Microsoft bringing AR to Windows 10 via View Mixed Reality

Any Windows 10 computer with a camera will be able to superimpose 3D objects in real-world images for a mixed (or augmented) taste of reality.

Microsoft wants people to experience augmented and mixed reality, both through affordable hearing aids and more expensive Hololens. But, there is a problem: not everyone has these headphones.

That's where View Mixed Reality's Microsoft ad gets interesting. It is Microsoft's attempt to get 3D objects on AR without headphones, using a normal Windows computer with a basic RGB camera. It will come to Windows 10 later this fall.

Microsoft's built-in AR joins what will undoubtedly be a wave of AR-on-a-flat-screen technology, including Google Tango and AR initiatives based on Facebook handsets. I have to test View Mixed Reality briefly at the Microsoft Education event on Tuesday in New York. I was not allowed to take photos.

The demonstration was simple: a 3D penguin skeleton created in Microsoft's 3D Paint application was superimposed on the real world, as was Snapchat and other phone-based AR applications. The penguin's skeleton sat on the floor of the classroom in front of me, or on a shelf (the pinch shrank the skeleton to fit it correctly).

The "mixed reality" effect places the object in the real world, but it is not clear how well it has been traced. I posed for a photo in front of the invisible (to me) giant penguin skeleton. Since View Mixed Reality is not using a more advanced depth-detection camera like Google Tango, the effect seemed a bit edgy. But it worked.

See Mixed Reality will be a single-button effect in Paint 3D when released in autumn and a tool that Microsoft intends to use as support for more advanced VR headphones or Hololens.

It's a quick lens to see your creations in the "real" world. It also shows that Microsoft, like others, are aware that not everyone is going to get a VR or Hololens headset on their faces in the short term.