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Magic Leap Adds Virtual Reality Head-Tracking and Possibly Hand-Tracking (networkworld.com) 35

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Networkworld: Magic Leap has made progress. A year ago, the MR apparatus wasn't really wearable. This may have been due to the sheer size of the prototype hardware, or the software that adjusts the illusion for head movement and changes in perspective may not have been completed. The complexity of the mathematics of this head-tracking applied to the complexity of the mathematics of Magic Leap's proprietary light-field chip may have required more development time. The Wired report of Kelly's experience indicates the prototype headset he tested is now wearable, perhaps untethered from a high-powered graphics-rendering computer used by the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Kelly's report raises the question: Could Magic Leap have implemented hand-tracking, too? He writes, "When I raise a hand, it approaches and extends a glowing appendage to touch my fingertip."
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Magic Leap Adds Virtual Reality Head-Tracking and Possibly Hand-Tracking

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  • >> it approaches and extends a glowing appendage to touch my fingertip

    Please clarify - WHICH appendage it extended may signal its intent.
  • Encoding. It's hard.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    A bit of a leap to suggest that VR will be the Largest Enterprise ever. If it was available now I would not buy it, no real use. I don't play games and I want to get away from the virtual world more than get into it.

    • A bit of a leap to suggest that VR will be the Largest Enterprise ever. If it was available now I would not buy it, no real use. I don't play games and I want to get away from the virtual world more than get into it.

      VR never took off because as you hint at, there are very few practical uses for the technology. I built VR systems which included motion tracking for DOD work. This included motion tracking systems. There were few applications that could handle the motion tracking, and it's nothing special really. There are few applications that can work with either VR and/or motion tracking. In most applications VR works best as a virtual button where when the tracking object hits a specific point an event gets trigge

    • by q4Fry ( 1322209 )

      A bit of a leap to suggest that VR will be the Largest Enterprise ever. If it was available now I would not buy it, no real use. I don't play games and I want to get away from the virtual world more than get into it.

      I think this [wikipedia.org] is the largest Enterprise so far. We'll have to wait on the formation of Starfleet before we get much bigger.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Isn't this just the Holo-lens, but not working and years out and etc.

    Every time I hear about it, it's all hype an no substance. Maybe I should make my own start up, put up a "hello world" demo and then say "It doesn't actually solve all wars forever while making you pancakes, but with enough investment it could!" Boom, billion dollars!

    • The hololens still operates on the concept of more traditional if transparent displays mounted in glasses/goggles. It's big claim to fame is that they are transparent and have the processing chops to integrate and overlay the display onto objects in your actual environment, like the demo when they build a minecraft world on top of a nearby table. It's still limited by the pixel resolution of the display hardware.

      Magic Leap's system can do similar things from what Ive read, but the key difference is the
      • It's a lightfield display [youtube.com]. It's not so much that they project onto your retina (like single-lens optics do), but that they use a microlens array to project light from multiple angles & focal lengths, allowing your eyes to refocus naturally and eliminating the accommodation-vergence conflict [wired.com] issue. It also helps the virtual image to blend much more naturally into the real world.

        Downsides are decreased resolution (though they seem to have that under control), and greatly increased computation requirements

  • historically one of the earliest widespread uses of a successful new media has always been in disseminating porn; paintings, books, film, video cassettes, cable, bbs, dvd, internet, websites, streaming, torrents, etc etc, it is even true in ancient pottery.
    so one has to ask why VR and AR are not widely used in porn ?
    there has been efforts, but does not seem to have led to widespread adaption by either users or distributors.

    maybe there are inherent factors in VR that preclude it from being successful medi

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Here you are champ, wank away like it's the future!: http://www.pornhub.com/vr [pornhub.com]

    • People are finished long before they could ever get the gear hooked up, synced with software, and overall ready for actual use.

  • Here, track this.

  • by eepok ( 545733 ) on Thursday April 21, 2016 @11:48AM (#51956693) Homepage
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] He did this with a couple Wii-motes and the tracking bar. Totally wearable.

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