This week in XR hasn’t had any explosive news, but it was interesting nonetheless: in particular we had cool info on AR glasses, with some news from Kura, Lynx, and Samsung. Among the top 5 news I have chosen, only 1 is about VR. And it also makes me super-happy that no one is about Facebook and Apple… I was getting pretty bored in writing newsletters only about these two companies!
Before leaving you to the weekly roundup, I remind you that if you want to support my hard work in informing the community, you can always do that with a little donation on Patreon (thank you for that!)
Top news of the week
Samsung AR glasses concept has been leaked
Popular Twitter leaker WalkingCat has leaked two trailer videos about two AR glasses by Samsung.
One device is dubbed “Samsung AR Glasses Lite” and it is basically a 3DOF viewer: with it, you can put screens anywhere in front of you, and so watch media (e.g. movies), or have a virtual computer screen everywhere you want. These glasses are connected wirelessly to a Samsung phone and are also integrated with other Samsung devices, like a smartwatch. It is cool that at the end of the video, the glasses show also the capability to work as sunglasses, and this means that you can carry them everywhere with you, even outside. They are stylish, so walking around with these is absolutely possible.
The other device is called “Samsung AR Glasses”, and it has the same features as the first one (wireless, BlueTooth integration, the capability to show virtual screens, etc…) plus truly 3D AR functionalities. You can see the actor in the video triggering a 3D virtual house and seeing himself inside it. He moves and uses the hands to interact with it, and this makes us think about 6DOF tracking and bimanual interactions.
The videos are most probably original because WalkingCat is a reliable leaker (he leaked Quest 2 and HP Reverb G2, for instance). But most probably they are just concept videos, maybe for internal presentations. The reasons why I think this are mainly two:
- I don’t think that Samsung would call its glasses just “AR Glasses”, but probably it would choose a cooler name like “Galaxy Glasses”;
- The videos show things that are currently hardly possible with AR glasses due to the limited FOV and limited interaction possibilities.
Even if they are just concept videos, they are a massive piece of news anyway. It means that Samsung is actively working towards 6DOF AR glasses with natural interactions. We are considering the AR wars only between Facebook and Apple, but we are forgetting that Samsung is one of the main smartphone vendors and for sure it is going to enter the battle as well. Prepare your popcorns, because these will be some interesting years.
More info (Both videos in this Twitter thread)
Other relevant news
Kura Gallium glasses are coming at the end of the year for $1500
In an interview with the fantastic blog The Ghost Howls (I don’t know if you have ever heard of it), Kura Technologies’s CEO/CTO Kelly Peng has revealed some interesting info about their upcoming AR glasses.
First of all, she has confirmed the main features promised for the device on its website:
- 150° FOV diagonal;
- 8K resolution per eye, with foveation and frame prediction;
- 120 Hz framerate;
- High-brightness display (up to 3M nits from image source) used to guarantee constant vividity of the augmentations,
- USB-C connection to a compact wearable computing pack
- High-precision 6DOF tracking, eye tracking, gesture inputs, with dedicated input controllers
- Unity SDK
Then she has announced that in 1–2 months the startup will showcase the first prototypical version of the product in public live streams and in private demos to investors, customers, and partners.
At the end of the year, the manufacturing of production units should start, with the assembly line already ready to produce 100K-1M+ units. The expected launch price should be around $1500.
This is an important piece of news because if Kura manages to deliver, these glasses can disrupt completely the market, offering a FOV and a resolution that no other one can provide. It could be a big bang for AR.
But on the other side, many are skeptical of this little startup that is promising something that sounds too good to be true. Also, there is the problem that even if they managed in creating such a device, producing, shipping, and doing customer management on thousands of units distributed worldwide is a true pain, and even bigger companies like Valve and Nreal have seen the difficulties of handling it. Someone says that the most probable scenario is that they get acquired and some big company actually produces the glasses at their place.
My opinion is that we should all wait: 1–2 months pass very fast, and at that time we will discover if Kura has been able to deliver or not. What I can say, having interviewed Kelly, is that she’s incredibly smart and passionate and she will go places, with Kura or another company.
We have the first through-the-lenses video of Lynx R-1 glasses
Talking about AR glasses and smart startups producing them, another cool company to talk about is Lynx. The French startup headed by Stan Larroque is developing passthrough AR glasses with eye-tracking and hands tracking that can offer a new paradigm to augmented reality.
The startup has shown the first through-the-lenses footage, and from it, it is possible to see that the quality of the visuals is very high. Three things have particularly impressed the members of the VR community:
- The colors are bright and the augmentations are not semi-transparent;
- The FOV is very large;
- You can see the images very well, even if actually there is an eye-tracking camera right in front of your eyes.
The first two are possible thanks to the use of pass-through augmented reality: that is, you are basically having AR in the same way you have it on the Quest, mediated by a screen in front of your eyes. And exactly as the AR mode on the Quest, you have a wide FOV and bright virtual elements when using it.
The third feature is possible thanks to very special lenses employed by the headset, a unique design that no one else is using.
I’m very intrigued by the Lynx R-1, and I hope to be able to try it when it comes out…
Digital AR fashion is on the rise
This week I have been flooded by news about the use of AR in fashion. Digital fashion is growing, and the pandemic is accelerating this process.
For instance, Rebecca Minkoff, a very famous stylist, has decided to showcase her new creations in augmented reality. Looking for a way to expose her new Spring 2021 collection to the biggest number possible of customers during the pandemic, she has decided to do it in WebAR, so that everyone could inspect her new clothes in detail using just his/her smartphone.
But she’s not been the only one taking a similar decision: Vogue Business reports that Cult fashion boutique Machine-A and the Institute of Digital Fashion are launching an augmented store environment to promote the London Fashion Week collections of designers like Martine Rose and Richard Quinn. QR codes will be embedded in fly-posters and billboards across London, and people scanning them will be able to enter the virtual store from their phones and examine all the new creations.
Another big trend that is going on is virtual clothes. RTFKT studios have created the METAJACKET, a virtual jacket that you can buy and have videos and photos with you wearing it thanks to AR filters. The Metajacket is very cool, and it looks like a jacket straight out of a cyberpunk cartoon. Of course, it doesn’t exist in the real world, but your ownership is certified by the blockchain and you can make with it many social posts that will amaze your followers. Even if it doesn’t exist in real life, it can exist in your social digital life, and this is enough for many fashionistas out there.
Digital fashion is a big trend on the rise, and if you are interested in fashion, you MUST have a look at it. This week, on 25th, I am co-organizing an event about Digital Fashion together with Cecilia Lascialfari. It is a new episode of our Awe Nite Florence series, and it will feature amazing speakers that will talk about the new perspectives of fashion in XR. You can register for it by using the links here below!
(PS If you are asking, no, I haven’t put this piece of news so high because of my event… I strongly believe in the power of fashion in XR!)
More info (Rebecca Minkoff’s AR showcase)
More info (Machine A’s AR app)
More info (MetaJacket)
More info (How to buy the MetaJacket)
More info (Description of Awe Nite Florence event on Digital Fashion)
More info (Subscribe to Awe Nite Florence event on Digital Fashion)
An interesting VR game appears on Roblox
Someone is making a VR game in Roblox, and it looks pretty cool. At the moment it is just a shooting sandbox, but its quality is so high if compared to other VR prototypes on the same platform that many Redditors have been impressed.
Why is this so a big deal? Well, Roblox is together with Fortnite one of the most popular applications of the moment. It is mostly used by teens and kids to create games and applications that get later shared (and played) together with their peers. If some people start making some cool VR games over there and they get popular, we may have many more teenagers that will discover VR and will want to buy a VR headset.
Even more, if this becomes a trend, Roblox may become what we hoped that PlayStation Dreams could become, that is a place where people can create wonderful VR experiences without knowing how to code.
All of this would be amazing… but for now we have only a VR shooter game prototype. Fingers crossed that this will be only the beginning.
News worth a mention
Try the MetaHumans in VR and more
Last week I told you about MetaHumans creator, the tool to create realistic humanoid avatars in Unreal Engine. This week I have discovered that there is a VR demo where you can stand in front of two of these MetaHumans in VR, and I have also tried and reviewed it! It is pretty cool, but the avatars are quite heavy, so not much suitable for VR.
I have also found other developers on Linkedin that are experimenting with MetaHumans: the coolest demo that I’ve seen until now is someone that animates live a MetaHuman face by using the face tracking of his phone.
And there are not only Epic’s MetaHumans: another viral demo this week was a fantastic 3D animation of a face made in Blender when you can see all the wrinkles of the character… it’s cool to see all this interest in realistic avatars!
More info (MetaHumans VR demo)
More info (My review of MetaHumans in VR)
More info (Cool cinematic sequence using MetaHumans)
More info (Animating a MetaHuman with the phone)
More info (Wrinkles animation in Blender)
More info (Explanation of the wrinkles animation in Blender)
Watch Perseverance landing in VR
One of the most important news of the week, in general, has been the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars. The final part of the mission has been live streamed, and people were also able to watch it in immersive 360 formats or in 2D in a VR environment like ENGAGE to feel more connected with the historical event.
The rover has also started sending the first images, and I imagine that NASA will also use them to create cool 360 photos of the red planet…
More info (NASA’s livestream in 360)
More info (Event on ENGAGE)
More info (Images from the rover that could become a 360 photo)
Oculus is selling refurbished Quest for $199
Facebook is currently selling on its website refurbished Quest 1 headsets for only $199. I guess it is experimenting to see what happens if they lower the price of headsets to a price point where they are really affordable.
But the truth is, honestly, that with just $100 more you obtain so much more with a Quest 2, that in my opinion, this is not an offer to consider unless you are very tight on money.
Quest is getting multi-user device sharing
Facebook is rolling out an update to let multiple users share the same Oculus Quest 2 (the feature is coming also to Quest 1, but at a later time). Every Quest can have a primary account and many secondary accounts, that can use the same apps bought by the primary one. Every account has its own leaderboards, settings, etc… when they use the various shared apps.
QiYu 3 wants to be the Chinese Quest competitor
Sebastian Ang from MixedRealityTV has shared a video about the QiYu 3, the latest VR device by iQiYi (basically the Chinese Netflix). The headset features an XR2 Snapdragon processor, 2K per eye resolution, and a bigger FOV than the Quest 2. So it is a headset that is more powerful than the Quest.
According to Seb, this can be the Chinese competitor of the Quest 2, and I agree with him that this is the intention of the manufacturing company.
But honestly, I would believe that only when I try it. Knowing how things in China work, most probably they have pushed a lot on the features to impress the customers, but the device is not much polished, and so tracking may be a bit sluggish and the display may have some problems of aberrations. Not to mention the fact that the software ecosystem surely can’t compete with the Quest Store. So, until you read a reliable review on this device, please don’t consider it as a Quest competitor, but just as an interesting new headset.
Manus presents the Pro Tracker
Manus, the company behind various VR gloves is now offering a new product: a VR tracker. Dubbed “Manus Pro Tracker”, it is a pro version of the Vive Tracker, that offers more precision, longer battery time, hot-swappable batteries, and lighter weight.
This is intended for professional use and in fact, it has a premium price: $360 each.
Sound can reduce motion sickness
Volvo is making experiments in reducing motion sickness in self-driving cars and it has found that if every sickness-inducing movement (e.g. acceleration, or a turn to left or right) is associated with a different sound, the brain prepares for the unwanted movement and so reduces the sickness associated.
I wonder if something similar could be employed for 360 videos…
VR can be used in financial planning
Also the financial sector is now experimenting with VR, either to analyze better the data or to showcase to customers what can be the result of their financial decisions. I have found this information in an article about the topic that I’m sharing with you here below.
GPT3 can be the future of NPC characters
An amazing technical demo made by Modbox can show us the future of NPCs in XR games. The demo lets you speak with various NPCs in a natural way. It works this way:
- You speak with the character
- A speech-to-text system identifies what words have you said
- These words get feed to an AI powered by GPT-3 that outputs a believable answer
- A text-to-speech system says it
It is just amazing because this would let you speak with NPCs without using dialogue trees, but with a natural speech that is different every time thanks to the power of AI. This can make future games more realistic and immersive.
Some news on content
- “The Persistence” developer Firesprite is working on a new VR game based on a “multimillion-selling console title from the last decade”;
- Gorilla Tag is a fun multiplayer game that makes you return to monke;
- We have a new amazing combat footage from upcoming VR MMO Zenith;
- No Man’s Sky now lets you have alien pets thanks to the Companion update;
- Cosmodread, the sequel to Dreadhalls, will launch on Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets on March 25th;
- We’ll probably have some news on The Climb 2 next week (finally!);
- In Death: Unchained gets a new huge update for the start of its new season (it is an amazing game, so I will try this for sure);
- Population One Season 1 is starting on February, 25th.
More info (Firesprite)
More info (Gorilla Tag)
More info (Zenith VR)
More info (No Man’s Sky)
More info (Cosmodread)
More info (The Climb 2)
More info (InDeath: Unchained)
More info (Population One)
News from partners (and friends)
This Saturday there have been the WebXR Awards by ThePoly’s! It’s been an incredible moment to celebrate WebXR and its community… and I have been proud to be part of it. Compliments to the organizers and the winners! I had the pleasure of giving an award to the fantastic Mr.Doob… I am still so excited about that!
Learn more (Tweet about the event / 1)
Learn more (Tweet about the event / 2)
Puzzling Places is one of the launch titles of App Lab. It is an amazing game that lets you complete wonderful 3D puzzles of iconic places in VR. All the objects have been scanned with photogrammetry by the team at Realities.io (that includes the king of photogrammetry Azad Balabanian). The game has just had a huge update and I invite you to check it out!
Some XR fun
CV1 is love, CV1 is life
I love ping pong, everyone loves ping pong
Thanks to all my Patrons!
This newsletter is possible thanks to all my amazing Patrons:
- DeoVR
- Jonn Fredericks
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Michael Bruce
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- Immersive.international
- Bob Fine
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Niels Bogerd
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Jeff Dawson
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Tracey Wong
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Sb
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(Header image leaked by WalkingCat)