A few years ago, Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap promised a future of groundbreaking visual experiences that blend digital and real worlds. While the headsets were bulky, expensive, and proprietary — and, in fact, both products are dying slow deaths — the demos got the public used to the idea that the future of augmented reality would be wild and filled with 3D visual content.
HoloLens projected interactive 3D holograms into users’ environments, allowing them to manipulate these holograms with natural hand gestures, eye tracking, and voice commands. Public demos showed fighting virtual robots in the living room and giant anatomical models for education.
Magic Leap showed off hyper-realistic digital humans like its AI assistant, Mica, who could recognize a user’s mood and interact as though present in the room. The company promised architectural walkthroughs and collaborative design sessions, where multiple users could manipulate big 3D models together.
