News – Page 39

DigiLens Announces ARGO – Its First Mass Market Product

AR display, AR glasses, augmented reality, digilens, featured, News, optics / DJ Henderson / January 18, 2023

DigiLens has been making groundbreaking components for a while now. And, last spring, the company released a developers kit – the Design v1. The company has now announced its first made-to-ship product, the ARGO.

A Look at the ARGO

DigiLens is calling ARGO “the future of wearable computing” and “the first purpose-built stand-alone AR/XR device designed for enterprise and industrial-lite workers.” That is to say that the device features a 3D-compatible binocular display, inside-out tracking, and numerous other features that have not widely made their way into the enterprise world in a usable form factor.

ARGO AR glasses by DigiLens

“ARGO will open up the next generation of mobile computing and voice and be the first true AR device to be deployed at mass scale,” DigiLens CEO, Chris Pickett, said in a release shared with ARPost. “By helping people connect and collaborate in the real – not merely virtual – world, ARGO will deliver productivity gains across sectors and improve people’s lives.”

Naturally, ARGO is built around DigiLens crystal waveguide technology resulting in an outdoor-bright display with minimal eye glow and a compact footprint. The glasses also run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip.

Dual tracking cameras allow the device’s spatial computing while a 48 MP camera allows for capturing records of the real world through photography and live or recording video. One antenna on either temple of the glasses ensure uninterrupted connectivity through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Voice commands can be picked up even in loud environments thanks to five microphones. The glasses also work via gaze control and a simple but durable wheel and push-button input in the frames themselves.

The DigiLens Operating System

The glasses aren’t just a hardware offering. They also come with “DigiOS” – a collection of optimized APIs built around open-source Android 12.

“You can have the best hardware in the world, hardware is still an adoption barrier, but software is where the magic happens,” DigiLens VP and GM of Product, Nima Shams, said in a phone interview with ARPost. “We almost wanted the system to be smarter than the user and present them with information.”

While not all of those aspirations made it into the current iteration of DigiOS, the operating system custom-tailored to a hands-free interface does have some tricks. These include adjusting the brightness of the display so that it can be visible to the user without entirely washing out their surroundings when they need situational awareness.

“This is a big milestone for DigiLens at a very high level. We have always been a component manufacturer,” said Shams. “At the same time, we want to push the market and meet the market and it seems like the market is kind of open and waiting.”

A Brief Look Back

ARPost readers have been getting to know DigiLens for the last four years as a component manufacturer, specifically making display components. Last spring, the company released Design v1. The heavily modular developers kit was not widely available, though, according to Shams, the kit heavily influenced the ARGO.

“What we learned from Design v1 was that there wasn’t a projector module that we could use,” said Shams. “We designed our own light LED projector. … It was direct feedback from the Design v1.”

A lot of software queues in the ARGO also came from lessons learned with Design v1. The headset helped pave the way for DigiOS.

DigiLens ARGO AR glasses

“Design v1 was the first time that we built a Qualcomm XR2 system, and ARGO uses the same system,” said Shams.

Of course, the Design v1 was largely a technology showcase and a lot of its highly experimental features were never intended to make it into a mass-market product. For example, the ARGO is not the highly individualized modular device that the Design v1 is.

The Future of DigiLens

DigiLens still is, and will continue to be, a components company first and foremost. Their relationship with enterprise led the company to believe that it is singularly situated to deliver a product that industries need and haven’t yet had an answer for.

“I’ve seen some things from CES coming out of our peers that are very slim and very sexy but they’re viewers,” said Shams. “They don’t have inside-out tracking or binocular outdoor-bright displays.”

With all of this talk about mass adoption and the excitement of the company’s first marketed product, I had to ask Shams whether the company had aspirations for an eventual consumer model.

“Our official answer is ‘no,’” said Shams. “Companies like the Samsungs and the Apples of the world all believe that glasses will replace the smartphone and we want to make sure that DigiLens components are in those glasses.”

In fact, in the first week of January, DigiLens announced a partnership with OMNIVISION to “collaborate on developing new consumer AR/VR/XR product solutions.”

“Since XR involves multiple senses such as touch, vision, hearing, and smell, it has potential use cases in a huge variety of fields, such as healthcare, education, engineering, and more,” Devang Patel, OMNIVISION Marketing Director for the IoT and Emerging Segment said in a release. “That’s why our partnership with DigiLens is so exciting and important.”

Something We Look Forward to Looking Through

The price and shipping date for ARGO aren’t yet public, but interested companies can reach out to DigiLens directly. We look forward to seeing use cases come out of the industry once the glasses have had time to find their way to the workers of the world.

DigiLens Announces ARGO – Its First Mass Market Product Read More »

New Waveguide Tech From VividQ and Dispelix Promises New Era in AR

augmented reality, featured, News, optics / DJ Henderson / January 17, 2023

Holograms have been largely deemed impossible. However, “possible” and “impossible” are constantly shifting landscapes in immersive technology. Dispelix and VividQ have reportedly achieved holographic displays through a new waveguide device. And the companies are bringing these displays to consumers.

A Little Background

“Hologram” is a term often used in technology because it’s one that people are familiar with from science fiction. However, science fiction is almost exclusively the realm in which holograms reside. Holograms are three-dimensional images. Not an image that appears three-dimensional, but an image that actually has height, width, and depth.

These days, people are increasingly familiar with augmented reality through “passthrough.” In this method, a VR headset records your surroundings and you view a live feed of that recording augmented with digital effects. The image is still flat. Through techno-wizardry, they may appear to occupy different spaces or have different depths but they don’t.

AR glasses typically use a combination of waveguide lenses and a tiny projector called a light engine. The light engine projects digital effects onto the waveguide, which the wearer looks through. This means lighter displays that don’t rely on camera resolution for a good user experience.

Most waveguide AR projects still reproduce a flat image. These devices, typically used for virtual screens or screen mirroring from a paired device, often include spatial controls like ray casting but are arguably not “true” augmented reality and are sometimes referred to as “viewers” rather than “AR glasses.”

Some high-end waveguide headsets – almost exclusively used in enterprise and defense – achieve more immersive AR, but the virtual elements are still on a single focal plane. This limits immersion and can contribute to the feelings of sickness felt by some XR users. These devices also have a much larger form factor.

These are the issues addressed by the new technology from Dispelix and VividQ. And their material specifically mentions addressing these issues for consumer use cases like gaming.

Bringing Variable-Depth 3D Content to AR

Working together, VividQ and Dispelix have developed a “waveguide combiner” that is able to “accurately display simultaneous variable-depth 3D content within a user’s environment” in a usable form factor. This reportedly increases user comfort as well as immersion.

“Variable-depth 3D content” means that users can place virtual objects in their environment and interact with them naturally. That is opposed to needing to work around the virtual object rather than with it because the virtual object is displayed on a fixed focal plane.

VividQ 3D waveguide

“A fundamental issue has always been the complexity of displaying 3D images placed in the real world with a decent field of view and with an eyebox that is large enough to accommodate a wide range of IPDs [interpupillary distances], all encased within a lightweight lens,” VividQ CEO, Darran Milne, said in a release shared with ARPost. “We’ve solved that problem.”

VividQ and Dispelix have not only developed this technology but have also formed a commercial partnership to bring it to market and bring it to mass production. The physical device is designed to work with VividQ’s software, compatible with major game engines including Unity and Unreal Engine.

“Wearable AR devices have huge potential all around the world. For applications such as gaming and professional use, where the user needs to be immersed for long periods of time, it is vital that content is true 3D and placed within the user’s environment,” Dispelix CEO and co-founder, Antti Sunnari, said in the release. “We are thrilled to be working with VividQ.”

When Waveguides Feel Like a Mirage

Both companies have been building toward this breakthrough for a long time. Virtually every time that APost has covered Dispelix it has at least touched on a partnership with another company, which is typical for a components manufacturer. New product announcements are comparatively rare and are always the result of lots of hard work.

“The ability to display 3D images through a waveguide is a widely known barrier to [a compelling AR wearable device],” VividQ Head of Research, Alfred Newman, said in an email. “To realize the full capability, we needed to work with a partner capable of developing something that worked with our exact specifications.”

Of course, those who have been following immersive tech for a while will understand that a long time working hard to achieve a breakthrough means that that breakthrough reaching the public will require working hard for a long time. Devices using this groundbreaking technology might not reach shelves for a few more calendar pages. Again, Newman explains:

“We license the technology stack to device manufacturers and support them as they develop their products so the timeframe for launching devices is dependent on their product development. …Typically, new products take about two to three years to develop, manufacture, and launch, so we expect a similar time frame until consumers can pick a device off the shelf.”

Don’t Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good

Waiting for the hardware to improve is a classic mass adoption trope, particularly in the consumer space. If you’re reading that you have to wait two to three years for impactful AR, you may have missed the message.

There are a lot of quality hardware and experience options in the AR space already – many of those already enabled by Dispelix and VividQ. If you want natural, immersive, real 3D waveguides, wait two or three years. If you want to experience AR today, you have options in already-available waveguide AR glasses or via passthrough on VR headsets.

New Waveguide Tech From VividQ and Dispelix Promises New Era in AR Read More »

The 20 Best Rated & Most Popular Quest Games & Apps – January 2023

best meta quest 2 games, best oculus games, best oculus quest 2 games, best oculus quest games, best quest 2 games, best quest games, Feature, News, quest 2 games, quest games, Top List, top oculus games, top quest 2 games, top quest games, VR Gaming / DJ Henderson / January 16, 2023

While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual games & apps are performing across its Quest 2 storefront, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the 20 best rated Oculus Quest games and apps as of January 2023.

Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:

Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
App Lab apps are not represented (see our latest Quest App Lab report)
Rounded ratings may appear to show ‘ties’ in ratings for some applications, but the ranked order remains correct

Best Rated Oculus Quest 2 Games & Apps – Paid

The rating of each application is an aggregate of user reviews and a useful way to understand the general reception of each title by customers.

Rank	Name	Rating (# of ratings)	Rank Change	Price
#1	The Room VR: A Dark Matter	4.89 (12,079)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"≡"}">≡	$30
#2	Moss: Book II	4.88 (465)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 1"}">↑ 1	$30
#3	Puzzling Places	4.88 (1,571)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↓ 1"}">↓ 1	$15
#4	Walkabout Mini Golf	4.87 (9,181)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"≡"}">≡	$15
#5	I Expect You To Die 2	4.84 (2,571)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"≡"}">≡	$25
#6	DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate	4.82 (357)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"≡"}">≡	$20
#7	Swarm	4.81 (2,232)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 1"}">↑ 1	$25
#8	Vermillion	4.81 (599)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 3"}">↑ 3	$20
#9	I Expect You To Die	4.8 (5,065)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 4"}">↑ 4	$25
#10	Moss	4.8 (6,291)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 2"}">↑ 2	$20
#11	COMPOUND	4.8 (284)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 3"}">↑ 3	$20
#12	The Last Clockwinder	4.8 (492)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 4"}">↑ 4	$25
#13	Red Matter 2	4.8 (960)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↓ 3"}">↓ 3	$30
#14	Cubism	4.8 (771)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 1"}">↑ 1	$10
#15	Arcaxer	4.8 (137)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↓ 8"}">↓ 8	$25
#16	Ancient Dungeon	4.79 (692)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↓ 7"}">↓ 7	$20
#17	Ragnarock	4.79 (1,150)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"≡"}">≡	$25
#18	YUKI	4.78 (209)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↑ 3"}">↑ 3	$20
#19	Pistol Whip	4.78 (9,187)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"↓ 1"}">↓ 1	$30
#20	Into the Radius	4.78 (2,663)	0,”↑ “&abs(R[0]C[-7]),R[0]C[-7]<1,"↓ "&abs(R[0]C[-7])))" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"≡"}">≡	$30

Rank change & stats compared to December 2022

Dropouts:

PatchWorld – Make Music Worlds

Among the 20 best rated Quest apps

Average rating (mean): 4.8 out of 5 (±0)

Average price (mean): $23 (±0)

Most common price (mode): $25 (−$5)

Among all paid Quest apps

Average rating (mean): 4.2 out of 5 (±0)

Average price (mean): $20 (±$0)

Most common price (mode): $20 (±$0)

Continue on Page 2: Most Popular Paid Oculus Quest Apps »

The 20 Best Rated & Most Popular Quest Games & Apps – January 2023 Read More »

2022 Was a Plateau Year for VR, Here’s What to Expect in 2023

2023 vr, 2023 xr, apple mr, Apple VR, apple xr, Feature, Meta, meta quest, News, quest, VR Industry / DJ Henderson / January 16, 2023

The end of 2022 marks more than a decade since the Oculus Kickstarter sparked the modern era of VR. While the space has undoubtedly grown tremendously since then, 2022 felt largely like a plateau year, with Meta standing unchallenged as the dominant player in the space—while progressing disjointedly in too many directions at once. But with new headsets, promising new content, and a looming heavyweight positioned to challenge Meta all on the horizon, 2023 could big a much bigger year for the VR space.

The 2022 Plateau

2022 wasn’t a bad year for VR by any means, but for the most part the status quo remained unchanged.

There’s no doubt that Meta has been the central pillar of the VR space in 2022, having pivoted its attention in a very public way by renaming the entire company to Meta just before the year began. The company’s Quest 2 headset has retained its position as the most popular headset on the market, even becoming the most-used headset among PC VR players, despite Meta having all but abandoned PC VR as a platform.

Despite its dominance (or perhaps because of it), Meta has continued to make very good hardware while struggling deeply with its software. Though Quest 2 is certainly more capable than similar products, the user experience is disjointed and unrefined. The Quest Pro only continued this trend; the high-end headset brings a range of impressive improvements to the hardware along with new sensing capabilities, but its new features are significantly hampered by an undercooked software offering.

Regardless of various missteps, Meta is undoubtedly doing the most to keep VR afloat right now. Quest 2 is an affordable headset that’s created a large enough market of users that developers are finding growing success on the platform. In 2022 that’s meant that many developers have begun or continued to treat Quest 2 as their highest priority platform. To that end, we saw many ports of existing VR games coming to Quest 2, and most new releases being either Quest 2 exclusive, or on Quest 2 and some other platforms.

Unfortunately Meta’s dominance has meant that much of the air in the room as been sucked away from other parts of the VR space that were once key pillars.

Despite the release of new and updated enthusiast PC VR headsets, the platform has stagnated due to the content focus shifting away from PC VR. Many of the games released this year on PC VR were designed first and foremost for Quest 2, which means many lacked the scale and polish that resonates with enthusiast PC VR users.

Valve’s seeming disinterest in VR ever since the release of Half-Life: Alyx back in 2020 hasn’t helped either. The company continues to sell its 2019 headset for the same price that it was charging on day one, with no official confirmation that it has plans to do anything major in the VR space (hardware or software) in the near future. Sony’s PSVR1, meanwhile, has largely lost any remaining relevance since the announcement of the upcoming PSVR 2.

On the Horizon for 2023

But there’s lots of interesting things on the horizon for VR in 2023. Crucially we may see some real competition for Meta from several different angles, which is sorely needed to keep the company (and the industry at large) on a steady course toward making VR a more valuable platform in order to increase mainstream viability.

First Up

The biggest near-term event for the VR industry in 2023 will be the launch of PSVR 2 in February. Although Sony has technically continued selling its original PSVR headset over the years, it’s been on the market for more than six years now—and gained ‘last-gen’ status well before that.

Given all that time between—and that the company isn’t bringing its exclusive VR content forward to the new headset—the upcoming launch of PSVR 2 feels like a re-entrance into the VR market for Sony rather than a continuation. But now that the company has made the commitment, they’ll likely put strong support behind the headset for at least a few years.

Importantly, as a console maker, Sony knows well that ‘content is king’, and we can expect to see a new slate of quality VR content funded by the company, some of which could make it onto other headsets. Sony’s original PSVR is still home to some of the best exclusive VR games in the industry, made by its own first-party studios; at a minimum it would be nice to see those top titles updated and improved for PSVR 2, and better yet it would be great to see Sony setting its first-party studios to the task of creating high quality VR content once again.

But PSVR 2 only represents pseudo-competition for Meta, since the headset only appeals to those that already own a PS5 (or who are willing to buy a PS5 just to get the headset).

Real Competition for Meta?

On the other hand, some real competition from the likes of Pico and HTC may be on the way.

On the high-end, HTC’s newly announced Vive XR Elite is clearly positioned to compete with Meta’s Quest Pro. With most of the same essential features, but a lower price point ($1,100 vs. $1,500), the Vive XR Elite at least looks at face value like an alternative choice for those looking for a more compact VR headset with improved passthrough AR capabilities.

And on the low-end, Pico’s recently launched Neo 4 is the first such headset that is truly competing on price with Quest 2. Priced at €20 or €50 less than Quest 2 (depending upon storage capacity), looks like a real alternative. Granted, the company has yet to formally bring its headset to the United States—Meta’s home turf.

But… both Vive XR Elite and Pico Neo 4 share a common problem, and that’s content.

A Big Moment for Content Momentum

Regardless of specs and price, unless the content that users want is available on these headsets, they are difficult to consider real options (and thus real competition). As of now, both headsets lack many of the best-selling and most-played killer apps that are available on Meta’s Quest headsets.

But that could finally be changing. Compared to prior alternative standalone headsets, XR Elite and Neo 4 have a much more significant and recognizable body of content than we’ve seen in the past. If more developers recognize the benefit that both they and consumers alike would see from having a more competitive standalone market… perhaps this could be the start of an important sea change in the industry.

The Elephant in the Room

Of course the single biggest elephant in the room has been and will continue to be Apple. It seems that every month we get a new rumor about when the company will enter the market, with the only certainty being that the company is definitely hard at work on something—though no one knows precisely when they will announced it, let alone launch it.

Apple, more than any other company in the world, has the potential to disrupt Meta at its own game by releasing an XR headset with a highly polished user experience… something the social-media-turned-metaverse company (and frankly the VR industry at large) has struggled with.

Make no mistake, Apple’s entrance into the XR space will have wide reaching implications practically overnight—both within the XR space and outside of it.

Look for UX Innovation, Not a Hardware Breakthrough

But nobody should be expecting hardware breakthroughs from Apple. The company is stuck with the same (largely physical) constraints as the rest of the major players in the industry. Whatever device they launch is likely to have similar specs and form-factor to what the latest headsets we see on the market today. More importantly however, Apple is likely to contribute key software design, device interoperability, and overall UX learnings that other companies in XR have consistently struggled with.

While Apple is certainly a threat to the likes of Meta, the company’s entrance into the market is also likely to be a boon for Meta overall; not only will it be a validation of Meta’s early and ambitious bet on the space, but the best XR design concepts revealed from within Apple will be adopted for the betterment of the industry at large. For Meta, Apple’s entrance into the space can’t come soon enough.

Meta Faces the Same Old Struggles

While Quest 2 has been more widely adopted than any other standalone headset, user retention continues to be an issue. Not only due to substandard UX, but also the headset being stuck in an arcade phase where years-old games like Beat Saber, Superhot VR, and Job Simulator continue to be among the most popular games on the platform—seemingly signaling that only a small amount of compelling new content has reached the headset in the years since Quest 2 has launched. Meanwhile, the headset most enthusiastic userbase—core gamers—is underserved, waiting for the sort of large-scale and highly polished content that they expect from the traditional gaming space.

As for Meta’s 2023… outside of the Apple wildcard, the company has confirmed that it’s working on a next-gen consumer headset due out this year, which is very likely to be Quest 3. And while the company has some pretty wild R&D projects in the oven, more likely than not, Quest 3 will adopt core parts of the Quest Pro headset rather than offering some kind of major leap in features or form-factor.

Last But Not Least

As for PC VR, the only thing keeping the platform alive is an enthusiast player base that’s hungry for greater immersion and starved for next-gen VR content. Unfortunately with so much attention focused on standalone VR by platform holders and developers, PC VR in 2023 will be largely stuck with content built for other platforms that happens to spill over.

Between that content, the VR modding scene, smaller-scope projects from enthusiast indie developers, and the occasional release of VR-optional flight or racing sims—PC VR will feel like it’s on life support through 2023.

PC VR is and continues to be the place where users can push immersion to the next level with niche accessories like full-body trackers, racing & cockpit peripherals, haptic vests, and gun stocks. And while some unannounced PC VR headsets may make an appearance in 2023, the drought of next-gen PC VR content means dwindling reasons to upgrade.

– – — – –

What’s your 2023 VR outlook? Let us know in the comments below.

2022 Was a Plateau Year for VR, Here’s What to Expect in 2023 Read More »

PSVR 2 Unlikely to Ever Work on PC, Says Creator Behind PSVR 1 Compatibility Driver

News, PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR 2, ps vr 2, psvr 2, psvr steam compatibility, psvr2 / Mike M. / January 16, 2023

No more ungainly break-out boxes to contend with; thankfully PSVR 2 connects to PlayStation 5 via a single USB-C cable. But if you think you’ll be able to plug in that seemingly standard cable to a VR-ready PC to play Half-Life: Alyx like you might with standalones such as Quest 2, Vive XR Elite or Pico 4, you’ll be sorely disappointed. PSVR 2 won’t work as a PC VR headset, and according to the developer behind unofficial conversion software iVRy Driver, you shouldn’t buy one with the anticipation that it ever will.

Plug in an original PSVR into a computer, and the PC thinks it’s an additional monitor. That was the starting point back in late 2016 for many to begin cobbling together unofficial support for PC VR games. One such go-to staple for PSVR-to-PC conversion is iVRy Driver for SteamVR, an ongoing project created by indie studio Mediator Software.

But what about PSVR 2? In a Reddit thread discussing the topic, Mediator Software says you should save your cash if you want to buy a PSVR 2 specifically for PC VR gaming:

PSVR 2 Unlikely to Ever Work on PC, Says Creator Behind PSVR 1 Compatibility Driver Read More »

RealWear Announces Navigator 520 Assisted Reality Enterprise Headset

AR glasses, assisted reality, featured, News, XR Headsets / Shannon Garcia / January 16, 2023

RealWear’s Navigator series of enterprise “assisted reality” headsets just got bigger. The company recently announced the Navigator 520, an updated version of the series flagship model released just over a year ago.

Improvements Due to New “HyperDisplay”

The RealWear Navigator 500 launched in December of 2021 and it does what it was designed for well. But, in XR, doing something well is seldom used as an excuse not to improve. As a result, you have to look pretty closely to notice the differences between the 500 and the recently announced 520. At least, looking at it from the outside.

Looking at side-by-side product images, you can notice that the Navigator 520 has improved eye relief – that is to say, that the screen is farther from the wearer’s eye. In industry settings, this means that users can see more of their surroundings while still getting what they need on the display. It also improves eye comfort, which is important in a device designed for all-day wear.

RealWear Navigator 500 vs Navigator 520

Of course, RealWear didn’t just move the same display and called it a new product. The company was able to improve eye relief by improving the display itself. The Navigator 520 features the company’s new HyperDisplay technology integrating a larger eye box and a higher-definition screen with brighter colors.

“With the launch of RealWear Navigator 520 we’ve continued to put ourselves in the shoes of a modern frontline professional who wants to stay connected and empowered,” RealWear Chief Product Officer Rama Oruganti said in a release. “This product brings together a year of major improvements and innovations on the RealWear platform.”

Navigator 520

The hardware similarities are a benefit to the Navigator 520, as the modular device is compatible with a number of components and accessories already developed for the Navigator 500, including the voice-operated thermal camera announced by the company in November 2022.

Is Upgrading to the Navigator 520 Worth It?

Whenever an updated version of a standby comes out, there are two natural responses: excitement and skepticism. Is it worth updating to the 520 if you already use the 500? Is the 520 worth the extra money while the 500 is still available for less?

There are demos that simulate the 520’s resolution difference behind the HyperDisplay link above so you can get an idea of the display changes. It’s also worth asking whether your particular use case would benefit from improved eye relief. Are long shifts and situational awareness pain points in your particular situation?

It’s also worth remembering that given the cross-compatibility between the two devices, upgrading from the 500 to the 520 doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to replace any modules, accessories, and mounts that you may already be using.

RealWear Navigator 520 worker

What is the cost difference? The Navigator 500 is $2,500 and the Navigator 520 is $2,700. If you’re looking at getting started with RealWear, the difference may be negligible given all of the improvements of the newer model.

If you already have a fleet of 500s, replacing them all could be rough. However, replacing 500s with 520s as needed might be the way to go given component compatibility. And, after all, one year seems to be becoming the standard XR product cycle these days. RealWear headsets are built to last, but that doesn’t mean that the specs were never going to go out of date.

Options for Improvement

RealWear is keeping up with the trend in XR wearables these days, namely releasing new devices while the previous generation still has a shelf-life. While this can be frustrating when it means replacing whole fleets of units, the Navigator 520 in RealWear’s product structure provides flexibility for users at different stages of device deployment.

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New HoloSuite Feature Enables Users to Seamlessly Blend Volumetric Video Clips

augmented reality, extended reality, featured, metaverse, News, Software, virtual reality / DJ Henderson / January 16, 2023

Arcturus, volumetric video editing and streaming tools provider, has been at the forefront of virtual production, revolutionizing immersive content experiences across a vast range of verticals.

As part of its efforts to bring volumetric video to a wider audience, it prioritizes research and development of new tools that allow creators to fully harness the power of volumetric video. One of its latest releases is an innovative tool that aims to transform virtual production, XR storytelling, and metaverse experiences on HoloSuite.

Blend: Connecting Volumetric Video Clips With Seamless Transitions

Arcturus recently unveiled a new beta tool that further amplifies the capabilities of HoloSuite, its flagship platform for volumetric video. The “Blend” tool, a product of years of research and development by the Arcturus team, gives users a unique way to explore new forms of digital storytelling, build immersive experiences, develop metaverse content, and more.

Arcturus - Beta feature Blend volumetric video

With Blend, users can connect volumetric video clips and blend them seamlessly. Creators can now take live-action clips, use volumetric video characters to populate virtual backgrounds, and build branching narratives with imperceptible transitions between tracks.

With the new tool, creators of metaverse experiences can use people instead of computer-generated avatars in their content. They can insert blended volumetric video clips of live-action 3D performances into digital environments without having to create digidoubles. Blend also allows users to blend and loop multiple recordings of a photorealistic subject.

“Volumetric video isn’t just offering content creators new ways to do old things better; with the right tools, it offers possibilities that simply weren’t there before,” said CEO of Arcturus, Kamal Mistry, in a press release shared with ARPost. “Our new tools will open up a huge range of potential uses across multiple industries, and soon we will begin to see content unlike anything that’s ever been seen before.”

The Arcturus team designed and developed the Blend tool to meet the emerging demands of volumetric video users. While still in beta, all current HoloSuite users have access to the tool and can provide their feedback to help improve its capabilities.

With the beta testing running over the next few months, the team can fine-tune functionalities and ensure compatibility and stability before the tool becomes a standard feature on the platform.

More HoloSuite Updates From Arcturus

The Blend tool is just one of the several updates released for HoloSuite last month. Along with it, Arcturus also released a host of quality-of-life improvements and upgrades that open a wider range of potential uses for HoloSuite across multiple industries.

Unity users can now enjoy improved OMS playback with their HoloSuite plugins. This provides them with better viewing controls for volumetric video files within Unity. Support for upgrades for OMS playback on Unreal Engine 5 is expected to roll out soon.

Game engine users can now also use “Generate Normals” to smoothen noise for better relighting on volumetric subjects. For more dynamic viewing, HoloSuite added new lighting preferences that include adding environmental lighting directly within HoloEdit. The new native 4DS file support also allows users to import data directly from 4DViews.

New feature Arcturus HoloSuite 4DS import

Framing the Future of Video

Arcturus is committed to giving content creators the tools they need to create authentic digital human representations and immersive experiences. To further advance technology in this field, it has announced a new $11 million round of Series A funding in November 2022. The funding, led by CloudTree Ventures with substantial investments from Epic Games and Autodesk, signifies confidence in the vast potential of volumetric video.

The new funding will help Arcturus grow its infrastructure and continue developing the HoloSuite platform. It will help expand research into new tools that further the use of AI in volumetric video production, improve 3D data capture, and enhance live streaming on digital platforms among many others.

Just like the Blend tool, more tools and techniques are bound to revolutionize the way users create and interact with digital content. As it unlocks new possibilities for virtual production through state-of-the-art 3D creation tools, Arcturus is framing the future of video.

New HoloSuite Feature Enables Users to Seamlessly Blend Volumetric Video Clips Read More »

US Congress Halts Orders of Microsoft AR Combat Goggles Amid Reports of Headaches & Eyestrain

AR Headset, AR Industry, AR News, microsoft, News / Mike M. / January 13, 2023

In 2021, Microsoft won a United States Army defense contract worth up to $22 billion which would support the development of an Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS), a tactical AR headset for soldiers based on HoloLens 2. Now Congress has rejected the Army’s request for $400 million to buy as many as 6,900 more of the AR combat goggles this year, a Bloomberg report maintains.

The rejection cites rocky tests conducted last year. Testing was done over a three-week period ending June 18th, where the Army assessed Microsoft’s IVAS with a cadre of 70 Army infantry soldiers, who were tasked with using the device during three 72-hour combat scenarios.

Complaints included “mission-affecting physical impairments,” with more than 80 percent of soldiers experiencing headaches, eyestrain and nausea after less than three hours using the goggles.

None of this comes as a giant surprise though, as Microsoft was reportedly bracing for negative field tests back in early 2022 due to alleged quality problems.

Softening the blow somewhat, lawmakers have earmarked $40 million to develop a new IVAS model, Army spokesman David Patterson said in an email obtained by Bloomberg.

This comes only a few weeks after the Army awarded a $125 million “task order” for the development of a new model, dubbed version 1.2, which is said to include software improvements for better reliability and reduced power demand.

The 1.2 version task order is said to provide “improvements based on completed test events” which aim at a developing a “lower profile Heads-Up Display with distributed counterweight for improved user interface and comfort.”

In the meantime, the Army will be using its first batch of 5,000 goggles for training—only a small fraction of the max 121,000 devices, spares and support services stipulated in the $22 billion deal.

US Congress Halts Orders of Microsoft AR Combat Goggles Amid Reports of Headaches & Eyestrain Read More »

‘Rec Room’ Teams Up with NFL for New Virtual Merch Featuring All 32 Teams

News, nfl, nfl vr, rec room, rec room avatars, rec room footbal, rec room merch, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / DJ Henderson / January 12, 2023

Rec Room announced it’s partnering with the National Football League (NFL) to bring a host of officially licensed virtual merch to the social VR platform.

Kicking off today, Rec Room will feature a new NFL pop-up shop where users can buy NFL-licensed virtual hoodies and hats, which includes all 32 NFL teams.

Although we were hoping for an official NFL football mini-game too, the studio says its’ also launching a photobooth in the platform’s ‘Rec Center’ hub which will also let fans show off their NFL-licensed gear by snapping a few photos for social.

The platform has played host to similar events in the past, with an NBA event last year bringing team jerseys and branded basketballs to the platform. More recently, Rec Room signed a deal with Mattel to release avatar items based on the world of Masters of the Universe.

Rec Room now boasts over 82 million lifetime users, which is in part thanks to the fact that it’s free to download across basically all major platforms, including mobile, PC, console, standalone VR and PC VR.

This, combined with a $3.5 billion valuation thanks to over $294 million in outside funding to date, has undoubtedly allowed the company to expand its selection of first-party mini-games, which include activities such as paintball, offroad racing, co-op dungeons, and more.

Moreover, the studio has since monetized its free-to-play app with the addition of premium paid memberships, which unlocks the ability for users to not only earn in-game currency by creating and selling items, but also convert it into actual cash. The platform’s premium users create things like rooms, gadgets, avatar items, and mini-games—all of it designed to pull in users and get them spending in app’s in-game currency.

‘Rec Room’ Teams Up with NFL for New Virtual Merch Featuring All 32 Teams Read More »

‘Roblox’ Rumored to Launch on Meta Quest in Late 2023

News, Quest 2, quest roblox, roblox, roblox quest, roblox vr, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / DJ Henderson / January 12, 2023

Roblox already supports PC VR headsets in addition to every conceivable traditional platform out there, although a recent report maintains the metaverse powerhouse may land on Quest later this year.

The report arrives from The Verge’s newly released paid newsletter, Command Line, which was created by The Verge’s deputy editor Alex Heath.

In it, Heath reports Roblox may be arriving on Quest in the second half of 2023, however that “plans are subject to change.” Thus far, neither Meta nor Roblox has responded for comment.

This isn’t completely out of left field either. In the company’s Q1 2021 earnings call, Roblox CEO and co-founder Dave Baszucki said its free-to-play game made “perfect sense” for the Quest platform.

Still, creating a native Roblox app for Quest may not be as trivial as it sounds, and that’s despite the fact that the social gaming platform can run on even the humblest of Android devices. Like VRChat or Rec Room, the platform is awash with tons of user-generated content, and making sure that content can run on Quest 2 will require some performance hoops if the app wants to maintain its much famed cross-play functionality.

One thing is fairly certain though, if Roblox is coming to Quest, it probably won’t support Quest 1, as Meta is currently in the process of phasing out the headset for both first-party social functions and security patches.

‘Roblox’ Rumored to Launch on Meta Quest in Late 2023 Read More »

MeetKai Launches New Building Tools

AI, augmented reality, CES, developers, featured, metaverse, News, Software, virtual reality / Mike M. / January 12, 2023

MeetKai has been around since 2018 but some of its first publicly enjoyable content hit the streets a few months ago. Now, the company is releasing a suite of software solutions and developer tools to help the rest of us build the metaverse.

From Innovation to Product

ARPost met MeetKai in July 2022, when the company was launching a limited engagement in Time Square. Since then, the company has been working with the Los Angeles Chargers.

“The purpose of the Time Square activation and campaign was really to test things out in the browser,” CEO and co-founder, James Kaplan, said in a video call. “With 3D spaces, there’s a question of whether the user views it as a game, or as something else.”

MeetKai Metaverse Editor - Los Angeles Chargers — *MeetKai Metaverse Editor – Los Angeles Chargers*

Those insights have informed their subsequent outward-facing work with the Chargers, but the company has also been working on some more behind-the-scenes products that were just released at CES.

“We’re moving from an innovation technology company to a product company,” co-founder and Executive Chairwoman, Weili Dai, said in the call. “Technology innovation is great, but show me the value for the end user. That’s where MeetKai is.”

Build the Metaverse With MeetKai

At CES, MeetKai announced three new product offerings: MeetKai Cloud AI, MeetKai Reality, and MeetKai Metaverse Editor. The first of those offerings is more in line with the company’s history as a conversational AI service provider. The second two offerings are tools for creating digital twins and for building and editing virtual spaces respectively.

“The biggest request that we get from people is that they want to build their own stuff, they don’t just want to see the stuff that we made,” said Kaplan. “So, we’ve been trying to say ‘how do we let people build things?’ even when they’re not engineers or artists.”

Users of the new tools can use them individually to create projects for internal or outward-facing projects. For example, a user could choose to create an exact digital twin of a physical environment with MeetKai Reality or create an entirely new virtual space with MeetKai Editor.

However, some of the most interesting projects come when the tools are used together. One example of this is an agricultural organization with early access to the products that used these two tools together to create a digital twin of real areas on their premises and then used the Editor for simulation and training use cases.

“AI as an Enabling Tool”

The formula for creating usable but robust tools was to combine conventional building tools like scanning and game engines with some help from artificial intelligence. In that way, these products look a lot less like a deviation from the company’s history and look a lot more like what the company has been doing all along.

MeetKai Cloud AI – Avatar sample

“We see AI as an enabling tool. That was our premise from the beginning,” said Kaplan. “If you start a project and then add AI, it’s always going to be worse than if you say, ‘What kinds of AI do we have or what kinds of AI can we build?’ and see what kind of products can follow that.”

So the first hurdle is building the tools and the second hurdle is making the tools usable. Most companies in the space either build tools which remain forever overly complex, or they make tools that work but have limited potential because they were only designed for one specific use or for use within one specific environment.

“The core technology is AI and the capability needs to be presented in the most friendly way, and that’s what we do,” said Weili. “The AI capability, the technology, the innovation has to be leading.”

The company’s approach to software isn’t the only way they stand out. They also have a somewhat conservative approach when it comes to the hardware that they build for.

“I think 2025 is going to be the year that a lot of this hardware is going to start to level up. … Once the hardware is available, you have to let people build from day one,” said Kaplan. “Right now a lot of what’s coming out, even from these big companies, looks really silly because they’re assuming that the hardware isn’t going to improve.”

A More Mature Vision of the Metaverse

This duo has a lot to say about the competition. But, fortunately for the rest of us, it isn’t all bad. As they’ve made their way around CES, they’ve made one more observation that might be a nice closing note for this article. It has to do with how companies are approaching “the M-word.”

“Last CES, we saw a lot of things about the metaverse and I think that this year we’re really excited because a lot of the really bad ideas about the metaverse have collapsed,” said Kaplan. “Now, the focus is what brings value to the user as opposed to what brings value to some opaque idea of a conceptual user.”

Kaplan sees our augmented reality future as like a mountain, but the mountain doesn’t just go straight up. We reach apparent summits only to encounter steep valleys between us and the next summit. Where most companies climb one peak at a time, Kaplan and Weili are trying to plan a road across the whole mountain chain which means designing “in parallel.”

“The moment hardware is ready, we’re going to leapfrog … we prepare MeetKai for the long run,” said Weili. “We have partners working with us. This isn’t just a technology demonstration.”

How MeetKai Climbs the Mountain

This team’s journey along that mountain road might be more apparent than we realize. After all, when we last talked to them and “metaverse” was the word on everyone’s lips, they appeared with a ready-made solution. Now as AI developer tools are the hot thing, here they come with a ready-made solution. Wherever we go next, it’s likely MeetKai will have been there first.

MeetKai Launches New Building Tools Read More »

Meta Sharpens the Axe for Quest 1: First-party Social Ends in March, Security Patches in 2024

meta quest 1, News, Oculus Quest, oculus quest 1, original quest, quest 1, quest 1 games, Standalone VR Headset / DJ Henderson / January 10, 2023

It seems Meta is finally taking the original 2019 Quest behind the shed this year, as the company announced it’s set to deprecate first-party social features on the device, which includes access to Parties and Meta Horizon Home. Meta also announced it won’t be delivering new features beyond critical bug fixes and security patches until 2024.

The company sent out an email to users of the original Quest detailing the upcoming changes. Here’s that email in full:

We launched Quest 1 over four years ago and we are grateful to the Quest 1 community for pushing VR forwards. As we look to the future, we remain committed to supporting the community of Quest 1 users and will continue to support the headset with a few changes:

You will still be able to use your Quest 1 headset and available apps.

We won’t be delivering new features to Quest 1.

We plan to continue maintaining the system software with critical bug fixes and security patches until 2024.

Quest 1 users will no longer be able to create or join a party.

Quest 1 users who currently have access to Meta Horizon Home social features will lose access to these features on 5 March 2023. You won’t be able to invite others to your Home or visit someone else’s Home.

If you have any questions about these changes or about your Quest 1 headset, we encourage you to contact Meta Store support here: https://store.facebook.com/help/support/

Thank you to the entire Quest 1 community for helping us get to where we are today.

Launched in May 2019, the original Quest wasn’t just the company’s first 6DOF standalone headset—it was a valuable new platform that sparked an explosion in content revenue, making it the target platform du jour for VR game developers. Many of the hits of today owe their success to having gained foothold on the original Quest.

Quest (left) comapred to Quest 2 (right) | Photo by Road to VR

A little over one year later, Meta (ex-Facebook) released its successor, Quest 2, which substantively included higher resolution displays (1,440 × 1,600 OLED vs 1,920 × 1,832 LCD) and a higher refresh rate (72 Hz vs up to 120 Hz), both of which were driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2—a significant upgrade over the Quest 1’s Snapdragon 835.

Undoubtedly, Quest 2 has since cemented itself as the go-to home for VR developers looking to maximize profit; two years after its launch, Quest 2 content has managed to generate $1.5 billion in revenue.

Although you’d think social function deprecation and a clear end date to security patches for Quest 1 should come as no real surprise; it’s old and you’d be hard-pressed to find it new in the box anywhere. Still, seven of the top 10 best-rated games on the Quest Store support the original Quest in addition to Quest 2. A majority of them were released after the launch of Quest 2.

Granted, Quest 1 users should only really focus on the security patch death date; even then, the headset will still be able to access all store content in addition to being used as a PC VR headset with Steam.

Meta Sharpens the Axe for Quest 1: First-party Social Ends in March, Security Patches in 2024 Read More »