Microsoft HoloLens [Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Holograms]

[Scott_Arm]

It has a forward-facing Kinect-like camera with 120 view in each direction.

Edit:

What kind of screen is it? How are pixels drawn?

 

[Jwm]

I enter a makeshift living room, where wires jut from a hole in the wall where there should be a lightswitch. Tools are strewn on the West Elm sideboard just below it. Kipman hands me a HoloLens prototype and tells me to install the switch. After I put on the headset, an electrician pops up on a screen that floats directly in front of me. With a quick hand gesture I’m able to anchor the screen just to the left of the wires. The electrician is able to see exactly what I’m seeing. He draws a holographic circle around the voltage tester on the sideboard and instructs me to use it to check whether the wires are live. Once we establish that they aren’t, he walks me through the process of installing the switch, coaching me by sketching holographic arrows and diagrams on the wall in front of me. Five minutes later, I flip a switch, and the living room light turns on.

Another scenario lands me on a virtual Mars-scape. Kipman developed it in close collaboration with NASA rocket scientist Jeff Norris, who spent much of the first half of 2014 flying back and forth between Seattle and his Southern California home to help develop the scenario. With a quick upward gesture, I toggle from computer screens that monitor the Curiosity rover’s progress across the planet’s surface to the virtual experience of being on the planet. The ground is a parched, dusty sandstone, and so realistic that as I take a step, my legs begin to quiver. They don’t trust what my eyes are showing them. Behind me, the rover towers seven feet tall, its metal arm reaching out from its body like a tentacle. The sun shines brightly over the rover, creating short black shadows on the ground beneath its legs.

Norris joins me virtually, appearing as a three-dimensional human-shaped golden orb in the Mars-scape. (In reality, he’s in the room next door.) A dotted line extends from his eyes toward what he is looking at. “Check that out,” he says, and I squat down to see a rock shard up close. With an upward right-hand gesture, I bring up a series of controls. I choose the middle of three options, which drops a flag there, theoretically a signal to the rover to collect sediment.

After exploring Mars, I don’t want to remove the headset...

Link - http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-hands-on/

 

[Deleted member 11852]

lol , I dunno the guy said they created a new processor and it was a holographic processor. Wish they announced specs on what it actually is.

It's not 'holography' or a 'hologram' by the accepted definition (a three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams from a laser or other coherent light source) but it's quite possible Microsoft have created a single chip that is part CPU, GPU and Kinect SOC for motion capture. You certainly don't want multiple chips in a wearable device if you can help it.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Link - http://www.wired.com/2015/01/microsoft-hands-on/

Heh, I like this bit...

Right from the start, he makes it clear that Baraboo will make Kinect seem minor league.

That's from the guy that invented Kinect as well as the HoloLens. Baraboo was the codename for HoloLens.

He certainly has high aspirations and grandiose plans. He's thinking that this will replace standard computing at some point in the future.

Regards,
SB

 

[AzBat]

Official site with video from the presentation...

http://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

Official Youtube versions...

Tommy McClain

 

[eastmen]

It's a mixture of augmented reality using holograms and this headset. We're back to Kipman to get a full explanation.
"This afternoon every single person will experience Holograms for themselves in our labs." (media peeps there)
Holographic APIs are enabled in all Windows 10 builds.
No wires, no phone required, no connection to a PC needed.
"HoloLens enables holographical computing natively."

 

[Jwm]

I want to know more on this subject -

To create Project HoloLens’ images, light particles bounce around millions of times in the so-called light engine of the device. Then the photons enter the goggles’ two lenses, where they ricochet between layers of blue, green and red glass before they reach the back of your eye. “When you get the light to be at the exact angle,” Kipman tells me, “that’s where all the magic comes in.”

Does it have pixels in a normal sense, or is it laser maybe? Screw the TV tear down, I want to see the bit that make this thing all gooey inside.

Edit2: I am still mad that we did not see anything about a new Media Center. LOL

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I want to know more on this subject -

Does it have pixels in a normal sense, or is it laser maybe? Screw the TV tear down, I want to see the bit that make this thing all gooey inside.

I'm wondering this myself. There hasn't been mention of pixels or anything of the sort by the few accounts by media personnel that have tried it. I'd imagine that if there was, it'd have been pointed out as it'd somewhat ruin the illusion. Especially the one of the Martian landscape.

Perhaps the few I've read so far have just been oblivious to that because they were so wowed by everything else.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

So this having its own cpu/gpu/hpu using it with the xbox one should reduce or eliminate additional stress

 

[Scott_Arm]

The screen is definitely the most interesting part of the device.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The screen is definitely the most interesting part of the device.

How so? It's likely just a piece of glass onto which the image is projected. Micro-projectors are going to be big in 2015 on and beyond; they've been included even in some mobile phones for a couple of years and it'll be easier to get a clearer image with a specific non-variable target.

 

[Jwm]

So this having its own cpu/gpu/hpu using it with the xbox one should reduce or eliminate additional stress

In all seriousness to the thought of this as a gaming device, I see it more as adding additional sensory information to your environment. But I can't see this thing under $1k right now, so maybe another version is in development for Xbox One. To tie into the illumiroom rumors without using a projector, you still see your TV but it adds extra information around it. The HUD could be around your TV, or the environment expands around your room and walls.

Bah, I don't know how this would work for simulations, I want to be able to look around the (car/plane/ship) and not have reality bleeding through semi-clear lenses.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

How so? It's likely just a piece of glass onto which the image is projected. Micro-projectors are going to be big in 2015 on and beyond; they've been included even in mobiles phones for a couple of years and it'll be easier to get a cleared imagine with a specific non-variable target.

Well, the fact that at least initial indications show it has a higher apparent resolution than anything the oculus rift has to offer. At least by the lack of mention of pixelation or anything along those lines. But then again as I mentioned before it could just be that the people trying it first hand were oblivious to it because of the revolutionary experience they were having.

Regards,
SB

 

[Scott_Arm]

How so? It's likely just a piece of glass onto which the image is projected. Micro-projectors are going to be big in 2015 on and beyond; they've been included even in some mobile phones for a couple of years and it'll be easier to get a clearer image with a specific non-variable target.

What the fuck is a micro projector?

 

[Jwm]

How so? It's likely just a piece of glass onto which the image is projected. Micro-projectors are going to be big in 2015 on and beyond; they've been included even in some mobile phones for a couple of years and it'll be easier to get a clearer image with a specific non-variable target.

Right, but how does the light engine work, it certainly does not sound like a DLP or LCD based pico-projector.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Well, the fact that at least initial indications show it has a higher apparent resolution than anything the oculus rift has to offer. At least by the lack of mention of pixelation or anything along those lines.

Modern projector technology isn't anywhere near as limited by resolution as physical screen technology like LCD - particularly on small targets.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

What the fuck is a micro projector?

A projector that is very small. What did you expect!?! There are small devices, even some phones, with micro-projectors capable of outputting high-res images onto walls or screens. And those have lens which need to project images at a distance, this would not.

 

[Jwm]

Well, the fact that at least initial indications show it has a higher apparent resolution than anything the oculus rift has to offer. At least by the lack of mention of pixelation or anything along those lines. But then again as I mentioned before it could just be that the people trying it first hand were oblivious to it because of the revolutionary experience they were having.

Regards,
SB

It was really hard to notice any aliasing or apparent pixels with the special rig they were using to let us see what the presenter was seeing.

So devs can get access maybe this spring, I look forward to seeing what those requirements will be. I want to take this thing apart!

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Right, but how does the light engine work, it certainly does not sound like a DLP or LCD based pico-projector.

There are lots an unanswered questions about the specific implementation but the demonstration does not leave me stumped as to how they are doing it because there are lots of existing technologies that could be modified. If they had shown an actual real holographic, without the need for a "lens" onto which to project an image, that would have surprised me.

I think the last piece of consumer electronics that left was stumped was the initial reveal of the MacBook Air but then we hadn't seen fully flushed machines casings like that and we have no idea that Intel has designed specific ULV processors for Apple. That was like.. WHAT? HOW? FUCK.

 

[Scott_Arm]

A projector that is very small. What did you expect!?! There are small devices, even some phones, with micro-projectors capable of outputting high-res images onto walls or screens. And those have lens which need to project images at a distance, this would not.

I'm looking at pictures of the headset and I don't see where it would be located. I'd assume it would have to be somewhere near the bridge of the nose, but there's nothing in the pictures.