003 — Reality Check
A newsletter about the next wave of interaction design for spatial computing.
Augmenting our Digital Selves, Avatars and Beyond
Have you thought about how you might portray or identify your digital self in an immersive 3D world? Social media company Snapchat probably has. They’ve acquired London-based computer vision startup Ariel AI which focuses on the reconstruction and real time simulation of a human body on a mobile device.
Why is this important for AR? Ariel AI’s technology has the ability to render a 3D model of a person in real time, which could potentially be used for clothing try-ons, or becoming an avatar in a game. This is a major signal that Snapchat is taking AR seriously.
As the “Direct to Avatar” (D2A) economy surges, it creates growing opportunities for fashion brands to design new ways for people to express their creativity and distinguish their digital selves, from avatar creation to wearing digital fashion items such as those of XR Couture’s.
VR streaming company LIV has partnered with avatar creation company ReadyPlayerMe to enable VR content creators to stream their avatar inside VR without the use of a green screen.
While some companies focus on augmenting real people others dream up new digital personalities like the Instagram-famous avatar Miquela. Magic Leap founder, Rony Abovitz announces his new entertainment-focused company Sun and Thunder, and introduced a virtual character Jako Vega.
3D Content is King
An increased demand for 3D content, traditionally fuels the need for new creation platforms and tools. The benefits of 3D imaging are clear for a lot of brands who seek to create product imagery cheaply, making photo shoots a thing of the past. Shutterstock’s acquisition of Turbosquid will make it the largest 3D marketplace, evolving from its origins as a 2D image search engine.
Google on the other hand has stopped development of it’s 3D painting VR app, Tilt Brush, and open sourcing it on GitHub. Alternatively, VR creation tool GravitySketch, which is used for immersive storyboarding and designing virtual environments is now free.
Further facilitating AR content creation, Facebook’s Spark AR Studio launches an AR Curriculum to help grow its community of creators. Tutorials are delivered by artists and well-known creators like Ommy Akhigbe and Luke Hurd.
AI-powered 3D modelling platform, Physna, aims to become a search engine for the physical world enabling industrial engineers to find smaller parts of a larger physical structure, and helping teams better manage inventory of 3D models without access to CAD.
A New Kind of Display
When we think of immersive displays we often think of headsets and wearables. A truly immersive experience in the near future might entail a cross between 2D displays and XR devices. Mozilla Hubs which allows you to create and share a private virtual environment with colleagues, family and friends, recently announced it would now support use in Microsoft Edge and Chrome.
Multi-device and cross platform experiences may be a way to help a gradual migration to head-worn displays like much awaited AR glasses. This is especially the case with for the future of work and improving the employee training and remote work experience.
Pick of the Week! ✨
Palaye Royale releases an immersive music video with Jadu, a platform for hologram performances you can participate in and view using AR.
To subscribe to this weekly newsletter simply follow Immersive Design or submit your email address here.
Help others to find my article on Medium by Clapping below.
And follow me on: Twitter, Medium, and LinkedIn.
