Oculus VR has announced a new “passthrough API technology” that enables Oculus Quest 2 headsets to display an augmented reality image over a VR room.
Currently it is only available for developers to test in the latest SDK build, but Oculus VR stated on its blog post that it would like developers to have the technology ready to patch into their software for Quest 2 devices later this year.
Oculus highlighted three areas in which to apply the passthrough API technology, namely social, productivity, and gaming. Examples include communicating with colleagues through virtual monitors, displaying virtual content for social gatherings, or participating in gaming activities such as – and we quote – “zombies hiding in your living room”.
Other ambitious activities that Oculus is looking to deploy with passthrough technology include drawing 3D images with your finger, applying styles and tones to change the lighting and color scheme of your real-world environment, and rendering passthrough images in your environment.
But how does it work, you ask? Well, your Oculus Quest 2 headset can show your immediate surroundings through its cameras. The passthrough technology can then “overlay” virtual images over the camera feed, creating the illusion that they are projected into real space. These virtual images could, for example, be a monitor that displays a video, a 3D model for interaction with or even virtual targets which, for example, are to be shot at.
Analysis: what does this mean for VR?
Augmented reality technology has certainly come across as tricky in the past, as it is a special throw-away feature on Nintendo 3DS, for example. But the technology has been in practical use for years, with most of us having used our cameras to scan QR codes or “capture” creatures in Pokémon Go on our smartphones, for example.
While a passthrough API may seem like a purely experimental technology on the surface, there could actually be a wide range of practical uses for the technology should developers choose to adopt it. We can’t imagine that the passthrough gaming apps will be anything more than a new distraction (as much as we’d like to disprove it), but we’re more fascinated by productivity and social factors.
Using passthrough for educational purposes could offer something that traditional teaching does not. For example, pass-through technology could be used to display landscapes or cities, accompanied by contextual information to make learning more interactive and fun.
For a social application, we think it would be very cool if a few friends with their Quest 2 headsets could gather together and all could watch a movie or show on a virtual projector that is shown via passthrough.
It seems to be penetrating the realm of AR devices like the Magic Leap One, which sparked a hype in 2018 and was then quickly relegated to the junkyard given developer disinterest and a price barrier inaccessible to consumers. If the Quest 2 can pull off this AR integration, it could fill the gap left by its conspicuous predecessor.
It’s undoubtedly an ambitious technology that surrounds at least a passing sense of novelty. But as Oculus points out, there are really useful uses for passthrough out there, and we hope developers adopt and improve the technology when they can add it to their apps later this year.
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