Category Archives: Metaverse

Canon MREAL makes mixed reality a more natural place @ CES 2023



Canon MREAL MR hardwareVirtual reality has become a big business. Brands from several companies, including Apple and Facebook, have gotten into the virtual reality space in recent years. However, an up-and-coming aspect of the virtual space is augmented and mixed reality – a slightly different take on the concept. Canon, a company known for its cameras and optics, has entered the space with the Canon MREAL Platform.

What is Mixed Reality and how is it different from Virtual Reality?

Mixed Reality (MR), sometimes referred to as ‘Hybrid Reality’, combines elements of both augmented and virtual reality. While virtual reality immerses you in an entirely digital world, mixed reality adds real-world elements like textures, sounds, and light into the mix. This means that with mixed reality, users can interact with digital objects as if they were real, in a more realistic way. For example, a virtual table could be used to virtually hold a physical object, allowing the user to interact with the digital environment in an intuitive and natural way.

MR also has implications for remote collaboration, allowing multiple users from different locations to connect and interact with each other without being physically present in the same space. This technology has been successfully used in training, education, and entertainment settings, allowing users to explore three-dimensional objects with their hands as if they were actually there. Mixed reality also has advantages when it comes to reducing travel costs, time, and energy associated with collaborating across distances.

Using mixed reality is a powerful way to enhance the user experience in any setting. The technology provides an immersive, tactile approach to interacting with digital content, allowing users to explore objects and environments through a combination of physical movements and computer-generated visuals. It is also a great tool for communicating ideas and collaborating on projects, as its ability to bridge physical and virtual spaces makes it ideal for remote meetings, training, and demonstrations. Mixed reality also allows users to visualize complex 3D models in real-time, providing a more efficient way to evaluate designs or make edits on the fly. Finally, it has the potential to revolutionize how we interact with products, machines, and data in industrial settings by providing an intuitive, hands-on approach to understanding complex systems. Mixed reality offers an exciting and powerful way to explore virtual worlds and bridge the gap between physical and digital realms.

Mixed reality is also finding its way into more everyday applications outside of gaming, including education, healthcare, and retail. For example, teachers can use mixed reality to create immersive learning experiences, allowing students to virtually explore difficult concepts such as anatomy or the solar system. In healthcare, mixed reality can help doctors diagnose and treat patients more effectively by providing 3D visualizations of patient data. Finally, retailers are using this technology to create engaging shopping experiences through virtual try-ons and product demos.

Canon MREAL

Canon has placed a strong emphasis on the interaction between the real and virtual worlds. In particular, the focus of the platform is to make the way the physical world touches the virtual world in a natural way. With other hardware platforms, your real hands tend to mix too much with the virtual objects. In particular, they tend to lose their depth and vanish into virtual items or remain on top of them.

Canon has worked hard to ensure that your hands are tracked accurately and that only the parts that should be behind an object are. For example, if you are grabbing the handle of a microwave, your fingers will go behind the handle while your hand will remain in front. Obviously, this focus helps to make the Canon MREAL experience more natural so that new uses can be found for the technology. It makes it more accessible, so more people can find usefulness in the technology.

The Canon MREAL hardware has been available in Japan and the company is looking to bring it to the United States. To learn more about the technology and follow the product’s release plans, check out the product website.

Interview by Allante Sparks of PLuGHiTz Live Special Events.

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Kokomo is the VR communication tool you’ve been waiting for @ CES 2023



Canon Kokomo VP communicationEver since Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta, the word of the industry has been Metaverse. And, while many people don’t know exactly what that means, every company wants to be part of it. There have been a number of half-hearted attempts, including from Meta and Microsoft, but Canon has a different take on the concept that seems to show a lot of promise.

What is the Metaverse?

The metaverse is an ever-evolving digital universe that blends physical and virtual worlds. It is a place where diverse communities of people, companies, and governments interact with each other in a never seen way. In the metaverse, users are able to collaborate, create and explore new possibilities in a virtual world that feels alive. The boundary between the digital world and the real world continues to blur as technology advances, allowing people to engage with content on an unprecedented level.

By connecting people on an emotional level through interactive experiences, the metaverse helps build strong relationships and bonds that can be carried into our everyday lives. From virtual shops to virtual education centers with AI tutors, the opportunities for growth provided by the metaverse are limitless – providing us with infinite possibilities for exploration and creativity.

How is Kokomo different?

Kokomo, which is a project of Canon (yes, the camera company), is intended to be a communication platform first and foremost. The company decided that, rather than trying to be everything to everyone, they would focus on what people need and want the most – a solid way to communicate with their friends, families, and colleagues even when they are not together.

The company decided that Kokomo should be a video calling and conferencing platform that brings people together in an engaging way. The fully immersive environment allows you to see the people you are talking to in a virtual world, but in a way that looks and feels more real than other platforms.

This is accomplished by not just relying on the hardware of the virtual reality system, but by augmenting it using other equipment. This is where Canon’s camera background really comes into play. Using an external camera, the system is able to track full range of motion and replicate it within the environment.

If you’ve guessed that Kokomo uses full body avatars, then you’d be right. unlike so many of the other platforms, Kokomo shows a full person as the avatar, because motion tracking allows for greater control over a full body. You don’t have to worry about thinking about moving your avatar – you can just talk and enjoy your time with your friends while letting Canon makes the experience more real.

Summary

Kokomo is available soon from the Meta Quest App Lab as a free download in early access. The company intends to keep the platform free for users with in-app premium content available for those who want to expand their experience. To learn more about Kokomo and to get an alert when the platform goes live, you can head to the project’s website.

Interview by Daniele Mendez of The New Product Launchpad.

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Skinetic adds haptic feedback to virtual reality and more @ CES 2023



Skinetic Haptic Feedback VestPlaying a videogame is intended to extend the experience of entertainment into a more personal connection. With a movie or TV show or even a play, you watch what is happening and pretend to put yourself into the action. With a videogame, however, you are in control over the experience – sometimes in small ways and others in large ways. However, we’re still generally separated from the game in a variety of ways, but Actronika wants to bring you directly into the game experience with Skinetic.

Who is Actronika?

Actronika is a company specializing in haptic technology. While we all think of haptics as the phone vibrating when we touch it, there’s much more to the technology. In this case, the company focuses on a more high-definition version of haptics. The more focused technology allows for the creation of different haptic zones as well as different textures.

This technology has come together to form Skinetic – a haptic vest that can provide feedback during an entertainment session. The vest is able to replicate the sensation experienced by the character on the screen while not intentionally hurting the one experiencing it. The best part is that this is not limited to gaming. In fact, it can be used across nearly any type of entertainment.

Skinetic in gaming

The Skinetic vest is a perfect companion for gaming. When you’re playing a game and a grenade goes off nearby, being able to feel that explosion makes the game a more immersive experience. But, because of the detail of the vest, you can also have a smaller experience, such as being tapped on the shoulder.

While this seems like a perfect companion for traditional gaming, it’s even better for virtual reality. VR glasses are specifically designed to place you in a first person perspective for your entertainment experience. By adding Skinetic into the mix, the experience truly does become more personal as well as more immersive. The game can bring you into the action and leave you with more of a consequence for failure.

Skinetic in movies and television

While interactive entertainment is the most obvious place for Skinetic, it can also work well for passive entertainment. The inclusion of haptic feedback into movie and television can help to pull you more into the entertainment. In gaming, you’ll have consequences for your own actions, while in this example you’ll have consequences for the actions of the characters on screen.

How does Skinetic work?

Skinetic has to be integrated into the development of the entertainment experience. For example ,a videogame developer must know about Skinetic and build for it. Fortunately, we’ve already seen some big titles get on-board, including the VR experience Half-Life: Alyx, which many consider to be one of the definitive VR games.

Development is made easy, though. Unlike many gaming tools, Skinetic support can be built outside of the game.development tools, you can create and test the individual textures and feelings.ect and quicker development. Once you have your texture, you can import it into your game.

The vest is incredibly detailed in design. There are 20 action zones, meaning that if someone taps you on the left shoulder, you can feel it only on the left shoulder. This is something that sets it apart from other VR vests, in that the experience can be tailered to the game environment.

Summary

The Skinetic is still under development, but developers can get ahold of a prototyping kit or evaluation kit. For consumers, you’ll have to wait only a little while, as the pricut is intended to hit the market in May 2023. To learn more about Skinetic and Actronika, head over to the company’s website.