Just a few days after the Khronos Group announced the OpenXR working group, which is devoted to developing an open standard of the same name to help VR and AR developers make software for more platforms, zSpace announced its involvement and explained why it supports Khronos' efforts.
ZSpace (technically "zSpace" but that's what happens when your name starts with a lowercase letter) is devoted to using MR technologies in education. The company makes all-in-one computers with AR and VR capabilities; apps for those devices; and education-related content for those apps. Now it's applying everything it's learned while creating those various tools to the OpenXR project so other companies will have an easier time with MR content.
Here's what the company said about its support for OpenXR in a press release:
“As a founding member of Khronos OpenXR, zSpace is honored to play a key role in defining how developers will integrate VR technology across various platforms,” said Doug Twilleager, zSpace CTO of Software. “We truly are on the forefront of something amazing, something game-changing, about how we interact and communicate with computers and the rest of the world.”
OpenXR was initially announced as the Khronos VR Initiative in December 2016 with support from Oculus, Valve, Google, and other VR-focused companies. Khronos announced at GDC 2017 that the effort would receive a new name, OpenXR, and that it's now supported by more companies, including Qualcomm, Sony, and, of course, zSpace. All those companies will work together to stop VR development from looking like this:
So it can look something like this instead:
That's going to require a lot of work from a lot of companies. Support from VR and AR developers like zSpace will help the OpenXR working group deliver on its promises--or, at least, that's the hope. Either way, it's probably going to be a while before that jumbled mess transforms into an orderly process. You can learn more about the OpenXR group from Khronos' announcement and its website.
