Though Magic Leap remain quite cagey about its technology, some information on the upcoming augmented reality (AR) device have emerged in recent months, giving analysts a clearer picture of what can be expected. The latest reveal comes as developers have uncovered details on what users can expect from the Magic Leap One field of view (FoV).
The information was found buried in the developer’s website source code, and detailed a document that was said to be the final text describing the Magic Leap One’s FoV, as revealed over on Next Reality.
Hidden underneath placeholder text which said only ‘Coming Soon on Launch Day!’, an unnamed developer discovered some hidden text which revealed that the augmented view will be 40 degrees horizontal by 30 degrees vertical, with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
By comparison, the Microsoft HoloLens has a 16:9 aspect ratio with a 30-degree horizontal and 17-degree vertical FoV, the PlayStation VR has a 16:9 aspect ratio with a 100-degree field of a view. Some have also compared this with the FoV offered by the Leap Motion Project North Star device, which is an AR device which can offer a combined 100-degree FoV (105° by 75°).
For the Magic Leap One, this means that instead of offering an integrated real and augmented world, and will instead be looking at digital content through a ‘window’ which has been described in the documentation as being able to depict a ‘large house cat’ as a distance of 40 inches away.
To ease the jarring impact this narrow digital window might have, Magic Leap suggests that developers use a technique to gently fade content in and out as it impacts the ‘edges’ of the window.
Strangely, in the documentation Magic Leap seem to avoid the accepted terminology of ‘Field of view’ and instead refer to a ‘viewing frustrum’.
Many have already expressed disappointment and frustration with these revealed details, with some experts questioning if Magic Leap can really hope to meet the expectations they raised with their early publicity.
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Update: This story has been updated to include a link to Next Reality, the original source of the story.
via Mint VR