Magic Leap, Lucasfilm Join Forces To Open Joint Mixed Reality Research Lab

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Lucasfilm announced that ILMxLAB and Magic Leap will be opening a joint research lab this month at the Lucasfilm San Francisco campus, dubbed the “Collab Lab.” The two companies plan to pioneer mixed reality storytelling together.

ILMxLAB was formed by Lucasfilm last year with the express purpose of exploring new media platforms that have the potential to take storytelling to the next level. Magic Leap’s Mixed Reality Lightfield technology definitely fits that description.

“Lucasfilm has created some of the most iconic characters of our time. Ones that dare us to dream, unlock our imagination and excite us to go on a journey with them,” said Magic Leap Founder, President, and CEO Rony Abovitz. “Magic Leap is creating a whole new medium: Mixed Reality Lightfields, designed to harness the power of your imagination and take you to places you never thought possible. Collaboration between our two companies is a perfect fit, and I can't wait to share the results with the world.”

We don’t yet know a lot about the highly funded (over $1.5 billion in seed funding) company’s mixed reality technology. Magic Leap has been incredibly tight-lipped about the details of its tech and hardware. The company has released a few teaser clips of its Mixed Reality Lightfield tech in action, though, so we do know that it allows you to view high-resolution animated objects within your real environment.

ILMxLAB and Magic Leap have joined forces to bring the Star Wars universe to life in new ways. As a proof of concept, the two companies released a clip demonstrating a mixed-reality Star Wars scene with C3PO and R2D2 moving about in someone’s office. In the clip, C3PO walks over to a real coffee table then activates a holographic map directly over it--almost as if the animated droid could tell exactly where the table was.

Magic Leap remains mum on when we’ll actually get to see its technology in person, but we’re eagerly awaiting that day thanks to high-profile partnerships like this one with Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB,

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Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • computerguy72
    Magic Leap is the new Duke Nukem forever.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    So, I guess C3PO and R2D2 are also as seen through Magic Leap? They're quite opaque. It would indeed be magic if you could see yourself or what's behind you, in the chrome map on their shiny surfaces.

    Aside from them, the rest looks more plausible. I can't quite decide whether it's cheating or just clever to show a hologram that's intentionally designed to look like a crappy hologram.

    I think a better movie tie-in would've been Ghost Busters!
    Reply