29May/15Off
Oculus buys Surreal Vision, letting company make virtual reality worlds out of the real one
[Philip Lelyveld note: put another way, Oculus buys an AR company.]
Oculus Rift has bought British company Surreal Vision, leading to hopes that the two companies might develop kit that allows for virtual
reality versions of the real world.
Many other companies that are working on virtual reality, like Microsoft, have developed ways that their headsets can see the real world, map it, and then place it in the virtual reality one. That means that digital images can be laid on top of real ones, such as putting putting a Facebook wall onto a real one.
Such uses for the technology has been demonstrated by one of those involved in the company. Surreal Vision was founded by three researchers from Imperial College London.