So finally: @Spatiate_app. This will be a big 🧵. One hallmark moment was @AndyLanning painting Groot when we were in London, then uploading it direct to @Sketchfab as seen in this sped-up scene filmed on an iPhone using #ARKit
Showing other people the power of multi-user cross-platform technology was always rewarding, and one moment was called back to in today’s @joinClubhouse talk w/@AndreElijah by @FutureMeme4 (who created OpenVerse). People just “got it.” Every time.
At Unite 2018, we even showed it to Microsoft on Hololens (green) / Magic Leap (gray) / iPad (purple) all painting together. Microsoft to their credit welcomed a joint showcase with open arms, but other parties didn’t sign off. Guest starring @andres & @KatVHarris#ARKit
What we learned was that co-presence made in-headset onboarding EASY as you could see exactly what’s happening in headset. Heavy reduction of “what do you see in there?”questions.
Here with @LucianaSe_
What was really fun was showing how one client (the phone) could create something that the headset could interact with, plus hand tracking. It was true “magic” for the headset wearer. With @AnaMariaKnows & @andres
This understanding of the tech, and knowing exactly what’s happening in real-time, plus being able to collaborate live, was insanely helpful for the demo experience. Here with @harshithakilari & @andres
The paradox for me was as part of Dev Rel, I always put other Devs first for public showcase. I had an unwritten self-imposed rule to only show or support Spatiate when someone else asked for it, or when asked about tech that only Spatiate could do. At GDC '19 w/ @jazna_rossi
"and you waited alllll this hackathon to show me this NOW", per @continuumtoon in this vid, bc again it was a give & take where I wanted to limit showing my own work while also knowing the importance of expanding minds w/ the "art of the possible". With @JacquelineAssar & @andres
One sad thing is that @Facebook had an amazing "3D Posts" feature but shut it down about a year later. Spatiate was initially written as a tilt brush clone that could rapidly make 3d art from any device and share it immediately to Facebook. Here's what that used to look like. #AR
It was also clutch to be able to show multiplayer co-presence on @magicleap (long before pancakes became that standard) to demonstrate the future of the #AR space to #XR powerhouse leaders like @sophiaedm@auradeluxe & @SuzanneBorders (here at GDC ‘19 w/@andres)
At our Bootcamps it was also helpful to demonstrate the multi-modal interaction combo of controller + hand tracking + mobile to partners like @SorayaJaber who were already working in the cross-platform space with @minsarstudio
Besides that there was a lot of joy in seeing the hidden & varied #AR art talents of so many in real-time. Here w/John Holder of @RealitiesCentre where we held our London Bootcamp in April ‘19. Also note that this system allowed for a dynamic, non-stationary spectator camera
In fact, that next month in May ‘19 we happened upon an actual automotive designer, Camillo, who built the bones of an #AR formula 1 car in just a few minutes with no app guidance! (With remote @andres)
Internally, I only brought out Spatiate when teams asked for it. In this case we were included in a spot with @This_Justintech spotlighting social #XR at . Here’s some behind the scenes of how it was shot. (Remotely w/@InFormalMajesty@ali_heston@ga7ahad)
We were also asked to generate a 3D asset for an experimental new diorama type, so @CobyPal and I got in Spatiate to co-design it in 3d space, which was much more efficient than 2d laptops. In-headset 3d asset co-prototyping is one of the prime use cases for this device type, obv
And on that utility front, we learned that Spatialized meetings w/agenda items floating around was very effective memory palace’ing. We were also stunned when @jamese said the Weta team in NZ were using Spatiate WEEKLY to AR rapid prototype, so @andres gave them a roadmap meeting
Video break to recap what this one app uniquely allowed us to showcase:
- Spectator Mode for ML1
- 1st multiplayer app on ML World
- cross-platform w/mobile & HL1
- multi-modal input
And the applied use cases:
- 3d collaboration & design
- immersive meeting
- easier guided demos
On 1 partner engagement @Ksings22 met w/me to go over set design of a Location-Based Experience. She was ready to show me over Skype, but instead we jumped in Spatiate & drew it out at scale. Once complete, I reset the scene to diorama size and had a great reference to work from
And this was all part of the Spatiate roadmap: create models super quickly that you could then use in computing. Increased productivity at lower time cost, no opening Blender or any 3d tool. Export straight to glb, import to Unity.
Seriously, @albn is a heck of an accessible and supportive CEO and one of the top partners in the ecosystem, it's no wonder @Sketchfab is here to stay when so many have shut down.
One really important concept for Spatiate was to "draw from any device, then view on any device". That included a replay feature similar to Tilt Brush. This virtual "birthday card" on 08/08/2019 was made in multiple ML1 headsets by the Weta NZ team, I'm replaying in mobile #ARKit
And of course, as always shareable on Sketchfab. @jameseskfb.ly/onKV6 I called my company "Across Realities" because of all of the ecosystems that were put in place to play together, which was my vision for shared #XR: headsets, mobile, Facebook, Sketchfab, everything.
We had a WebXR viewer as well, the idea was to create an Instagram-like feed so you could paint (single or multiplayer, any #XR device), upload the 3d models & stroke data, then view on web or download & view on any XR device. This is an ugly but working prototype of the web feed
With Spatiate being a self-funded project, the app lives on @magicleap, & as functional but limited betas on iOS / Android, & on my personal machines for other platforms. It's used as an informative look at what a future ecosystem could be, but that's it.
Well... we still enjoy using it for co-presence hangs, & my @magicleap Dev Rel crew threw me a surprise farewell party! In a pandemic! I thought we would have a video call as our final chat, and they used #AR co-presence for a real "in-person" goodbye send-off! With balloons!😭
And this amazing heartfelt piece now lives up online. Much love to the team @FortOfBoxes@ShaneEngelman@kitvolta@kbabilinski. Thanks for hearing my journey w/this app & getting a glimpse one of my visions for the #XR space as the adventure continues..🚀 skfb.ly/onKYM
One of the biggest benefits of developing #XR multiplayer is being able to use the computer as a first-class client to track all the @unity3d logic w/o needing emulators or remote rendering. Here we're doing early testing & solving things (can you tell how much fun we're having)
We also used a 6th desktop client to monitor while filming scenes for the main video linked above. See if you can match some of these to the final product. Clearly directed by @JJCastilloVR, and special thanks to @jasteinerman for lending Ali his headset for this
Today marks the end of a very important chapter in my career as I’ve completed my tour of duty at Magic Leap. I'm proud to have been a part of its story and it a part of mine, with all the work that was accomplished & the friendships that were made here.
There were so many highlights: from LeapCon, to the bootcamps, to the conferences and our work with Japan. I'll cherish the bonds we forged with so many colleagues & the amazing community who all care so much about advancing this #AR#VR space together.
I want to thank the dev community for all of their passionate support for the Magic Leap One device, powering the heart & soul of a number of apps and prototypes. I could never imagine that the fun organic hashtags of #LeapSquad and #LeapNation would grow into what they became.
So yesterday I was at Costco and saw this sign behind the counter. Scarcity is coming, and in some cases is already here. A thread on being prepared for what’s coming 1/
I was at Target around 10am (2 hours after opening) and Toilet Paper *was* stocked that morning, then I watched or participated as the last set of rolls disappeared. (It wasn’t quite a Fun Run.) 2/
Cleaning supplies were very much getting wiped out. The only wipes left did not have alcohol, and even those disappeared minutes after taking this. 3/
This reminds me of when I was at @QualcommVenture and the @HoloLens came out in 2016. @sdesh & I conducted our own deep tech investigation on why the FOV of #AR wasn’t full-field, & came away with massive respect for what was accomplished by the @Microsoft team.
We realized that the way #VR gets to full-frame FOV was by warping the lenses between your eyes and the display, “blowing up” the screen by wrapping it around your eyes. You can’t do that with #AR bc then you’d warp the actual world, making it unviewable
2/
So the commonly discussed “dream” of a single headset where you just “drop a black screen behind AR and you get VR” is very far away because the requirements of the two are not as similar as one would expect.
My definitions: A feature is an embellishment which can make a product better, while the hook is the core experience that drives users to the product. Think of features as the asterisk icons on the back of a video game box. 2/10
A friend pitched me an app idea using shared identity across apps with addictive ad-clicking behavior for revenue. He said he would play that all the time on his phone to level up. I asked “play what?” He had no answer because he focused on the features but not the hook. 3/10