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Apple's software and hardware arcs are coalescing into them going all in on AR/VR. Things like LIDAR, Photogrammetry, spatial mapping, USDZ / PBR and friends al

Apple's software and hardware arcs are coalescing into them going all in on AR/VR. Things like LIDAR, Photogrammetry, spatial mapping, USDZ / PBR and friends all come across as pretty marginal novelties on smartphones, but they are all a part of that strategy, and will make much more sense with a headset. They're coming out of the gate with a robust ecosystem. Blender is obviously a huge component of the software stack.

onelovetwo 5y ago
It also helps blender is a competitor to Epic's Unreal
- Arelius 5y ago
  Sort-of? They both compete in rendering, specifically for ArchVis. But otherwise they complement each other more than they compete. Likely why Epic is also a member of the Blender Development Fund.
- SXX 5y ago
  I guess you confuse Blender 3D editor with Godot game engine. Blender had built-in game engine, but it's been frozen and removed few years ago. Also Epic is sponsoring Blender Fund too.
  - benjaminjackman 5y ago
    And Epic granted money to Godot: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epic-megagrant https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epi...
    - Miraste 5y ago
      While it's great that Godot is getting better funding, that's about the worst insult I can think of. Epic is so confident that Godot will never be a serious competitor that they're giving them charity money. We'll see; there was a time when Autodesk viewed Blender as an also-ran too.
      - shadilay 5y ago
        Not necessarily. While Epic has an interest in selling unreal they would also benefit from people selling godot games on their store.
  - onelovetwo 5y ago
    I was thinking about Godot!
- potatolicious 5y ago
  Wait, how so? Isn't Blender a pretty direct competitor to 3D modeling and rendering tools like Maya and 3dsmax? AFAIK you can't directly author 3D models in Unreal, if anything Unreal has a dependency on tools like Blender. There is some competitive overlap, but that seems mostly within the realm of real-time vs. offline render for producing video content?
  - yissp 5y ago
    You can do 3D modeling directly in Unreal, but it's very limited compared to something like Blender.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  That's almost like saying Internet Explorer is a competitor to Microsoft Word because they both share text documents with pictures. Yeah, Blender and Unreal kinda-sorta do the same thing (3d rendering). But their applications are completely different... and you'd be more likely to see people use both tools together on one project rather than a competition between the tools.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- schmorptron 5y ago
  Epic doesn't seem to think so, since they majorly funded it just two years ago. https://www.blender.org/press/epic-games-supports-blender-foundation-with-1-2-million-epic-megagrant/ https://www.blender.org/press/epic-games-supports-blender-fo... The only area I could see this in is in high-end movie production, like they did with The Mandelorian for the digital green screen stuff, but the distinction between real-time and non-real-time rendering seems pretty strong.
  - Miraste 5y ago
    Blender does have a real-time engine called Eevee which is pretty powerful, although I don't think the use cases overlap enough to bother Epic.
jereees 5y ago
Not to mention the platform wide rollout of spatial audio.
- planb 5y ago
  And the text and object detection in real world scenes that is the most underrated feature in iOS 15 Edit: this tweet I just found shows exactly what I meant: https://twitter.com/juanbuis/status/1448686889158983681?s=21 https://twitter.com/juanbuis/status/1448686889158983681?s=21
  - chmsky00 5y ago
    Interesting. I was working on an app that would let users scan logos and return company data; carbon footprint other industrial impact metrics, individual investors, board, C-suite… into a shared repo of oligarchs who have chosen celebrity and visibility by “leading” us with our own data. I was going to send images to Google to pull objects and text from, but if I could just send text to search for, that would be great.
Applejinx 5y ago
I like the sounds of that. I like the prospect of Apple competing with Facebook on AR/VR. It's an area I was quite interested in some years ago, but firstly wasn't well supported on the Mac, and secondly it got bought up by Facebook to a large extent. I've been wishing for a modern Playstation so I could try the limited bit of Gran Turismo that's VR and uses their headset. I know the Nurburgring fairly well by now but would love to play there 'for real'. Quite an environment to be whizzing through: that and the tricky rally circuits would be real interesting to get more immersion in.
pradn 5y ago
I want to share an amazing experience I recently had. I was looking through TV consoles on Crate & Barrel and found one I liked. I was unsure if it'd be too tall for my room (it's an extra 9 inches of height over my current TV stand, which is actually just a coffee table repurposed.) The listing page had a QR code I could scan with my iPhone. I was taken to a page that asked me for camera permissions and I said yes. In a few seconds, it placed a 3D model of the TV console in my room and I was able to get a good idea of how it looked. All so quick and easy - no extra apps to download - and actually useful. Putting Pikachu in my space is fun, but this is actually worth the extra lidar tech in the iPhone Pro.
- nefitty 5y ago
  I feel a weird sense of loss for Google Glass. I feel like the controversies that set it back also set back the entire AR space. I wonder what life would be like if I could wear a HUD that showed me an AR overlay. It might bubble up an alert to remind me to drink a glass of water to stay on track for the day. A to-do list might slide in from the side if I tap a button near my temple. A friend calls and their animated avatar hangs out in the corner of my sight while I continue doing what I was doing... It feels like these things are very close, but society is struggling to integrate the amassing tech innovations we're encountering.
  - pradn 5y ago
    A camera in glasses is always going to be too intrusive I think. Norms may change, but even if there's a clear light indicating that a photo or video is being taken, it's offputting to feel the possibility of a recording happening at any moment. Perhaps the middle-ground is to have glasses with just a HUD, but no camera. You can still get useful info, but without the imposition on other people.
  - weikju 5y ago
    if companies and govt hadn't broken our trust so often wrt privacy, snooping, data-hunger, their might not have been so many controversies... I think the struggle is good if it stops or slows down these things.
  - 5y ago
dTal 5y ago
I would bet my life savings that Apple are developing some form of VR - maybe headsets, maybe something more interesting like a lightfield display. They're clearly very interested in this space.
- tonightstoast 5y ago
  I’d say that’s a safe bet considering there are 90 job openings when you search “VR” on their careers page. Exciting to see what the future holds. https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/search?search=VR&sort=relevance&location=united-states-USA https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/search?search=VR&sort=relevance...
- fsloth 5y ago
  Well, yes. The current gen AR tech in the IPhone is direct enabler of AR once they get the glasses out (which have been rumored for years).
novok 5y ago
I wonder when apple will start taking the 'serious games' segment seriously. Like being able to play nintendo switch quality games on your iPad, AAA games on a laptop or some sort of apple TV++++ device and such.

onelovetwo 5y ago

It also helps blender is a competitor to Epic's Unreal

Arelius 5y ago
Sort-of? They both compete in rendering, specifically for ArchVis. But otherwise they complement each other more than they compete. Likely why Epic is also a member of the Blender Development Fund.
SXX 5y ago
I guess you confuse Blender 3D editor with Godot game engine. Blender had built-in game engine, but it's been frozen and removed few years ago. Also Epic is sponsoring Blender Fund too.
- benjaminjackman 5y ago
  And Epic granted money to Godot: https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epic-megagrant https://godotengine.org/article/godot-engine-was-awarded-epi...
  - Miraste 5y ago
    While it's great that Godot is getting better funding, that's about the worst insult I can think of. Epic is so confident that Godot will never be a serious competitor that they're giving them charity money. We'll see; there was a time when Autodesk viewed Blender as an also-ran too.
    - shadilay 5y ago
      Not necessarily. While Epic has an interest in selling unreal they would also benefit from people selling godot games on their store.
- onelovetwo 5y ago
  I was thinking about Godot!
potatolicious 5y ago
Wait, how so? Isn't Blender a pretty direct competitor to 3D modeling and rendering tools like Maya and 3dsmax? AFAIK you can't directly author 3D models in Unreal, if anything Unreal has a dependency on tools like Blender. There is some competitive overlap, but that seems mostly within the realm of real-time vs. offline render for producing video content?
- yissp 5y ago
  You can do 3D modeling directly in Unreal, but it's very limited compared to something like Blender.
dragontamer 5y ago
That's almost like saying Internet Explorer is a competitor to Microsoft Word because they both share text documents with pictures. Yeah, Blender and Unreal kinda-sorta do the same thing (3d rendering). But their applications are completely different... and you'd be more likely to see people use both tools together on one project rather than a competition between the tools.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
schmorptron 5y ago
Epic doesn't seem to think so, since they majorly funded it just two years ago. https://www.blender.org/press/epic-games-supports-blender-foundation-with-1-2-million-epic-megagrant/ https://www.blender.org/press/epic-games-supports-blender-fo... The only area I could see this in is in high-end movie production, like they did with The Mandelorian for the digital green screen stuff, but the distinction between real-time and non-real-time rendering seems pretty strong.
- Miraste 5y ago
  Blender does have a real-time engine called Eevee which is pretty powerful, although I don't think the use cases overlap enough to bother Epic.

jereees 5y ago

Not to mention the platform wide rollout of spatial audio.

planb 5y ago
And the text and object detection in real world scenes that is the most underrated feature in iOS 15 Edit: this tweet I just found shows exactly what I meant: https://twitter.com/juanbuis/status/1448686889158983681?s=21 https://twitter.com/juanbuis/status/1448686889158983681?s=21
- chmsky00 5y ago
  Interesting. I was working on an app that would let users scan logos and return company data; carbon footprint other industrial impact metrics, individual investors, board, C-suite… into a shared repo of oligarchs who have chosen celebrity and visibility by “leading” us with our own data. I was going to send images to Google to pull objects and text from, but if I could just send text to search for, that would be great.

Applejinx 5y ago

I like the sounds of that. I like the prospect of Apple competing with Facebook on AR/VR. It's an area I was quite interested in some years ago, but firstly wasn't well supported on the Mac, and secondly it got bought up by Facebook to a large extent. I've been wishing for a modern Playstation so I could try the limited bit of Gran Turismo that's VR and uses their headset. I know the Nurburgring fairly well by now but would love to play there 'for real'. Quite an environment to be whizzing through: that and the tricky rally circuits would be real interesting to get more immersion in.

pradn 5y ago

I want to share an amazing experience I recently had. I was looking through TV consoles on Crate & Barrel and found one I liked. I was unsure if it'd be too tall for my room (it's an extra 9 inches of height over my current TV stand, which is actually just a coffee table repurposed.) The listing page had a QR code I could scan with my iPhone. I was taken to a page that asked me for camera permissions and I said yes. In a few seconds, it placed a 3D model of the TV console in my room and I was able to get a good idea of how it looked. All so quick and easy - no extra apps to download - and actually useful. Putting Pikachu in my space is fun, but this is actually worth the extra lidar tech in the iPhone Pro.

nefitty 5y ago
I feel a weird sense of loss for Google Glass. I feel like the controversies that set it back also set back the entire AR space. I wonder what life would be like if I could wear a HUD that showed me an AR overlay. It might bubble up an alert to remind me to drink a glass of water to stay on track for the day. A to-do list might slide in from the side if I tap a button near my temple. A friend calls and their animated avatar hangs out in the corner of my sight while I continue doing what I was doing... It feels like these things are very close, but society is struggling to integrate the amassing tech innovations we're encountering.
- pradn 5y ago
  A camera in glasses is always going to be too intrusive I think. Norms may change, but even if there's a clear light indicating that a photo or video is being taken, it's offputting to feel the possibility of a recording happening at any moment. Perhaps the middle-ground is to have glasses with just a HUD, but no camera. You can still get useful info, but without the imposition on other people.
- weikju 5y ago
  if companies and govt hadn't broken our trust so often wrt privacy, snooping, data-hunger, their might not have been so many controversies... I think the struggle is good if it stops or slows down these things.
- 5y ago

dTal 5y ago

I would bet my life savings that Apple are developing some form of VR - maybe headsets, maybe something more interesting like a lightfield display. They're clearly very interested in this space.

tonightstoast 5y ago
I’d say that’s a safe bet considering there are 90 job openings when you search “VR” on their careers page. Exciting to see what the future holds. https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/search?search=VR&sort=relevance&location=united-states-USA https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/search?search=VR&sort=relevance...
fsloth 5y ago
Well, yes. The current gen AR tech in the IPhone is direct enabler of AR once they get the glasses out (which have been rumored for years).

novok 5y ago

I wonder when apple will start taking the 'serious games' segment seriously. Like being able to play nintendo switch quality games on your iPad, AAA games on a laptop or some sort of apple TV++++ device and such.