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Why do I need Lidar? I thought that was for self driving cars? "I'm not impressed by shiny objects" said the iPhone 8 user

bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
Probably for superior AR that Apple keeps trying to push without a clear endgame in sight. Unless it’s data gathering for their rumored AR glasses.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  Clear consumer endgames probably aren't going to be in sight for a while (especially after what the pandemic scuttled or delayed in the AR gaming space), but my impression has been that a lot a big enterprise and governmental contracts are still directly and indirectly pushing AR competition in consumer devices. A lot of AR is getting used in "boring" and "unsexy" ways in Enterprise work (like logistics and inventory/space management). ETA: Also, there's the "unsexy" but increasingly common boring consumer stuff like Face ID and Portrait Mode and Smart Action Camera Auto-Focus that you mostly stop noticing how it works (if you ever notice it other than assuming it is a magic black box) so long as it works.
ksec 6y ago
Other than AR, it is also used for Computational Photography.
nomel 6y ago
Not to sound rude, but the first operation that a camera must complete, before taking a photo, is finding the distance between the camera and the subject. Making a true 3d map of the subject and surrounding, regardless of light levels, is pretty much end game for camera focus, which is why it's coming to future high end Sony cameras. It's nuts we're getting this in a consumer camera. Ideal focus tracking, and all of computational photography perks, should give better result for photos and videos. It would be super neat if they added some sort of 3d image/video capture. I would love to start taking 3d videos now, that I'll be able to enjoy on my cheap 3d picture frame, in the future.
- photojosh 6y ago
  > It would be super neat if they added some sort of 3d image/video capture. This is pretty much what a 'Portrait mode' photo is... it's the regular photo plus a depth mode. And on the iPhones with lidar, the depth map is way more accurate. There are various apps that let you visualise the photo in 3D (I've used Focos before). Can be done in video too [0], but last I checked it would only stream at 320x240, probably because it's still rather compute-intensive. Don't know if that's improved on the lidar-possessing devices. [0] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avcapturedepthdataoutput https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avcap...

bobbylarrybobby 6y ago

Probably for superior AR that Apple keeps trying to push without a clear endgame in sight. Unless it’s data gathering for their rumored AR glasses.

WorldMaker 6y ago
Clear consumer endgames probably aren't going to be in sight for a while (especially after what the pandemic scuttled or delayed in the AR gaming space), but my impression has been that a lot a big enterprise and governmental contracts are still directly and indirectly pushing AR competition in consumer devices. A lot of AR is getting used in "boring" and "unsexy" ways in Enterprise work (like logistics and inventory/space management). ETA: Also, there's the "unsexy" but increasingly common boring consumer stuff like Face ID and Portrait Mode and Smart Action Camera Auto-Focus that you mostly stop noticing how it works (if you ever notice it other than assuming it is a magic black box) so long as it works.

ksec 6y ago

Other than AR, it is also used for Computational Photography.

nomel 6y ago

Not to sound rude, but the first operation that a camera must complete, before taking a photo, is finding the distance between the camera and the subject. Making a true 3d map of the subject and surrounding, regardless of light levels, is pretty much end game for camera focus, which is why it's coming to future high end Sony cameras. It's nuts we're getting this in a consumer camera. Ideal focus tracking, and all of computational photography perks, should give better result for photos and videos. It would be super neat if they added some sort of 3d image/video capture. I would love to start taking 3d videos now, that I'll be able to enjoy on my cheap 3d picture frame, in the future.

photojosh 6y ago
> It would be super neat if they added some sort of 3d image/video capture. This is pretty much what a 'Portrait mode' photo is... it's the regular photo plus a depth mode. And on the iPhones with lidar, the depth map is way more accurate. There are various apps that let you visualise the photo in 3D (I've used Focos before). Can be done in video too [0], but last I checked it would only stream at 320x240, probably because it's still rather compute-intensive. Don't know if that's improved on the lidar-possessing devices. [0] https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avcapturedepthdataoutput https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avcap...