Microsoft set to release AR, and VR offerings this year

This year is scheduled to see the commercial release of several virtual reality (VR) headsets, and the developer edition of Microsoft's augmented reality HoloLens. Both augmented reality (AR) and VR technologies have potential in design workflow and client relations.

Of the two, VR finds more use in architecture, as it could generate a world or simulation of a project that was not yet built. This allowed users to more accurately visualise and work on the built-up space as presented by the platform.

The platform has had around 30 years to mature and there now had more momentum according to George Valdes, AIA, vice president of product at New York-based software developer IrisVR.

On the other hand, AR allows the superimposition of digital information onto real-time imaging of the physical world, which called for hardware with a higher  level of processing to emulate human vision, which had proved to be challenging, according to Valdes. Its use in architecture was therefore limited.

That did not mean other designers had not taken advantage of current AR offerings. Augment, a Paris-based startup app for iOS and Android allows the overlaying a 2D floor plan on a 3D model or virtually map digital objects, such as furniture, into a real-world context, which helped clients to visualize a building or space.

Microsoft Research, had big plans for Augmented Reality, specifically what is called the RoomAlive Project. Using Kinect depth cameras and digital projectors, it creates an augmented reality "zone".

Microsoft is reportedly applying the technology to video calls. It had been visualized to be exactly like a Skype video call except, instead of the other person on users' screen, users can see a hologram of the person, perhaps sitting on a couch across them.

The technology currently worked with real-time streaming, but the resolution and image depth was still something that needed to be addressed.