Month: May 2021

The biggest win in the race for consumer augmented reality smartglasses to date belongs not to Apple, Facebook, or Google, but Snapchat’s parent company, Snap. In an Apple-style “one more thing” moment during the Snap Partner Summit keynote on Thursday, CEO Evan Spiegel revealed the next generation of Spectacles, which have finally evolved into standalone smartglasses capable of displaying AR content. • Don’t Miss: Next Snap Spectacles Expected to Include AR Displays, Report Says With dual waveguide displays, two RGB cameras, four microphones, and two stereo speakers, the smartglasses weigh… more

The surging activity in augmented reality in both the business and consumer sectors is being matched with a wealth of updates and partnerships from Snap Inc. On Thursday, during the company’s Snap Partner Summit 2021, a wide range of tie-ups and new features were unveiled, with some of the biggest brands on the planet joining the AR fray. • Don’t Miss: Samsung Just Gave Us the First Snapchat AR Smartphone, Sort Of Perhaps the most notable partnership is Snap’s new effort with the Lego company. Although Lego is known for allowing kids of all ages to use plastic building blocks to create art, toys, and even robots, now Lego fans will be able to build Lego constructs together, remotely, via a new feature from Lens Studio called Connected Lens. The new feature is available immediately via Snapchat. Snapchat’s Connected Lens feature Moving forward, the idea of two users collaborating on an AR model remotely via something as widely accessible as Snapchat is groundbreaking. Currently, a…more

Throughout Thursday’s virtual Snap Partner Summit, Snapchat’s parent company made a profound statement: If you use Snapchat, you’re a creator. Of Snapchat’s more than 500 million creators (aka daily active users), about 40% interact with AR daily to capture content. Don’t Miss: How to Use Your Favorite Snapchat AR Lenses on Zoom, Skype, Meet & Other Video Conferencing AppsConsidering AR’s appeal in Snapchat, it’s no surprise that Snap used the event to introduce a veritable plethora of new AR capabilities, headlined by the latest version from its Lens Studio platform for creating AR experiences. Snap Lens Studio 4.0 adds new AR capabilities in 3D Body Mesh and Cloth Simulation. The former improves upon the full-body tracking introduced in Lens Studio 3.4 with volumetric tracking, making AR effects look more realistic, and support for tracking multiple persons within the camera view. The latter enables creators to imitate the physics and look of textiles so that virtual effects can…more

For most mainstream users, LiDAR sensors for precision depth sensing remain the exclusive domain of Apple iPhones and iPads, but Google is helping Android device makers close the depth gap on the software side via its ARCore toolkit. After introducing new AR features for Search and Maps and previewing the mind-blowing Project Starline 3D video conferencing concept during its I/O keynote presentation on Tuesday, Google unceremoniously announced ARCore 1.24, which brings two new AR capabilities, Raw Depth API and Recording and Playback API, with the former enabling more realistic AR experiences… more

Snapchat’s first foray into augmented reality started with the selfie camera and face-tracking technology, with the app’s AR capabilities expanding from there. More recently, Snapchat creators have gained full-body tracking via Lens Studio, which begat virtual costumes such as Iron Man and Darth Vader. Snapchat’s AR superstar dancing hot dog has even joined the full-body costume party. Don’t Miss: Let Your Cat or Dog Join in Your AR Antics with These Pet-Friendly LensesSince then, several developers have come up with some more imaginative uses for full-body tracking. We’ve uncovered three Lenses that are perfect for adding some spice to your social media shared dance routines, if that’s your thing, along with a neat sci-fi-style experience and a fitness challenge. Let’s try them out… Catch Disco FeverIs disco dead? I don’t know, these things are cyclical. Don’t forget swing music had that brief revival in the ’90s. You could get ahead of the curve with the Star Burst, which follows…more

During the Tuesday launch of Google I/O, the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, pulled off a Steve Jobsian “one more thing” move near the end of his keynote address that was simply stunning. It’s called Project Starline, and it’s a (for now) internal project working to make remote video meetings a lot more immersive. • Don’t Miss: Google Adds Sports Athletes to AR Search, Includes Virtual Street Signs in Live View AR in Google Maps The system uses high-resolution cameras, custom-built depth sensors, and what Google describes as a “breakthrough light field display” to deliver what appear to be 3D… more

Since bringing augmented reality features to Search and Maps, Google has made them arguably the most useful augmented reality products in its portfolio. On Tuesday, at Google I/O, Google unveiled some of its new AR capabilities for the pair of mobile apps. Don’t Miss: Google Offers Virtual Photo Booth Web App Ahead of Socially Distanced I/O ConferenceIn Google Search, you can now view AR animations of athletes like soccer hero Megan Rapinoe, tennis star Naomi Osaka, and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. Searching for these athletes now via the Google app for iOS and Android (or via Chrome for Android) will allow you to see them perform their famous feats in your personal space. Google/YouTubeGoogle/YouTubeGoogle/YouTubeMeanwhile, Live View, the walking navigation mode for Google Maps, will gain some helpful enhancements for iOS and Android over the coming months. Perhaps the most exciting of these improvements is the expansion of Live View from a walking navigation tool to an AR x-ray…more

In the great smartglasses race, component makers, such as those that supply the crucial waveguide displays that make visualization of virtual content possible, have a vested interest in pushing the industry forward in order to ship units. On Tuesday, waveguide maker DigiLens unveiled Design v1, a reference design based on its Visualize Framework for smartglasses development, with the aim of helping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), software and content makers, and IoT providers to jumpstart the development of their own augmented reality wearables. Don’t Miss: DigiLens Previews Smartglasses with Its Waveguide Displays in New Video on Design & Manufacturing ApproachDigiLens will ship Design v1 units immediately to a limited set of hardware partners and expects to expand availability by early summer. The DigiLens reference design, which runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 computing platform, includes the company’s Crystal50 waveguide lens, which yields a field of view of 50 degrees…more

Facebook Reality Labs just experienced its first major executive exit since the pandemic began. Hugo Barra has announced that he’s stepping down from his position as vice president of VR at Facebook. Barra’s move comes as a bit of a surprise as Facebook and its Oculus brand have been on a bit of a winning streak with the success of the Oculus Quest 2 (which features passthrough augmented reality features) and increased consumer interest in VR during pandemic lockdowns in 2020. • Don’t Miss: Facebook Searching for More Troops to Work at Oculus on AR Product Design & Marketing Previously… more

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic is showing signs of winding down, nevertheless, Google will still hold its annual I/O developer conference as a virtual affair, with keynotes and sessions available as live streams and on-demand videos starting Tuesday, May 18 and concluding on Thursday, May 20. As a consolation prize, Google has a web-based AR treat for attendees and observers to bring a taste of the conference into their own home offices. Don’t Miss: Hands-On: Here’s How Augmented Reality in Google Search WorksThe Google I/O Photo Booth is a web app that is available for desktop and mobile browsers and adds animated brand mascots and Easter eggs from across Google’s ecosystem, including the Android’s Bugdroid, Chrome’s Offline Dino, Flutter’s Dash, and Firebase’s Sparky, to your camera view. Tommy Palladino/Next Reality Tommy Palladino/Next Reality After adding your virtual friends, you can then take a photo and add more props, including Google products, fashion accessories, snacks,…more