7 posts tagged with "ar"

TL; DR -> Unity has its ways, and not all are obvious or easy to overcome, one such issue is with 3D model animations. In short, although animations will play automatically, other times they just do not and it is very unclear why. In this solution, we FORCE animations to run, trusting not our fate to the Unity gods whims.

Full disclosure, for once, this post was written supported by AI (Claude Sonnet 4 in this case), as it was the AI's intensified work that ended up finding the final solution, so it deserves some credit too. Although as a rule, I generally only write myself, with the occasional help of a spell/grammar checker :D

The Problem: Inconsistent Animation Playback​

In the Unity AR application I am building with work, I encountered a puzzling issue where 3D models with embedded animations behaved differently depending on how they were loaded:

TL; DR -> I am immensely proud of my achievements evolving the MS HoloToolkit into the cross-platform framework that became the MS Mixed Reality Toolkit, and the journey onwards to crafting framework components for the XRTK and finally the Reality Collective.

It seems almost a lifetime ago before I was invited into the Microsoft HoloToolkit team following a strong suggestion by Stephen Hodgson who was already working closely with Microsoft. I had already been working in the XR space for some time and my experiences and skillz seemed a good fit to take things forward. I did not know at the time just how far forward we would go!

TL;DR -> XR is an interesting space with lots to offer, but it is not for the faint of heart as there are many challenges ahead. Checkout my solutions that are live in the market, not fake demos.

In a showcase of my recent efforts, I thought I would share some of the experiences I have been working on. Each has brought its own challenges, from dealing with engines and software, tackling complex integrations between vendor SDK's and achieving the desired implementation, to the often confusing requirements set down by customers or sales.

TL;DR -> Ethar is an XR powerhouse, using the latest technologies from leading partners and delivering award winning solutions, while also investing in XR research to make new experiences possible, quick and easy to deliver.

As an avid content creator and educator, these past few years have been tough since I joined Ethar (the premier XR Experience platform). I've loved being here since I joined the team and worked hard to accelerate their vision of creating the worlds first truly cross platform and cross-vendor spatial aware platform, however due to my focus I've not had as much time as I have had in the past to share what I've been up to and demonstrate to others what they can achieve.

After months of hard labour, cross words and more debates that you can shake a relatively large stick at, the Mixed Reality Toolkit finally entered the Beta phase.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the dream of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) experiences has accelerated in recent months/years with the evolution of newer and more modern technologies and techniques. Many companies, Kickstarter’s and freelance coders / architects are steadily bringing about the Reality revolution. Whether we are actually there yet or there is still a way to go before there is full consumer acceptance of VR/AR (like Cars and mobile phones do today) is a point of debate. Anyone however who has tried at least one Demo though will tell you they are very impressed.

As promised here is the recording of the webcast session I did for AT&T on Augmented Reality with Windows Phone.