Augmented Reality with Hololens and SketchUp
The Adebeo team was lucky enough to receive a superb Hololens headset! Of course, once on your head, you quickly feel like Robocop, the grip is quite difficult and the angle of view quite limited.
This time we test the augmented reality which is totally different from the virtual reality:
Augmented reality adds information in the user’s field of view (Example: Pokemon Go is an augmented reality application). The applications “scan” the environment to adapt the different information projections. Augmented reality uses a “real” image to broadcast its information.
Virtual reality offers a total immersion to the user, his field of vision is created from scratch, the environment seems “real” thanks to the creation of realistic images, sounds and lights.
So we used the Hololens to present a SketchUp file (cost of the Hololens: 3299€ and SketchUp Viewer: 1499$ ).
First observation: the wearer of the headset is the only one to enjoy the augmented reality, the view sharing is not available and it’s really a pity.
Second observation: after a few minutes of use, gestures are difficult and immersion is not very fluid. We start to find the helmet heavy, we zoom too quickly in the file.
Last observation: the manipulations are not numerous: moving and zooming, taking dimensions (not without difficulties).
The Hololens is a nice gadget (although a bit expensive), it would gain in improvement and efficiency in a few years.