Digital creative Kim Alban using the Meta Orion AR glasses
Mixed reality wearables have become a hot topic of conversation among tech professionals — but also among creatives — in the weeks since Meta announced the Orion AR glasses. Add to that the recent update of Snap’s Spectacles and Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and many are hoping that we’re finally on the cusp of a new era of AR glasses that will actually advance the creative industries.
But what are these devices not quite ready for public consumption? Why should we be excited about them and what are the differences between them? And more importantly, what kind of experiences will they allow us to create that we couldn’t create before? I’ll review each of these devices individually and talk to creators who have used them to get a “hands-on” and unbiased view of them – what worked and what could be better?
Meta Orion: New equipment
So let’s start with the latest contender, Meta’s Orion glasses. Hot on the heels of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which offer a hands-free interface with an AI assistant and video recording capabilities, this new augmented reality device enhances this existing functionality with silicon carbide lenses, large holographic displays and an impressive field. look while maintaining a lightweight frame that can be worn all day—and a handheld controller.
These glasses were originally intended to be sold to the public, but Meta decided to iterate some features before the wider release (for example, the low resolution of the overlays – currently about 13 pixels per scale density) and work on the costs of production (estimated to be around $10,000). The high cost of production is mainly due to the difficulty of growing the silicon carbide crystals for the lenses and etching the waves to focus the projections on your retina. The reason Meta chose this material is that it allows for a wider field of view as it has a higher refractive index than glass and is also lighter and more durable.
A user who multitasks while wearing Orion glasses
Mixed reality artist Luke Hurd, who was lucky enough to get hands-on experience with the Orion glasses, tells me, “the screens cover the entire lens and everything within the view of the glasses is able to be added, which means more more canvas than ever for creators. Menus are intuitive and interactions are a combination of your eyes and an EMG wristband. No more embarrassing “grabbing air in public” while using the glasses.
The wristband uses “electromyography” to translate electrical impulses from wrist and finger movements into input for the glasses’ user interface, while also providing some haptic feedback to let you know that inputs have been recorded.
Integrating Meta AI
As with the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, Meta AI is integrated into the Orion, but with some improvements: “The Orion has a full AR display that visually identifies and tags objects. Orion doesn’t require a phone, and relevant information is presented contextually next to physical items, leading to what Hurd calls “an even deeper blend of computing and lifestyle.”
Josephine Miller, creative director and co-founder of Oraar Studio, has high hopes for the combination of Meta AI and mixed reality content. These devices “can translate signs, suggest clothing pairings or scan QR codes — all without having to pick up your phone,” she says. “It really feels like having a personal assistant with you at all times. As Meta continues to develop Orion, I’m confident we’ll see even more innovative content creation capabilities that build on this solid foundation.”
Orion glasses can recognize and label real-world objects
Looking ahead to what kind of interactions Orion can enable, Miller hopes that “these new devices can revolutionize shopping in e-commerce, especially in digital fashion. Imagine being able to digitally try on clothing in a mirror before you decide to buy it. This level of interaction will allow us to engage with brands beyond the confines of a phone or computer screen, transforming the way we experience fashion.”
As discussed in my previous article, this combination of AI and AR can have a profound impact on the creation of 3D digital assets, including digital fashion pieces, revolutionizing the entire creation pipeline. Currently, digital designers and artists need complex knowledge of software and platforms to create 3D assets for AR experiences, creating digital “meshes” with accompanying textures and then “optimizing” these assets for use in AR. This process, counterintuitively, involves reducing the number of polygons used in each digital object and reducing the overall file size so that these assets can be handled more easily by AR engines, without glitches or freezes.
Future possibilities
Hurd believes that the combination of technologies in these new headsets will change everything: “At the moment, we use 3D mesh to render a virtual object so that we can see it from all sides, and this will change drastically for due to generative AI. The virtual proof won’t be a 3D mesh overlaid on your body with 3D skeleton tracking like it is now – it’ll just generate the product to you at a fairly accurate size with the right lighting in real time at 30 fps.
“I think the first shifts in AR will be how we render the 2D image overlaid on a real scene — now that it’s with a 3D engine and dynamic lighting and material types and layers and closures — and that feels like a place to generate artificial intelligence and segmentation models to be fully obtained.
Creators Luke Hurd and Kim Alban use Meta Orion AR glasses
Kim Alban, a product designer and digital creative who uses a variety of technologies in her creative output, believes that this realignment of skills will affect the entire digital fashion industry: “Orion glasses offer an experience to be reckoned with, where AI and AR merge. . I believe that devices like Orion glasses can pave the way for easier collaboration between creators and help create more personalized fashion wear. It will be much easier to imagine what digital fashion will look like in a better experience than through a phone.”
“In terms of new experiences, I think creators have always thought a lot about AR, but they’ve been limited by the hardware. I can’t wait to see what this means for AR and AI in creating personalized styles where outfits change in real-time (via glasses) based on your environment.”
User experience and shared virtual space
There’s obviously a lot of excitement among creators who have used Orion glasses, but what are they actually like to wear? The factor that is often considered for wearables is whether they are comfortable to wear all day and whether the user feels self-conscious while using them. Meta has clearly made this a focus area for its gear, cleverly partnering with a desirable brand like Ray-Ban (a brand popularized by James Dean, among others) to create an aesthetically pleasing product.
The Orion family of devices: glasses, ball and wristband
“Orion glasses consist of a total of three parts: glass, ball [a separate wireless computer that needs to stay closeby]and wristband”, says Albani. “The screen on the Orion glasses has a wide 70-degree field of view, which is the largest field of view in this type of body and frame, while still maintaining vivid colors. The glasses weigh 100 grams and their weight feels evenly distributed from front to back. What was amazing to experience was how smooth it was to interact with the glasses, just using your eyes and making subtle gestures with your hands, rendered by a thin wrist strap. In my demonstration with the glasses, I generated images with Meta AI using only my voice.”
Hurd is equally enthusiastic. “I’ve tried all the AR headsets/goggles on the market and the Orion is the closest thing to an everyday device in that category. Wearing a face computer should be an ambient experience until you need it (like a phone in your pocket), and Orion is just that kind of device.”
Another exciting feature is that two people wearing Orion glasses can experience a multiplayer Pong game together, using their hands as paddles and playing the game in a shared virtual space. This ability to interact with the same digital overlay opens up a world of creative possibilities going forward.
Two people playing a multiplayer Pong game using Orion glasses
Are we ready?
The consensus among creatives I’ve spoken to suggests that Orion glasses have the potential to redefine the creative industries and streamline real-time mixed reality experiences. Let’s hope that the next generation of AR glasses will be more readily available to the general public.
Before we get too carried away, it’s worth nothing, there was also a lot of excitement following the release of Apple’s Vision Pro headset, but since CEO Tim Cook’s recent admission to Wall Street Journal for the device’s lower-than-expected sales and potentially prohibitive retail price of $3,499, there has been speculation that production of the device could cease by the end of the year. A supposed shift in focus towards a more affordable device offers considerable hope, but are mixed reality headsets on shaky ground? Is the public interested in this type of device? Or was this an isolated, albeit gigantic, anomaly? I will review this soon.