Magic Leap’s deal
Demystifying the new Magic Leap Augmented Reality glasses
Almost everybody has heard of Magic Leap. They have been building anticipation on their one-of-a-kind Augmented Reality headset for quite a while. But, until this day, nobody really knew what Magic Leap was or what it even looked like.
Today, Magic Leap lifts the veil and showcases the Magic Leap One to the world. This sweet piece of tech promises portability and many other features unheard of for wearable AR glasses.
Let’s demystify these new features in simple terms.
Digital Lightfield — Illuminating digital objects with natural light
Augmented Reality is often unconvincing because the lighting of the digital objects is unnatural. Look at the Snapchat filter below, the flowers spawned onto the snooker table just do not feel right. They look fluorescent. Also, the snooker balls have shadows, but the flowers do not.
Our eyes and brains are very sensitive to this kind of information. The brain actually uses the way reflections and shadows move in our surroundings to balance our bodies. So in order to trick your brain into believing that virtual objects are real, their lighting must match the global one in the room you are standing in.
This is also why real time global illumination feels so convincing in Virtual Reality experiences. See our publication on this subject here -> link.
As for Magic Leap, it promises the capability to seamlessly blend the digital objects it displays with the natural light of the real world.
Computer Vision — Detecting surfaces, walls and objects
For augmented reality to feel right, the digital objects must be anchored in the real world properly. This means that if you show a virtual flower on a snooker table, it is very important that this flower is on the table, and not hovering two centimeters on top of the table.
This problem is particularly striking in Pokémon Go. Looking at the picture below, you may see that the Pokémon really doesn’t feel right. It is hovering at least one meter above ground level on the screen.
Magic Leap promises a new kind of spatial computing that enable the Magic Leap One AR glasses to place the 3D objects accurately in the real life world surrounding you.
Persistent Objects — If I put a cup on a table, it will still be there tomorrow.
Object persistence is very important for immersion. If you put a coffee cup on a table and leave for the day. When you come back home, the coffee cup should still be there. A lot of video games don’t have that. Creating persistent levels is very complex, leaving developers to just remove or reset objects that you have interacted with.
Magic Leap promises to store the precise location of virtual objects in your real life environment. This way digital objects stay where you put them. No odd coffee mug disappearances or displacements.
Soundfield Audio — Spatialised audio
Spatialised audio is very important for immersion. If a virtual sound is emitted from your left, your left ear should hear it first. Your right ear should hear it a few milliseconds later and at a lower volume as it is not aligned with the incoming sound wave (see animation below).
Spatialised sound is something that real-time 3D simulations have had for a long time. Magic Leap promises to also have a good sound spatialisation quality.
Conclusion — Will Magic Leap hold its promises ?
Nothing presented here has been tested. It is all based on what Magic Leap has shared publicly. In other words, this is a list of promises. We don’t know if the brand will honor them yet.
OneBonsai hopes to get a hold on a Magic Leap One AR headset by mid-2018. We will make sure to test the device thoroughly and will start developping for it.
Where can you find us ?
Our website : onebonsai.com
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