[throw20161123]

Any suggestions on how to best get started in AR?

What I have is an XPS 15 with a GTX 1050 with 4GB ram.

[T-A]

Get the latest Windows Insider Preview (or wait for the official Creator Update; it's probably very close, the "preview" watermark is gone in Insider, so the current build looks like a release candidate).

Once you have it set up, look for "Mixed Reality Portal" in the Start menu. It will guide you through the setup, starting with a check that you have compatible hardware.

For a developer kit, I guess you follow the links to sign up at

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2017/03/01/windo...

and pray...

[josephpmay]

Learn Unity (if you don't know it already).

Don't spend too much time on Windows holographic, as it won't become the defacto standard in AR

Create some pass-through mobile games/experiences with Vuforia or Kudan. Hand-held AR isn't that compelling IMO, but many of the lessons you learn from it will be applicable for headset AR

[kriro]

Agree (handheld AR with Unity, won't need killer hardware either just you cell phone+your PC is fine). But be aware that if you ever want to ship something Vuforia is kind of costly. For quick prototyping Unity+Vuforia is pretty great. ARToolkit is decent but the tracking isn't as good (imo) and there's more hands on with extracting features from the markers yourself etc. Eagerly awaiting v6 which has been "coming soon" for quite some time now. You can also search for OpenCV tutorials, iirc there's a Unity plugin.

If anyone has recommendations for a more open stack I'm listening (own a Unity license but think it's meh-ish for AR). Most certainly would like to migrate from Vuforia since I don't want to bet on something that could just go Mataio and be gone (+licensing cost is pretty prohibitive but acceptable for my use case).

[iamcreasy]

In the video of Vuforia, they show a headset, but I don't see anything about it on their website. Could you share more details?

Microsoft Hololens is 3,000usd. Is there any cheaper AR headset?

[josephpmay]

The Vuforia video shows a concept headset from ODG and BMW.

Right now there aren't any cheaper AR headsets (worth buying), but there will be later this year. (and now a plug for my own startup: https://www.miralabs.io/)

[iamcreasy]

Can you share more details about mira AR headset? The website doesn't say much.

[josephpmay]

There's a bit more information on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MiraLabs.io/), but we're purposefully not sharing much at this time. What I can tell you is it's a consumer-targeted mass market augmented reality headset for under $100. Apps for the platform are built using Unity.