Modest adoption by developers and enterprises may have stunted Magic Leap’s augmented reality hardware ambitions, but its Magicverse — a shared digital world overlaid upon the real one — is one step closer to real today, as the company has released an early version of its Magicverse SDK for developers.
The technical preview of the Magicverse SDK enables developers to offer location-synchronized content across multiple platforms using Magic Leap spatial maps and persistent coordinate frames, assuming that users have access to either a shared cloud or real-time, multi-user networking. Users with mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Android phones will be able to see digital content stored within the Magicverse, though the company says these devices need to be held in landscape orientation to localize in AR.
Magic Leap’s goal for the Magicverse is to provide the underlying digital layer or layers for users in the real or virtual world to experience content together, such that visitors to a shopping mall might always see the same AR-displayed digital signage outside or find the same digital items or promotions inside — regardless of whether they’re wearing Magic Leap glasses or using other devices. The company anticipates the Magicverse SDK will let users who “are physically present, digitally copresent, or both” discover and interact with content and experiences that are digitally stored at specific locations.
As of now, the company is offering separate XR Kits for Android, iOS, MagicScript, Unity, and Unreal Engine, though the Android and MagicScript kits are presently without documentation. The kits are free for registered developers to download through the Magic Leap Developer site. Magic Leap 1 AR glasses start at $2,295 and climb to $2,995 in various bundles.
Author: Jeremy Horwitz.
Source: Venturebeat
