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Clay VR Has Gesture Recognition Using Just Your iPhone

Jul 6, 2017 06:33 PM

If you don't know Clay, you're probably going to want to.

According to their website, Clay VR's goal was to not only expose users to the world of AR/VR, but fully immerse them in it. Clay does this by allowing users to feel like they were touching the objects in virtual worlds in order to make the virtual worlds feel more natural and real.

Clay's CEO, Thomas Amilien, made a statement regarding their goals:

As newborns, it takes months before we can see properly, but we're grasping and waving from the moment we're born. Our hands are fundamental to how we experience reality. Adding this element to mobile VR, making it feel natural and most of all, accessible for everyone, changes everything about what's possible in the industry.

The company has created a software kit to make VR controls easier and more accessible. It integrates real-time hand and gesture recognition into apps so that users can pinch, move, and scroll down to create a more immersive virtual experience. The only thing that you need to be able to access the SDK is a phone camera. Clay is revolutionary in that it doesn't rely on external hardware, it's all on the user's smartphone.

According to UploadVR, Clay can currently recognize more than 30 hand gestures, which makes is a cool way for users to navigate the apps they're using.

Clay VR/Giphy

Now, Clay is looking to integrate their technology into Apple's ARKit, a combination that they told UploadVR will be ready within the next week. When integrated, it will be similar to Microsoft's HoloLens, which recognizes fewer gestures, but lets users manipulate the virtual world around them.

The only difference is that the Microsoft HoloLens is used on a headset, so to use this particular SDK, you'll likely have to hold the phone in one hand and control with the other, or at least have somewhere to put the phone. A small inconvenience for something that won't have you carrying around bulky headgear to manipulate the AR/VR world with your gestures.

Check out a preview of what Clay VR can do below!