#cast ar

[dax2347-blog]

In case Augmented Reality Thrills You ..as much as it do to me.

[lyktadev]

New interesting takes on VR and AR glasses

VR and AR really seem to be the zeitgeist now, which is very exciting! Not only that, but some are using projectors too. Most are probably already aware of the Oculus Rift VR glasses and Google Glass AR glasses, but here are two other interesting takes on it which I stumbled upon this week.

Image courtesy of Techbeat

Cast AR

This was an internal AR project at Valve, which the creators were allowed to take with them once they left the company. Valve has had a number of debates on VR vs AR, and apparently they are taking the VR route for the time being.

Regardless of company policies, the Cast AR is a set of passive 3D glasses, the kind you wear when seeing 3D movies in the cinema, coupled with a pair of pico projectors and a IR camera. The projectors project from the glasses onto a reflective screen, and the IR camera reads IR markers on the screen to determine its orientation for correct projection. This way, projected images (in 3D!) can be blended with the real world. The idea seems really cool, but it does seem to require more extra equipment, such as the screen, than other solutions. Much like Lykta, projecting the image instead of containing it inside the glasses makes it possible to share the experience with others.

The meta

One such solution is the meta, currently on Kickstarter. This uses see-through AR glasses, similar to google class but covering both eyes (for 3D), together with a depth camera similar to Kinect mounted on the glasses. They promise both hand tracking and environment tracking, making it possible to overlay the real environment as seen through the glasses with digital content, and controller it with gestures.

I am however somewhat skeptical of the prototype they've shown so far, as they are using the same model of Epson glasses that me and a couple of others were attempting to use during the Nordic Game Jam. While they offer a pretty good image quality, the field of view is only 23 degrees (as opposed to e.g. the Oculus Rift's 90 degrees). This gives a very small windows to overlay with digital content. They are publishing this information up front, I just hope the backers are aware of this limitation to avoid even more disappointment with these emergent technologies. Negative press and undelivered promises are not what this fledgling field needs! We had enough of that in the 90s.