Adult entertainment has always been one of the drivers of technological innovation and XR is no exception to this rule. That’s why in this blog I have always kept an eye open to this field. But usually, I have discussed Virtual Reality adult entertainment… but what about Augmented Reality instead?
According to analysts, Augmented Reality will have a bigger market and bigger turnaround than Virtual Reality, so I guess that this comparison should hold for AR adult entertainment as well. But at this moment, while we all know about VR porn services (like VR Porn, SLR or PornFoxVR), very little is known about their AR counterparts. Is there an AR sex market? Are there already AR adult apps? What is the current status of the ecosystem?
To answer all these questions, I am hosting today the guest post of Ash, the webmaster of ARPornTube, a website dedicated to the augmented reality adult entertainment market. He is working since 2017 in collecting news related to this topic and putting them on his website so that to spread the word about it. As you can see, due to his passion and expertise, he’s the right person to talk about the topic… at least as long as he doesn’t become blind :D.
So, I leave now the mic to the great Ash, that will guide you inside the magical world of AR porn.
(Ah, before starting… of course this post is NSFW-ish. No porn is included, but there are some sexy-ish images and the topic is sex. Go on only if this doesn’t offend you)
We’ve all heard about VR porn and its seemingly endless choice of lavish locations and beautiful adult stars. From the birth of adult film producers Virtual Real Porn back in 2013, and tube sites like VRporn.com, the industry has continued to grow with industry experts estimating that virtual reality porn accounts for 50% of the total VR market.
There’s no question that adult entertainment and technology go hand in hand and as we’ve seen with VR, porn can be one of the major driving forces for tech. With that in mind, I want to talk with you today about another technology that’s recently seen some ground in adult entertainment, and one that has the potential to be just as big, or even bigger than VR porn – AR porn.
What is AR porn and where did it begin?
Many readers on this site will likely have a good idea of what augmented reality is. If I put it briefly, AR is a technology that allows us to combine virtual objects with our physical environment.
I’m sure you can use your imagination here without the need for me to go in to too much detail, but AR porn works to the same effect. ARPorntube defines it as, “Watching, interacting and living out sexual fantasies with life-sized erotic virtual holograms in the real-world”.
Companies have been tinkering with the idea of 3D holographic girls as far back as 2010 ever since ARToolKit was ported to Adobe Flash. This enabled a pose tracking library with six degrees of freedom, using square fiducials and a template-based approach for recognition.
The first adult developers to take advantage were a company named Pink Visual, who made their debut at the CES trade show of January that year. Using Adobe Flash, the software could recognize a marker captured by a webcam, and then put a stripper in the scene.
Nothing ever came from this and while other have since messed around with AR technology, it’s only really been in recent years that we have started to see further developments made.
Advancements in technology
IOS 11 and Android 7.0 saw the introduction of frameworks ARkit and ARCore.
These platforms have allowed developers to use many of the built-in features. Object tracking and detection, for example, use visual odometry to estimate the location of the moving camera in 3D relative to its starting position. This allows us to walk around and move in closer while the model remains grounded to where we positioned her. Plane detection removes the need for markers and recognizes features in the environment which enables it to detect horizontal, vertical and flat surfaces.
It was ARKit and ARCore‘s release that saw AR start to find some ground in the porn industry. Visual effects artists and virtual reality porn company CamasutraVR released ‘Hardcore‘ in early 2018, an IOS app featuring a male and a female pornstar performing a selection of different sex acts in 3D.
The app is only a demo with a handful of different animations, but this was the first known time anyone was able to create augmented reality porn that the consumer could download on to their phone. The company has since announced plans to include an additional 10 models and more animations some time in the future.
What’s the best AR porn on the market?
One of the most popular and better-known apps we can get our hands on today is ‘Holograms‘ released by adult film producing giants Naughty America back in October of 2018.
‘Holograms’ pretty much does what is says on the tin, offering a generous selection of erotic 3D holographic pornstars looking to put on a show for the lucky viewer. The app is available for both VR and AR, and is compatible on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Android and IOS.
In total, there are around 50 different animations to choose from including ones where the models perform using a stripper pole.
Checking out the app
Being the AR fanatic that I am, I downloaded the app and checked it out. Lucky I’m on Android because you have to pay for a Littlestar subscription on IOS. Only a few bucks but hey ho, I’ll take the free option if I can.
Anyway, I had a little browse through the app’s selection of pornstars and picked one at random. Then, positioned her on the rug in front of me and watched the short scene commence.
In true 3D augmented reality, I was able to stand up, walk around the model and see her from the perspective of my choosing, as though she were standing there in the room with me.
The visuals are by no-means at the level of un-canny valley and each animation is only a few second long. Also, at times, I suddenly saw my much-loved AR partner take off and float above me, which is at the very least distracting, but still very cool none the less.
The app uses volumetric video captures rather than computer animations. A decision made by the company after discovering they could produce more realistic versions of the models with VVC’s.
In an interview with The CEO of Naughty America, Andreas Hronopoulos, he stated that they’re getting enough views where it makes sense to develop more content. Given the team behind the app, I’m sure we’ll see vast improvements with Holograms as time goes on and technology advances.
Another Interesting AR App
PornviewerAR is an app that takes a different approach to AR tech. While others are creating new content and typically exploring the 3D avenue, PornviewerAR works using the countless porn videos that are already out there, converting them into 2D AR holograms.
We can select a video on the web, enter the URL and the app will crop out the background leaving an AR hologram of the model from the scene.
The result is pretty rocky but we can adjust the threshold to add or remove parts of the background until we find a point where we’re satisfied. I found that ‘solo’, or ‘POV’ styled clips generally have a better effect than your typical sex scenes because there’s far less movement having to content with the threshold barrier.
The app was created by a lone developer who released it on Android back in December, firstly under the name GreenscreenAR, but later changing it to PornviewerAR. He also released a VR version too, (PornviewerVR) which is available for Oculus Rift.
Devices
You can probably guess, but much of the AR porn found today is mobile based.
AR, or mixed reality headsets, are still in the development stages and the major brands are currently aimed towards the enterprise and developers’ market.
Microsoft reported to have only sold 50,000 copies of the first Hololens last year, and these were only purchasable by developers, educational institutions and businesses.
Magic Leap has stated in their guidebook that adult content is not allowed on the device.
And Meta has shut down after running into funding issues, facing a lawsuit, and then eventually selling off its final assets.
With such an uncertain and still under-developed market, it’s unlikely that we are going to see a surge of adult content being produced for AR or mixed reality headsets any time soon. Perhaps cheaper alternatives such as Nreal may offer a basis for developers to create some headset-based AR porn at some point. But for now, smartphone is the device of choice.
It’s more likely that we’ll see an increase in split-screen mobile videos compatible with GearVR, or cardboard devices like Holokit and Aryzon.
These work similar to how the Google Cardboard does for VR, offering a way of experiencing immersive HMD entertainment with our smartphones.
Saying that…
Augmented reality porn on devices like Hololens does exist. 3D Holo Girlfriend is a platform that offers a virtual girlfriend experience using a Hololens or Meta 2 headset. The platform is one of the earliest AR porn startups from recent years and still remains the only one offering adult AR content on these devices.
At the moment, 3D Holo Girlfriend has 19 different models to choose from which includes a reasonably diverse mix of girls for peoples with different preferences.
Instead of real-life models, the company uses character models stating:
The technology is too new at this time. The ability to use real-life models is just not there yet. In time this will happen. In the near future 3D character models will become more lifelike as the technology advances. Besides, we can do way more cool things with 3D character models.
From https://www.3dhologirlfriend.com/#About
The platform comes with a free trial which includes one of the girls from the site, Amy, otherwise they charge a premium subscription which gives access to the other models on the site. And if we can’t find what we’re looking for then don’t worry because soon the company will be offering a service where they’ll create our very own AR girlfriend, customized to our specifications and requirements.
Limitations and Possibilities
For now, content is mainly limited to a handful of demos and beta apps like we’ve discussed, consisting of 3D GIF style animations that run for a few seconds or run on a loop. Alternatively, there are various forms of 2D content out which uses pre-recorded videos, rather than digitally created models.
Graphics are typically quite basic, a little rough around the edges, and the technology just isn’t quite there yet for realistic and immersive experiences. Really, what we’re getting at this stage is an introduction to augmented reality porn.
However… the potential of AR being used in porn couldn’t be any more obvious.
You’re not confined to any specific spot (one of VR’s biggest problems), the models are life-sized, in 3D, running in real-time, and you can watch the show from the perspective of your choosing without being dictated by the structure of the scene.
Augmented reality opens a whole new portal of entertainment for the adult industry, offering something completely different to anything else we’ve experienced before. The future possibilities of AR porn are literally quite endless with some of those possibilities already being explored.
AI and speech recognition
AI technology has now started being incorporated in with the aim of offering a more personalized and realistic experience. This is being done by 3D Holo Girlfriend with the aim of developing virtual girlfriends who we can have seemingly real conversations with. We can train the AI and have it remember things about us and learn from our interactions. We can touch her and she’ll respond to our touch.
For now, these features are very basic but each conversation that happens helps the AI engine learn and grow. There are talks about building “full AI driven girl/boy friend experiences” where the models will be “owned, taught and operated by its owner.”
Holographic overlays
Augmented reality holographic overlays are something that’s already in the pipeline. Sex robot manufacturers DS Doll Robotics have partnered with 3D Holo Girlfriend with the aim of developing augmented reality holograms that can be overlaid on to the robot. Yeah… Remember when I said porn and technology go hand in hand?
Live streaming cam girls
Cam girls performing live in our bedroom could become a possibility thanks to AR. This has been explored in the past when popular live streaming adult cam site, Camsoda, announced in 2016 that they were developing an AR platform for streaming live 3D holographic girls.
More recently, an augmented reality and AR porn app developer named Hunter Monk was in talks with a studio called cam20 about developing a camming platform where girls could stream live in augmented reality. He announced plans to either have girls come in to the studio, or he’ll send kits out where they can stream live from home. We’re still waiting to hear more from this, but a very interesting concept to look forward to.
Conclusion
Porn has come a long way from the days of visiting adult movie theatres and picking up a Playboy or Hustler magazine from the local corner shop.
The adult tube site generation seemingly saw porn at its peak with just about every kind of erotic video imaginable available at the click of a button. VR has since proved that there is still a lot more that adult entertainment has to offer and actually, it may just be at its birth in terms of its huge potential.
The AR industry is growing. Markets expect augmented reality to have 1 billion users by 2020 with a worth of $61.39 billion by 2023. Up from a $2.39 billion valuation in 2016.
How much of that will porn be accountable for is unclear. What is clear is that with technology, porn will always find a firm place for itself. And If AR porn has anything like the success of VR porn, then there could be an incredibly bright future ahead for AR technology in adult entertainment.
I really want to thank Ash for this thorough review of Augmented Reality adult entertainment experiences. I found it incredibly interesting and I hope the same has been for you.
As always, I would like to hear your opinions, so please comment this article here below or on my social media channels! (But only after having subscribed to my newsletter 😉 )
(Header image modified from an image on Upload VR)