Nreal exploded onto the MR technology field earlier this year and they haven’t stopped expanding. Their glasses are some of the lightest and cheapest on the market today for casual users. They also have an impressive 52° field of view.
Nreal Light Developer Kit was announced earlier this year, though it won’t ship until September of this year. While the standard MR glasses are listed to hit the shelves at $499, the Developer Kit goes for $1,199. However, it comes with additional resources including a controller and a proprietary computing pack. They had earlier announced that the kit would be forthcoming, but details were light. A new release shared with ARPost gave us more details on the NRSDK 1.0 Beta which launched yesterday.
The Announcement
The beta works even without the $1,199 hardware package. It is also available for download to developers who have not completed the application. Software created with the SDK beta will be transferable to the Nreal MR glasses upon their release early next year.
“Following the availability announcement of Nreal Light, and the receipt of thousands of applications for the Nreal Light Developer Kit, the launch of the NRSDK 1.0 Beta offers developers the ability to build entirely new MR experiences on Nreal’s consumer-grade MR glasses,” reads the release. “Moreover, through the NRSDK 1.0 Beta, developers can also enhance their existing native Android apps with MR features, even without immediate access to the Nreal light mixed reality glasses.”
What We Know About the Beta
The release also sheds more light on the features of the SDK.
“The highly anticipated beta SDK from Nreal is finally giving developers a head start in building new applications that enable developers to port a mixed reality environment to their existing apps on the market or build completely new applications for Nreal Light,” Nreal CEO and founder, Chi Xu, said in a statement. “Even without the Nreal Light Developer Kit, developers can begin building and testing apps through our testing environment starting today.”
One of the key benefits of the SDK is the spatial computing power, necessary for MR technology. The SDK features algorithms that allow environmental mapping with 6 DoF tracking. Algorithms also allow for smooth rendering with minimal latency. Further, the SDK will integrate with some 3rd party SDKs to increase the range of content developers can produce.
While the full SDK will come with a 3DoF controller, the beta works with a mobile phone as a controller. Further, MR content for the glasses will be viewable through a tablet until the glasses ship.
MR technology developers can apply for the full development kit. The rest of us will just be waiting for the MR glasses to hit the consumer launch in early 2020.
