In the Category of Gadgets: New Augmented Spectacles and Stereoscopic 3D for Your Computer

Gadget One: Spectacles 3

Augmented reality meets Spectacles 3, a technology you wear that looks like a cool set of glasses and gives you an immersive augmented reality (AR) experience. A product developed by Snapchat, the social media company, Spectacles is now in its third edition but not yet for sale. Instead, Snapchat is releasing it to the Snap community of partners and developers along with a new set of tools.

Spectacles immersive AR lenses deliver overview displays when looking through them. The eyeglass stems contain two 2 RGB cameras and 4 microphones, and unlike virtual reality headsets, Spectacles doesn’t look “uncool.”

Deconstructing the product as seen in the image below gives you a sense of the layers of complexity built into the product.

How fast does the AR come up when viewing an object? There is a mere 15 milliseconds of latency between what you see, and what the AR overlay delivers. That is virtually instantaneous. And even better, this edition of Spectacles weighs only 134 grams (4.7 ounces). Compare that to popular VR headsets like Oculus Rift, which comes in at over 470 grams (more than one pound).

Snapchat has developed Lens Studio for Spectacles, a software application that allows developers to create augmented reality overlays. It has been designed to make endless custom AR possibilities. It comes with a premade Materials Library for creating overlays, a Script Graph Editor or Behavior helper script for building interactive experiences without having to write code. But if you know JavaScript, you are ahead of the game. With SnamML you can use machine learning to make your AR overlays more intelligent. And if you prefer to use your own 2D or 3D software, Lens Studio lets you import your artwork directly into the AR display.

Anything you create for Spectacles, once submitted, is published for the Snapchatter community which in 2021 has reached over 280 million people worldwide.

Spectacles 3 can be ordered online and is selling for $500 US.

Gadget 2: SpatialLabs from Acer

Acer, the Taiwanese-based computer hardware manufacturer, has developed SpatialLabs, a full 3D immersion technology that creates 3D stereoscopic images when looking at your computer screen. You don’t need special glasses to get the full 3D experience.

SpatialLabs comes with developer software, and Model Viewer, a professional design tool for showcasing 3D images. It allows users to edit and produce objects in 2D and display them in 3D. And to see the results, Acer has built a new computer called the ConceptD.

This laptop combines a stereo camera (two built-in image sensors) with a high-powered processor and built-in graphics card plus 32 Gigabytes of RAM. The cameras track the viewer’s eyes and head. A built-in optical lens projects the camera’s images to the viewer’s eyes. The 3D processing of the image happens in the viewer’s brain just the way our two eyes combine what we see to render our world in 3D.

The limitation of the technology, only one viewer at a time can use it. But The ability to manipulate 3D objects is quite impressive according to Monica Chin of The Verge, who was given the opportunity to see and play with it. She used SpatialLabs Model Viewer to alter animated 3D objects. When the object rotated the lighting and shadows automatically changed using an adjustment tool. She could pull objects towards her or push them away.

SpatialLabs comes with a Player which allows a viewer to watch videos in 3D, a similar experience to wearing those funny glasses in movie theatres. The technology can even be used to create virtual showrooms and games all viewed in 3D.

No pricing or date of release as of yet has been announced for when this technology will move beyond concept to commercial product. It won’t be cheap, but when you consider the tens of thousands of dollars spent on professional graphic design workstations, Acer’s product will come in well under that. Chin used an Acer ConceptD 7 Pro to test the software. The price tag on it without all the extra SpatialLabs software tools came in at $2,899 US.