One of the potential challenges with Digital twins, Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, and the metaverse is the accurate representation of physical materials. Using physically based rendering with procedural or painted materials may “look good” for a gaming scenario, but what happens when the virtual experience is supporting a purchasing process or a scientific analysis? Accurately reproducing the textures of the fabric in a designer coat or the brush strokes on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZiC_as3fVg Way back in the dark ages of the late 1990s most people didn’t create web content and those who did worked for big companies handcrafting HTML and using FTP to push changes to the server. You couldn’t edit content directly online, it was very much an offline publishing model. Twenty years on Virtual Reality (VR) is in that same exclusive place with handcrafted content created mostly in big gaming...

Augmented Reality (AR) headsets could replace the smartphone as the way we connect because staring at a small screen is an unnatural and unhealthy habit. Overlaying imagery on the world using AR headsets would allow us to look up, reengage, and interpret information more intuitively in the context of our actual physical experience. Hence the scramble by many of the large tech firms to create the first truly usable AR...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3oCdCERf50 Over the past 40 years, machine vision has become an important tool for tasks such as defect detection on manufacturing lines, sorting and identifying various types of products, reading barcodes, and even improving safety compliance by monitoring whether workers are wearing appropriate protective gear. Much of this has been done using dedicated hardware and software designed for very specific scenarios. Smartphones are disrupting this dedicated hardware model and greatly...

Meta Platforms spending on Metaverse initiatives (Reality Labs) in 2021 was $12.5 billion and growing rapidly. A big bet even for Meta, especially in the light of a slowing core business with new challenges from competitors like Tik-Tok. Mark Zuckerberg seems to be truly passionate about the Metaverse, having thought about since middle school, and then acquiring Oculus VR for $2.3 billion in 2014 when it has essentially no revenue,...

As published: Digital Twins for Project Planning and Management: Key Considerations Digital twins are increasingly being employed to facilitate more efficient planning, design, and construction of new projects, and they can improve operations of the facility post-construction, as well. Digital twins provide a high-fidelity digital replica of a physical asset and can serve as an intuitive display of the extensive data sets required for a project. They encompass not only...

Can a shift to AR from Mobile devices trigger a new wave of value migration? Augmented and virtual reality have been hyped for years with limited traction to date. Might that soon change? No one has a crystal ball, but it’s instructive to look at the potential through the lens of the patterns observed with other technologies. The bull case for AR and VR is that AR/VR glasses/headsets will be...

As published: Collaborative Application Development Platforms Shift the Dev Paradigm Business meetings have become more digitally collaborative in response to the sudden increase in remote workforces. Zoom and other online meeting services have empowered employees to continue collaborating from anywhere in the world. For the most part, this rapid transition to digital was quite successful in moving the typically in-person business meeting to the cloud. This transition to remote collaboration,...

Immersive Multiexperience: A New Generation of Enterprise Application Development Takes Flight https://dzone.com/articles/immersive-multiexperience-a-new-generation-of-ente

Umajin’s IoT “Software Factory” brings pre-built modules, automation and AI to the process of rapidly creating complete IoT solutions. Working prototypes can be available in a few days, and a fully functional demonstration solution in a few weeks.  The Internet of Things has seen a lot of hype, but fewer success stories.   Low cost system-on-chip modules that incorporate microcontrollers, sensors, cameras, and networking chips open up a wide range of...

Businesses around the world were caught off guard by the sudden shift to remote working in March of 2020. Work processes were suddenly migrated to Zoom calls. As an interim solution this was the best option available and in some cases it was adequate. There remains considerable uncertainty about when fully staffed offices will return and many individuals have become accustomed to a day that doesn’t include wasting time on...