VR will be dead AR is king? Bernard Kress, head of Microsoft HoloLens optics, said

On December 2nd, the China-US Virtual Reality Conference hosted by Stanford University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the China Electronic Video Industry Association ended in Beijing. During this two-day conference, a group of scholars from Facebook, Microsoft, Stanford, Beijing Polytechnic, Ali Buy+, Tencent Video, etc. discussed and shared the research status and future development direction of virtual reality technology. . Zhizhi has conducted in-depth interviews with Internet giant representatives of Facebook and Microsoft overseas VR/AR.

Among them, Facebook, one of the industry benchmarking companies, has received a lot of attention; Engineering Director Brian Cabral introduced Facebook's new VR project: the all-open-source 3D-360 degree panoramic camera Surround 360. In the post-meeting discussion, Brian told Zhizhi that although we could not disclose the specific sales of Oculus, the Surround team worked closely with Oculus, and the experimental data and research results were shared.

The other "star" at the meeting is naturally the "black technology" from Microsoft - HoloLens augmented reality glasses. Speaking of augmented reality AR technology, everyone seems to talk too much. The painful experience of Google glasses last year is still fresh in memory. Nowadays, the three big heads are appearing (Oculus, HTC VIVE, Sony PSVR), people are more willing to look Focus on the VR. However, Apple, one of the core players of technology, has no movement, but recently revealed its intention to enter the AR.

Microsoft, who lost the smartphone market, skipped VR and launched AR glasses directly. Can it regain a game in the virtual reality industry? After the meeting, Zhizhi (Public Number: zhidxcom) conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Bernard Kress, the principal of Microsoft and the head of HoloLens/the former head of Google Optical Optics. Dr. Bernard told Zhizhi, "(Although VR is hot now), the VR market will eventually shrink. The future trend is the rise of AR, eating the VR market and gradually turning VR into one of the functions of AR."

First, the virtual head shows the development direction: lighter, smaller, more comfortable

In the speech, Dr. Bernard gave a speech on the problems of excessive size, over-quality, poor imaging performance and serious vertigo in the current virtual reality. He pointed out the future development direction of virtual reality: lighter and more Comfortable, low power, high resolution, a larger field of view (FOVE), and the ability to have a computer, VR, or AR.

“The ultimate wearable device is to be worn every day. It should be as comfortable as a pair of glasses and a watch, but smarter and more versatile than a mobile phone,” Dr. Bernard said. “Oh, there are At one point, it must be able to switch between VR and AR."

Microsoft is doing this toward this goal. In January 2015, a hybrid head-mounted display HoloLens and Window 10 system were released in North America. At the press conference, a game using HoloLens was displayed, allowing users to take their own The living room directly turns into a cool interstellar battlefield. In the video, the holographic projection technology that can only appear in science fiction movies can now be realized with HoloLens. Everyone shouted "Microsoft Black Technology".

HoloLens, the full name of HoloLens augmented reality glasses, looks a bit like a combination of a common black VR head display and a regular eyeglass, but unlike VR, HoloLens AR glasses don't let users get out of the real world. Instead, it renders various types of images based on the real environment, projecting images, models, and even holograms in front of the eyes. Because HoloLens has its own built-in Window 10 system, it does not require an external motion capture instrument or a computer connection. It is a true all-in-one solution.

What was not mentioned in the speech was that in March 2016, the first developer version, which was priced at $3,000, was officially launched in North America; it was subsequently sold in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany. Recently, the developer and business versions of HoloLens have also been pre-sold in the Japanese market. It is expected to be shipped in early 2017, with the commercial version selling for about RMB 37,000.

Second, the Hololens consumer version has to wait another 5 years

After the meeting, the reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Dr. Bernard; in the interview, Dr. Bernard told reporters that he originally worked at Google and was extended by Microsoft last year. At first, Bernard didn't want to leave the Google team. After trying out the prototype of Microsoft's HoloLens at the time, he was amazed and nodded.

Dr. Bernard also revealed a little insider to Google's glasses by the way: Google announced an Aura project like the upgraded version of Google glasses at the beginning of this year (Project Aura, which revealed a design prototype without a physical screen display) However, this project has now come to an end. Although Google did not really give up AR glasses products, the focus has been placed on the DayDream VR project.

"Google was hurt by Glass and didn't want to look back."

As for being asked about the sales of HoloLens, "I can't tell you the exact number," Dr. Bernard hesitated after a long sip of coffee and said, "Thousands to hundreds of thousands of units (dozens of thousands Of units)"

As a high-priced developer version, this number is not surprising. Dr. Bernard also told reporters that the HoloLens project Microsoft started six years ago (although it has been stagnant for four years), but it is still far from being a truly mature consumer product. "The earliest 4 years, the latest 8 years" is his prediction for the consumer version of HoloLens. In the meantime, Microsoft will launch many versions, but it will be for developers and business oriented.

In fact, to be a consumer version, the price is not the only constraint. At present, there are already AR glasses that consumers can afford. For example, the American AR glasses company Meta, its first-generation products are pre-sold for $667 on the crowdfunding platform, and the second-generation products are pre-sold for $949. The price is almost fast. The tolerance of the person is within.

But as a product of to C, in addition to the price, the user experience is also a top priority. “It is very dangerous to launch the consumer version before the product is mature. If the wearing is uncomfortable, the consumer will reject the technology and endanger the future market development. Meta's products are still too heavy and too big. ”

In an earlier speech, Dr. Bernard mentioned that there are still many problems that the AR head has to solve: battery life, size, weight, resolution, and visual comfort (the current virtual head motion sickness remains to be solved) and many more. Technological innovation takes time, and this process is a step by step. Just like the big brother 40 years ago, after undergoing steps of reduction, black and white, color screen, flip, touch screen, etc., it finally evolved into a smartphone that consumers now have.

Although China does not currently buy the first generation of HoloLens, perhaps we can expect the next generation of products to enter the domestic market. When asked about when Microsoft will launch the next generation of HoloLens, Dr. Bernard smiled mysteriously. "I still can't reveal it, but I can tell you that it won't be next year."