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Saturday, June 10, 2017

Microsoft Hololens by Karthik Sankar

Microsoft Hololens by Karthik Sankar

            Hololens isn’t a new thing. It was announced a few years back… And you still can’t buy one. There is currently a $3000 developer edition if you are really excited and want to check it out. Unfortunately, there is no consumer mass market version yet.

You may be wondering: Just what is Hololens?

Well here is what you need to know:
  • VR? AR? VR stands for Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality is when the user in immersed into a completely new world. This is extremely popular for Gaming. Usually, VR programs and games try to get you to forget about the real world and become completely immersed in the virtual world. AR stands for Augmented Reality. This is when you are still aware of your surrounding but get digital overlays over what you see. This can be accomplished by using a  camera or projecting an image on glass. This is usually used when the user wants some additional information about their environment. For example, Google Lens, an AR app announced by Google recently will let you put your phone in front of a Store and it will identify which store you are looking at and overlay that in the form of a card floating over the store. The Hololens is an AR device. It consists of a glass visor that stays in front of your eyes.
  • Virtual Objects. What makes Hololens different is that instead of simply identifying objects it can create location-based artificial objects. For example, You could want a huge flat screen TV in your living room. With a few waves of the hand, you could have one on your Hololens. It would act like a TV with all the functionally. If you move your head it will move away. More importantly, it will only be visible if you are in that room. This means you can leave the room and you won’t see the TV anymore but your TV will stay in that room as if it was a real object.
  • 3D modeling. I think it’s undeniable how amazing 3D printing is. It’s something everyone would like to be able to do but something that has a learning curve. This is partially caused by the fact that when you model in 3D you are still looking at a 2D screen. In addition, You don’t have a scale of what it will look like in real life. Hololens lets you mold your model to perfection in 3D space. You can walk around it, look at different viewing angles and judge its size. Not only that but you can use your hands to sculpt it. A tool almost everyone is accustomed to using.

I think it’s clear Hololens is an amazing product. Let's hope a commercial version comes out soon.



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