M/R headset trial:

I purchased the Acer, Lenovo, Dell, and Samsung bundles. HP was pre-ordered and the ASUS will be pre-ordered as soon as it is available.

The developers and I are testing these devices. Stay tuned for breakdowns of each.

Amazon Sumerian lets you build VR/AR spaces in a browser—with an AI guide

Amazon has announced a browser-based toolkit called Sumerian that the company hopes will make virtual reality and augmented reality development accessible to people without advanced coding or 3D rendering skills. Currently, in the preview, Sumerian allows the creation of VR and AR scenes that target platforms like the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Daydream, and it works with several other Amazon products.

Built on Amazon Web Services, the toolkit is intended to help with building experiences like "training simulations, virtual concierge services, enhanced online shopping experiences, [and] virtual house or land tours." Of course, it can be used to make games, too. In any case, users of the toolkit can create animated characters that interact with the player or customer verbally. That's thanks to Amazon's existing speech recognition and natural-language-processing tech—Lex and Polly, respectively

Amazon is joining a chorus of platforms and companies investing in AR development. Apart from Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality platform, you also have ARKit, ARCore, and various game development platforms and engines. Sumerian supports Apple's ARKit, which is an augmented reality platform for iOS devices. Support for Google's ARCore platform is coming, but not yet available—the same goes for Unity, a popular cross-platform, game-development platform.

However, Unity Labs EVP Sylvio Drouin told Ars last year that the Unity Labs team has focused heavily on making its own way for creatives to build VR worlds without advanced technical knowledge. "You could be entirely in VR without ever touching the Editor, without ever setting any texture, shader, or global illumination parameters, and you would start to be able to assemble a game,” he said. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook has said he believes AR will be as significant in the industry as the introduction of Apple's own App Store.

Like Unity's initiatives, Sumerian involves dragging and dropping assets, and it offers a visual scripting option. That said, it is built on the WebGL JavaScript and WebVR JavaScript APIs, and it offers a JavaScript editor and scripting library.

Sumerian is free to use, but it's built on AWS, which means you need an existing AWS account and you'll be charged for services related to that platform if you use more than is allotted to a free account. You can request access to the preview with your AWS account number, but be warned: access is invite-only. So it's not certain you'll gain access right away.

Microsoft acquires VR social network AltspaceVR        

  AltspaceVR, the virtual reality social network that hosts events like stand-up comedy or presidential debate-watching parties, is now part of Microsoft. After a sudden shutdown due to a drop in funding in July, the free VR community was in “deep discussions” with unknown parties to keep it online. It originally looked like Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey might step in and save the community, but Microsoft has now come to the rescue.

The team at AltspaceVR are now joining Microsoft. “With the AltspaceVR team aboard we look forward to building the world’s preeminent mixed reality community,” says Alex Kipman, Microsoft’s inventor of HoloLens. “AltspaceVR will stay AltspaceVR. Microsoft is most interested in preserving the current community that uses AltspaceVR to connect and interact with new and old friends,” says a Microsoft spokesperson. “These first few months will focus on fostering our community and making sure AltspaceVR remains a friendly, welcoming and vibrant place to hang out in virtual reality.”

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Microsoft demo and explain Windows Mixed Reality

Event took place Oct 3rd, 2017

Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality event promises to show where it's 'headed next'

More mixed reality on October 3

Microsoft's Windows 10 Mixed Reality efforts are on a bit of a roll lately, thanks in no small part to its various partners showing off new headsets and some even opening up pre-orders.
Now the Xbox maker is ready to fill us in on "where Microsoft is headed next" at a Windows Mixed Reality media event on October 3 in San Francisco.

• These are the best graphics cards to use for mixed reality

At the event, our invite says, Microsoft's Alex Kipman "will elaborate on our vision and showcase our final Windows Mixed Reality experience coming this holiday to Windows 10 PCs."

Kipman is the voice of mixed reality at Microsoft, taking the stage at various events to wow the crowd with realistic, computer-generated demonstrations. He's also the inventor of Kinect and HoloLens, so he certainly knows a thing or two about MR.

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Apple vs. Google: Who Will Win the Mobile AR Wars?

Apple’s ARKit and Google’s ARCore will make it easier for developers to create augmented reality apps for the newest smartphones.

Apple's play is ARKit, which will launch with iOS 11 later this month. Google's play is ARCore, which will initially launch on the Pixel and Galaxy S8 devices running on Android 7.0 and above. ARCore will also replace the older Tango AR platform, which was introduced three years ago.

These moves indicate that Apple and Google are eager to follow Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) move into the desktop AR space with HoloLens, which hasn't been commercially launched yet. As for the mobile AR market, which company is better equipped to build a bigger ecosystem -- Apple or Google?

Understanding the AR market

Augmented reality refers to digital overlays projected onto real-world surfaces. Niantic's Pokemon Go employs rudimentary AR by projecting Pokemon into real-world environments with a camera. Microsoft's HoloLens uses advanced AR, which allows users to play Minecraft on coffee tables and manipulate 3D models on their desks.

The magic of AR is created by motion sensors, which detect a user's movements, and computer vision chips and 3D cameras, which "see" surfaces in three dimensions. Developers create software that places objects onto those surfaces, which "augments" their reality.

The AR market is generally considered to be a bigger growth market than virtual reality (VR) since AR apps have more real-world applications than VR software, which obstructs a user's vision and is mostly geared toward gaming and entertainment. Digi-Capital estimates that the AR market will be worth $83 billion by 2021, compared to a $25 billion value for the VR market.

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HoloLens 2 will probably get a CPU upgrade

Microsoft’s HoloLens is basically a computer with a transparent display that lets you view digital graphics overlaid on real-world environments. The original HoloLens development kit shipped in 2016, and Micosoft has already started talking about the 2nd-gen model, which will have a next-gen Holographic Processing Unit.

It’ll also probably have a new processor, because as AnandTech notes, Intel is discontinuing the chip used in the original HoloLens.

That means it’s likely that the next version of Microsoft’s mixed reality computer will use a different processor, although it’s unclear at this point if Microsoft will stick with Intel or perhaps go with something different (like an ARM-based chip).

The original HoloLens features an Intel Atom x5-Z8100P processor, and it’s the only major product I’m aware of to use that chip.

Intel has announced it’ll take its final round of orders for the x5-Z8100P chip on September 30th, 2017 and plans to ship those orders by October 30th. So if Microsoft really is the primary customer for these chips and Intel is discontinuing them, there’s a good chance the two companies have coordinated things so that Microsoft won’t need the chips anymore after they become unavailable.

AnandTech speculates that the 2nd-gen HoloLens won’t ship until 2018 or maybe even 2019.

In other words, the company is probably switching to a different chip. That could mean the HoloLens 2 will be powered by an Intel Apollo Lake, Gemini Lake, or maybe Core M chip. But it could also mean Microsoft is switching to an ARM-based processor.

A version of Windows 10 that supports ARM-based processors is on the way, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip expected to be the first to be supported. Since that’s a smartphone-class processor that can balance performance and power consumption, it could be a good choice for a wearable PC like the HoloLens

HoloLens 2 will have a custom AI chip designed by Microsoft


Today, Microsoft announced that the next generation of its mixed reality HoloLens headset will incorporate an AI chip. This custom silicon — a “coprocessor” designed but not manufactured by Microsoft — will be used to analyze visual data directly on the device, saving time by not uploading it to the cloud. The result, says Microsoft, will be quicker performance on the HoloLens 2, while keeping the device as mobile as possible.

The announcement follows a trend among Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, which are now scrambling to meet the computational demands of contemporary AI. Today’s mobile devices, where AI is going to be used more frequently, simply aren’t built to handle these sorts of programs, and when they’re asked, the result is usually slower performance or a burned-out battery (or both).

But getting AI to run directly on devices like phones or AR headsets has a number of advantages. As Microsoft says, quicker performance is one of them, as devices don’t have to upload data to remote servers. This also makes the devices more user-friendly, as they don’t have to maintain a continuous internet connection. And, this sort of processing is more secure, as users’ data never leaves the device.

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Ford is using Microsoft’s HoloLens to design cars in augmented reality

Microsoft’s HoloLens headset has been slowly pivoting towards commercial markets over the past year. NASA, Volvo, Lowe’s, Audi, and Volkswagen are all testing HoloLens for various reasons, and now Ford is expanding its use of Microsoft’s headsets after an initial pilot phase. Ford is using HoloLens to let designers quickly model out changes to cars, trucks, and SUVs. This allows designers to see the changes on top of an existing physical vehicle, instead of the traditional clay model approach to car design.

Ford is still using clay models, but the HoloLens can be used to augment additional 3D models without having to build every single design prototype with clay. It’s one of the more interesting ways we’ve seen businesses use Microsoft’s HoloLens, and it’s something customers will never see. A number of other companies are also using HoloLens for training purposes, much like how VR is used in the same way by businesses.

Microsoft is planning to hold a Windows Mixed Reality launch event on October 3rd in San Francisco. We’re not expecting to hear about a HoloLens successor, but we should get a better idea of what apps and games we’ll see coming for Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets. Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo, and Asus are all creating headsets, with the cheapest starting at $299. Mixed Reality headsets will be available from October 17th, the same day Microsoft launches its Windows 10 Fall Creators Update with Mixed Reality support.

Dundee students mix reality with Microsoft HoloLens surgical training apps

A group of Scottish university students will join a world-renowned medical technology company after developing new learning tools in augmented reality.

The seven students from University of Dundee have been offered internships with Medtronic following a three-month project which saw them develop apps to train on surgical anatomy and related procedural approaches relevant to ENT (ear, nose, throat) conditions – through Microsoft HoloLens.

The HoloLens is the first self-contained, holographic computer, which allows users to interact with holograms in mixed reality.

Professor Tracey Wilkinson, joint programme lead with Nicolas Denervaud from Medtronic, said the aim of the project was to design and create innovative augmented reality apps for medical education and training, using the HoloLens device as a training tool.

She said its benefit is to help healthcare professionals train in an efficient way to improve their practice and ultimately reach better patient outcomes.

“We have a large number of active, fertile, creative minds in our university who are very comfortable with modern technology”, Wilkinson said. “Allowing our students to develop their ideas with support from Medtronic has led to immersive and fascinating learning.”

Denervaud said that the Medtronic team were really impressed with what the students had achieved in such a short time.

“The company are now sponsoring seven summer internships, giving several of the students an opportunity to develop their ideas further”, Denervaud said. “This is an important project for us, in our effort to develop new teaching modalities, with the aim to help Health professionals deliver improved patient outcomes.”

“Our interns will be tasked with bringing an educational app in anatomy and ENT surgery to completion, so that it is ready for use by trainee health professionals.”

One of the prototypes focused on Temporal Bone surgery will be demonstrated at the European ENT congress in October.

Medtronic has also agreed to run the project again next year, this time over six months to allow more time for development.

Medtronic plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is among the world’s largest medical technology, services and solutions companies.

Urho3d Could Be a Development Bridge Between HoloLens & ARKit




Developers looking to create shared experiences that support both HoloLens as well as ARKit may be able to get it working in Unity since that the engine supports both platforms — though, the amount of effort it might take to get that working could be a bit much. Up to this point, Unity has been the only real approach to attempt this combination — at least, until now.

According to a report by MSPoweruser, UrhoSharp, a small and lightweight game engine in similar scope to the Apple SceneKit and SpriteKit, which currently supports Android, iOS, Windows (including HoloLens), and macOS, recently added ARKit support.

Microsoft software developer Egor Bogatov (formerly of Xamarin, which Microsoft purchased) has released a video of UrhoSharp working on an iPhone through the ARKit. He also released the corresponding code to a GitHub repository as well.

UrhoSharp is a .NET and Xamarin-based wrapper for the Urho3D game engine, a full-featured 2D and 3D cross-platform C++ game engine. The feature list for Urho3D is too long to list here, but some of the more notable features that UrhoSharp supports are:

• support for Direct X And OpenGL rendering standards
• physics simulation
• await/async .NET functionality
• 2D integration into 3D scenes
• networking
• audio playback

While this demo does not demonstrate the HoloLens and iPhone gap being bridged, it is fair to assume that between UrhoSharp and Unity both currently supporting both platforms, it won't be long before someone figures out the solution. And this tool set could likely simplify that process.

Change of Plans !!

Hololens 2 will be released after all.


Microsoft announced that the next generation of its mixed reality HoloLens headset will incorporate an AI chip. This custom silicon — a “coprocessor” designed but not manufactured by Microsoft — will be used to analyze visual data directly on the device, saving time by not uploading it to the cloud. The result, says Microsoft, will be quicker performance on the HoloLens 2, while keeping the device as mobile as possible.

The announcement follows a trend among Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, which are now scrambling to meet the computational demands of contemporary AI. Today’s mobile devices, where AI is going to be used more frequently, simply aren’t built to handle these sorts of programs, and when they’re asked, the result is usually slower performance or a burned-out battery (or both).

But getting AI to run directly on devices like phones or AR headsets has a number of advantages. As Microsoft says, quicker performance is one of them, as devices don’t have to upload data to remote servers. This also makes the devices more user-friendly, as they don’t have to maintain a continuous internet connection. And, this sort of processing is more secure, as users’ data never leaves the device.

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Additional Content

2nd HoloLens Project

One of our Programmer / Analysts, Adam Wilson, created the Geiger–Marsden Experiment learning application in Unity. This series of experiments by which scientists discovered that every atom contains a nucleus where its positive charge and most of its mass are concentrated.This application came about to update an older version that was out of date and unusable in most browsers. In the researching the experiment to create a more realistic looking environment to better represent what a student might actually see in the real world. It reveals that the same concept that was being used but new technology has changed how the experiment is being conducted. Converting the webGL version to work with the Hololens wasn't a big stretch and helped show capabilities of the divides.

Shadow Creator Halomini

Attempting to compete with HoloLens

Augmented reality is certainly making its presence felt at this week's CES Asia technology show in Shanghai. AR has stepped out of the shadows and is just as prevalent on the exhibition floor as VR. Unfortunately some AR experiences fail to impress if you've already sampled the top-of-the-line AR headsets.

At first glance Shadow Creator's Halomini looks for all the world like Microsoft's HoloLens, but with a 7500 Yuan (AU$1500) price tag it's around half the price of Microsoft's slick augmented reality headset. Like the HoloLens, the Halomini is completely wireless with a built-in computer – although it runs on Android 6.0 instead of Windows. Unlike the HoloLens, the Halomini only features a single tracking camera on the front so it knows what you're looking at.

Like the HoloLens, the Halomini projects images onto the visor in front of your eyes, a bit like a fighter pilot's heads-up display which adds tactical information to their view of the sky. The Halomini matches the HoloLens' narrow 40-degree horizontal field of vision, but Shadow Creator is preparing to release the new Air model which is lighter, looks more like traditional glasses and offers a wider 60-degree field of vision.

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Amazon M/R

Amazon Web Services is getting into Mixed Reality


Amazon is building a new “two pizza team” within Amazon Web Services focused on mixed-reality technology, another sign that the cloud powerhouse is expanding its reach and branching out into new areas.

AWS isn’t talking publicly about the initiative, but a job posting for a software engineer sheds some light on the team’s goals. The posting says the company is “building a set of services, and platform to bring AWS and Amazon into the world of Mixed Reality.”

The company wants engineers with experience in “Computer Vision, 3D objects, rendering and data storage by designing, developing and testing software solutions.” The posting further states that “applications would include real-time 3D modeling, image and video stream processing all within a scalable distributed environment.”

The posting calls the group a “true start-up within AWS (a real two pizza team).” The two-pizza term goes back to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and his well-known rule that any team or meeting that can’t be fed with two pizzas is too large.

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One of our Programmer / Analysts, Jeff Paxson, created the "Atom Visualizer" learning application in Unity. He constructed an interactive Periodic Table of Elements. He used the table that was requested by the subject matter expert(s). When an element was selected, each one had a visual representation along with its proper number of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Once that was deployed for WebGl, he made a version for the HoloLens. This included speech recognition with its custom UI and gesture recognition to move and rotate the element.

Cardboard M/R Headset

While the world catches up with VR, imperfect but affordable options for entry like Google Cardboard and Samsung’s Gear VR will get the job done. But augmented/mixed reality is also proving itself to be a ripe new field and for anyone looking to dip their toes in the water of this brave new world, the Holokit has come to save the day.

Like Google Cardboard, the Holokit uses a cardboard frame to house a smartphone. Two mirrors reflect what appears on your smartphone onto an angled Fresnel lens. Unlike Google Cardboard, you want to see through this setup because you’re mixing reality with imagery coming from your phone. Unfortunately, like Cardboard, there’s no headstrap. But you can always make your own. Open source tracking software will be released on Github along with the headset on June 6, 2017.

Amber Garage is a startup focused on augmented reality. Its founder Botao Hu showed off the little DIY kit this week at the Augmented World Expo. A price hasn’t been announced yet but it seems reasonable to say it’ll cost more than the $15 that Google Cardboard does and less than the $100 or so that headsets like Gear VR go for.

Checking out the video demonstration, it’s safe to say that this will be a big step down from an actual Hololens but the lowest tier development kits for that device for $3000. It’s hard to say if what you see is going to look totally bootleg or if it’s just tough to capture with a camera. Probably a little of both. Regardless, I like the low-res vibe.

Holokits from Fengyuan Zhu on Vimeo.

This is a perfect way for developers to tinker around with the technology without having to make such a major investment. I’m sure the lawyers at the software giant will be taking some issue with that name but Microsoft’s developers should seriously consider making one of these themselves. I look forward to playing with all the stuff you guys make for this thing. Check it out for yourself in the video below and it should be available here on June 6th.

Dell M/R Headset

Dell Enters the Game.

Dell is yet another hardware company that has partnered with Microsoft to deliver an affordable mixed reality headset. Once again, the styling is overall similar to the others, but with a white color scheme sets it apart.

Microsoft says Dell's headset is "uniquely focused on user comfort" and is designed by the same team that builds the company's XPS and Alienware PCs. It has replaceable cushions for a custom fit and a weight balanced headband that is centered on the user's head for long-term comfort. There is also a flip-up visor and cable routing that keeps wires out of the way.

This one will be available sometime this holiday season.

Asus M/R Headset

         Asus Enters Mixed Reality

Asus is also embracing Microsoft's initiative, and the VR category as a whole. Adding to its Oculus-ready ROG gaming desktops and VR-ready Vivo PC X is a mixed reality headset with a futuristic design. While similar in style to the ones offered by Acer and HP, a polygonal 3D cover panel helps set this apart from the pack.

It also features an ergonomically adjustable strap to enable one-handed setup.

"Asus is engaged with Microsoft to make this HMD fast, powerful, and ultra-light with a six degrees of freedom (DOF) tracked motion controller, for an incredible, immersive MR experience," Microsoft says.

Beyond that, we don't have any hardware specifications for this headset, though we imagine the spec sheet will read the same as the other two, or at least be similar.

HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset

MSRP:

$329.00

Visit manufacturer site for details.

Microsoft’s next-generation HoloLens glasses may make you look like Clark Kent

Today, Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented-reality headset has a geeky RoboCop vibe, but someday it could become more like a pair of eyeglasses suitable for Superman’s mild-mannered alter ego.

At least that’s the impression you’re likely to get from a Microsoft Research study on HoloLens technology, due to be presented in July at SIGGRAPH 2017 in Los Angeles.

The study delves into the possibilities of creating a display system that looks more like sunglasses than the bulky, goggle-like systems that are currently favored for virtual reality and mixed reality. The system could also build in a vision-correcting algorithm.

“If we ultimately wish to make a display the size of eyeglasses, we must build the functionality of eyeglasses into the display,” the research team writes in a blog item about the technology.

The key to the system is a type of near-eye holographic display that processes visual information from a real-world environment, adds layers of computer-generated information as desired, and then sends the resulting image into the eye.

The processing software would have to be powerful enough to adjust the signal, pixel by pixel, to accommodate the optics of the near-eye display as well as the optical corrections needed by the wearer.

“This is akin to using an independently customized, complex lens to form each point in the image,” the researchers say. To reduce the processing overhead, the glasses could track eye movements and sharpen the pixels specifically in the area where the wearer is looking.

The Microsoft team – which includes Andrew Maimone, Andreas Georgiou and Joel Kollin – built what they acknowledge is a “crude prototype” to test their approach to digital holography.

“Combined with GPU-accelerated algorithms, we demonstrate real-time hologram generation at rates of 90-260 Hz on a desktop GPU,” they report. Those rates compare favorably with what the human eye can distinguish.

Microsoft emphasizes that the project relates to basic research into holographic displays, and is “not necessarily indicative of any Microsoft product roadmap.” But if the company ever starts including X-ray vision as a HoloLens feature, you’ll know the reason why.


Hat tip to Popular Mechanics.

A/R in the air

HoloLens Demo Lets Airline Staff View Passenger Emotional State & Flight Details

The list of HoloLens applications continues to grow as more companies discover ways to enhance their operations using augmented reality. Air New Zealand is the latest to show interest in the technology, demonstrating their vision for AR in a new concept video.


In the video, Air New Zealand shows how they think the HoloLens will enhance the next generation of travel. By using graphical overlays, flight attendants would be able to "scan" each passenger and obtain information useful for bettering customer service. For example, the flight attendant in the video can see that the passenger he speaks to is feeling anxious. The flight attendant can then adjust his service approach to help calm the passenger. When the passenger feels calm, the HoloLens lets the attendant know so that he can move on to other customers with confidence. Continue Reading

Going International

Microsoft’s HoloLens will come to China later this month

HoloLens, Microsoft’s advanced “mixed reality” headset, will launch in China later this month, making it the tenth market for the device.

While some pundits expected that Microsoft would launch a new version of the HoloLens at its Build developer conference this week, it doesn’t look like that’s happening. The current version of the HoloLens started shipping to developers last March and it first demoed it long before that. The current version still suffers from a limited field of view, though in my experience, that actually becomes less of an issue the longer you use it.

Instead of announcing a new version, though, the company put the focus on the more VR-like “mixed reality” headsets from partners like Acer. It also showed off a reference design for its mixed-reality controllers.


For Microsoft, building this ecosystem of mixed-reality applications and devices is currently a major priority. Microsoft’s Alex Kipman noted in his Build keynote today that the company wants Windows 10 to be the best operating system for mixed reality, and it’s investing heavily in supporting VR, AR and mixed reality in its flagship operating system.

Controllers for Microsoft VR/MR

Microsoft unveils Windows Mixed Reality Controllers

They’ll be bundled with Acer’s headset for $399 this holiday season.

What good is a modern VR headset without decent motion controllers? Well, not much. So it's no surprise that Microsoft has announced its first Windows Mixed Reality Controllers, which will support the MR/VR headsets from the likes of Acer and other PC makers. Like HoloLens and various Windows-powered headsets, the controllers will rely on inside-out tracking technology, so you won't need to set up any special sensors to use them.
And speaking of Windows MR/VR headsets, Microsoft announced that developers can pre-order Acer's and HP's models starting today, with delivery later this summer. Acer's will still go for $300 while HP's is priced at $329.

Competition for Magic Leap

Avegant's light-field tech gives hope to a mixed-reality future

The startup is Avegant, a company you might already know. A few years ago, it created the Glyph, a personal entertainment center that looks (and acts) like a pair of headphones. At the same time as it was making Glyph, however, the swirl and excitement around VR and AR was in the air, and it was hard to ignore. "Everything was moving forward to more wearable computing devices," said Edward Tang, Avegant's CTO. "So we looked into it."

The team soon found that there was a fundamental problem with much of the transparent, mixed-reality displays out there -- and it's that all of them have a fixed focal point. You could pin virtual things to a wall and manipulate them remotely with controllers, but you couldn't get up close. "The real experience I want to have is, I want to be able to just walk up to something and hold it or touch it, and have something feel like it was right in front of me," Tang said. "At the end of the day, if you want to display something within about a meter, the focus needs to be correct."

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Going Full Circle

Microsoft is building an augmented reality viewer directly into Windows 10

Going back to where it all started and re-inventing the wheel. Yes, the webcam is making a comeback.

Microsoft is planning to bring a View Mixed Reality feature to Windows 10 later this year. It's designed to let Windows 10 users augment 3D objects, created in 3D Paint, into the real world by using any laptop with a webcam. During a demonstration at Microsoft's New York City event this morning, the company showed off how objects can be displayed on a tablet using augmented reality.

We've seen this type of technology in many different forms, but this will be built directly into Windows 10. The content created in 3D Paint can also be used on Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality devices, which are arriving later this year in time for the holiday season.

Turn Your Data into a Hologram with This HoloLens App

Theorem Solutions, a company that helps engineering and manufacturing companies reduce their costs, has taken the next step with their mixed reality technology. The company has now added their own app, called Visualization Experience, to the Windows Store for the Microsoft HoloLens

According to the app page, Visualization Experience shows you "how you can visualize, prepare and present your CAD data for visualization in HoloLens," with features such as data positioning, optimization of data for visualization, and 3D geometry manipulation.

With the app, users can interact with their data by animating it in front of them Iron Man-style. This gives "the user complete freedom of movement to view, manipulate and interrogate their 3D data, all controlled by the use of hand gestures and voice commands," according to the company's press release.

The app is free to download but requires your name, a company name, a valid email address, and a Hololens to validate. As a cool bonus, the app also comes with a free 90-day trial that supplies users with engineering data from Theorem that shows how the app functions and helps optimize output for companies. After the user is validated, they will be sent an email that unlocks the trial of Visualization Experience.

Users can upgrade to the full subscription version at any time, which will replace the Theorem data with a company's own engineering and manufacturing CAD and PLM data. The app will optimize it for use by the HoloLens, making the process efficient simple for its users.

Check out the app in the Windows Store for HoloLens.