Another contender for the currently hot AR segment at this year’s CES has made its debut. RealMax is an Augmented Reality start-up based out of Hong Kong. It is also one of many trying to crack the AR code that gripped the CES 2018. The biggest edge that RealMax’s AR headset has over the competition is its Field Of View (FOV). It has the biggest FOV in the segment at 100 degrees, almost twice the size offered by current leader Microsoft’s HoloLens.
The Headset available for demo had two visual experiences for demo. The first overlaid the field of vision with a school of fishes and a mermaid, the second visual had virtual satellites going around a 3D map of the earth. The visuals were rudimentary meaning the prototype is far from being a finished product yet, though with lots of promises. Also the product design too is far from finalized as the one at the show resembled prototype put together with off the shelf parts.
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The tech used is impressive, “6 degrees of freedom” integration allows for traversal through scenes blending reality with digital overlay and active tracking. Additionally you can even interact with virtual objects in the AR world on a physical level via the incorporated hand tracking and gesture recognition tech by RealMax.
The headset is also VR compatible, thereby offering the wearer transition to varied levels of immersion of his choice. It also provides an almost 180 degrees see through optical visibility. The headset clocks in at only 450g currently but that could change by the time final version arrives. It’s comforatbel to wear even in its current form and also supports prescription glasses.
For content development for the headset RealMax has also unveiled the Realmax Studio. It is an AR development platform which is completely web based. It combines the ability to distribute and share mixed reality content via any browser of HTML5 based website with the familiarity of using tools such as “Unity”. This platform has been developed in collaboration with ARToolKit, the world’s most popular AR Tracking SDK, which enables it to make realistic 3D experiences rapidly.