CastAR Shows New AR Glasses With Upgraded Projectors
CastAR leaps closer to being ready for developers. We take another look at GDC 2014.
We first laid our eyes onto CastAR at CES 2014, and at GDC 2014 last week we got to see the latest improvements in this augmented reality system. The rapid evolution of the hardware is apparent since the model we tried on in January. Completely upgraded are the projectors, which are now both brighter and offer a wider field of view at 720p resolution per eye. The control box hardware was also miniaturized, making the entire unit more self-contained.
When you look through the glasses, the image is bright and vivid
The refined hardware, along with the thinner cable and better heat management, made the glasses feel and work noticeably better. The increased brightness of the projectors solved one of our main complaints, and now we can see even more.
With Sony's reveal of Project Morpheus and the recent acquisition of Oculus VR by Facebook, VR headsets are the hot topic. CastAR, on the other hand, occupies a very different space in augmented reality. CastAR's ability to integrate with your surroundings rather than completely replacing it makes it uniquely different from the rest.
Read more: CastAR: The Augmented And Virtual Reality Triple-Threat
Check out our short catch-up with Jeri Ellsworth about what's new in her latest prototype shown off at GDC 2014.
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1) Using the projectors and reflective material
2) Using the frame clip on with the lens up in AR mode (think Google glass)
3) Using the frame clip on with the lens down in VR mode (think Oculus Rift)