Microsoft's HoloLens augmented reality (AR) headsets were recently featured in new demoes that included virtual forests and caves, and holographic communication like in Star Wars movies. The new tech allows people to talk to a live hologram of someone who is in another room. 3D cameras are used to capture the real-time speech and movements of a person, then transmits them to the room where the HoloLens user can see them.
The "Holoportation" requires a lot of hardware and is much more complex than using a smartphone or webcam. However, besides interacting with a real-time hologram users can also record the communication, play it back, and shrink it to set the 3D image on a coffee table, according to The Verge.
Microsoft shares that it wants its new hologram system to be as natural as real-life communication. In the future it could allow people in a conference room to do business with 3D holograms of other people on a different floor of the same building or on the other side of the world.
Microsoft's Alex Kipman recently gave several new demos that featured the company's AR device. One demo allowed Kipman to talk to an avatar of a NASA scientist Jeffrey Norris while standing on Mars' surface.
A Q&A session took place after the TED Talk presentation. Kipman explained that the OS giant used an external camera to produce holograms by pre-mapping the stage before the event so the demo would not slow down when the Wi-Fi did.
HoloLens was first demoed more than a one year ago. The HoloLens developer edition will ship soon although it is uncertain when a retail version will hit the market. More information could be released at next week's Microsoft Build developer conference.
Kipman also explained that although the external camera is equipped with a fisheye lens to create a very wide field of view, the point of light in any particular area are the same, according to Engadget. In other words, the dev kit is worth the $3,000 price tag.
The Hololens Development Edition is scheduled to ship on March 30 in the United States and Canada.