Mixed reality developers, meet your Build MC

If you are not attending Microsoft Build 2018 in person, you’ll be able to attend virtually by joining the free digital gathering — Microsoft Build Live — where you can check out live keynotes and select sessions, watch on-demand sessions, interact with other developers and Microsoft experts, and create and share your custom playlists and favorites.

What’s more, this year’s Build Live offering will feature five top developers from the Windows Developer community, each known as a Build MC. Their time on the ground at Microsoft Build will result in tailored online experiences of the conference for developers around the world who can’t attend themselves.

Read on to learn more about Lucas Rizzotto, Build MC, Mixed Reality.

Changing lives with mixed reality

“I daydream a lot,” says Lucas, “I just think it adds a bit more texture to life when you’re always creating and always being playful.”

The award-winning mixed reality (MR) developer, composer, and writer is the creator of Where Thoughts Go, a pioneering social platform built with Unity and the Windows Mixed Reality Toolkit.

The latest version of his work, Where Thoughts Go: Prologue, recently wowed audiences at The Tribeca Film Festival and is available in the Microsoft Store. It transports users into an ethereal, emotionally-rich environment designed to encourage humans to be a little bit kinder to each other.

“With mixed reality headsets like HoloLens, developers can change what someone’s reality looks like, provide impossible experiences and affect the way people communicate in a really meaningful way.

Mixed reality really is the next computing platform,” Lucas explains. “It’s basically the closest thing we have to a brain-computer interface.”

Lucas’ development journey began when he taught himself to code in his senior year of college. “I have a background that’s less technical and more creative,” he says. “Be it developing software, making music, or writing stories, I’m always playing around with my imagination. I may not be a developer 100% of the time, but I am a relentless creative.”

As a dreamer, his primary goal is to use the technology to positively influence the world — rather than zero in on its commercial applications at this time. “The future of MR,” he says, “will be defined by small and medium-sized teams who want to innovate and do things that are really out there.”

Even mistakes can sometimes lead to successes. “I’ll ask a fellow developer, ‘How did you come up with that?’ and he’ll be like, ‘Oh it was an accident!’ For me, innovation comes from playfulness, taking risks, and a willingness to explore.”

That’s not to say “building magic” — as he puts it — isn’t frustrating at times. “Balancing my dreams with the capabilities of the ecosystem is a constant challenge,” he says. But it’s a small price to pay for a unique medium that, he feels, has the potential to disrupt on the scale of social networking.

Heading to Seattle as a Build MC

“What really fascinates me at the moment are the new markets that will arise from MR,” Lucas says, “What are the products that we have no conception of today, but will play a major role in our future lives and take people to new places? Not only physically, but also mentally.”

It’s one of many questions he’s hoping to explore at Microsoft Build.

Last year, Lucas won the Windows Developer Award for MyLab, a ground-breaking MR education tool designed to help students learn chemistry. This year, he’s making his debut as a Build MC, charged with helping online Build Live attendees immerse themselves in the MR universe and experience.

“Throughout Build we’re going to be talking about what that future of MR looks like and how to use it in the present with the tools that we have. I’m also really excited to discover the future of HoloLens and see what announcements the Microsoft team has for the platform, because it’s something I’m really invested in.”

Creative challenges aside, he’s looking forward to, “the opportunity to discuss a bunch of really wild ideas,” and catch up with a ton of long-distance Twitter friends.

Microsoft Build’s core appeal, he says, is that it’s, “just a fantastic way to connect with the whole MR community and help them move their projects forward.” With that in mind, what kind of advice would he give developers wanting to get started on a MR application?

“Create small projects that you can finish. In the MR environment the possibilities are endless, so it’s important to focus on something you can actually complete. Most of the time, the things you create won’t match the size of your ambitions, but that’s ok.”

Growing as a developer

Finish small projects, he says, and you’ll, “learn a lot of meaningful things and be able to take that valuable learning from one project to the next. That way, your growth as a developer will grow in line with your ideas and your ability.”

“Don’t stop dreaming big, just control your imagination a little bit!”

Over the next couple of years, Lucas plans to organize his life around key advances in MR in order to help to realize its full potential. He feels we are just at the start of a revolutionary leap from 2D to 3D computing that will “redefine how we engage with one another.”

“With the tools that the open-source community is developing alongside Microsoft, the distance between having an idea and creating it is getting shorter every year.”

RSVP to Microsoft Build Live here. Then, to follow Lucas online and focus on MR during the event, go here.