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Can an Edge browser be shared to multiple HoloLens?
I'm fairly new to HoloLens development so I apologize if this has a simple answer. I would like two HoloLens be able to view the same Edge browser window simultaneously.
From my impression it seems that an app must have a spatial anchor and sharing turned on in order for others to view the same holograph.
Does the native Edge browser include this functionality? If not, how would I go about to achieve this?
Best Answers
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stepan_stulov ✭✭✭
Hey, @ajgramling.
There are two kinds of apps on HoloLens (with the exceptional logic of the Holograms app which is not available for the devs anyway): windowed and fullscreen.
Windowed apps' windows are attached to the environment when launching and pinning/repinning them. Generally speaking we're not talking about anchors here although under the hood there is most likely exactly the same mechanism as with anchors. Now the sum of your pinned app windows is local, it's not in any way shared with other HoloLenses. Windowed apps show their content directly in the window, 2D (although it can be a flat render of a 3D world like Crossy Roads for example). Windowed apps can share logic and technically even sync their inner 2D/3D content in some way but there is no concept of anchors.
Fullscreen apps' windows are pinned to the world in a similar manner as the windowed apps' windows and the pinned windows themselves are local to the user. Now, once we dive into such fullscreen app by tappin on its window, we're entering an exclusive environment unshared by other apps. In the environment it is up to the app's developer on what to do. Namely there is an option to share locally created anchors with other HoloLenses as well as sync some logical commands to create an illusion of being in the same environment. MixedRealityToolkit's Sharing and SyncModel features are one of the toolsets for that but you can roll with your own. Fullscreen apps show their content directly in the environment, 3D (for example Galaxy Explorer).
Edge is a windowed app, which should automatically answer your question keeping in mind these humble explanations.
Hope this helps.
Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.
6 -
stepan_stulov ✭✭✭
Hello again, @ajgramling.
Looking at your second comment in this thread it seems like you may also be happy with a web view inside of your fullscreen HoloLens app that could then be synced among multiple users be that positions-wise or logics-wise.
I have not tried integrating a web view into an app myself but my general impression form reading the forums is that there is no good web view for Unity that'd run smooth on HoloLens. Please let us know if you have more success in that direction.
Cheers
Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.
5
Answers
Hi,
Did you find a solution to your problem ?
I'm having the same problem, I'd like to share the position in 3D space of a browser. For users to see it in the same place.
I understand that 2D applications (such as Edge) do not use spatial coordinates like 3D holograms, which made it difficult (if not impossible) to share a position :
https://forums.hololens.com/discussion/193/how-can-i-pin-multiple-xaml-objects-from-a-uwp-app
For the moment I'm thinking of streaming my web page directly in unity ...
But I imagine that there are more interesting ways ?
If anyone has an idea of solution ?
Thanks in advance
@Buck no luck on my end. From my understanding it appears that HoloLens simply does not support web browsers inside of Unity. Although a static web page or video could be placed as an object texture.
Have you made any progress? Does the Edge browser have default functionality for a shared experience or must it be placed inside an application?
Hey, @ajgramling.
There are two kinds of apps on HoloLens (with the exceptional logic of the Holograms app which is not available for the devs anyway): windowed and fullscreen.
Windowed apps' windows are attached to the environment when launching and pinning/repinning them. Generally speaking we're not talking about anchors here although under the hood there is most likely exactly the same mechanism as with anchors. Now the sum of your pinned app windows is local, it's not in any way shared with other HoloLenses. Windowed apps show their content directly in the window, 2D (although it can be a flat render of a 3D world like Crossy Roads for example). Windowed apps can share logic and technically even sync their inner 2D/3D content in some way but there is no concept of anchors.
Fullscreen apps' windows are pinned to the world in a similar manner as the windowed apps' windows and the pinned windows themselves are local to the user. Now, once we dive into such fullscreen app by tappin on its window, we're entering an exclusive environment unshared by other apps. In the environment it is up to the app's developer on what to do. Namely there is an option to share locally created anchors with other HoloLenses as well as sync some logical commands to create an illusion of being in the same environment. MixedRealityToolkit's Sharing and SyncModel features are one of the toolsets for that but you can roll with your own. Fullscreen apps show their content directly in the environment, 3D (for example Galaxy Explorer).
Edge is a windowed app, which should automatically answer your question keeping in mind these humble explanations.
Hope this helps.
Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.
Hello again, @ajgramling.
Looking at your second comment in this thread it seems like you may also be happy with a web view inside of your fullscreen HoloLens app that could then be synced among multiple users be that positions-wise or logics-wise.
I have not tried integrating a web view into an app myself but my general impression form reading the forums is that there is no good web view for Unity that'd run smooth on HoloLens. Please let us know if you have more success in that direction.
Cheers
Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.