Having launched its Epic Megagrant initiative last year the company has awarded over $42 million from the $100 million fund. Today, the latest beneficiary from the virtual reality (VR) industry is enterprise headset manufacturer Varjo.
Varjo has received a MegaGrant to help further its mixed reality (MR) support for Unreal Engine, mainly focused on the Varjo XR-1 Developer Edition. The $10,000 headset launched back in December, a combination of the original VR-1 device coupled with two 12mp cameras on the front, enabling users to switch between MR and VR modes.
“Varjo currently provides one of the most advanced mixed reality hardware and software solutions for demanding industrial use,” said Sebastian Loze, industry manager for simulations at Epic Games in a statement. “We are excited to soon have mainline support for Varjo products in the primary Unreal distribution to continue delivering the highest-end visualization for our customers. The addition of new mixed reality features in Unreal Engine enables a new class of application development.”
The headset manufacturer has always focused on the enterprise market for commercial, government, and academic organizations. Its headsets have been used in automotive design, to train pilots and astronauts and help in clinical research. Customers include Volvo Cars, Boeing Starliner, FlightSafety International, and Lockheed Martin.
“We are thrilled to have this support from Epic Games to expand our delivery of mixed reality solutions for the most demanding enterprise VR/XR applications through Unreal Engine,” said John Burwell, global lead of simulation and training at Varjo.
“With OpenXR as the target interface, developers will, for the first time, have access to the industry’s most advanced enterprise-grade mixed reality features to support composing real and virtual environments for a wide variety of applications,” Burwell continued. “Planned features include full support for Varjo’s photorealistic visual fidelity, eye tracking and real-time chroma keying. The resulting solution is likely to position Unreal Engine as the most advanced platform for enterprise mixed reality development.”
Neither Epic nor Varjo have revealed how much was awarded. As further details on Varjo future developments are released, VRFocus will let you know.
via Mint VR