3D printers have been surging in popularity for both professional and personal applications, and now OLO is on the verge of making 3D printing practical wherever you go. Their eponymous 3D printer is battery-powered and uses the light from your smartphone's screen to create 3D ...more
Here at Next Reality, our typical approach to all things augmented reality involves vision combined with remote control, either via a handheld device, gaze control, or hand/finger tracking. But a new dynamic takes the notion of interaction with virtual content into a new real ...more
Today, Microsoft announced its Windows 10 Creators Update, adding the ability to scan objects in your world and bring them into the computer. With newly-announced inexpensive VR headsets and the HoloLens, you can enjoy those transplanted 3D objects in mixed and virtual reality ...more
Creativity is one of our most unique features. We can dream up gods and demons and give them form through drawing. We can even take a two-dimensional surface and bring our ideas to life in three dimensions. It only takes a little training for our giant imaginations to blossom ...more
After building a tech empire on revenues from search advertising, Google is not about to sit back and let Snapchat, Facebook, 8th Wall, and others draw all the AR marketing attention to their platforms. This week, at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (basi ...more
As part of its ARCore push this week, Google has promoted Just a Line from one-time AR experiment to a full-fledged app. Available now in the Play Store, the dead-simple augmented reality drawing app makes the old Microsoft Paint app look like Adobe Illustrator. After the ap ...more
The world of gaming has never been cooler thanks to Apple's ARKit. From AR arcade games to giant god battles to Pac-Man, we've seen our fair share of awesome and innovative games. Now, ARKit developer NK has created a location based gaming platform that molds aspects of the g ...more
When figuring out how to arrange your furniture in a new room, you traditionally have to measure everything and use your imagination. HoloPlanner has a better idea: just place holographic furniture in the room so the Microsoft HoloLens can imagine it for you. Video: . Don't Mi ...more
There are plenty of tank robots out there, but how many of them can recognize 3D objects and map their environment? Tanky, the tracked mobile robot, can do all that and more while rolling around on his bicycle chain treads. Created as a Master's thesis project, Tanky is made a ...more
3D modeling can be a long drawn out process. If you are a developer or programmer without 3D modeling experience, this process can be daunting, to say the least. This often leaves developers hunting sites like TurboSquid or the Unity Asset Store for free temporary models at th ...more
At IFA in Berlin today, Sony introduced the latest models of the Xperia line, with new features in tow that should appeal to creators of augmented and virtual reality content. The Xperia XZ1 and XZ1 Compact both carry the Motion-Eye camera that can capture video at 960 frames ...more
Today, anyone with a compatible PC can download the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and experience Windows Mixed Reality. Also arriving today are Windows Mixed Reality headsets from Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, which are all available through Microsoft Stores. Best Buy also se ...more
Snap Inc. is no stranger to augmented reality. In fact, AR has been the Snapchat app's most popular feature, as face filters continue to update and change the way we communicate with each other. But in a new move, Snap Inc. is showing its commitment to improving AR and its rea ...more
With developers chomping at the bit to play with ARKit 2.0, Unity has updated its ARKit plugin to enable access to the new augmented reality superpowers of the toolkit. The updated plugin is available now for developers via Bitbucket. "Apple announced exciting news for AR de ...more
Some of the oldest art on Earth was created 36,000 years ago on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in France. However, these days, physical access to the cave is restricted in order to preserve the site. Thanks to augmented reality, the cave is now virtually open to the public onc ...more
Augmented reality seems to come into its own in museums, where audiences are ready and willing to try out new immersive tech. Now, that tech-powered palette is about to get a little larger. On Wednesday, the Knight Foundation announced grants that will allow five museums nati ...more
Occipital's initial augmented reality module, the Structure Sensor, gave iPhones and iPads the depth-sensing abilities of the HoloLens. Now, the company's latest product promises to do the same for Android devices, as well as augmented reality and virtual reality headsets and ...more
The landscape for mobile augmented reality apps is still mostly filled with utility and gaming apps, but a new entrant into the space is looking to pull children into the mix. A just-released iOS app called Bookful takes classic children's stories usually found in large-sized ...more
In the wake of the smoke from the meticulously orchestrated launch of Magic Leap One, the company has revealed what "leapers" can expect to experience via Lumin OS when their devices arrive between now and the end of the year. Among the core applications of the Lumin OS are t ...more
If you're an Android user, you're very likely jealous of your iPhone friends who have access to the wide, wonderful world of augmented reality thanks to ARKit. But while ARCore is still in developer preview and AR Stickers remain an exclusive feature of Pixel smartphones, the ...more
Unsurprisingly, Google wants to be the caretaker for augmented reality on the web, and its latest move in this endeavor is a 3D model viewer prototype called Article that's designed to work across all web browsers. On traditional desktop PCs and mobile browsers, Article can e ...more
In the world of analog synthesizers, hitting a key, twisting a knob, or sliding a fader makes a beautiful musical (or not so musical) sound and can be an amazing and downright satisfying experience. Now it's about to get even more satisfying, if you add Microsoft's HoloLens in ...more
Amazon Web Services (AWS) opened its re:INVENT developers expo with a bang by launching Amazon Sumerian, a new tool that could become the dominant platform for building cross-platform augmented and virtual reality applications. Available now as a preview, Amazon Sumerian is a ...more
Tricking your eyes into seeing 3D images isn't all that hard in movies or even in virtual reality, but when you start projecting holograms into the physical world, you run into some difficult problems. Microsoft obviously figured them out with their HoloLens, but how? The proc ...more
Years ago, in 2013, Occipital introduced its original Structure Sensor for iOS, a mobile 3D scanning device for measuring three-dimensional objects. Soon after, in an unrelated deal, Apple acquired PrimeSense, the company that made one of the components for Occipital's scannin ...more
Nearly a year to the day after the unveiling Magic Leap One, Magic Leap has dropped another update to the Lumin OS that runs the device. Lumin OS version 0.94 is available now as an over-the-air update or via download on the Creator Portal for Magic Leap One users. The bulk ...more
3D modeling is usually a very long and complicated process. Manipulating the thousands to millions of vertices, faces, and triangles to the correct shape you want is just the first part of the process, and can take a good while depending on the level of detail needed. From th ...more
Stop me if you've heard this one before: scan an image with your iPhone's camera and augmented reality content shows up. This idea probably has you thinking about Snapchat and its Snapcodes. Or maybe you're thinking of Blippar, Zappar, or countless other marker-based AR exper ...more
Thanks to improvements in technology, AR has become more prominent on our phones. With all the power of the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, Samsung decided to add some pretty nifty AR features. One of these is the new AR Doodle mode, a feature that will make your videos pop. AR ...more
After opening up its Spark AR platform on Instagram for all creators, Facebook is already expanding the platform's capabilities on its Snapchat killer. On Monday, the company released version 76 of Spark AR Studio, which brings support for two new AR effect options for develo ...more
In this week of Snapchat lenses, there was a significant increase in ones that involve Marvel superheroes (the Infinity War effect), as well as ones with YouTubers. Classic sitcoms will also always do well, as evidenced by some of my previous roundups. Overall, lenses are doin ...more
With a new installment of the Saw horror series opening in theaters nationwide this weekend, Lionsgate is betting its ad dollars on immersive advertising to sell tickets. Using Vertebrae's recently-launched AR mobile web ad platform, the ads for Jigsaw will be served as displ ...more
The next big iOS version for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch was revealed by Apple at WWDC 2018 and dropped for everyone on Sept. 17, 2018, less than a week after Apple revealed the new iPhone lineup. We've rounded up all the big picture items and secret features and changes we c ...more
In the lead up to the Magic Leap One launch, Magic Leap has been coy about what the actual field of view (FoV) is for its first commercial product. Now, a developer noticed that the client-side source code of the FoV documentation (published last month as a placeholder with t ...more
Google Poly, a repository of 3D objects for use in AR and VR experiences, is the latest Google offering to fall victim to the company's habit of axing products and services, regardless of popularity. Sensing an opportunity, competing 3D content marketplace Sketchfab has swoop ...more
When I first found out about Nreal, back in the spring of 2018, the most interesting thing about the company's story was the founder's background. Chi Xu, the CEO and founder of Nreal, previously worked at Magic Leap as a software engineer. Earlier this year, when I met Xu a ...more
Thanks to Apple's ARKit 2.0 augmented reality framework in iOS 12, we now have a "Measure" app built right into our iPhones that can measure real-world objects. No more physical tape measure or ruler. No more guessing. Just whip out your iPhone, open the app, put your camera, ...more
The release of Unity 5.6 brought with it several great enhancements. One of those enhancements is the new Video Player component. This addition allows for adding videos to your scenes quickly and with plenty of flexibility. Whether you are looking to simply add a video to a pl ...more
Minecraft is unique among computer games in that some users have created such breathtaking works of beauty and ingenuity that it challenges the very idea that Minecraft is even a game at all, but suggests that it is instead a tool for artistic expression much like Photoshop. ...more
Have you been noticing SpaceX and its launches lately? Ever imagined how it would feel to launch your own rocket into the sky? Well, imagine no longer! In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make a simple augmented reality app for iPads and iPhones by using ARKit. Specifically ...more
Magic Leap has done a great job of aggressively releasing new apps, software updates, and major franchise tie-ins. But aside from all the creative and entertainment apps, what's it like to use one of the apps the company hopes you'll use every day? One of those apps is the CN ...more
With the release of Object Capture this fall, Apple is giving everyone with a Mac and a camera the means to create their own 3D objects. But what about volumetric video, which currently requires multi-camera rigs like those at Microsoft's Mixed Reality Capture studios? One de ...more
In recent years, many software publishers have tried to sell the business community on remote meetings via VR, but if social media chatter is any indication, it hasn't taken off in a big way just yet. However, for some, the notion of holding remote meetings using augmented rea ...more
The augmented reality industry made great strides in 2017, but its apex is not even in sight. In terms of software, augmented reality is approaching meaningful mainstream awareness, thanks mostly to Apple and ARKit. Meanwhile, on the hardware side, AR is very much in its infa ...more
In the previous section of this series on dynamic user interfaces for HoloLens, we learned about delegates and events. At the same time we used those delegates and events to not only attach our menu system to the users gaze, but also to enable and disable the menu based on cer ...more
Ever notice how some augmented reality apps can pin specific 3D objects on the ground? Many AR games and apps can accurately plant various 3D characters and objects on the ground in such a way that, when we look down upon them, the objects appear to be entirely pinned to the g ...more
Why do you need augmented reality? Because enterprise, they say. And while that's certainly true for several disciplines, there's still that mainstream use case hanging out there waiting for users to discover beyond the realm of enterprise and gaming. After much thought — and ...more
In the last couple of days there's been a lot of speculation about the powers of Microsoft's HoloLens 2, but few have had a chance to get their hands on one to see if the company's claims live up to what HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman showed off on stage. Nevertheless, amid th ...more
In this jam-packed October, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has flown under the radar in the US. Due to Huawei's lack of presence in the States, many are unfamiliar with the second largest OEM in the world. Huawei has continuously put out amazing mobile devices, and this year they rele ...more
While Snap may eventually compete with Apple and Samsung in selling smartglasses to consumers, today it is helping them achieve their business objectives via augmented reality. That's not all that's new with Snap. the company has also brokered a major content deal with Univer ...more
The augmented reality industry has grown steadily over the past four years, but now it is on a collision course with uber-popular non-fungible tokens technology, with Looking Glass and music artist Reggie Watts among the latest to strike while the iron is hot. Meanwhile, Sket ...more
Creating a good 3D model in 3D Studio MAX is hard enough. Now I've got to model clothes onto them too? Why can't all 3D game characters be naked? Once you've resolved that debate in your head, watch this video. It will show you how to use the Reactor cloth system within 3DS M ...more
Need a little help with your Autodesk Maya 8.5? Are those 3D animated objects frustrating you? Is 3D modeling just a huge headache for you? Well, this video Maya tutorial might help a bit. You need to know what to constrain and what not to constrain. So, you'll learn here how ...more
Looking to jazz up your Photoshop creations? Learn how to create 3D wrapping light streaks in Photoshop with help from this video. By starting with a simple 3D object created in Photoshop, "wrap" the object with light, specifically these light zips or bands to create this effe ...more
When it comes to Photoshop, if you can imagine it then you can make it. Of course, more complex objects (and more realistic objects) take longer to complete, but the results are totally worth it. Just check out this lifelike coin, for instance. This Photoshop tutorial will tea ...more
Want to know how to create 3D polygonal objects when working in Maya 2011? This clip will show you how it's done. Whether you're new to Autodesk's popular modeling software or a seasoned 3D artist just looking to better acquaint yourself with the Maya 2011 workflow, you're sur ...more
Creating good UVs with Maya can be tough, and get tougher depending on what type of object you are trying to unwrap. This short video tutorial covers how to create accurate UVs for long objects like rope or, in this case, shoelaces. This is a simple technique, but one that sho ...more
Link constraints are a simple and useful part of the toolset available to you in 3D Studio Max. They allow you to attach one object to another so that when one moves, it will only move in relation to some parameters governing its position relative to the other object. This vid ...more
Learn how to interlace custom shapes in Adobe Illustrator CS4, an effect that's especially attractive when working with 3d perspective objects and shapes. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular vector graphics editor program or a seasoned graphic arts professional looking to be ...more
Creating wires, cords, and other rope-like objects in 3D Studio MAX can be tough, as they are oddly proportioned and often oddly positioned. This two-part video will show you how to model such objects in 3DS MAX. Now you can model yourself sitting at the computer modeling with ...more