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There he is, in my basement, James “Titanic” Cameron, underwater explorer and digital filmmaker extraordinary.
Oh no no It’s not on my laptop screen. Resembling something between a Star Wars holoprojection and a Macy’s storefront, he is standing in front of my face on a virtual conference stage. When she turns around, you can see the glitter of her silver hair and the back of her black boots.
I should have seen it coming. Microsoft Corp.
MSFT -1.30%
He sent me a box the size of a freight train. Inside was a virtual reality headset from HP (along with a laptop to power it) and Microsoft’s own HoloLens 2 augmented reality (aka mixed reality) goggles. All so you could experience what the company calls “holoportation” at its Ignite conference, which took place virtually on Tuesday. Instead of a boring webcast, Alex Kipman, Microsoft’s fellow AI and mixed reality technician, appeared with other guests, including Cameron, as 3-D holograms.
From my first experience, holotransportation is quite impressive. It’s not quite ready for you either. I had to be hooked up to an HP laptop as a kind of puppet to experience this. Then there’s the $ 3,500 HoloLens 2, which crushes my ears and still has too narrow a field of view.
Still, Microsoft Mesh – the service the company announced Tuesday is the foundation of that holographic experience – is a big step for the future of mixed reality, where digital objects merge with our real world.
With a virtual reality headset and a virtual meeting platform like Spatial, you can meet and collaborate with your colleagues as if you were in a real office space. WSJ’s Joanna Stern transformed into a holographic avatar and rode a virtual elevator to test it out. Photo Illustration: Adam Falk
Mesh allows people in different physical spaces to collaborate in virtual environments on different types of devices and applications. With Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, developers add it to their applications. People using those apps can create their own digital avatars and collaborate with others.
Think of it like logging into an app with Google, Facebook, or Apple, only now your avatar is your identity. Whatever application you enter, it will be the same digital hologram.
Virtual collaboration is not new. I have been experimenting with shared spaces in virtual reality throughout the pandemic. Sometimes instead of joining a video call, I put on the Oculus Quest 2 headsets and come across the 3D avatar versions of my colleagues in an app called Spatial. (The creators of Spatial even designed a virtual version of my WSJ elevator.) Microsoft-owned AltspaceVR, which is where today’s event was held, has virtual comedy shows and meeting spaces.
However, what Microsoft is doing now is different. First, the company aims to unify what is a fairly fragmented space. No matter what headset (HoloLens or Oculus), laptop (Mac or PC), or mobile device (iOS or Android), you will be able to log in and connect with other avatars.
In the future, Microsoft wants to go beyond these avatars and turn us all into real holograms. Most of these platforms leave you looking cartoonish or warped. But those on stage representing Mr. Kipman and Mr. Cameron looked like a live 3-D video.
Joanna Stern, wearing a virtual reality headset in her basement, attended Microsoft’s Ignite virtual conference as a cartoon avatar.
Photo:
Joanna Stern / The Wall Street Journal
The process of creating these volumetric objects is early and expensive. Higher-end holograms require a facility like Microsoft’s mixed reality capture studios, where you perform in front of a giant green screen, as 160 cameras record various angles. Kipman used a somewhat more affordable lowering: three $ 399 Azure Kinect DK depth cameras.
So yeah, it will take a while for us to have our own holograms; furthermore, the hardware is not ready for consumers. It took me a good 30 minutes to set up the HP Reverb G2 headphones to watch the presentation, and my HoloLens 2’s battery ran out in a meeting with another Microsoft executive last week.
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The $ 299 Oculus Quest 2 headset is the most advanced on these fronts, although it is full virtual reality, not augmented reality. Mr. Kipman says Microsoft is working to bring the technology in its HoloLens, currently targeted at businesses, to that consumer level.
“The technology is not ready, in terms of convenience, in terms of immersion, in terms of value, for consumers,” he said. “Consumers need glasses, socially acceptable glasses. I’m not going to stand on stage talking about consumers until we believe we have headphones that are comfortable enough, immersive enough, and socially acceptable enough. “
Even when that time comes, Microsoft will likely have to fight for dominance with other giants with interests in this area, including Facebook and Apple Inc. And all of those companies must answer a giant question: What is the killer collaboration app? Here are some ideas:
Labor collaborationInstead of a Zoom or Microsoft Teams meeting on your laptop, you enter a virtual conference room with your holographic colleagues. In marketing? You all write your next big campaign ideas on the board with digital pens and clip art. In industrial design? You pass and review 3D prototypes. In medical research? Review three-dimensional diagrams and organs.
This is where James Cameron fits in. He and his nonprofit educational partner OceanX are using Microsoft Mesh to create a “holographic lab” on the OceanXplorer ship. Their goal is to collaborate virtually through labs around the world and work with 3D holograms of the areas they explore.
Niantic previewed what a ‘Pokémon Go’ would look like using Microsoft Mesh.
Photo:
Joanna Stern / The Wall Street Journal
Games: Pokémon, obviously. Kipman was joined on the “stage” by John Hanke, CEO and founder of Niantic Inc., the company behind “Pokémon Go.” It showed a concept version in which Pokémon appear right in front of you on the sidewalk.
Live events: The Microsoft event itself was the best demonstration of what this technology can unlock. As I sat in the audience like a box-faced avatar, waiting for the event to start, I heard a man behind me mention a virtual seatmate who worked in headset hardware at Microsoft. It was like eavesdropping on a conversation at a real tech conference.
Someday, I will go back to those lectures, but certainly not with the same capacity and frequency that I used to. I could choose to stay home because it’s easier. I’ll put on some fancy headphones and a holoport. When that day comes, the holograms can be as normal as Zoom calls.
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Write to Joanna Stern at [email protected]
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