With the rapid development of virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, the demand for personalized virtual avatars has become increasingly urgent. Recently, researchers proposed a new technology called URAvatar (Universal Relightable Gaussian Codec Avatar), which allows users to easily generate high-fidelity virtual avatars by scanning with their phones. This innovative achievement not only enhances the visual effects of virtual avatars but also enables users to drive and adjust their avatars in real-time under different lighting conditions. The working principle of URAvatar is based on a complex light transport model, and it differs from previous approaches.

The Walt Disney Company is exploring applications in its film, television, and theme park divisions and is currently forming a new team to coordinate the company's use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and mixed reality. The newly established technology support office will be led by Jamie Voris, the Chief Technology Officer of Disney Studios, who was responsible for developing Disney applications for the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality device. Eddie Drake will

Recently, Apple's AI research team released a new model called Depth Pro, marking a significant breakthrough in the field of depth estimation! This model can quickly generate high-resolution 3D depth maps from a single 2D image, and astonishingly, it does not require any camera metadata, which is a rarity in previous technologies. Depth Pro works incredibly fast, generating depth maps in just 0.3 seconds. The model can create maps with outstanding clarity at 2.25MP.

At the recently concluded Snap Partner Summit, Snap (the parent company of Snapchat) unveiled an exciting new feature - 'Easy Lens'. This feature is fantastic as it can transform users' simple English descriptions into Snap's augmented reality (AR) lenses. Simply enter your desired effect in Snap's developer platform, Lens Studio, and Easy Lens will automatically generate it for you using generative AI models.

In the 37th America's Cup sailing race, the WindSightIQ program introduced television broadcasting for the first time, visualizing the wind field as augmented and virtual reality graphics through LiDAR, sensor fusion, and scientific computation technology. This helps viewers understand the key wind factors in sailing. While crew members still need to rely on intuition and training to plan their routes, commentators and viewers can now see wind direction patterns in real-time, comparing actual performance with the optimal path, thereby participating in the race at an unprecedented level. This innovation offers a brand new viewing experience, making wind, which is typically invisible, ...

Qualcomm has officially joined the Augmented Reality (AR) Alliance as a founding member, aimed at promoting AR hardware development and enhancing the user experience of wearable devices and other products. The alliance brings together companies like STMicroelectronics, META, and Essilor Luxottica to collaboratively unify the global AR supply chain, emphasizing the vast potential of AR technology. Qualcomm's membership significantly bolsters the hardware ecosystem, leveraging its experience in application development platforms and many years in the industry.

According to Mark Gurman, Apple is actively developing several wearable virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) glasses products, including a more affordable Apple Vision headset, the second generation of Apple Vision Pro, and a smart glasses model similar to Ray-Ban.

Snap has released the latest version of Lens Studio 5.0 Beta, introducing AI functionalities to enhance AR development efficiency. In collaboration with OpenAI, developers can use ChatGPT to create new experiences for Snapchat users. The new AI features in Lens Studio 5.0 Beta include a 3D facial mask generator. Improved productivity allows developers to create more complex AR projects. An updated Lens Creator Rewards program supports AR creation.