Augmented Reality or the Meta verse – words you should know

“I view AR as profound. Not today, not the app you’ll see on the App Store today, but what it will be, what it can be, I think it’s profound” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO

AR now Meta verse is getting momentum and the way information is getting consumed is changing dramatically. The total size of the Augmented reality market by 2023 is expected to touch 160 billion dollars (source). It’s a great industry to be in and also it is great to understand and learn about some of the popular words which are part of the AR  world or the Meta verse.

Augmented reality – Augmented reality or popularly known as AR is a digital technology that places virtual objects capable of digital and physical interaction within the user’s field of view when looked through a camera view of a wearable or a screen based device. The virtual objects placed in the real world have either a context based relation or location based relation with the real world environment. Popular examples of AR includes Pokemon Go, Snapchat, Layar

CAD – As per Wikipedia Computer Aided Design abbreviated as CAD refers to the use of computers (or workstations) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design(source). The models developed in CAD software can be used to view Augmented reality based applications.

FoV – Field of View abbreviated as FoV is one of the hottest topics in the AR world or the Meta verse, often you will see OEMs laying major emphasis on this buzzword while marketing their glasses or wearable which are AR or Meta verse enabled. In layman’s terms FoV refers to how big a virtual image is when looked through an AR enabled headset or device. The smaller the FoV, the AR images viewed will appear narrow. Bigger the FoV, better and flexible will be the AR experience.

gITF – GL transmission format abbreviated as gITF is the Jpeg of 3d. It’s a 3d file format which is operated as an open source project by Kronos. gITF is royalty free and is extremely light in terms of 3d asset size and processing time required to load the 3d assets created as gITF.

Hologram – Hologram is a 3 dimensional image which could be animated and audio enabled. The holographic image is generated by light which is projected on a transparent screen or in an open environment. Popular example of Hologram includes addressing election gatherings using Holographic images in the General elections in India in the year 2014.

Light field camera – A light field camera, also known as plenoptic camera, captures information about the light field emanating from a scene; that is, the intensity of light in a scene, and also the direction that the light rays are traveling in space. This contrasts with a conventional camera, which records only light intensity(source).

Mesh – Mesh refers to a collection of points connected with lines drawn between them that represent a system’s view of a 3 dimensional object.

Optical engine – OC or Optical engine is a component which is setup in a head mounted device(example – a VR headset). Optical engine generates the visual content for the viewer to view.

SLAM – Simultaneous Localization and Mapping abbreviated as SLAM refers to a procedure in which a system scans the real world environment and constructs a point based digital map of the scanned area. SLAM plays a very important role in  AR persistence.  

Virtual reality – Augmented reality places virtual objects in the real world. Virtual reality places virtual objects in the virtual world. Virtual reality replaces users’ real physical environment experience with a virtual world.

Augmented Reality is changing information consumption techniques and experiences but this has not happened overnight. Building Augmented Reality experiences needs a mindful team to work together and create lovable solutions that delight the end users and solve their problems. We are eager to talk to you and meet you and help you build the future of computing. Trust the famous Bangalore filter coffee is on us. Please click here to schedule a free consultation

Prashant Gupta, Founder, Chief Maverick, BiCSoM