Nreal Light AR Glasses Get Multi-User Shared Spaces and Now Support WebXR
Nreal has announced that its Light AR glasses will now support shared AR extent. There is a corresponding AR game as well as a new Devkit bundle that should make the new feature more palatable for developers.
The new features are part of Nreal’s drive to attract more developers to support Light, its more affordable and Android-based wearable. The consumer version of the Nreal Light augmented reality glasses is set to be released this fall and the excitement is already building in the industry which is currently dominated by very costly enterprise mixed reality hardware.
The new upgrades to the Light software development kit announced yesterday are multi-user environments and WebXR support. The mixed reality hardware developer is also planning lots of new deals aimed at enticing more developers onto its platform.
The Nreal Light AR glasses are still in the early days but things have been looking up lately. The Chinese mixed reality startup has brushed aside a legal challenge from the US-based mixed reality startup Magic Leap over IP theft. The road is now clear for the launch of the AR glasses in both the US and Europe. The glasses are manufactured at Nreal Light’s production site in China where the company has invested $280 million. This year alone, more than one million Nreal Light devices are set to roll off the assembly lines to be shipped to consumers.
What has been missing in these fairly slim and affordable AR glasses has been the ability to network multiple devices locally so as to enable multiple users to interact with the same augmented reality content. Nreal has made improvements on this. The Nreal SDK now supports a multiplayer mode which will come in handy in use-cases such as collaborative apps and games like the Spatial app/platform.
With today’s upgrades, the Light Development Kit users can now have access to the “multiplayer” mode. The feature will enable multiple headset wearers to not only see but also interact with one another in the mixed reality environment. Business users can leverage the feature to share digital collaborative workspaces as well as meeting rooms. Developers are also now able to build multi-person cooperative or competitive games.
To support the multiplayer mode, Nreal is providing a bundle that consists of two Light headsets as well as a $500 magnetic prescription lens set all for $2,559. This gives you massive savings over purchasing each of these separately.
On May 28th, Hubraum -Deutsche Telekom’s tech incubator- is launching a global Mixed Reality Program partnership aimed at finding, accelerating and releasing new mixed reality apps for the Nreal Light AR glasses.
Exciting news: @Nreal and @deutschetelekom are in a #technology partnership to develop #MixedReality for the mass market. A new #devkit was released today.
Our brand new Mixed Reality Program will launch on May 28th.
Stay tuned! #AR #VR #tech #startups #developers https://t.co/scmE1ZL0s4
— hubraum tech incubator (@hubraum) May 18, 2020
The partnership will put an emphasis on productivity and entertainment apps. Plans are underway to feature or include these apps during the consumer launch of the Nreal Light glasses. Developers who wish to learn how to create Nreal-compatible apps will also be provided with access to a Slack channel and the Nreal Tower where they will be able to collaborate with the Nreal team to co-build the game. The finished version of the tower defense-style game will be made generally available alongside the Nreal Light Consumer Kit.
Finally, Nreal has added WebXR support to its Light platform. The support enables web applications to more properly display content via stereoscopic 3D glasses. The WebXR apps will enable developers to deliver their mixed reality content over the web through a platform-agnostic format that will not need Apple, Google, Microsoft or any other third-party company serving as the gatekeeper. The developed apps will be available via Nreal’s Nebula 3D launcher that was developed for Android phones after an SDK update that is set to come “later this year”.
More on the Devkit Bundle
Nreal’s new devkit bundle was created for developers wanting to program their multiplayer experiences. The bundle consists of two devkits as well as light glasses and a pocket computer. There is also a correction lens box. The whole bundle costs $2,559.
Nreal Light glasses are something revolutionary and probably what the industry has been waiting for: affordable mixed reality glasses. Unlike Magic Leap and Microsoft that developed augmented reality headsets that cost $2,300 and $3,500 respectively, Nreal developed lightweight mixed reality glasses that cost just $500 and which leverage the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, 855 and 865 smartphones to provide the processing function, storage as well as the wireless network connectivity. The Nreal Light glasses are currently available in a $1,119 Development Kit and has already been embraced by Spatial, an XR collaborative workspace developer due to the headset design which facilitates next-generation remote work, entertainment and remote assistance.
Nreal is planning to release an all-in-one enterprise model in Q4 of this year which will go head on with Microsoft’s and Magic Leap’s enterprise mixed reality hardware.
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https://virtualrealitytimes.com/2020/05/21/nreal-light-ar-glasses-get-multi-user-shared-spaces-and-now-support-webxr/https://www.xrcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nreal-light-ar-glasses-get-multi-user-shared-spaces-and-now-support-webxr-2.pnghttps://virtualrealitytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Nreal-Light-Shared-Spaces-150×90.pngAR HeadsetsAugmented RealityHardwareNrealTechnologyNreal has announced that its Light AR glasses will now support shared AR extent. There is a corresponding AR game as well as a new Devkit bundle that should make the new feature more palatable for developers. The new features are part of Nreal’s drive to attract more developers to…Sam OchanjiSam Ochanjisochanji@yahoo.comAdministratorVirtual Reality Times
