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> Abovitz describes the Magic Leap tech as unlike anything you can get today. > With virtual reality, you're basically strapping two screens to your head. >

> Abovitz describes the Magic Leap tech as unlike anything you can get today. > With virtual reality, you're basically strapping two screens to your head. > Magic Leap is something else entirely. I find this intriguing. Oculus and Hololens are a bit of a nonsense to me as I can't imagine a scenario in which I'd want to strap tech to my face in that way. Even if it was shrunk to Google Glass size, I think the general reaction to that shows that it might struggle to gain traction. Can anyone think of a different form factor that might offer an alternative?

tmikaeld 11y ago
The patented technology that Magic Leap is using is optical, it projects the image directly onto your eye. So it will basically just be as small as an optic fiber directed at your eye. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UF9fJtZHAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UF9fJtZHAY The US patent that use that technology shows that Magic Leap inverted the "camera" to do the opposite. Source: https://www.google.com/patents/US20140003762 https://www.google.com/patents/US20140003762 My guess is that they will use it in both ways, as a camera to see the world through "your" eyes and the projector to place the objects correctly in your field of view. The demo video shown here focuses the "eyes/camera" on the objects and they respond correctly by going out of focus - this means it has to know how the eyes behave.
- monk_e_boy 11y ago
  How do you think the system deals with your eyes moving around? So if you move your head left and swivel your eyes right and focus in close... I don't think I'm understanding how all that works together? They are detecting all movements - head, eyes, lens focus?
  - tmikaeld 11y ago
    Eye tracking have been around for quite a while and it seems that even normal cameras can track the eyes and eye focus (Tobii being world leader). If they use the technology mentioned here, it would be very high resolution (4K mentioned in the demo video) at a short distance (mm's) at full focus. But - just as you say, no one yet knows how Magic Leap reads the environment to do proper mapping and focusing on an object in real life (rather than on a screen like some VR headset do) should be very unpredictable.
- 4684499 11y ago
  Hi, do you think your theory could explain this video? http://www.magicleap.com/video/magic-leap-video-3-hd.mp4 http://www.magicleap.com/video/magic-leap-video-3-hd.mp4
inthewoods 11y ago
Depends on use case - I view Oculus and Hololens as useful in more specialized situations (gaming, etc). Sounds like the folks at Magic Leap are thinking this is more of a mass market device ala Google Glass. In which case, I think the form factor is going to be critical. To get people to put something weird on their face/head, you'll need to provide an amazing, compelling experience. If they were able to make it into something that was less obvious, then people would probably be more tolerant of less functionality.
- soylentcola 11y ago
  Still, with the caveat that I'm a total sucker for this stuff, if only from a technical or "gee whiz" angle, I think once you get something that functions properly, hardware and processes can improve pretty rapidly to address ergonomics. I know the mobile tech analogy is overdone but when you compare an early laptop to the laptops, tablets, and smartphones of today you see a steady increase in capability in increasingly smaller and lighter form factors. I understand that something you wear is even more sensitive to this than something you carry and there are issues of physics that aren't as relevant when you're still just looking at a flat illuminated display. Still, the power you could pack into something the size of a deck of cards or a thumb drive 10-15 years ago was peanuts compared to what you can buy for $50 or $500 today. Sure, you could design and build a computer with the power of a Nexus 5 back in 1995 or 2000. It just had to be in a big box on your desk and cost a grand or two instead of $400. Even these early Hololens or Magic Leap or Oculus demos make me smile because those goggles and things strapped to your face could very well become a lot more powerful and slimmed down in 10-15 years. Honestly I think power and heat will remain the biggest issues with this stuff. Even if you managed to build a device into a form factor that looked like a pair of Ray Bans, where would the battery fit and how hot would it get (especially as they attempt to make the devices more self-contained and less like standard peripherals for more powerful computing devices)?

tmikaeld 11y ago

The patented technology that Magic Leap is using is optical, it projects the image directly onto your eye. So it will basically just be as small as an optic fiber directed at your eye. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UF9fJtZHAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UF9fJtZHAY The US patent that use that technology shows that Magic Leap inverted the "camera" to do the opposite. Source: https://www.google.com/patents/US20140003762 https://www.google.com/patents/US20140003762 My guess is that they will use it in both ways, as a camera to see the world through "your" eyes and the projector to place the objects correctly in your field of view. The demo video shown here focuses the "eyes/camera" on the objects and they respond correctly by going out of focus - this means it has to know how the eyes behave.

monk_e_boy 11y ago
How do you think the system deals with your eyes moving around? So if you move your head left and swivel your eyes right and focus in close... I don't think I'm understanding how all that works together? They are detecting all movements - head, eyes, lens focus?
- tmikaeld 11y ago
  Eye tracking have been around for quite a while and it seems that even normal cameras can track the eyes and eye focus (Tobii being world leader). If they use the technology mentioned here, it would be very high resolution (4K mentioned in the demo video) at a short distance (mm's) at full focus. But - just as you say, no one yet knows how Magic Leap reads the environment to do proper mapping and focusing on an object in real life (rather than on a screen like some VR headset do) should be very unpredictable.
4684499 11y ago
Hi, do you think your theory could explain this video? http://www.magicleap.com/video/magic-leap-video-3-hd.mp4 http://www.magicleap.com/video/magic-leap-video-3-hd.mp4

inthewoods 11y ago

Depends on use case - I view Oculus and Hololens as useful in more specialized situations (gaming, etc). Sounds like the folks at Magic Leap are thinking this is more of a mass market device ala Google Glass. In which case, I think the form factor is going to be critical. To get people to put something weird on their face/head, you'll need to provide an amazing, compelling experience. If they were able to make it into something that was less obvious, then people would probably be more tolerant of less functionality.

soylentcola 11y ago
Still, with the caveat that I'm a total sucker for this stuff, if only from a technical or "gee whiz" angle, I think once you get something that functions properly, hardware and processes can improve pretty rapidly to address ergonomics. I know the mobile tech analogy is overdone but when you compare an early laptop to the laptops, tablets, and smartphones of today you see a steady increase in capability in increasingly smaller and lighter form factors. I understand that something you wear is even more sensitive to this than something you carry and there are issues of physics that aren't as relevant when you're still just looking at a flat illuminated display. Still, the power you could pack into something the size of a deck of cards or a thumb drive 10-15 years ago was peanuts compared to what you can buy for $50 or $500 today. Sure, you could design and build a computer with the power of a Nexus 5 back in 1995 or 2000. It just had to be in a big box on your desk and cost a grand or two instead of $400. Even these early Hololens or Magic Leap or Oculus demos make me smile because those goggles and things strapped to your face could very well become a lot more powerful and slimmed down in 10-15 years. Honestly I think power and heat will remain the biggest issues with this stuff. Even if you managed to build a device into a form factor that looked like a pair of Ray Bans, where would the battery fit and how hot would it get (especially as they attempt to make the devices more self-contained and less like standard peripherals for more powerful computing devices)?