This week Oculus Passthrough API Experimental was released, giving creators how to create and test mixed reality experiences for VR and AR devices. Since Oculus often makes this, it’s pretty safe to mention that the software will be aimed toward Oculus devices, but the implications of what we’re seeing are way more important than one platform.
The software you see here works with Oculus Quest 2. this is often the newest in simple-to-use, all-in-one VR/AR headset tech from Oculus. With this hardware and software, users can place an Oculus Quest 2 headset on their heads and see the planet through the headset’s cameras. A user’s hands are the controls, and therefore the world is their playground.
The headset will allow the user to account for their surroundings and interact with the space with Oculus software. For example, draw images in virtual space and see them stick, apply filters to the user’s visual interpretation of the planet, allow the planet to be a part of the experience. This Passthrough system could enable the headset to reinforce the planet around the user instead of block it out.
To be clear, the experiences you see within the demonstrations here cannot roll for all users on the Oculus Quest 2 right out of the box. This is often still experimental, and it’s still really meant for developers to urge a thought of what’s possible for their own future mixed reality applications. If you’re a developer and have begun working with this software, Oculus creators have put out the word that they’d like to converse with you in their developer forums.
Oculus Developer representatives suggested that Passthrough API Experimental will be available in the v31 SDK release for Oculus devices within the week. The “production version” of Passthrough API is “targeted for later this year.” At that time, we’ll (hopefully) see an entire lot more of this mixed reality universe become a reality.
