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What Is Mixed Reality

Mixed reality blends the physical and digital worlds through advancements in computer vision, graphics, and input systems. It was first defined in 1994 as existing on a virtuality continuum between the physical and digital. Mixed reality experiences involve environmental input, spatial sound and positioning across real and virtual spaces. It uses human, computer, and environmental interactions to create blended experiences.

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Костянтин Горбач
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126 views5 pages

What Is Mixed Reality

Mixed reality blends the physical and digital worlds through advancements in computer vision, graphics, and input systems. It was first defined in 1994 as existing on a virtuality continuum between the physical and digital. Mixed reality experiences involve environmental input, spatial sound and positioning across real and virtual spaces. It uses human, computer, and environmental interactions to create blended experiences.

Uploaded by

Костянтин Горбач
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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WHAT IS MIXED REALITY?

Mixed Reality is a blend of physical and digital worlds, unlocking the links between
human, computer, and environment interaction. This new reality is based on
advancements in computer vision, graphical processing power, display technology,
and input systems. However, the term Mixed Reality was introduced in a 1994 paper
by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino, "A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual
Displays." Their paper explored the concept of the virtuality continuum and the
categorization of taxonomy applied to displays. Since then, the application of Mixed
Reality has gone beyond displays to include:
 Environmental input
 Spatial sound
 Locations and positioning in both real and virtual spaces

Image: Mixed Reality is the result of blending the physical world with the digital
world.
Environmental input and perception
Over the past several decades, exploration into the relationship between human and
computer input has continued, leading to the discipline known as human computer
interaction or HCI. Human input happens through different means, including
keyboards, mice, touch, ink, voice, and even Kinect skeletal tracking.
Advancements in sensors and processing are giving rise to a new area of computer
input from environments. The interaction between computers and environments is
effectively environmental understanding or perception, which is why the API names
in Windows that reveal environmental information are called the perception APIs.
Environmental input captures things like a person's position in the world (head
tracking), surfaces and boundaries (spatial mapping and scene understanding),
ambient lighting, environmental sound, object recognition, and location.

Image: The interactions between computers, humans, and environments.


The combination of all three - computer processing, human input, and environmental
input - sets the stage for creating true Mixed Reality experiences. Movement through
the physical world can translate to movement in the digital world. Boundaries in the
physical world can influence application experiences, such as game play, in the
digital world. Without environmental input, experiences can't blend between
physical and digital realities.
The Mixed Reality spectrum
Since Mixed Reality blends both physical and digital worlds, these two realities
define the polar ends of a spectrum known as the virtuality continuum. We refer to
the array of realities as the Mixed Reality spectrum. On the left-hand side, we have
the physical reality that we as humans exist in. On the right-hand side, we have the
corresponding digital reality.
Augmented vs. virtual reality
Most mobile phones on the market today have little to no environmental
understanding capabilities. The experiences they offer can't mix physical and digital
realities. The experiences that overlay graphics on video streams of the physical
world are augmented reality. The experiences that occlude your view to present a
digital experience are virtual reality. The experiences enabled between augmented
and virtual reality form Mixed Reality:
 Starting with the physical world, placing a digital object, such as a hologram,
as if it was there.
 Starting with the physical world, a digital representation of another person--
an avatar--shows the location where they were standing when leaving notes.
In other words, experiences that represent asynchronous collaboration at
different points in time.
 Starting with a digital world, physical boundaries from the physical world,
such as walls and furniture, appear digitally within the experience to help
users avoid physical objects.

Image: The Mixed Reality spectrum


Most augmented reality and virtual reality offerings available today represent a small
part of this spectrum and are considered subsets of the larger Mixed Reality
spectrum. Windows 10 is built with the entire spectrum in mind, and allows blending
digital representations of people, places, and things with the real world.

Devices and experiences


There are two main types of devices that deliver Windows Mixed Reality
experiences:
1. Holographic devices are characterized by the device's ability to place digital
content in the real world as if it were there.
2. Immersive devices are characterized by the device's ability to create a sense
of "presence"--hiding the physical world, and replacing it with a digital
experience.
Characteristic Holographic devices Immersive devices
Example device Microsoft HoloLens Samsung HMD Odyssey+

Display See-through display. Allows user to see Opaque display. Blocks out the physical
the physical environment while wearing environment while wearing the headset.
the headset.
Movement Full six-degrees-of-freedom movement, Full six-degrees-of-freedom movement,
both rotation and translation. both rotation and translation.

Technological advancement is what has enabled Mixed Reality experiences. There


are no devices today that can run experiences across the entire spectrum. Windows
10 provides a common Mixed Reality platform for both device manufacturers and
developers. Devices today can support a specific range within the Mixed Reality
spectrum, with new devices expanding that range. In the future, holographic devices
will become more immersive, and immersive devices will become more
holographic.

Image: Where devices exist on the Mixed Reality spectrum

It's best to think what type of experience an application or game developer wants to
create. The experiences will typically target a specific point or part on the spectrum.
Developers should consider the capabilities of devices they want to target.
Experiences that rely on the physical world will run best on HoloLens.
Towards the left (near physical reality). Users remain present in their physical
environment and are never made to believe they have left that environment.
In the middle (fully Mixed Reality). These experiences blend the real world and the
digital world. Viewers who have seen the movie Jumanji can reconcile how the
physical structure of the house where the story took place was blended with a jungle
environment.
Towards the right (near digital reality). Users experience a digital environment, and
are unaware of what occurs in the physical environment around them.

A source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/mixed-
reality/discover/mixed-reality#environmental-input-and-perception

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