Augmented and mixed reality started as a lofty promise that’s just now taking form, but with several companies taking somewhat different approaches, it’s hard to understand what’s what. Let’s take a look at the three big players and what they’re doing: HoloLens, Meta, and Magic Leap.
HoloLens
Of all the holographic mixed reality headsets, Microsoft’s HoloLens is the only one you can actually use right now—if you’re a developer who managed to get one already, that is.
The device looks like a halo and a pair of sunglasses birthed an overweight child, but it is comfortable to wear once you figure out the right position. Once on, you can view a holographic world inside whatever indoor space you are in.
,
,
Although an unfinished product, HoloLens works remarkably well and understands its limitations. Experiences are built in the Unity development platform traditionally used for games. It suits holographic experience development quite well as the tools for rendering a false environment on your television don’t differ much from those you need to project that experience into the real world.
The hardware inside the HoloLens isn’t much more powerful than what you’d find in a modern smartphone, at least, from a CPU/GPU standpoint anyway. Paring down the hardware helps the headset stay cool which, in turn, keeps your brain uncooked and your hair from singeing on your head.
Virtual reality (VR) headsets can avoid heat issues by being physically connected to more robust hardware, but because mixed reality (MR) headsets like the HoloLens require you to move around your environment, they can’t just plug into a desktop computer.
However, the HoloLens also contains a custom chip they designed in-house called the HPU (“holographic processing unit”) that processes terabytes of data in real time to handle the environmental understanding and build spatial map meshes. It also provides real-time micro-corrections to positional tracking, upscaling the GPU output from 60 fps in full color to 240 fps (4x single color) with each frame, adjusting to any of the micro-movements one’s head makes.
,
,
Meta doesn’t want to create a new computing environment like the ones we use today, so they turned to neuroscience for answers. How will our brains understand holographic interfaces and interact with them naturally? Meta wants their operating system to create an environment our brains simply understand, without require you to learn to use it.
If you watch the TED talk above, given by Meta’s founder Meron Gribetz, you’ll see an interface that might look familiar if you’ve seen the Iron Man franchise or Minority Report. If you want to interact with a hologram, you treat it like a physical object. Grab it if you want to pick it up. Turn it over if you want a different view.
Some of these movements come naturally, but this interface lets you do much more with holograms, including open them up, change colors, and manipulate them in whatever ways the developers design.
The big question is, how will our brains react if we don’t have a frame of reference for these actions? Can neuroscience accurately predict how each of us will interact with digital and holographic information? Meta thinks so, but how it’ll work in reality remains to be seen.
Complex technology always has a learning curve and Meta likely won’t get it exactly right on the first try, but they believe the hardware they need won’t be available for another five years or so anyway. They’re working with large headsets like everyone else, but are aiming to turn their current design—which looks a bit like a bike helmet—into a small strip of glass. That takes time.
,
,
Image via Meta
Like all of these devices, Meta has a series of advantages and trade-offs. Where Microsoft’s HoloLens opts for a small screen to put the entire computer on your head, Meta chose a notably different path by offering a larger, more immersive screen with a high resolution of 2560×1440.
That’s a far cry from the 8K displays necessary to make the pixels disappear, but impressive nevertheless. Meta also includes plenty of impressive motion sensors and cameras. You’ll find the full specifications on their pre-order page.
What’s most impressive, however, is you can purchase a Meta 2 developer kit for $949—a third of the price of the HoloLens. The catch? You still have to tether it to a computer with a nine-foot cable.
Perhaps this tether is why Meta has focuses strongly on practical applications and pretty much ignored gaming altogether. Try running around in a holographic first-person shooter without tripping on your computer leash. Falling flat on your face might be the most real, immersive experience you could ask for in a headset, but probably not the kind anyone wants.
Magic Leap
Magic Leap might provide an insanely great mixed reality experience, if their early demo is to be believed, but they haven’t shared much about their upcoming goggle-style headset with the public. We probably won’t see a consumer headset until next year, but a very small number of developers will get their hands on the preliminary devices very soon.
While we’ve seen a few demonstrations and heard a bit of talk, we still don’t know very much about the hardware and how it’ll work. Nevertheless, we can piece a few things together.
,
Source: Reality News