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Beginner questions about Windows Mixed Reality

Hi,

I'm a student and as my final school project i want to develop a VR application. I initially thought about HoloLens but it's way too expensive, so i found out about Mixed Reality. The thing is, i can't find much about it! I managed to find this tutorial series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZKJ9NOCA7s&list=PLCHr3shiHKzb5DmnHfFoG1qdr5XKmRA5O&index=6
but i don't know if that's enough for the application i wish to develop, here is my idea: i was thinking about a virtual World War 2 museum where the user can navigate around and interact with the items via the controllers, in addition to that, having a voice narrating and telling about the artifacts in the muesum would be nice. That said, is the project doable for a beginner or is too advanced? Also, how do regular unity VR tutorials differ ftom Mixed Reality ones?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Answers

  • stepan_stulovstepan_stulov ✭✭✭
    edited February 2018

    Hello, @edi_lipovac

    Your confusion is understandable and is partly for marketing to be blamed. Mixed Reality is an umbrella term introduced by Microsoft in pursuit to homogenize the area of Realities into one Mixed Reality continuum. However, within that continuum there are so called Holographic Apps that run (so far only) on HoloLens headset and Immersive Apps that run on the Immersive Headsets (Dell/Acer/etc.).

    Holographic Apps are in fact augmented reality apps, but still more advanced than what we traditionally call augmented reality: holding your phone against the ground. You see through HoloLens not via the camera feed, but actually just see through the glass. On top of that there are spatially tracked holograms displayed. There is an illusion of the presence of the holograms both visually and audially. Holographic Apps, with a few exceptions, are used in industrial applications such as indoor navigation in a storage room or an assembly line facility. HoloLens is expensive.

    Immersive Apps are very close to other VR apps such as ones running on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and alike. These devices use inside-out tracking (aka no light houses required). In Immersive Apps you do not see the reality, just the 3D content. Immersive Apps are usually to be met in entertainment and education. Headsets that run Immersive Apps are much cheaper than HoloLens.

    You can also see these forums are split into Holographic and Immersive sections by the way.

    From what I understood you don't need HoloLens and can get out with one of the cheaper Immersive Headsets.

    That said, is the project doable for a beginner or is too advanced?

    This is where you need to say "watch me" and just do it. By the time you're done you will inevitably be more advanced than before.

    Hope this helps.

    Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.

  • Thank you so much for the thorough answer @stepan_stulov, you cleared up a lot of doubts. Do you know any other learning sources when it comes to Immersive Apps dvelopment?
    Thanks

  • Yes, best starting source is the Mixed Reality Academy. Cheers

    Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.

  • i see that's for HoloLens, is it going to work just as fine on Immersive Headsets?

  • You are right, it's optimized for HoloLens. While some concept are the same (gaze for example), others are HoloLens-specific (spatial mapping, hand gestures). I believe you can still learn from Mixed Reality Academy, and to be honest I don't know much about immersive stuff as I only develop for HoloLens. Cheers

    Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.

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