Sony has announced its new ‘immersive spatial content creation system’, including an XR head-mounted display (HMD) and controllers.
Available later this year, the 4K OLED Microdisplay HMD with video pass-through and flip-up visor, along with the pair of precision controllers is aimed at supporting 3D designers, with Sony partnering with the Siemens Xcelerator platform at the launch.
Billed by Siemens as a solution that will ‘kickstart content creation for the industrial metaverse’, Siemens’ NX Immersive Designer will combine Siemens’ NX software and Sony hardware for immersive design and collaborative product engineering capabilities.
The Sony HMD will utilise Sony’s proprietary rendering technology to enable real-time, high-definition and realistic rendering of textures of 3D objects and facial expressions of human characters.
In addition to video pass-through functionality and spatial recognition – with six cameras and sensors in total – the system features a ring controller that allows users to intuitively manipulate objects in virtual space, as well as a pointing controller that enables precise pointing, allowing creators to design in virtual space with controllers and keyboards, all while wearing the head-mounted display.
Creators will not only be able to see real-scale 3D models in an XR environment, but also create and modify 3D models in it. Through integration with third-party 3D creation applications, it also supports remote, real-time review between locations, making this an intuitive and immersive tool for the entire process of spatial content creation.
The device features a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 Platform, unlocking the power of the 4K OLED Microdisplays to deliver a promised ‘stunning image quality’, as well as providing user and space tracking.
The mobile motion capture system “mocopi”, with small and lightweight sensors and a dedicated smartphone app, enables full-body motion tracking, using Sony’s proprietary technologies. Spatial Reality Displays – such as the Sony ELF-SR2 we had a first look at in April 2023 – provide highly realistic, three-dimensional content without the use of special glasses or Virtual Reality headsets, for spatial content creation and review process.
By introducing this system and collaborating with 3D creation software developers, Sony says it is aiming to further empower spatial content creators, “to transcend boundaries between the physical and virtual realms for more immersive creative experiences”.
“Siemens is making the industrial metaverse more accessible so that our customers can use it to solve their real-world problems faster, more sustainably and with greater efficiency – and we will make it available to companies of all sizes, so that everybody can turn their big ideas into world-changing innovations,” said Siemens Digital Industries CEO Cedrik Neike.
Presented in collaboration with Red Bull Racing, the launch video from Siemens showcases how it envisages this new solution empowering engineers in the ‘industrial metaverse’.
