Through December and January Microsoft launched its ‘Share Your Idea’ competition, asking the world what kind of applications people would like to see on its mixed reality (MR) head-mounted display (HMD), HoloLens. Three finalists were chosen and Microsoft put the final decision to a public Twitter vote. The winning entry was Galaxy Explorer and the team tasked with bringing this idea to life has revealed its first several prototypes.
The aim of Galaxy Explorer is to do just that, giving users the ability to wander the Milky Way and learn about our galaxy. Navigating through the stars and landing on the myriad of planets that are out there.
The first early prototype example can be seen in the image above, with the developers experimenting with input and interactions. This uses Gaze and Gesture, the first for selecting an object, while a hand gesture is used to extract the core from the planet.
While another part of the team is looking into rendering the galaxy, with the update reading: “We wanted to see what it would take to get a galaxy to look good. Karim and Alex came up with a pretty spectacular approach using density wave theory + a volumetric cloud rendered with a light field that’s already looking very pretty.”
More updates are expected in the coming weeks as the team are planning to have Galaxy Explorer ready to show at the Microsoft Build Developer Conference, which takes place from 30th March – 1st, April 2016. VRFocus will be following any further updates to the project as announcements are made.
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