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Microsoft’s HoloLens<\/a> is probably my favorite new technology device of the last decade – the first time I tried it out, it felt truly magical. It’s still the only augmented reality device I’ve used that feels seamless and “just works.” <\/p>\n That said, it has some limitations, one of which is a lack of intuitive interaction. The user’s instinct is to tap the holographic objects to navigate, but that’s not quite how HoloLens works. With this device, you “gaze” at an object to highlight it, then tap your finger to select it. There’s a learning curve to this, which makes it challenging to deploy the devices in exhibits and public environments.<\/p>\n I decided to explore the possibilities of using HoloLens with touch displays – not only would this provide familiar, tactile interaction, but it would work nicely in museums and brand environments where a physical component could provide a visual anchor for an augmented-reality experience. I set out to build a simple prototype that would give me just enough structure to experiment with the combined technology platform and to understand its strengths and limitations. <\/p>\n My primary challenge was to align HoloLens’ virtual content precisely with a real-world touch display. I initially tested Vuforia<\/a>, probably the most common development toolkit for augmented reality. Vuforia support is built into Unity, the platform I’m using for HoloLens development, so it seemed like an easy choice.<\/p>\n After resolving some challenges around software version compatibility, I was able to compile Vuforia’s sample app and run it on my HoloLens. Vuforia applications use a device camera to look for printed tracking tags, which the app uses to interpolate the camera’s point of view and render 3D content on top of the scene. For my purposes, I wanted the HoloLens to track digital tag images, rather than printed ones, directly off of a small tabletop touch display. <\/p>\n
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