Andy Fouché verlässt Magic Leap

Wir hatten in der letzten Woche bereits berichtet, dass Magic Leap eventuell nicht die Erwartungen der Community erfüllen kann. Ob dies wirklich zutreffend ist, wird sich erst zeigen, wenn Magic Leap das Mixed Reality Headset auf den Markt bringt. Dennoch hat Magic Leap die Erwartungen so hochgeschraubt, dass diese dem Unternehmen eventuell zum Verhängnis werden könnten. Nun gibt auch der Chef für die Öffentlichkeitsarbeit bei Magic Leap seinen Posten ab und wechselt in ein geheimes Startup.

Andy Fouché verlässt Magic Leap

Andy Fouché sagt via Twitter, dass er sich auf die neue Stelle in dem unbekannten Startup freue und dass dieses Startup von Andy Rubin geführt werde. Die neue Stelle muss wohl so reizvoll sein, dass Fouché den bisherigen Arbeitgeber kurz vor der Vorstellung des Produktes verlässt. Ob dies mit der negativen Presse zusammenhängt, ist reine Spekulation. Andy Rubin war bis 2014 bei Google beschäftigt und konzentrierte sich anschließend auf Playground. Bei Playground werden neue Technologien und Produkte entwickelt und finanziell unterstützt. Im November gab Rubin bekannt, dass das Unternehmen 500 Millionen US-Dollar für neue Investitionen bereitstellen werde und damit neue Startups unterstützen wolle.

Magic Leap teilte unterdessen mit, dass Brenda Freeman nun das Marketing leiten wird und dass die Veröffentlichung von Magic Leap One in greifbarer Nähe sei.

(Quelle: Upload VR)

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Magic Leap Head Of Public Relations Leaves To Join Stealth Startup

Magic Leap Head Of Public Relations Leaves To Join Stealth Startup

Some moves within the tech industry are notable for the individual who is moving, while others are notable for the timing.

I’d put this mostly in the latter group, with Magic Leap’s vice president in charge of public relations and global relations Andy Fouché tweeting “Thrilled to join stealth startup led by Andy Rubin!” out of the blue, nearly a month after tweeting a link to a TechCrunch article outlining Rubin’s new $500 million investment fund.

We’ve reached out to Fouché to confirm whether the move, as it appears, means he left Magic Leap less than a week after an article by The Information (subscription required) questioned the incredibly well-funded company’s readiness to ship a mixed reality product. A LinkedIn profile for Fouché lists him formerly in the Magic Leap position.

The technology that is in a lightweight glasses-sized unit Magic Leap intends to make into a product is apparently not the same as what the The Information writer was shown in his demo with the startup. The demo he received was far bulkier than a slim unit that was never turned on for him, suggesting the company is having trouble miniaturizing some of its most jaw-dropping technology.

CEO Rony Abovitz responded to the article and follow-ons with a series of tweets saying, among other things, the company aimed to build a “soulful computer” that would create a “sacred space for you.” He also quoted Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and linked a number of Wikepedia pages for old music albums. Abovitz has helped secure roughly $1.4 billion in funding for his secretive startup over the last few years.

In response to The Information piece, Abovitz authored an official company blog post saying they’ve built prototypes “of our target form factor.” However, questions remain unanswered about the features these smaller devices have, or how hard the problems are to make them fully functional.

We’ll keep following Magic Leap as closely as possible, but I won’t be signing a non-disclosure agreement before I’m able to see their technology. That puts me in with a very large group of interested folks who can’t simply just “believe” the startup’s technology will be able to compete with the likes of Facebook, Microsoft, Google, HTC and Valve.

Overall, we don’t have many data points to pull from when it comes to Magic Leap, but these latest ones suggest all is not well at the startup.

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Magic Leap: Alles nur Hokuspokus?

Es gibt Firmen, die kündigen ein Produkt an und präsentieren dann einen Prototypen auf den kommenden Veranstaltungen. Es gibt Firmen, die ein Produkt entwickeln und direkt das finale Produkt auf den Markt bringen. Doch es gibt auch Magic Leap. Das Unternehmen feuert stehts mit kleinen Infos und kleinen Videos den Hype an, doch hält sich seit Jahren sehr bedeckt und möchte den aktuellen Stand der Entwicklung nicht mit uns teilen. Im Jahr 2014 konnte das Unternehmen schon gewaltige Investitionen von Google und Intel absahnen, doch waren diese Investition gerechtfertigt?

Alles nur Hokuspokus?

Wie The Information berichtet, wird das finale Produkt weit entfernt von den bisher gezeigten Videos sein, die Magic Leap ins Netz gestellt hatte. Ein Video zeigte einen Shooter, den das Unternehmen angeblich derzeit im Büro spiele. The Information sagt aber, dass das komplette Video von Weta Workshop erstellt wurde.

Magic Leap hatte laut dem Bericht die Investoren mit einem riesigen Helm überzeugt, der mit einem PC verbunden werden musste und eine beeindruckende Mixed Reality Erfahrung bieten konnte. Dieser Helm setzte auf ein Fiber Scanning Display, welches ein überzeugendes 3D Hologramm erzeugen konnte. Magic Leap sei davon ausgegangen, dass diese Technik auch in kleineren Brillen verwendbar wäre und hielt diese Technologie für den Durchbruch im Mixed Reality Bereich.

Der neue Prototyp setzt aber nicht auf diese Technologie, doch ist dafür deutlich kleiner und gleicht eher einer herkömmlichen Brille. Der Prototyp soll auch eingeschränkter sein und nicht an die Erfahrung heranreichen, mit der sich Magic Leap die Investition sichern konnte. Rony Abovitz, CEO von Magic Leap, sagt, dass die neue Version aber nicht die Technik der HoloLens verwende, auch wenn wohl einige Mitarbeiter bei Magic Leap das Gegenteil behaupten.

Der aktuelle Prototyp ist wohl die dritte Generation der Magic Leap Brille. Die erste Generation war riesig und beeindruckend, die zweite Generation war laut dem Bericht kleiner und auch beeindruckend, doch hatte ein schlechtes Positional Tracking und eine schlechtere Performance als die HoloLens und der dritte Prototyp könnte das finale Produkt werden und hat nur noch die Größe einer herkömmlichen Brille.

Wenn man diese Informationen zusammenfasst, dann könnte Magic Leap ein Produkt auf den Markt bringen, welches zwar kleiner als die HoloLens ist, aber eventuell nicht mit der HoloLens mithalten kann. Somit scheint eine Revolution im Mixed Reality Bereich in weiter Ferne. Eigentlich wäre dies keine Aufregung wert, doch bei dem Hype den Magic Leap sich selbst eingebrockt hat, könnte ein schwaches Produkt dem Unternehmen das Genick brechen.

(Quelle: The Verge, The Information)

 

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Using AR/VR with Illusionary Street Art in Corporate Events – ‘Hangin’ On 4D Installation by Art for After Hours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Art for After 4D Experience with Animated Augmented Reality (AR) was in full form at the Chalk Festival in Venice, FL in November!  The next step over 3D…

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Over 2,000 people in three days lined up to experience and participate a live demonstration of 4D, that is using animated AR overlaid with hand painted illusionary murals as one cohesive use of fine art and emerging technologies.  A brand new experience for all!

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Viewed through our monitor, Art for After Hours was able to share and present this mingling of art and technology to people and demographics of all ages…

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This is what they saw…  Hand painted 3D illusionary art as part of the immersive whole where our attendees were ‘Hangin On’ to the side of a building (in a playful way) on the ground while ‘avoiding’ giant animated AR butterflies live overlaid upon the event.  An immersive experience limited only but what Art for After Hours will do next!

Project definable by our clients needs, multiple locations, with full Art for After Hours team led by Anthony Cappetto.

 

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As one can see, people were having a great time interpreting their unique immersive 4D experiences with the installation…

 

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Please keep in mind that these images are from a monitor but the concept of blending illusionary art and emerging technologies is very clear.

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This example of our painted 3D illusionary art is much sharper and gives you the effect of the traditional 3D reverse anamorphic illusion – the foundation of the use of augmented, virtual reality as the immersive 4D experience…  Reach out to us to design, develop, and realize your unique 4D vision in events, tradeshows, conventions, commercials, launches and more…

 

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Anthony Cappetto is an internationally recognized artist working in 3D street/mural art and a pioneer in the use of 4D emerging technologies in street art installations such as animated augmented reality, virtual reality in the art.  Cappetto is founder of Art for After Hours, the first 3D street painting Company in 2001.  Also pictured:  Wendy Stum, Marketing Director of Art for After Hours.

If you are excited by the possibilities of 4D street art and emerging technologies including haptics, mixed reality, holography, and more – reach out to us for more information.

Corporate, Branding, Launches, Festivals, Government, NGO, Tradeshows, Conventions – USA/International

artforafterhours.com  anthonycappetto.com  ispg-inc.com  @AfAH @AnthonyCappetto

 

 

 

The post Using AR/VR with Illusionary Street Art in Corporate Events – ‘Hangin’ On 4D Installation by Art for After Hours appeared first on Infinityleap - Technology stops for no one..

VR Headsets from ASUS, Dell, HP, and More Coming in 2017, Will Run on Intel Integrated Graphics

Today at the Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Engineering Community event in Shenzhen, China, the company announced that VR/AR (mixed reality) headsets from top manufacturers are due to hit the market in 2017. What’s more, they’ll run on integrated Intel graphics without the need for a dedicated GPU.

Back in October, Microsoft announced that mixed reality headsets for Windows’ forthcoming native headset integration were in development by five major hardware makers: Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Today the company confirmed those headsets will hit the market in 2017. The cheapest among them is said to start at just $300. Chinese VR headset maker 3Glasses has also joined the group, and will support the Windows mixed reality environment on their S1 VR headset in the first half of 2017, according to Microsoft. Microsoft’s HoloLens of course will also be in the mix.

There’s no word on what specifications these new headsets will bring to the table, but Microsoft has said they will be equipped with inside-out positional tracking (which doesn’t require external sensors like we see with the Rift and Vive today).

microsoft vr headsets

These headsets are being designed to work with the forthcoming Windows 10 Creator Update, which is slated to hit users for free this Spring. The headsets will be able to natively tap into the ‘Windows Holographic’ environment, and run more than 20,000 flat Windows apps, which may also be designed to extend into the virtual environment.

 

Microsoft and Intel have partnered on a platform specification for these headsets such that they’ll be able to “scale across mainstream Intel architecture platforms natively on [Intel’s CPU-integrated] HD Graphics,” by the end of 2017. That means no need for a high-end dedicated GPU as is required for the current generation of PC-based VR headsets. We noted last month that the apparent Windows Holographic minimum spec was surprisingly low. With more than 400 million Windows 10 users, this push could bring VR to a massive audience.

SEE ALSO
Microsoft Research Demonstrates VR Controller Prototypes With Unique Haptic Technology

Now, there’s no telling if the headsets running on Intel’s integrated graphics will be able to power the sort of high-end gaming experiences we see today with PC-based VR headsets. It may be that the companies are lowering the quality bar somewhat in an effort to support a basic VR/AR experience across a wider range of PCs with applications that aren’t as graphically demanding. That said, what the companies have shown off so far is very impressive for integrated graphics. Microsoft claimed that the experience shown below is running on a tiny Intel NUC PC with integrated graphics at 90 FPS:

Only time will tell what level of VR/AR/MR we can expect from integrated graphics and Windows Holographic. It’s likely that a high-end GPU will always be able to push the graphical bar for such experiences much higher, just as has always been the case for PC graphics, but even access to a basic VR experience for a much broader group of users would be a great thing for the growing space.

Now we’re wondering how Microsoft will tie in its next Xbox, ‘Project Scorpio’ which the company says will run high fidelity VR gaming experiences.

The post VR Headsets from ASUS, Dell, HP, and More Coming in 2017, Will Run on Intel Integrated Graphics appeared first on Road to VR.

Top 5 Augmented Reality Developments For 2016

As this year draws to a close, we wanted share our thoughts on the Top 5 Augmented Reality Developments for 2016. While Virtual Reality has drawn most of the spotlight, there have been some amazing developments in the AR space that are bringing it closer to consumer and enterprise adoption. Though there have been quite a few AR product launches, brand experiences and new startups funded this year, we wanted to isolate our Top 5 list to what we feel are developments that have had and will have the most impact on the Augmented Reality space as a whole.  So without further adieu….

#5 – Augmented Reality Investment / Funds

Augmented and Virtual Reality Funding 2016

A recent CB Insights article entitled, “AR vs. VR Funding: AR Deal-Making Growing Faster Than VR Deal Activity” shows that though VR investment grew in 2015, AR has taken the investment lead in 2016. Digi-Capital also pointed out earlier in the year that 2016 was the first year that Augmented Reality investment topped $1 Billion. And this was in the first quarter alone for 2016. Since that time, seed stage AR/VR investment funds, such as Super Ventures, were founded while institutional and corporate venture capital firms also started to make investments. Given the incredibly low level of AR investment prior to 2016, this years robust and growing amount of investment bodes well for numerous Augmented Reality startups and technology.

#4 – Snapchat & Facebook Monetize Augmented Reality

MSQRD Facial Recognition

With Facebook’s acquisition of MSQRD and Snapchat’s debut of Augmented Reality Lenses, mobile users worldwide were soon introduced to Augmented Reality selfies. While both platforms tout basic facial recognition and animated layers on your face or within your camera view, this AR feature became very popular with both users and brands. In addition, these features also became a new form of advertising revenue for these platforms with Snapchat charging $750,000 for a 24 Hour branded lens.

#3 – Tango Launches With 3D Camera For Augmented Reality

Tango Augmented Reality Example

While 3D cameras like Kinect have been around for a few years, mobile devices were restricted to a 2D camera that had limitations for Augmented Reality based technology. With the release of the Lenovo Phab Pro 2, mobile devices with 3D and depth sensing capabilities were soon a reality. The early reviews of Tango technology also bode well for the future of mobile-based 3D Augmented Reality.

#2 – Head Mounted Displays Arrive For AR Development

HoloLens Use Cases

When Google Glass debuted in 2013, it was ahead of it’s time – both technologically and culturally. However, with the debut of Microsoft’s HoloLens in late 2015, the Head Mounted Display (HMD) market quickly showed how we would utilize mixed reality in the future. After receiving initial positive reviews, the HoloLens has now been in the hands of developers for most of the year. With other HMD devices from Meta 2 and Magic Leap launching soon, the HMD segment for Augmented Reality will quickly be adopted by enterprise customers and eventually by consumers.

#1 – Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go Augmented Reality Geolocation

Without a doubt, Pokemon Go was the biggest Augmented Reality launch and development in 2016. Though Pokemon Go only utilized “AR Lite” technology, it quickly made $500 Million in 8 weeks after launch and is on track to make more than $1 Billion in revenue by the end of 2016. More importantly, Pokemon Go introduced multiple generations to Augmented Reality technology in ways that no other app or technology has done to date. While it remains to be seen how popular Pokemon Go will remain, geolocation coupled with Augmented Reality will be one of the most important technologies for mobile users, advertisers and retailers.

Honorable Mentions:

So there you have it…our Top 5 Augmented Reality Developments for 2016. As always, you can read the latest Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality news on our Facebook AR Community Page. Have any other developments to add to our list? Let us know in the comments…

The post Top 5 Augmented Reality Developments For 2016 appeared first on Zugara.

Microsoft HoloLens: Unity 5.5 Update mit HoloLens Support

Unity ist eine sehr gefragte Engine, wenn es um die Entwicklung von Virtual Reality Inhalten geht. Zwar sehen wir auch immer mehr Unreal Engine 4 Anwendungen für VR, doch Unity hat noch immer die Nase vorn. Das Unternehmen konnte sich auch in diesem Jahr ein Investment über 181 Millionen US-Dollar sicher, um die Integration und den Ausbau des Virtual Reality und Augmented Reality Supports voranzutreiben.

Unity 5.5 Update mit HoloLens Support

Logo Spiel Entwickler Software

In der neusten Unity Version wird nun auch die HoloLens von Microsoft unterstützt. Mit der neuen Version können also Entwickler für die HoloLens und Windows Holographic ihre Anwednungen entwickeln und verbessern, ohne das eine Ausgabe an ein HoloLens kompatibles Gerät erfolgen muss. Somit wird der Prozess der Entwicklung deutlich vereinfacht und die Entwickler können effizienter ihre Anwendungen erstellen.

Neben der Integration der HoloLens von Microsoft bietet das Update auch die üblichen Verbesserungen der Performance und neue Werkzeuge für die Erschaffer von neuem Content. So wurde das Tool für die Partikeleffekte erweitert, das Einfügen von Logos und Wasserzeichen erleichtert und es steht ein neues Tool für die Lichteffekte bereit, welches Look Dev genannt wird. Mit Look Dev lassen sich die Lichteffekte unter verschiedenen Bedingungen überprüfen.

Wenn ihr die neue Version von Unity ausprobieren wollt, dann könnt ihr diese hier kostenlos herunterladen.

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Unity 5.5 Update Brings Microsoft Hololens Integration And More

Unity 5.5 Update Brings Microsoft Hololens Integration And More

The Unity game engine is a versatile tool that developers, from beginners to those well-versed, utilize to fully realize their video game concepts. This year alone it provided a slew of games like Firewatch, Oxenfree, I Am Setsuna, Pokemon Go, ReCore, and the upcoming Cuphead. The engine’s latest update, 5.5, includes a collection of new enhancements and also now comes Microsoft Hololens ready.

The above tweet signaled the arrival of the 5.5 update and this time around the focus was on new platforms to develop for, better tools for artists, and the usual performance enhancements. For the developers and artists, there are updated particle effects with a noise module being most prevalent. With that tool, different types of behavior can be easily added to the different particles. There are also animation workflow and line rendering enhancements, easier ways to add logos and watermarks, and a new lighting tool called Look Dev that lets you double check your lighting work across various conditions.

With the new integration with Hololens, creators can now prototype, debug, and design for Windows Holographic without having to output to a Hololens compatible device. Such a move eases the process for developers, increasing efficiency by allowing them to do a larger amount of their augmented and mixed reality work within the Unity Editor. This will hopefully lead to shorter mixed/augmented development times or more intricate use of the technology.

Unity confirmed to UploadVR that its Editor VR solution is still on track for release this year. Unity is also opening up beta registration for their Unity Collaborate service, a utility that simplifies the team experience. The engine’s compatibility with in-app purchases has also been expanded to include Cloud Mulah and Xiaomi in addition to platforms like Google Play, iOS, and Samsung. You can find the Unity 5.5 assets and release notes here.

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ZapBox: Mixed Reality Headset für 30 US-Dollar

Wer die HoloLens von Microsoft ausprobiert hat, der weiß, dass Mixed Reality Brillen eine große Zukunft bevorstehen wird. Zwar hat das Headset von Microsoft noch deutliche Schwächen und das Field of View ist miserabel, doch die Zukunft scheint zum Greifen nah, denn andere Firmen wie Magic Leap werden wohl auch bald ihre Mixed Reality Produkte vorstellen und den Markt vorantreiben. Irgendwie erinnert uns der aktuelle Stand von Mixed Reality an die Zeiten des DK1 der Oculus Rift und irgendwann tauchte plötzlich sogar eine VR-Brille aus Pappe auf, die Google schlicht als Cardboard bezeichnete. Wiederholt sich diese Geschichte mit der ZapBox?

ZapBox

Die ZapBox wurde erfolgreich auf Kickstarter finanziert und die Kampagne wird in 17 Tagen abgeschlossen. Eigentlich wäre eine solche Geschichte keine News wert, aber Upload VR ist nach London gereist und hat sich die Erfindung angeschaut. Wie das Magazin berichtet, funktioniert die Mixed Reality Lösung mit der Kamera des iPhones überraschend gut und es ist nur manchmal eine leichte Unschärfe zu erkennen. Das Produkt wird aber nicht nur mit dem iPhone funktionieren. Leistungsstarke Android-Smartphone sollen auch unterstützt werden.

Da ihr aber zwingend ein Smartphone für die Verwendung braucht, seht ihr natürlich nicht durch ein transparentes Display, sondern ihr seht die Welt durch das Display des Smartphones. Außerdem besitzt ein herkömmliches Smartphone natürlich keine Sensoren für die Erfassung der Tiefe und daher müssen Kunden auf Marker zurückgreifen. Die Marker werden aber nicht nur eingesetzt, um Objekte anzuzeigen, sondern ihr könnt damit auch die Wände und den Boden markieren und somit weiß das Smartphone anschließend, wie euer Spielfeld aussieht. Einige Marker können auch als Controller verwendet werden, damit ihr mit der Mixed Reality Umgebung interagieren könnt.

Natürlich ist die Lösung mit Markern keine Lösung für die Zukunft, aber für 30 US-Dollar könnte es eine nette Spielerei sein. Für das Geld erhaltet ihr das Cardboard, einen Adapter für die Linse der Kamera, zwei Controller aus Pappe und ein Set mit Markern.

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Zappar Wants To Bring You a HoloLens-Style Mixed Reality Experience for $30

Zappar Want To Bring You a HoloLens-Style Mixed Reality Experience for $30

I’ve been pining for a HoloLens ever since I demoed it a few weeks ago. The truth is that once you try out Mixed Reality it’s really hard to go back. Other tech – from smartphones and computers to VR headsets – feels clunky in comparison, and the world seems a much duller place without those friendly and convenient holograms, as you start seeing potential use cases for the MR literally everywhere.

But as Microsoft made very clear when we met, HoloLens is nowhere near a consumer launch yet. Sure, if you’re a dev with $3,000 spare and live in one of the 8 countries they currently supply, you can get your hands on one, but mere mortals will have to wait a long time to experience MR for themselves. Or so I thought.

ZapBox – a Kickstarter-funded project from UK start-up Zappar – is proposing to leapfrog Microsoft (and everyone else) by making a MR equivalent of Google Cardboard for a hundredth of the HoloLens cost – a mere $30. They launched it just over a week ago, aiming to raise $30,000 toward development. At the time of writing, however, they had already exceeded that goal, with 19 days still left to go.

Although I kept an open mind as I went down to London* to try this out for myself, it was hard to picture how it would be possible to replicate the complex tech of the HoloLens on a cardboard device. It’s one thing to project 360 video on one of those, but quite another to integrate computer-generated elements in your real-world environment, in real time.

But as I put on the prototype headset – endearingly held together with brown tape – that Zappar’s Co-Founder Simon Taylor handed me, I was immediately impressed. The feed it displayed from Taylor’s iPhone 6 camera was accurate – if very slightly blurry at times – in every detail except for the rabbit peeking out of a hole on the table in front of me.

Like my Wonderland namesake I felt the urge to investigate further, and took a peek down that rabbit hole. As I stood above it I could actually see quite a way down, with no sign of the table underneath it. When I reached out my hand, it of course went straight through the rabbit hologram, but – crucially – it did touch the edge of the table exactly where I expected it to be. That’s when I started to get excited.

I tested my boundaries by walking around the small room, and was able to accurately and effortlessly navigate around obstacles such as chairs and laptops. I picked up my glass of water, and saw the half-eaten mince pie that Simon had been working on as he setup the demo. It all felt natural and real, in spite of the big blue bunny insistently waving at me, which reminded me of the opening scenes of that Playtest episode in Black Mirror.

This “video see-through” approach (in contrast to the optical see-through employed by HoloLens) works through a code that uses the smartphone’s camera to scan the environment for a set of specific physical markers. This allow for accurate, real-time mapping of the user’s location in relation to objects (both real and computer-generated).

“We call these markers pointcodes, and they’re the fundamental unit that makes all of this possible on a smartphone” explains Taylor, who did his Cambridge University PhD on Fast Object Localisation for Mobile Augmented Reality Applications before becoming Zappar’s Head of Research. “We lay out our marker codes onto the world like we want it and they help us map out the environment, whether that’s a table-top setup or a combination of wall and floor if you want a larger play area.”

The next demo is more interactive, so I get to try out the hand controllers; a pair of origami-like paper devices featuring pointcodes in every facet, neatly held together with Sellotape. And that’s another thing that shows how different this is from a regular VR experience: I put on the headset and by default look straight ahead, expecting Taylor to guide me and put the controllers in my hands. He does, before pointing out politely that I can look down and see my own hands – not a pair of floating gloves or a graphic representation of the controllers, but my hands – and so can do the job much better myself.

After I get the hang of it – it’s all pretty intuitive, specially if you’re familiar with devices like the Vive and the Oculus Touch – I then use one of the controllers as a laser pointer, which interacts with a hologram of a building projected on the table. It’s easy to see how that setup would be useful in educational settings or for presentations. Next up I’m instructed to use the other controller to press a holographic button with a moon symbol on it, which immediately dims the ambient light in the room. Pressing the sun-symbol button next to it undoes the effect, and I spend a fun few extra seconds just turning the lights on and off for kicks. It’s surprising how, in these virtual worlds, the simplest experiences are often the most compelling.

Finally, I indulge in some “air finger painting” with their ZapBrush tool. And although this was nowhere near as slick as Tilt Brush, the potential is evident once they get around to refining colors, textures and templates properly. The main thing is that the 3D element worked flawlessly, and I could see my handiwork from all angles as I walked around the room, smugly avoiding the laptop bag I had left on the floor (something that surely would have sent me flat on my face had I been wearing the Vive).

There are certainly a few kinks yet to be ironed out; there’s a slight lag issue if you move around too quickly, and some design work on the controllers is needed to make them easier to self-assemble. There are also plans to fit a wide-angle adaptor for the phone camera lens that would allow it to continually scan for pointcodes without the need to keep your target area at the centre of your FOV. But the fact that this was supposed to be such an early Beta and that they felt confident in shipping to their 800+ current Kickstarter backers by April next year almost seems too good to be true.

But it starts to make sense once you look at the company’s background. These are not newbies to this space, as Zappar has been experimenting with Augmented Reality and delivering commercial AR projects with a broad range of partners for the past 4 years. Their existing technology uses “zapcodes” (an evolution of bar/QR codes) to help devices recognize real-world objects and trigger interactions, and that is what they built on to create the pointcodes that make ZapBox MR possible.

Their ever-growing list of backers is a healthy mix of developers and consumers, and Taylor says that this is the main reason they decided to go for Kickstarter in the first place.

“It’s not about the money,” he said. “If we want to make this work as an ecosystem we need to build that community.”

In addition to the flat-packed headset and hand controllers, those first users will get access to ZapWorks Studio, which uses an integrated Javascript-based API and promises to be user-friendly, making it easy to develop original content for the device without a lot of assets or code. The SDK should work seamlessly with the latest generation of iOS and Android smartphones.

When I was a kid, I remember building a “computer” out of cardboard and sticky tape. Back then I had to rely on my imagination to make that work of course, so it’s funny how I lived to see the day where cutting-edge technology actually does work with cardboard in such interesting ways. And if Zappar succeeds in making this an affordable and intuitive entry-level device for Mixed Reality – and fostering an ecosystem that produces the content to make people want to use it – they could very well do for MR what Google Cardboard did for VR.

Disclosure: Zappar paid for my train ticket to this demo as I live a couple of hours away from London.

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