Augmented Reality. What is AR?

Many of us have heard or read the phrase Augmented Reality paired with it’s sister Virtual Reality. Unsurprisingly a lot of people are under the false impression that AR stands for Alternate Reality which could easily be misconstrued as a being synonymous with Virtual Reality. The truth is that the two are different, AR – augmenting actual reality, and VR, creating an entire reality virtually. It can be argued that it takes a bit of VR to accomplish AR, but arguments aside the capabilities and the future of the two could be night and day. Analysts predict that in spite of Googles failed to launch “Google Glasses” that AR is going to be the next big thing. After you watch this TED talk by Alex Kipman if you have a creative imagination, it’s easy to see why:

Microsoft’s Alex Kipman talks about the new Hololens

I have recently been experimenting with a form of Augmented Reality accomplished by using a Leap Motion in conjunction with the Oculus Rift and the possibilities of AR are exciting to say the least. There are definite limitations to this specific combination (Leap Motion + Rift) which the Microsoft Hololens has addressed, and I hope to begin development on a Hololens project in the near future. For those of you who would like to try out a demo of the Leap Motion Orion Augmented Reality setup here is the basic demo (Newer Post Orion Leap Motion Visualizer) with a little pizazz added. It’s pretty amazing, see for yourself!

Download Oculus Rift + Leap Motion Orion “Visualizer +” Demo

Controls

• Tab – Remove Arm bones
• Caps – Flame on
• Up Arrow – Toggle Flames to Smokescreen
• Esc – Exit Program

I’ve been talking with the developers at Leap Motion about making a more portable unit and adding mobile support for Cardboard and GearVR. Lowering the weight or distributing it differently and offering additional normal light cameras will significantly improve the AR capabilities of the combination. Combining an improved Leap Motion with a mobile device like GearVR would in essence result in something similar to the Hololens for a fraction of the price. If anyone is interested in funding development of something like this, or developing for the Hololens, feel free to contact me.