HoloLens

Browsing posts in: HoloLens

Nov 9, 2017 |

What are Digital Realities? – New Pluralsight Course

Just yesterday I did another interview about HoloLens, what it is and how it fits into the world of virtual and augmented reality. It is a question I get a lot at conferences, user groups, client meetings and of course on social media. Had you asked me two years ago it was a reasonably straight forward answer, with three distinct categories of digital realities.

However, as the technologies evolve, and especially with the introduction of Apple’s AR Kit and Google’s AR Core, the lines are blurring. The once firm definitions are becoming more gray so much so that fellow HoloDeveloper Rene Schulte the other day did a 12min video to explain where mixed reality belong. It will likely end up being all the same definition, whether it is virtual, augmented, mixed or something else entirely. It is both exciting and frustrating at the same time.

Back in June 2017 I was presenting at NDC Oslo and while there I recorded a number of play by play courses for Pluralsight. One of those was with my good mate Stephen Haunts (who has glorious hair) on exactly this topic: digital realities. If you don’t know what a play by play is, go read Steve’s post about it in detail.

Pluralsight Play by Play Recordings at NDC Oslo

The course is now live and is a great insight into how you can get started building apps for mixed reality and HoloLens. Go watch the trailer now!

Nov 3, 2017 |

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Introduction to Google ARCore Development

I have been experimenting with augmented reality on various platforms for a while, and this article describes how to get started with Google’s AR Core platform. First published on gooroo.io.

In the past couple of years, if not more, the technology of virtual, augmented and, lately, mixed realities have taken a huge leap forward both for consumers as well as enterprise. Initially augmented reality (AR) almost entirely consisted of overlaying data on the real world, triggered by a shape, a logo, a QR code, or something else that could be easily recognised. Most of all it was very similar to a heads up display. Not really interacting with the real world, not really being part of your reality.

In January 2015 Microsoft announced the HoloLens Mixed Reality headset, which was released a year later. The HoloLens took augmented reality to an entirely new level, and Microsoft called this “mixed reality” (MR). The groundbreaking aspect of it is the environmental scanning and spatial mapping capabilities, which means the device knows the physical layout of your surroundings to an amazing degree of details.

3D model of my living room captured with HoloLens

This detailed awareness of the environment means that digital assets, or holograms, knows where their surroundings are and can act accordingly. You can have people sitting next to you on a chair or couch, place digital flowers on top of a real table, have characters navigate your actual living room and much much more. This spatial mapping and tracking capability essentially left other augmented reality implementations for dead.

Android AR Core Google

Jun 30, 2017 |

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Europe Trip 2017 – All the Things!

I am writing this as I sit in a comfortable Danish train on first class enjoying the space and enjoying the expectation of what lies ahead. As I zoom towards Hamburg to pick up the family and spend three weeks in Europe visiting friends, family and discovering new places, I think back of the last three and a bit mad weeks. The biggest trip I have ever done in terms of conferences, user groups, presentations, workshop and so much more.

Having been travelling for conferences and other work commitments extensively for the past 4 years, I have now come to a point, where any travel needs not only expose my brand and my content to a new and larger audience, but I also need to be able to fill out any spare time with other work and exposure. Being a freelancer and independent software developer, my time is always in demand, either for paying bills, building brand or, of course, spending with my family. Every decision to spend time away from home needs to be an absolute win.

May 1, 2017 |

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HoloLens Development: Spatial Mapping

I have been doing HoloLens for a while now, and I am continually amazed of the ideas and projects the community is creating. A lot of the best ideas evolve from the desire to interact with digital assets in a physical world, which is what mixed reality (MR) is all about. This is enabled through spatial mapping, which is easy to use and difficult to master. This article first published at Pluralsight.

Interest in HoloLens, and digital reality in general, is growing rapidly. And a large part of that interest comes from developers wanting to know how to build software for HoloLens, the mixed reality device from Microsoft.

mixed reality spatial mapping

Apr 15, 2017 |

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Holographic Programming: a HoloLens How-to in a Mixed Reality World

Most people are aware of virtual reality (VR) and to a lesser extent augmented reality (AR). I the last couple of years a new digital reality, mixed reality (MR), has emerged with Microsoft and their HoloLens as the front runner. I have been absolutely blown away by the capabilities and promise of the technology, hence the activity in the form of blog posts, conference talks, workshops and Pluralsight courses. This article explains the various digital realities and was first published by Pluralsight.

In the last couple of years, digital realities have become a more and more stable part of the software landscape. While these technologies aren’t as mainstream as apps for your iPhone or a website for your favorite pizza place, they certainly are pushing their way forward and popping up their digitally distorted face in all kinds of places. Companies like Oculus, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are all heavily involved in developing digital realities for the future of computing. We are talking billions of dollars invested in these projects, which mean as developers and consumers, we should take these products and technologies seriously. They aren’t going anywhere.

However, they aren’t all created equal. In particular, there are three main areas of digital reality.

Apr 9, 2017 |

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Scandinavia 2017 and HoloLens

For the last couple of years I have done the yearly pilgrimage to NDC Oslo in June. This is still the best developer conference I have ever been a part of. And guess what? I get to go again this year. I have been fortunate enough to be selected to participate in this amazing event again, and I can’t wait.

Because my heritage is Danish and all of my family is still in the old motherland, I usually combine it with a visit to my family and a holiday. This year I thought I would get a bit more out of the trip and organised both private and public workshops and presentations in Scandinavia.

Apr 6, 2017 |

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Using the HoloToolkit for HoloLens

This article was first posted on gooroo.io

Developing applications and experiences for HoloLens is not hard to get started with, but after you have started a number of projects and worked through the same setup and plumbing a few times, you wish there was an easier way to do it. Well, there is! Created by the team that produced Fragments and Young Conker, the HoloToolkit is a collection of scripts and components intended to accelerate the development of holographic applications targeting Windows Holographic.

The toolkit is all free and comes in two varieties: one for Visual Studio and one for Unity 3D. Developing for HoloLens means spending a LOT of time in the Unity editor, and the HoloToolkit is a simple .unitypackage file you can download and import into your Unity project.

mixed reality UWP

Feb 21, 2017 |

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Microsoft Ignite AU 2017 – A Recap

I have just returned from a 3,200km round trip to the Gold Coast to attend the yearly Microsoft Ignite conference (formerly known as Tech Ed). I had only done that drive once before, in the opposite direction, and this time I took the family along. Normally you would fly this distance, so it was a great opportunity to see a tiny bit of the enormous country I live in.

Route to Ignite

It is a long drive up there, but at least we had some great places to stop on the way. It took us two and a bit days to do the drive, but the breaks were just bearable.

Razorback

Enough about the journey. This is a recap of the return of Microsoft Ignite after more than a year off the events calendar. If you aren’t familiar with Microsoft Ignite Australia, it is the premier Australian Microsoft event of the year, traditionally held on the Gold Coast in Australia. It is of course a very corporate event, but it does showcase all the latest and greatest in the world of Microsoft. Most of the great Aussie speakers in the space are there and the content and quality is always top notch. I do enjoy going there. Continue Reading

Ignite road trip

Feb 6, 2017 |

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Code Europe – Speaking about HoloLens in Poland

In December 2016 I was invited to speak on HoloLens development at a new conference, Code Europe, in Poland of all places. I have never been to Poland, and to be honest, initially I thought the first email was spam. But it wasn’t. I ended up doing 2 workshops and 4 talks in two cities in 3 days. It was a bit hectic. Before I go into details, check out this recap video from absolvent.pl, the company behind the event.

code europe poland

Jan 22, 2017 |

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Learning HoloLens Development

For the past year I have been doing a lot of talks, workshops and writing around the HoloLens device. I have travelled to Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Poland and lately England, as well locally around Australia to share my passion for the device and the development for it. Although the tooling continue to improve and change, the main paradigm and approach hasn’t changed. Mixed reality is still the same, but the interest for it (and other digital realities) is growing rapidly. Because I can’t be everywhere and only can attend so many conferences and events, I decided to turn some of my conference material into a Pluralsight course for all to consume. Continue Reading

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