[kettlecorn]

A similar surprisingly novel case for AR headsets: trimmming hedges into complex shapes.

In an AR headset the final desired design is overlayed within the hedge, and you trim the parts outside. Now try to imagine how you might accomplish something similar without an AR headset. It would be very difficult.

[egypturnash]

People have been doing this longer than recorded history; there's a lot of knowledge about how to take a block of wood/stone/etc and carve away anything that doesn't look like the desired subject.

That said I'm sure there are experts at those methods who would leap at the chance to model their work in more forgiving methods, digital or physical, and use that kind of technology to guide them as they carve!

[codingdave]

I've done my share of sculpture in my life - the problems you run into when carving an item down to a desired result is often less about being able see what needs to go, and more about the structure of the underlying material, and whether it will break/crack/shatter when you try to take a specific piece off.

AR could still help - if an app could visually inspect the surface of your material, or the branches of a hedge, it might be able to flag warning signs.

[kettlecorn]

Certainly it's something people are good at, but it requires a lot of skill and expertise!

The method I described with an AR headset makes it something that anyone could do with extremely minimal training.

[jedberg]

FWIW hedges are very easy. You build a wire cage in the exact shape you want, then plant the hedge inside the cage. Then you just trim anything that grows outside the cage. It's how they do it at Disneyland.

But for any other material it would be helpful.