Re: inside out tracking - have you seen Bridge? It's a mobile, spatially aware headset for IOS. It uses an onboard Structure Sensor to power positionally tracked VR + high end MR. All on an iphone (no remote processing), and < $400 :)
We've been working on it in secret for a couple of years, and just launched it in December.
What did you find wrong with the Hololens tracking? I use it a couple times a week and have been super impressed with it so far. Seems to very solidly lock on locations, and I can walk to the far end of the office and my content is still right where I left it. You can use is in huge unbound areas and it doesn't mind at all.
The Hololens still has a lot of issues, the FOV's crappy, hand tracking needs a lot of work, occlusion isn't great, etc. but tracking is one place that they're top of the game.
Their current gen glasses do not do any AR - but they've been acquiring / hiring very aggressively in space for a couple of years now. It's pretty transparent what their long term goal is with their glasses.
I think it's actually a really smart approach. MS spent ~2 billion and multiple years of R+D to get the Hololens built. Snapchat's coming at it from another angle, start simple and build up with each successive generation. The fact that they already have people clamoring for something this basic is telling...
None of the controlled objects in VR responded to any of the positional movement. You can see that the wand / pole is just rotating around a center-point attached to the user.
Positional tracking is a really challenging problem with a lot of limitations. If they were using computer vision to track the controller it would need to be held within the device's FOV and have identifiable elements such as a marker or LEDs. There are other approaches, but nothing I've seen that would work well on an HMD.
I've been working with AR/VR for the better part of a decade, and controller tracking's come up several times. I can tell from my own work that the device they're showing off is IMU only. It's too bad, something equivalent to the Vive controllers for mobile VR would be fantastic.
And at the end of the day - you're right. If it was spatially tracked then they definitely would have mentioned it.
We’re looking for a full-stack Unreal Editor 4 developer to join us in downtown SF on a ground breaking new venture building immersive Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality experiences with new hardware.
This is a full-time on-site role in an accelerator/incubator startup funded by of one of the worlds largest technology companies. We’re a small group of programmers, artists and hardware designers. Attention to detail, strong communication skills, an ability to do design and implementation from end-to-end are critical.
We’re looking for a full-stack Unreal Editor 4 developer to join us in downtown SF on a ground breaking new venture building immersive Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality experiences with new hardware.
This is a full-time on-site role in an accelerator/incubator startup funded by of one of the worlds largest technology companies. We’re a small group of programmers, artists and hardware designers. Attention to detail, strong communication skills, an ability to do design and implementation from end-to-end are critical.
This was a long time coming. It definitely shakes up the AR space. They were one of the only real independent players in the industry.
It's a good play by apple too. It almost brings them up to speed with the other major players. MS has the Hololens team, google's got Tango, Oculus has been snapping up computer vision companies left and right. Up until now Apple didn't have anything in the AR space.
This was a long time coming. It definitely shakes up the AR space. They were one of the only real independent players in the industry.
It's a good play by apple too. It almost brings them up to speed with the other major players. MS has the Hololens team, google's got Tango, Oculus has been snapping up computer vision companies left and right.
We’re looking for a full-stack Unreal Editor 4 developer to join us in downtown SF on a ground breaking new venture building immersive Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality experiences with new hardware.
This is a full-time on-site role in an accelerator/incubator startup funded by of one of the worlds largest technology companies. We’re a small group of programmers, artists and hardware designers. Attention to detail, strong communication skills, an ability to do design and implementation from end-to-end are critical.
Core requirements:
- Extensive experience building games in Unreal Engine
- Knowledge of blueprints customization
- The ability to script VFX animations in UE4
- Strong C++ / C# skills with the ability to code and architect gameplay mechanics
- Experience building complex technical products
- Comfortable with version control
- Good background in 3D and applied mathematics
-Direct experience using VR/AR devices such Oculus Rift, Razer Hydra, Leap Motion etc is a plus
We've been working on it in secret for a couple of years, and just launched it in December.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iys8yo0sjYg