Magic Leap’s LEAP Con 2018 round-up: all the major announcements in only one place

Magic Leap has just organized its first developers’ event, dubbed “L.E.A.P.”. It has taken place in LA in October, 9-10th 2018 and has been attended by various believers, innovators, developers and journalists. It is the first event of this kind organized by Magic Leap: we can say that LEAP Con is like the Oculus Connect of Magic Leap and will probably become always more important, year after year, exactly as it has happened to Oculus.

Of course as usually happens in every important event, the company has made various important announcements and statements and I think that is important that you get to know them. I’ve not been there, but as always, I have read tons of materials, so that to provide you a satisfying summary of the most important news from that conference (but this time I promise you I won’t write as much as for the Oculus Connect 5!).

@PixelStrikeInc brace yourself…the memes are coming. pic.twitter.com/MbJZV8aOdf

— The Digital Acid (@thedigitalacid) October 11, 2018

Magic Leap availability

Finally Magic Leap will be available in almost all the United States. To be exact, it will be available in the “contiguous U.S”., that are all the member states of the USA, excluded Alaska and Hawaii. The service offered by Enjoy, where an operator comes to your house and explains you how to correctly use the Magic Leap One, will be expanded from only 6 to 39 cities. The price will always be $2300, but it will now be possible to have a 0% financing to buy the Magic Leap One (a service offered by the partner Affirm). Payments can be splitted in 12, 18 or 24 months and can be as low as $96 per month.

This is for sure a great news: the fact that Magic Leap One was available only in six cities was a bit restricting, opening it to 48 US states means that more people and company will be able to buy the headset. It also means that the first batch has gone well and so the startup feels confident in expanding its reach. Also the financing is a good idea to take more people onboard, especially startuppers that maybe don’t have $2300 to pay upfront.

It has to be seen how the shipping service will be: all people were super-impressed by the incredibly fast shipping and the dedicated first-use assistance service offered by Magic Leap. Now that the company will have to manage a more difficult logistics, I’m curious to see if the quality of shipping will remain the same. Honestly I think so, but I have already seen startups making mess with shipping in the past (cough cough Oculus cough cough), so we’ll have to verify it.

Regarding first use, the company has started sharing videos to teach how the properly wear the headset, so that users do not make mess while wearing it, even if they don’t have personal dedicated support. The glass will also contain utilities to help the user in its setup.

Ambeo audio accessory

Sennheiser has partnered with Magic Leap to produce the first official audio accessory of Magic Leap One: the AMBEO headphones. It is a set of very high-quality headphones that are able to offer truly immersive and spatial audio, with a unique feature that lets you blend the audio of the AR experience and of your real world in an optimized way. This is made through the filtering of some particular frequencies of the outside world, while letting pass other ones. This blending will also be configurable, so that the user will be able to choice how much of the real world sound he/she wants to hear while in AR. They will also feature a perfect fit with the ear of the user.

The company will also launch “AMBEO Augmented Audio Lab”, an augmented reality experience to play around with spatial AR sound, mixing the real and the virtual sounds and recording the clips that you create.

Roadmap

Magic Leap has unveiled the roadmap for the next months. This has been very interesting, because we now know what are the features that the Florida company is going to introduce. You can find them in this timeline showcased during the keynote.

Some of the most notable points are:

• 2 Controllers support. In the next months, Magic Leap will offer the possibility to buy an additional controller and pair it with the device, so that it will be possible to use two 6 DOF controllers inside the AR experiences. This means that before (or during) the launch of the Oculus Quest, it will be possible to have a similar control scheme on the Magic Leap One, too. The magnetical tracking of the Magic Leap One has not had enthusiastic feedbacks, so I wonder how the two-controllers solution will perform.
• MagicScript. In Q1 2019, Magic Leap will let all developers develop immersive applications using a modified version of Javascript, called Magicscript. Apart from the fact that the name makes me want to puke, this is interesting because there are a lot of web developers that don’t know how to use C++/C# to develop apps and opening to javascript is a good idea to take more people onboard;
• Multiplayer support. Support for the development of local and remote multiplayer applications;
• Iris login. It will be possible for the user to unlock and login to the device just by putting on the headset. The headset will use its eye tracking capabilities to scan the iris of the user and so understand what user has just put on the headset, unlocking itself and maybe also loading the personal preferences;
• Large scale mapping. Probably this means the ability for the user to move inside spaces that are bigger than a room.
• Object Recognition. Coming later on in 2019… this could really add intriguing possibility to augmented and mixed reality applications.

None of these features are particularly impressive or innovative (e.g. Oculus Quest has already 2 controllers, arena-scale tracking and experimental multiplayer support; HoloLens has local multiplayer and can interact with Microsoft Cognitive Services for object recognition), but all of them are necessary to create compelling augmented reality apps, so the fact that they are presumably coming in the next six months is very welcome.

The MagicVerse

Magic Leap has given a glimpse of its vision for the future: a world where there is a real layer that blends together with a virtual layer. Since the name AR Cloud sounds too geeky and the name “metaverse” was the only one that had not been ruined by XR companies, Abovitz has decided to create the name “MagicVerse”, that is essentially a metaverse built with the AR Cloud. But with another name. But it is the same. But different.

Anyway, more on this “magic vision” will be explained in the future.

Mica

One of the most stunning demos offered by Magic Leap has been the AI-driven avatar Mica. Magic Leap believes in a future where together with virtual elements there are also virtual characters, like for instance a virtual person that can be your virtual assistant. So, the company has created this androgenic girl called Mica, which should be as close as possible to a real human, featuring a great visual quality (thanks to Unreal Engine) and credible eye movements and facial microexpressions. This assistant should use AI superpowers to talk with you and assist you in satisfying all your needs. (And yes, I know what you thought when I wrote “satisfying all your needs”. Perverts :D)

The idea is for sure very ambitious and also very cool: if we have vocal virtual assistants on our phone, why can’t we have a realistic virtual assistant in VR? That’s great. The presentation showed stunning capabilities of the avatar and the feedback that I read about it are all very positive. Various people have tried the current status of Mica and all have reported a very impressive work, especially because the micro-expressions are so real that let you feel her as a human. Furthermore, he’s able to look at you directly in your eyes in a very deep way: consider that her look has been inspired by the one of Marina Abramovich, that is a very interesting, complicated and deep artist. The avatar can also mimick your movements and so being with this somewhat-realistic girl that mimicks you and looks at you in a very deep way can be quite uncomfortable. This is fascinating.

Regarding the problems of current stage of Mica’s implementation:

• She can’t talk and so she is quite useless at the moment: she can only spend her time by looking at you in an uncomfortable way until you get mad. It is a work in progress, of course… so we have to give ML time. But she can point things, and this is something;
• The visual aspect is not as cool as the one of the presentation video. This has been reported by someone that has tried the demo: he said that it is actually worse;
• Even in the demo video, my “uncanny valley” detectors got triggered.

Mica is maybe the coolest thing that Magic Leap has showcased, according to what I read online. Yes, various games have been announced, but this is the true innovation proposed by the Florida company.

Content

We all expected a lot of content announcements from this event and this hope has been satisfied. Magic Leap has announced 16 official applications that have been developed with the support of various partners. Some of them are dedicated to consumers and other ones to enterprises and prosumers.

The most notable consumer-oriented ones are:

• Dr. Grordbort’s Invaders. The most awaited game for Magic Leap, where you have to kill robots that are invading your house;
• Star Wars: Project Porg by ILMxLAB. An experimental app where C-3PO will guide you to interact with the big-eyed fuzzy creatures introduced in The Last Jedi;
• Angry Birds FPS: First Person Slingshot. The popular Angry Birds game, but for immersive augmented reality. 28 levels for hours of fun gameplay;
• ‘Unannounced’ by ‘AAA Game Studio’. An upcoming game with a sci-fi touch;
• Luna: Moondust Garden. A porting of the award-winning Luna experience, that will lets you take its animals and plants directly in your living room;
• Wingnut AR Pest Control. Kill coakroaches and similar animals that are infesting your house;
• Super Zeros. A digital assets of an orc, that was destined to become the character of an animation movie and was later on abandoned, can exit the PC and enter the real world thanks to your help;
• Air New Zealand’s Fact or Fantasy. a board game augmented with virtual elements that can make all the family play together;

  

• Seven Ages by William Shakespeare. The Royal Shakespeare Company explores the future of theatrical performance in AR, with this monologue played by an actor;
• Seedling. An AR tamagochi where you have to take care of a plant every day and during the time you will take care of it, a story will be unveiled.
• Create v1.1. An update of the Create app, with which you can put animated elements in your environment and let them interact
• Wayfair Spaces. An application to try pieces of furniture sold by Wayfair inside your real home

As you can see, there are clearly some strong IPs here: Star Wars, Angry Birds and Dr. G are all strong brands that will make fans interested in the new glass. Then there are various experiments, all with a different touch: there is the multiplayer board game, there is the experiment regarding theater, there is storytelling… so Magic Leap has tried exploring various genres. And this is great for users.

Doctor Grodbort’s Invaders is the title we were most curious about, since it was maybe the first experiment teased by the company (do you remember that fake video where Magic Leap claimed that they were playing an action game in the office?). Now the game has been officially released. It reminds a bit HoloLens’s app Roboraid, but it is much better: you scan your room and then inside your room the robots open various portals on the walls and then exit from those portals to invade your house. Using a ray gun that you have in your hand, you have to shoot at them and stop the invasion. The game is completely free and should guarantee you 3-5 hours of gameplay (something really satisfying). The trailer of the experience is nice and also the feedback from people that have tried it is good: everyone had fun. TESTED also reported that it is possible to move towards the robots’ portals and look inside them, having a glimpse of the robot virtual world, for an experience that becomes a mixed reality one. Ian Hamilton of Upload VR reported that when looking such portals from a distance, the illusion that they are in your room is terrific. The problem is that the same Hamilton has said that the more you get close to the portals and the robots, the more the illusion vanishes away and you see all the imperfections of the blending of the virtual and the real.

The enterprise apps are:

• Brainlab. Survey and Medical Image Visualization. Examine 3D models and images of the human body. This app should showcase the future of medical images visualization.

  

• Wacom. Spatial Computing Creation Environment of the Future. You can draw elements with a Wacom Intuos Pro pen tablet and then preview them with other people in AR;
• Onshape 3D CAD. You can draw 3D CAD models in AR with your team. Multiple users can be in the session and they can interact using Magic Leap, but also tablet, web browser, etc…
• SketchUp. Visualize your Sketchup models in AR wherever you want.

With these little demos, Magic Leap starts giving more attention to the enterprise sector. Honestly, they are very very far away from the industrial collaboration apps that Microsoft has released for HoloLens and that industrial customers find a lot useful, but it’s a start. Finally there is not only the interest towards gaming, but also towards something more professional. We all know that a $2300 gadget can’t appeal to the average consumer, so IMHO Magic Leap has to wink to prosumers and enterprises.

Notice anyway that all these demos can’t satisfy the average users: because of current hardware limitations, they actually appear much worse than advertised. This is for instance how Dr.G Invaders appears from inside the headset: nice, but absolutely not realistic as advertised in the trailer. Of course this is not ML’s fault… it’s the technology that is not ready yet. But this should be made clear to users (and this often doesn’t happen)

Location based entertainment

Magic Leap is aware that in virtual reality, location based entertainment is playing a great part in generating revenues and in making people discover the headsets. That’s why it has started venturing the LBE sector as well. Thanks to a partnership with Meow Wolf, ML has created The Navigator, an experience where the user can interact with a giant robot vehicle and seeing augmentations of distant galaxies.

From the feedbacks I got, this seems like an early experiment for location based AR. And the plan is that Meow Wolf integrates Magic Leap inside various future public attractions of its. It is very important in my opinion because it shows that Magic Leap has a strategy to make people try AR for the first time in arcades, to start generating interest for the device. This is for instance something that Microsoft lacks completely.

Avatar Chat

Together with the tools necessary to create multiplayer experiences, Magic Leap will start releasing its own multiplayer applications. The first one will be a social augmented reality application called Avatar Chat, that will let people create their avatars and then meet together in augmented reality. Thanks to Magic Leap One sensors, the application will detect gestures and eye movements of the users, offering more realistic avatars. Regarding facial expressions, the user will have to manually select emojis.

The content of various apps (including the Helio browser) will be sharable between users, thanks to a feature called Casting. This will let people have experiences shared together.

Social AR has just arrived.

AT&T

The partnership of Magic Leap and AT&T goes very well, and before the end of the year, AT&T will make people try Magic Leap experiences inside selected stores. This partnership is in line with the idea of making people try the Magic Leap One glasses and start making them understand what AR is and especially what Magic Leap is. This means that when asked about AR glasses, people will probably only know Magic Leap, because it will be the only one they tried.

This is good. What is stupid is people saying that since AT&T partnership with Apple has contributed in making the iPhone successful, Magic Leap One will be the new iPhone One. The context is different, the price is different, the utility is different. People don’t know what AR is, don’t know why it is useful and surely at current stage, the expensive Magic Leap dev-kit is not the answer. Stop telling bullshit, please.

Dev support

Magic Leap has just created the Magic Leap Independent Creator Program, that is a program to sustain the efforts of indie dev studios that want to develop for the Magic Leap platform. It has also been created an Award Program for best indie concepts and experiences. This has been a news that has been ignored by most XR magazines and that is instead very important. Maybe one of the most important of the event.

Hey indie devs, we just announced the Magic Leap Independent Creator Program. It’s a grant designed to help you start making the Magicverse.

Dev hardware, financial support, engineering support and marketing promotion can all be yours. #LEAPcon

— Magic Leap Developers (@magicleapdevs) October 10, 2018

Magic Leap needs absolutely developers jumping on board of its platform, but the problem is that it can’t offer much to them, since the Magic Leap sold in the worlds are just a bunch of thousands and are in the hand of prosumers. So, the revenues possibilities of an app on Magic Leap World are very close to zero at the moment. And while a big studio can afford to jump in, just to have some return in marketing, an indie game studio can not. That’s why Magic Leap has created this initiative to offer hardware, financial support, engineering support and marketing promotion to indie developers that want to approach the platform. This is in my opinion a great way to jumpstart a healthy developer community. Devs currently in touch with Magic Leap say that the company is very kind, supportive and hungry for feebacks, so they love collaborating with it.

Open vision

Speaking with Upload VR, Rony Abovitz has said some interesting things:

• The company has no interested in stealing our data. That is, it doesn’t want to become a company whose revenue is based on advertisement, as Facebook or Google;
• The MagicVerse is not a closed ecosystem: it should be accessible by various devices, that all collaborate one with the others. Tablets, phones, PCs, Magic Leap Ones, VR headsets… are all doors towards the MagicVerse;
  

  Should have posted this the other night during #LEAPcon – this is a bunch of us nerds playing around with a multi-user painting app on the @magicleap along with iOS devices in the hotel bar at midnight. Brilliant work by @slukas pic.twitter.com/anRSFpAyen

  — ANDRE ELIJAH (@AndreElijah) October 13, 2018

• Magic Leap wants to become a public company, if the developers will sustain it enough. “Our company — if we get the support of developers — we can be a public company. We can be self-sufficient. We don’t have to be acquired by anybody” has said Abovitz. Personally, I don’t believe this will happen.

Other

• The prescription lenses of Magic Leap are very very easy to be installed, thanks to a magnetical clip that lets you attach them to the internal part of the device;

  

• Magic Leap LuminOS will support WebXR before the end of the year;

Full keynote

If you missed the 3-hours-long keynote, you can watch it here:

Final impressions

The Magic Leap Con has leaved me with very mixed impressions. From one side there is always the terrible buzzword salad, the “magic” word put everywhere, the overhype of everything, the overselling of everything, this sci-fi look of things, this continuous comparison with Apple (that in my opinion Magic Leap can’t sustain at all)… all things that annoy me everytime.

https://twitter.com/PixelStrikeInc/status/1050076474764550144

On the other side there are various steps forward that the company has done: the showcase of a clear roadmap both in the short term and as a long term vision makes us understand better where Magic Leap is headed. The incentives to developers are an awesome thing to create an active community. The Mica avatar is a glimpse into the future of virtual assistants. All these things make Magic Leap appear a bit more solid and a bit less vaporware.

I remain very cautious with judgement, because they have not earned a good reputation in the past, but the net balance of my impressions before and after the conference is positive. But, as Robert McGregor says, they need “a lot more clarity and a little humility”.

I hope that you have appreciated this short summary of the Magic Leap conference. And if this is the case, please subscribe to my newsletter to make me a bit happier 🙂

(Header image by Magic Leap)