The XR Week Peek (2024.06.17): Vision OS 2 to bring amazing features, LG interrupts the partnership with Meta, and more!
Greetings from California! I’m writing this letter between Silicon Valley (East Palo Alto, to be exact) and Los Angeles because I’m moving to attend AWE! My days in the Valley have been nice, and I’ve spent some time with some old friends and made some new ones. I also visited the Computer History Museum, and I found it magical to see how electronic devices have evolved at crazy speeds in the last century. But now it’s time to think about AWE: I’m really excited… this year’s edition is going to be huge, I feel. If it is your first time there, check out my latest post on this blog, there you will find some useful pieces of advice on how to get the maximum out of it. I hope to meet you all there at the event!
Top news of the week
Apple Vision Pro to improve hand tracking, and add object tracking and scene understanding
Last week in this roundup I have told you about all the most important announcements related to Vision OS 2, the upcoming runtime of the Apple Vision Pro. Everything I told you was announced during the keynote of WWDC, but during the other side development talks, many other interesting features have been unveiled.
First of all, Vision Pro is going to improve its understanding of the world around it. We all know that hand tracking on the Vision Pro is worse than on Quest, so Apple is going to improve it. The new version of hand tracking will run at 90Hz (instead of 30) and will also implement pose prediction, making the tracking more reactive than before. The headset will also implement object tracking: the implementation is still not perfect, with the objects required to be static in the scene and predefined at the application run, but this is a feature that in my opinion will be very important to offer true mixed reality. The runtime will also be able to detect the walls, the floor of the room the user is in, and also all the various planes in it. This kind of scene understanding is also very important for mixed reality.
Talking about virtual reality, the Vision Pro is getting better also for fully immersive applications. The new mixed mode will let you stay in VR in a space that is bigger than the usual 3 x 3m cage. The only trade-off is that you see the real floor while you are walking, but the rest of the scene will remain immersive. And WebXR will be activated by default in Safari, without requiring the user to meddle with its settings.
The Vision Pro will also be able to connect to printers to print stuff. I don’t think any of us is particularly excited by this feature, but if the idea is having the Vision Pro as a productivity machine, it makes sense that it is able to print documents.
Then Apple announced many features regarding immersive content. 12 new immersive videos are coming, including a short movie with The Weeknd and a short film from Oscar-winning director Edwin Berger. Immersive Videos have astonishing quality and everyone loves them, so the more there are, the better. But even more, Apple partnered with hardware manufacturers to give everyone the tools to create this kind of immersive content.
For the hobbyists, there is the RF-S3.9mm F3.5 STM Dual Fisheye lens for the Canon EOS R7 camera, which for around $1100 gives you the ability to shoot 180 VR content. If you want to go beyond and shoot professional videos in the Apple Immersive Video format, then you can buy the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive by Blackmagic Design, the company behind DaVinci Resolve. This professional camera is able to record videos at the impressive resolution of 8160×7200 per eye at 90FPS with 16 stops of dynamic range. The price for this product has not been revealed, which means that it is going to be VERY expensive. I’ve seen there are also other products that are coming out from other companies that are not directly partnering with Apple but that let you shoot immersive multimedia content for the Vision Pro: the Acer SpatialLabs Eyes is an affordable camera made exactly for this purpose.
And there is one last thing: Unity 6 (the upcoming version of Unity, currently in beta) is going to add support for Vision OS 2, with all the features that have been mentioned, in the upcoming weeks. One super important feature to mention is called “Rendering Metal with passthrough” and lets you create immersive applications with the passthrough background. Until now, either you created an immersive VR application with the standard Unity tools like XR Interaction Toolkit, or you created an AR application using the very weird PolySpatial plugin. Finally, if you want just to create an AR application that spans your whole space, you can still use the XR Interaction Toolkit and just make the background show the passthrough, exactly as it happens on Quest today. This is huge to make the life of us developers easier in creating cross-platform applications between Quest and Vision Pro.
At the end of the day, if we consider the things that I reported last week with the ones that I’ve written now, we see that Apple has announced a lot of improvements to the Vision Pro and this is good to show the commitment it has towards this new product line.
More info (Improved hand tracking on the Vision Pro — Road To VR)
More info (Improved hand tracking on the Vision Pro — Upload VR)
More info (Apple Vision Pro’s object tracking)
More info (AVP’s better VR support)
More info (WebXR activated by default)
More info (Printing from the headset)
More info (Canon’s lens for Spatial Videos)
More info (Blackmagic’s lens for Immersive Videos)
More info (Acer’s affordable camera for Spatial Videos)
More info (New official Apple Immersive Videos coming)
More info (Unity 6 adding support to VisionOS 2)
Other relevant news
The partnership between Meta and LG may have come to an end
It seems that the partnership between Meta and LG had a life similar to the Decagear: it ended before even starting. A few weeks ago there were reports about troubles in the collaboration, with LG wanting to do things “at its own pace” and the rumored delay of the release of a headset developed together, the Quest Pro 2, to 2027. Now a new report informs us that LG has reassigned its people working in XR to other departments, has “delayed its own XR tech indefinitely, and terminated its joint commercialization of a product with Meta”. The two companies will still do R&D of XR technologies together, though, which seems like remaining as friends after a love story has finished.
It’s not clear what caused this sudden change of behavior by LG: some people speculate that the Korean company was not expecting Meta’s announcement of Horizon OS and the partnerships with Lenovo and ASUS, and may have lost interest in having a partnership that is not so exclusive.
The line of Quest Pro keeps so having a troubled life: the first product was rushed to compete with Apple and came out quite bad. The second product has been delayed at first and then canceled even before starting. If the initial rumored date of Quest Pro 2 was 2027, after this week we can maybe speculate 3027… I hope 1000 years will be enough to make it good…
Distance brings glasses-free AR to any transparent surface
Urho Konttori, the cofounder of Varjo, has started a new adventure as the CEO of Distance, a new groundbreaking XR company. Distance has just come up out of stealth and promises to bring glasses-free high-quality augmented reality to any transparent surface. This is how the company defines it in the press release:
The Distance technology transforms virtually any transparent surface into a window for extended reality using a computer-generated 3D light field that seamlessly mixes with the real world, offering flawless per-pixel depth and covering the entire field of view for maximum immersion — and it is completely non-reliant on anything worn on the user’s face or body.
Simply look through a window or any transparent surface in your car or on a plane– and experience a new world of perfected visual fidelity and mixed reality so profound that it appears completely natural, thanks to Distance’s groundbreaking per-pixel optical depth capability. All of this is achieved without a phone, a headset, a pin, a device or glasses — just through your own eyes and all without strain due to the visual performance enabled by the patents-pending Distance solution.
The description seems very intriguing: I like the idea of glasses-free XR, because it is currently more approachable. And it’s cool that there is a mention of lightfields, because this may mean that the shown virtual elements have true depth and not just stereoscopy. Distance may be very useful to improve mixed reality visualization on the windshields of cars, for marketing installation in shops, and things like that.
The team is going to do private demos at AWE: I can’t wait to try it and let you know how it is!
Logitech has announced a stylus for Meta Quest
Everyone was expecting Apple to announce the compatibility of Apple Pencil with the Vision Pro, but actually, Meta has beaten Apple on the time. Logitech has announced that thanks to a collaboration with Meta, it is launching a Stylus dedicated to Quest headsets: the Logitech MX Ink.
This is the first third-party tracked accessory for Quest: for the first time, a product of an external company will be tracked directly by the cameras of the headset. And even better: it does not require you to use this as an alternative to your controllers. You can use the stylus and the controllers at the same time, for a total of three tracked objects. The integration between the Quest and this pen goes to the point that the first time you pair this device with the headset, the Quest runtime will show you a tutorial on how to use it and let you configure some parameters.
The MX Ink is a 3D stylus: it is meant especially to let you draw in the air, but it can also be used for 2D drawing if you use its tip on a surface. It features various buttons and also a haptic actuator, to have feedback while you draw. It also has two accessories: a charging dock (MX Inkwell Dock) and a drawing mat (MX Mat).
MX Ink will be supported by a few Quest apps like Gravity Sketch, PaintingVR, and ShapesXR. Other interested developers may integrate it via a dedicated SDK. From the launch apps, it is clear that the most interesting use case is drawing and I bet many people working with design in XR will love this device.
Logitech MX Ink is set to launch at the end of September, priced at $130. Pricing for the MX Inkwell dock and MX Mat hasn’t yet been revealed.
News worth a mention
VRChat is laying off 30% of the company
Graham Gaylor, the CEO of VRChat, has announced in a long letter that the company is laying off around one-third of its staff. He says that the company expected a higher growth of the audience after the success during the pandemic: now instead the growth is very slow (we all know that XR is not at its best moment) and so the team is overstaffed. We’ve already heard this reasoning from many other companies, including Meta. The company is becoming more nimble, but it is also improving its internal organization so that it is ready for the growth of the next five years.
This is very bad news, but at least VRChat is offering a good severance package to its employees, that so can have a smoother transition towards their next job.
Somnium Connect has been announced
Finally, there is a day for the Somnium Connect, the event where Somnium Space will not only give updates about its social VR world but also about its upcoming VR-1 headset. The event will be held in Prague on July, 12th and will involve many of Somnium’s partner companies like Lynx, TG0, and Ultraleap. In parallel, Somnium has also announced that the preorders for its headset are starting on June, 20th.
Meta to sell refurbished Quest 3 headsets
Meta has announced that it is starting to sell refurbished Quest 3 headsets: the price is $450 for the 128GB storage model or $580 for 512GB. As usual, Meta guarantees the refurbished units are as close as possible to the new ones. The discount is not huge, but it can still be good if you are tight on budget.
Vuzix reports negative first quarter performances
Vuzix, which is one of the leading companies for what concerns smartglasses for enterprise usage, has reported a pretty negative Q1 2024. The revenues are down 52% from the same period of 2023. I honestly don’t know yet how to interpret these data, but it may be the sign of an end-of-cycle for the enterprise smartglasses sector, which probably needs a disruption to grow again. And for sure the current difficult global economic conditions are not helping. I will see if I meet someone from Vuzix at AWE, so I can ask him/her about the current situation of the market and understand better what led to this inflection.
(Thanks Ivan Aguilar for the tip)
Immersive Tech Week announces its Call For Speakers
The Immersive Tech Week (previously known as “VR Days”) is one of the most important events for XR. This year’s edition is already in the works and the team has announced a Call For Speakers. If you want to be a speaker at this event, use the links here below and apply before the 30th of June.
Actually, there are many other open calls for the same event (for exhibitors, volunteers, etc…) so maybe it’s worth it if you take a look at them all to see if there is one that interests you.
More info (All ITW Open Calls)
More info (Open Call for Speakers)
Some important news about content
- Just Dance VR, which was initially supposed to be a Pico exclusive game, is going to be released on Quest on October, 15th
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 arrives on November 19 for PC VR and flatscreen platforms
- Team Asobi has clearly stated that the upcoming Astro Bot game will never have VR support. This is a huge pity, considering that the original “Astro Bot: Rescue Mission” was one of the best VR games ever shipped
- Blade & Sorcery, one of the most popular VR physics-based combat sandboxes, is leaving Early Access next week on Steam. The game will have a giant 1.0 update, which will bring, among other things, also a story mode to the game. The same update will also reach the Quest platform but at a later time
- Hide-and-seek style VR shooter Mannequin will launch on Steam Early Access on June 20th
More info (Just Dance VR)
More info (Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024)
More info (Astro Bot)
More info (Blade & Sorcery)
More info (Mannequin)
Some other news about content
- BlackForge: A Smithing Adventure is now available on Quest 2/3/Pro and PC VR headsets. It costs $20, but it will be discounted for the next two weeks by 20%
- From the artist and composer behind indie hit Thumper (2016), the forthcoming psychedelic action arcade game Thrasher is officially launching on July 25th on Quest and Vision Pro
- Lushfoil Photography Sim, a serene photography game built on Unreal Engine 5, is expected to get optional PC VR support following its initial release
- Chrono Weaver is a new VR physics puzzler that asks you to play a co-op game with yourself, and there’s a free demo on Steam and Quest
- Neon Squad Tactics, a new VR turn-based strategy game, has been released on Quest for $19.99
- Downtown Club, a VR racing game with full virtual controls, has been released on Quest App Lab for $15.99. It’s made by a very talented Italian Team, so I root for its success!
- Body of Mine, an application that seeks to promote transgender empathy by demonstrating gender dysphoria in VR, has been released on Quest for $9.99
- Slap Fighter VR, a game about slap fighting (you don’t say!), reaches Quest and SteamVR in Q1 2025
- Upload has written its usual ICYMI post with some minor XR news
More info (Blackforge: A Smithing Adventure)
More info (Thrasher)
More info (Lushfoil Photography Sim)
More info (Chrono Weaver)
More info (Neon Squad Tactics)
More info (DownTown Club)
More info (Body Of Mine)
More info (Slap Fighter VR)
More info (ICYMI)
Some reviews about content
- F1 24 is a fun racing game, but it doesn’t offer much beyond what F1 23 already did. Furthermore, its visuals could be better
- MR Chess is an intriguing application because it lets you play chess in mixed reality on a real board against a virtual opponent
- Zengence is an interesting relaxation experience that tries to use your breath to control the game, but its breath detection via the microphone requires some improvement
More info (F1 24)
More info (MR Chess)
More info (Zengence)
Other news
VOY Glasses offers prescription inserts for XR headsets with variable prescription parameters
XR Today reviewed positively the XREAL Air 2 glasses
A research project evaluated which interaction is better for cyclists to operate AR glasses
An add-on for Blender lets you animate objects using VR controllers
Hypervision may have demonstrated that the display of the Apple Vision Pro is not out of focus as Karl Guttag initially speculated
News from partners (and friends)
EAG Expo Europe announces SIEX
The premier amusement and gaming trade show EAG Expo Europe, announces the formation of a co-located exhibition called the ‘Social Immersive Entertainment EXpo’ (SIEX). These are the main points of this announcement:
- EAG event includes for next year co-located event focused on XR, competitive play and social entertainment
- New event will also include conference session and mixer for greater business opportunities for attendees
- First event of its kind to focus on the impact of the social entertainment and competitive play (esports) scene along with XR
- The co-located event alongside the EAG amusement and gaming show benefiting from the Excel venue links
- Industry specialist retained as ambassador to help define and grow the event
- Taking place in January 2025
Discover Space AI by Enviz
I’ve got to know about an interesting project called Enviz — Space AI. These are a few lines about it sent to me by the team:
There is now a way to explore your SketchUp models in realtime XR using Enviz — Space AI (beta).
The plugin is free to try while in beta and converts your SketchUp model into a 1:1 experience that you can explore in VR or AR using your phone, tablet, web browser or Quest headset.
The Enviz app lets you explore your space in a number of innovative ways and even meet your clients inside to conduct reviews.
This tool is still in beta and only available on SketchUp but Enviz will be releasing Space AI as a ‘one-click’ XR creation tool for any major 3D modelling software in the coming months.
Discover Into The Light
Into The Light is a new interesting VR indie game. This is its description:
Into The Light (ITL) is a Dark Fantasy Dungeon Crawler, purpose built to harness the strengths of VR. ITL presents an immersive atmosphere populated with puzzles, treasure, devious traps and fearsome foes.All tempered in the chaos of 4 players “working together” towards a goal. While combat punctuates the experience, it doesn’t define it. Instead your class skills, tools and communication play a larger role in surviving the challenges that lie in store.
Sponsored Area
Use my plugin for object interactions in MR!
Last week I announced an open-source plugin to let you interact with physical objects in mixed reality on the Quest. Take your time to investigate it and see if you can do something interesting with it! It’s fully open source with MIT license, so you can do with it whatever you want.
Some XR fun
A way to be sure that you will always listen to your phone notifications
(Thanks Ivan Aguilar for the tip)
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
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- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
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- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
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- Steve R
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- Matt Cool
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Apple, taken from Upload VR)
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