Back in 2016, Magic Leap released a video clip of a breaching augmented reality whale as a backdrop to their freshly redesigned website, something meant to grab the attention of prospective investors, developers, and consumers alike. Now, through Magic Leap’s Helio browser, we can finally see what an augmented reality whale actually looks like running on Magic Leap One.
Here’s a quick refresher in case you don’t remember (Woooah!).
Magic Leap’s Helio browser essentially allows users to pull 3D objects from the web and view them in AR, similar to how WebXR based browsers like Mozilla let you quickly pop into a VR headset and experience lightweight virtual experiences and games without downloading a dedicated executable. There are only a few experiences listed in the ‘Helio Experiments’ section right now: the ‘Majestic Mammal’ whale, a demo called ‘Artistic Escape, and an ‘E-Retailing’ demo.
The video below was recorded thanks to ML1’s ability to capture footage through the perspective of the user. To company’s ultimate credit, seeing a giant whale—albeit a lower resolution one that’s not nearly as lifelike as the whale seen back in 2016—is still probably pretty impressive in vivo. That said, the direct comparison of concept to reality should definitely set some expectations of what the hardware is capable of.
The Helio-based experience also adds a few more things that may engage kids more than a quick breach of a gymnasium floor. Included in the demo, which was captured by Anima Games, is a host of whale facts.
Check out this hands-on from a dev’s perspective for a more detailed look at what makes Magic Leap tick.