AR experiences are very accessible through standard mobile phones. However, advanced coding knowledge and specialist hardware have always been required to create these experiences. That is, until now.
Ubiquity6 and Display.land
For the last two years, XR company Ubiquity6 has been working on a smartphone-based tool that gives users the ability to create and edit VR and AR experiences. The tool, called Display.land, then spent a brief three months in beta before popular demand got it launched early, according to CEO Anjney Midha.
“In a nutshell, it’s a new way for people to capture and edit the world in 3D,” said Midha. “Once you’ve captured a space, you can interact with it remotely or in person.”
If that sounds familiar, that’s because it is. This technology has been out there for a while and Midha will be the first one to tell you that. The ability isn’t new, Midha says, the ability to do it with one button on your mobile phone is. It’s a huge step forward for photographers, 3D artists, architects, “anyone who works with 3D representations of the real world,” said Midha.
While a basic use of the tool is creating 1:1 models of a real place, it can be so much more than that. The tools provided allow for worldbuilding that has become popular in games like Roblox and Minecraft. The difference is that Ubiquity6 allows users to start with a real place and keep a level of textual realism in their creations.
The Human Component of AR Experiences
Of course, experiences aren’t worth as much when you can’t share them. Display.land gives you the tools to create your own VR or AR experience as well as to share that experience with others. This aspect is what Midha believes led to early popularity of the beta.
“People are creating previews of what they’re doing and putting it on the platform,” said Midha. This created what he calls a “global gallery” representing works from over 100 countries.
Art, world-building games, and social AR experiences are booming right now. According to Midha, that’s because they aren’t just games.
“There’s an underlying and ingrained human need for richer and richer communication with other human beings,” said Midha. He breaks “communication” into two kinds – communication about the world around us, and communication about the world in our heads. AR experiences can communicate about the world in our heads in ways that photos can communicate about the world around us. “Social AR taps into a human and global need to communicate the reality in our heads.”
What’s Coming Next
While it’s easy to want more AR experiences from a group like Ubiquity6, Midha says that Display.land is going to keep them busy for a while. The team plans on releasing more and more tools for the platform in the foreseeable future.
