involve all sorts of 3D rendering. Their tools are clearly suited for use with the Microsoft HoloLens, but so far very little supports HoloLens development outside of Unity. Why is that?
News: The HoloLens Can Now Wirelessly Use a PC's CPU & GPU for Faster Development Cycles
Virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive tether to desktop computers with robust GPUs in order to harness their power. The free-roaming, cordless Microsoft HoloLens forgoes those chains but loses a bit of graphical processing power in the mix. However, a recent report suggests we may get the best of both worlds.
News: Meta Delays Shipments of Developer Kits Until the End of the Year—& That's a Good Thing
The future for the Meta 2 augmented reality headset will have to wait. While shipments were supposedly on their way out back in June, Meta revealed today that they need a bit more time to provide the best possible experience—and that's really for the best.
News: Xperiel's Vision of a Real World Web Is a Better, AR Version of the Internet
Mixed reality can give you the feeling that you've uncovered a hidden world layered into the physical one you already know. This can happen in so many ways, from a trading card that births a hologram or a first-person shooter with robots blasting through your walls. Xperiel—a California-based augmented and mixed reality company—wants to create a platform to make that a whole lot easier for developers.
News: 'Land of Dinosaurs' HoloLens App Brings Jurassic Park to Life with Holograms
Jurassic Park makes a great (and sometimes mediocre) action movie, but hopefully isn't the sort of thing we're dumb enough to actually make. Fortunately, on the HoloLens, you can now walk with the dinosaurs with no risk to your life and limbs.
News: The Floor Is Actually Lava on the Microsoft HoloLens
Unless you had a master of visual effects for a parent, you had to imagine the floor was actually lava when playing the classic furniture-hopping game. With a Microsoft HoloLens, however, you don't have to imagine anything.
News: HoloIsland Turns Any Room into a Tropical, Mixed Reality Island
Wish your dull room was a little more refreshing? Through the power of mixed reality and the Microsoft HoloLens, one app can transform your space into a relaxing tropical island.
Exclusive: Meta's Ryan Pamplin on the Meta 2 Headset & the Future of Mixed Reality
The future of augmented and mixed reality offers many possibilities, mostly because we're still figuring out everything it can do. While Meta is open to exploration, they've spent a lot of time thinking about what the future of this technology will be.
News: HoloStudy Teaches Science in 3D Using the HoloLens
Humans learn best by doing or through an experience, and so the holographic environments provided in virtual and mixed reality are ripe with educational opportunities. HoloStudy took this to heart and created an educational science app that teaches you with animated models you can explore in your own space.