philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

13Mar/19Off

Microsoft Has Been Quietly Working on the Future of Consumer AR

hololens-2-imageBut there seemed to have been another reason why Microsoft had invited Sweeney on stage. “In the years to come, Epic will support Hololens in all of our endeavors,” Sweeney promised, all but confirming that Microsoft had planned a gamer-ready Hololens device for the near future. Microsoft executives have since repeatedly said that the journey to consumer AR will take years, not decades, further underlining the company’s commitment to the space.

Hololens 2 is an all-in-one AR headset, capable of overlaying holograms over your view of the real world. It’s significantly more comfortable than the original — three times as comfortable, if we can believe Microsoft’s oddly specific math. And it features more than double the field of view of the original Hololens.

Microsoft’s Hololens 2 also comes with integrated eye-tracking technology, which introduces a range of new interaction models.

But the biggest update may be advanced hand tracking, which makes it possible to touch and interact with Holograms in a whole new way.

With its new hardware, Microsoft has significantly expanded the capability of such gestures, and is now tracking 25 joints in each hand. The resulting experience feels a lot more natural, allowing users to press buttons, grab Holograms, and even have AR hummingbirds land on the palm of their hands.

The company also used its event last month to unveil what it calls Spatial Anchors, its take on the AR cloud. As part of Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing infrastructure, Spatial Anchors allow developers to build persistent, shareable AR experiences that are tied to specific locations.

This could be used, for instance, to build multi-player AR games for mobile devices. And ultimately, the same technology will also able to power Microsoft’s own AR experiences, including those running on future versions of the Hololens.

The final leg of the stool for Microsoft’s AR efforts are the company’s Mixed Reality Capture Studios, which can be used to capture high-quality 3D holograms. Microsoft runs its own capture studio in San Francisco, and its technology powers two studios operated by partners in Los Angeles and London.

But taken together, all of these efforts hint at a future in which Microsoft wants to be able to do everything: Build mass-market AR devices with proven interaction models, power them with the necessary infrastructure for planet-scale AR experiences, and have enough content available to make them enticing for consumers.

See the full story here: https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/microsoft-hololens-consumer-ar-glasses-1203161646/

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