Openxr tagged news

SIGGRAPH is one of the world’s most significant and long-standing conferences focused on computer graphics and interactive techniques. For the Khronos Group, SIGGRAPH represents an essential opportunity to connect with the developers, engineers, artists, and technical professionals that make up the primary users of Khronos standards like ANARI, glTF, OpenXR, WebGL, and Vulkan.

Through Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions, presentations, networking events, and face-to-face member meetings at SIGGRAPH, Khronos shares new and forthcoming technical breakthroughs, gathers feedback, learns about user needs and promotes best practices. This year, Khronos hosted nine public-facing events over four days: Presentation materials and video recordings for these events are now available on the Khronos SIGGRAPH 2024 Event Page.

The OpenXR Working Group wishes to expand and demonstrate the reach of the API Standard by better integrating OpenXR with the Godot game engine to effectively bridge the gap between runtime developers and application developers.

The XR_EXT_local_floor extension recently made its way into the core specification with the release of OpenXR 1.1. This blog post, delves into the technical aspects of the LOCAL_FLOOR[1] reference space. While STAGE space is still available to developers for defining playspace bounds, we will show how LOCAL_FLOOR offers a convenient alternative for obtaining a recenterable floor space that does not require user calibration. Additionally, we explore how this extension includes an estimated floor height, adding further convenience to XR development workflows.

The Khronos Group announces the immediate availability of the OpenXR 1.1 specification. This release evolves the widely adopted OpenXR open API standard for high-performance, cross-platform access to VR, AR, and mixed reality (MR) — collectively known as XR—platforms and devices. OpenXR 1.1 consolidates widely used API extensions into the core specification to reduce fragmentation and adds new functionality to streamline the development of more powerful and efficient XR applications. Along with five extensions being incorporated in the core specification, feature enhancements include interaction profile enhancements, universal fundamental tools for building enhanced XR experiences, new error codes, and specification refinement.

Magic Leap is fully embracing OpenXR, the industry standard API, for Magic Leap 2 development. This includes support for the standard Unity OpenXR Plugin. This change should make it easier for developers building AR apps across multiple headsets.

In this Collabora blog, Frederic Plourde reflects on the strides made in recent months. It’s remarkable to see how OpenXR and Monado have evolved and are shaping the future of XR development. This blog post takes a closer look at the progress made and noteworthy achievements within the OpenXR ecosystem.

The Khronos Group has released a free OpenXR Tutorial, designed to guide software developers through every step of creating an OpenXR application using Windows, Linux or Android. This web-based tutorial, produced by the OpenXR Working Group, is packed with detailed instructions, downloadable archives, and example code snippets to support developers as they set up an OpenXR development environment, connect to their preferred graphics API, and incorporate interactivity, extensions, and other advanced features.

In this blog, OpenXR Working Group Chair Alfredo Muniz, reflects on the last year of OpenXR development within the Khronos Working Group, including updates to the specification, the release of myriad extensions to support the latest XR developments, plus an ever-evolving suite of tools that has kept OpenXR at the forefront of cross-platform XR innovation. Alfredo also provides a glimpse of what the XR community can look forward to in 2024.

OpenXR has gained significant attention from AR, VR and MR—collectively known as XR—application developers and device manufacturers for its ability to simplify cross-platform development. As the OpenXR ecosystem expands to include even more devices, platforms and system architectures, such as split rendering using edge servers, there is a growing demand for a diversity of implementation choices, including open source.

The Monado open-source project from Collabora is being increasingly used in the implementation of diverse OpenXR-based systems. In this blog, we outline the significant updates and improvements that are being made to Monado thanks to the Khronos Group’s support for open-source development efforts that encourage growth of the wider OpenXR ecosystem.

Varjo has introduced the XR-4 mixed-reality headset introducing gaze-directed, high-resolution autofocus cameras in mixed reality. Supported 3D platforms and software include OpenXR, Nvidia Omniverse, Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, EngageVR, MetaVR and Autodesk VRED.

The latest update adds VDXR, a fully functional OpenXR runtime that can be used instead of SteamVR. It works any VR application on Steam that uses the industry-standard OpenXR API. Since 2020 Valve has recommended developers use OpenXR rather than its own “OpenVR” API for SteamVR.

Virtual Desktop’s developer Guy Godin claims VDXR gives roughly 10% improved performance over using SteamVR, and beta testers have reported this to be true. The tradeoff is that you’ll lose access to SteamVR’s features, like the ability to access your desktop in-game or interact with Steam notifications and friends.

Beat Saber is one of the world’s most popular VR games, with over 6 million users across a wide array of platforms. In pursuit of a more consistent, maintainable cross-platform experience, Beat Games recently merged Beat Saber’s PC implementation using Steam VR and Oculus VR by porting to OpenXR. The result was a cleaner code base, and a more portable future for Beat Saber. Learn more in this joint blog post by Beat Games and the OpenXR Working Group.

The Khronos Group is developing a website to teach developers about OpenXR, the cross-platform API for AR and VR. The OpenXR Working Group is asking for volunteers to test the tutorial prior to launch. This is an exclusive preview of the website made available only to test volunteers. OpenXR is looking for developers of all ages and backgrounds who have an interest in native XR (AR & VR) programming. If you would like to volunteer, please complete the webform accessible via link below.

NVIDIA Omniverse spatial computing update adds support for Khronos Group’s OpenXR open standard, enabling Omniverse to run on VR headsets, AR headsets, and XR glasses from manufacturers such as HTC, Magic Leap, and Varjo.

The new release also expands the OpenUSD ecosystem with new integrations and connections to Omniverse. For example, Adobe Firefly generative AI models will soon be available as APIs in Omniverse to improve design workflows.