varjo

Varjo Reveals XR-4 Headset, Claiming Mixed Realty Visuals “indistinguishable from natural sight”

varjo, varjo mixed reality, varjo xr-4, varjo xr4, XR Industry News / Ryan Harris / November 28, 2023

Varjo has announced its latest high-end enterprise headset, the XR-4. The company is going all out on the headset’s mixed reality capabilities, saying that the view of the outside world as seen through the headset is “indistinguishable” from how the world appears with your own eyes.

That’s a seriously lofty claim, but Varjo hasn’t made a habit of hyperbole. We’ll wait until we can actually look through the headset ourselves, but clearly the company is confident in what it’s built.

But not every XR-4 headset will have what the company says is a passthrough view with a whopping 51 pixels per-degree resolution. Only the more expensive variant—the ‘Focal Edition’, priced at $10,000—will reach that peak visual quality thanks to an eye-tracked auto-focus system which adjusts the cameras to keep the world in sharp focus wherever you’re looking around the scene.

A look at the mixed reality view through Varjo XR-4 (captured through the headset’s cameras, but not lenses)

The considerably less expensive XR-4 standard edition, priced at $4,000 nixes the auto-focus system and delivers only 33 pixels per-degree (though this is still very high resolution passthrough compared to the majority of headsets you can buy today).

Achieving such a high resolution mixed reality view has required that the headset also includes some pixel-packed displays. With XR-4 the company is also moving fully to inside-out tracking as the default, along with built-in audio, and the company’s own controllers.

Let’s look at the spec breakdown here:

Varjo XR-4 Specs, Price, Editions, and Release Date

XR-4 Focal Edition
Visuals
Display	2x mini-LED (200 nits with local dimming), 96% DCI-P3 colors
Resolution	3,840×3,744 (14.4MP)
Pixels Per-degree (claimed)	51
Refresh Rate	90Hz
Optics	Full-dome aspheric
Field-of-view (claimed)	120° × 105°
Pass-through view	Yes (51 PPD)
Optical Adjustments	IPD (automatic)
IPD Adjustment Range	56–72mm

Input & Output
Connectors	1x DisplayPort, 1x USB-C
Input	XR-4 controllers
Audio	In-headstrap speakers, 3.5mm aux port
Microphone	Dual-microphone
Weight	665g (headset) + 356g (headstrap)

Sensing
Headset-tracking	Inside-out (no external beacons), SteamVR Tracking (external beacons) [optional]
Controller-tracking	Headset-tracked (headset line-of-sight needed)
Eye-tracking	Yes (200Hz)
Expression-tracking	No
On-board cameras	6x tracking, 2x RGB (20MP) eye-tracked auto-focus
Depth-sensor	LiDAR (300 Kpix)
Price
MSRP	$10,000

This is the XR-4 ‘Focal Edition’ which includes eye-tracked auto-focus passthrough cameras to achieve the claimed 51 PPD passthrough resolution. The ‘standard edition’ XR has nearly identical specs, except without the auto-focus camera, the company says the headset’s passthrough resolution drops to 33 PPD.

As for pricing, while the Focal Edition is seriously pricey, the standard edition is actually cheaper than its predecessor; the XR-3 was priced at $5,500 for the headset alone, plus a required $1,500 annual support charge. XR-4 standard edition meanwhile is priced at $4,000 and does not require an annual support charge.

Varjo is also making two ‘Secure Edition’ variants of the XR-4 (which mirror the specs of the Focal Edition and standard edition, but these are TAA compliant and can be ordered without any wireless radios (this is for particularly niche applications where data security is critical, for instance in military applications). These are priced even higher, at $8,000 and $14,000 respectively.

The headset-tracked controllers are made in partnership with Razer, which has previously dabbled with various VR accessories.

Varjo says the XR-4 will begin shipping by the end of 2023.

Varjo Reveals XR-4 Headset, Claiming Mixed Realty Visuals “indistinguishable from natural sight” Read More »

Varjo Teaser Strongly Suggests New XR-4 Headset Reveal

News, varjo, varjo xr-4, XR Industry News / Ryan Harris / November 15, 2023

High-end enterprise headset maker Varjo is teasing an online “special event” where it says viewers will “discover the future of VR/XR.” The tease heavily points in the direction of the company’s next headset, likely the XR-4.

Varjo has been steadily making its high-end enterprise focused XR headsets better and cheaper over the course of years. The company’s key differentiator has been its ‘bionic display’ system which adds an extra display to each lens which offers retina resolution quality in a small area at the center of the headset’s view.

The company has also focused heavily on making high-quality passthrough and interesting features to take advantage of it. It’s latest flagship headset, the XR-3, was announced back in late 2020.

Today the company announced a forthcoming “special event” with some photography that heavily implies we’ll see the announcement of a new XR-4 headset.

The online-only event will take place on November 27th at 10AM PT (your timezone here).

While it looks like we can probably expect to hear about the Varjo XR-4, it’s unclear if the company will have any updates on its high-end consumer headset, Varjo Aero, which got a big price cut recently. While we don’t know exactly what the company’s plans are for the future of the Aero, Varjo told us last year its plan was to make it a whole series of headsets, not just a one-off device.

Varjo Teaser Strongly Suggests New XR-4 Headset Reveal Read More »

Varjo Cuts Price of High-end Aero PC VR Headset by 50%

aero, Deal, Deals, News, simulation, varjo, varjo aero, varjo vr, VR Headset, vr simulation, vr simulator / Mike M. / September 21, 2023

Varjo, the Finland-based creator of high-end XR headsets, announced their businesses and prosumer-focused SteamVR headset Aero is now permanently 50% off its original $2,000 price tag.

Aero is essentially a pared down version of the company’s strictly enterprise headsets, offering industry-leading fidelity and advanced features such as eye-tracking.

Released in October 2021, Aero was (and still is) the company’s least expensive headset; it’s now priced at $990 (€990), bringing the Helsinki, Finland-based company into a new price segment which its hoping will appeal to at-home simulator fans.

Ther news was revealed during the company’s hour-long ‘Aeroversity’ livestream celebrating the device’s two years since launch. Besides the price drop reveal, Varjo focused heavily on the headset’s use in both driving and flight sims.

When we reviewed Varjo Aero in late 2021, we called it the “dream headset for VR simmers who aren’t afraid to trade cash for immersion,” as it offered some pretty stunning clarity (35 PPD) that’s beaten only by the company’s more expensive headsets.

Notably, the $990 package doesn’t include SteamVR base stations and motion controllers, making it appeal mostly to users already in the SteamVR tracking ecosystem. What’s in the box: Varjo Aero headset, VR adapter, power supply unit with 6 x power plugs (EURO, UK, US, AUS, KOR, CHN), in-ear headphones with microphone, user guide, cleaning cloth.

The price drop looks to be, in part, a response to the growing number of new PC VR headsets offering higher resolution micro displays, notably with the Bigscreen Beyond leading the charge at $1,000 for just the headset, which includes 2,560 × 2,560 (6.5MP) per-eye resolution microOLEDs clocked at 75/90Hz.

Check out the specs below:

Varjo Aero Specs
Resolution	2,880 x 2,720 (7.8MP) per-eye, mini-LED LCD (2x)
Refresh Rate	90Hz
Lenses	Aspheric
Field-of-view (claimed)	134° diagonal, 115° horizontal (at 12mm eye-relief)
Optical Adjustments	IPD (automatic motor driven)
IPD Adjustment Range	57–73mm
Connectors	USB-C → breakout box (USB-A 3.0, DisplayPort 1.4)
Cable Length	5m
Tracking	SteamVR Tracking 1.0 or 2.0 (external beacons)
On-board cameras	2x eye-tracking
Input	None included (supports SteamVR controllers)
Audio	3.5mm aux port
Microphone	None (supports external mic through aux port)
Pass-through view	No
Weight	487g + 230g headstrap with counterweight

Varjo Cuts Price of High-end Aero PC VR Headset by 50% Read More »

Varjo Signs “multi-million dollar” Deal to Provide Headsets for Army Training Systems

Military Applications, News, varjo, varjo flight sim, varjo rvct, VR Flight Simulator / Ryan Harris / August 29, 2023

Varjo, maker of high-end XR headsets, today announced that it has closed a multi-million dollar deal to supply headsets for the U.S. Army’s Reconfigurable Virtual Collective Air Trainer (RVCT-A) initiative.

The US. Army’s Reconfigurable Virtual Collective Air Trainer (RVCT-A) aims to deliver virtual training modules that are easy to set up and transport, making training cheaper and more accessible. Specifically the training modules are focused on training pilots of Apache, Chinook, and Blackhawk helicopters.

Varjo says it has been selected by integrator Cole Engineering to supply XR-3 Focal Edition headsets for the program in what amounts to a “multi-million dollar” deal for the company.

Varjo isn’t saying exactly how many headsets it will furnish for the program, but a rough estimate (using a minimum floor of $2 million for the deal and the $6,500 price of Varjo XR-3) suggests somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 headsets. Varjo’s deal may include ongoing revenue from the annual Varjo Subscription service that’s required to use its professional headsets.

Varjo cites the headset’s ability to do high-quality passthrough and occlusion which enables the RVCT-A modules to support a mix of real and virtual imagery. This is especially important given the need to train pilots with their hands on the actual controls of the aircraft, rather than expecting them to fiddle with VR controllers. And of course the headset includes the company’s signature ‘bionic display’, which offers retina resolution in a small area at the center of the headset’s field-of-view.

VR flight simulation and training has been around for decades in militaries across the world. In many cases, flight training has involved full-sized cockpit replicas and dome-projection displays that are large and difficult to transport. Today it’s possible to provide an immersive field-of-view inside a VR headset, making portable flight trainers much more practical.

Varjo’s headset deal is just one part of Cole Engineering’s $500 million contract to supply RVCT modules to the U.S. Army, including a Ground version for infantry training.

That broader contract is part of the Army’s Synthetic Training Environment (STE) initiative which seeks to enhance the branch’s training programs with immersive capabilities.

“[Cole Engineering’s] RVCT solution is built upon a modular hardware architecture, which allows RVCT to replicate U.S. Army ground and air vehicles through common configuration items. The combination of high-fidelity physical and virtual control interfaces utilizes real-world system hardware and immerses the Soldier via Virtual and Augmented Reality through the Synthetic Training Environment-Information System (STE-IS) software,” Cole Engineering wrote about its contract with the Army.

Varjo says its deal with Cole Engineering to supply headsets for the RVCT program is “one of the 70+ immersive defense training programs featuring Varjo’s hardware and software solutions worldwide.”

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Catching Up With Varjo Partnerships and Experiences Around the World

extended reality, featured, Mixed Reality, News, varjo, virtual reality, XR experiences / Ryan Harris / April 10, 2023

Varjo hasn’t been hibernating over the winter but they’ve definitely had a very active spring. ARPost typically reports on the Finnish XR company’s groundbreaking hardware and software developments, but the company also helps develop and distribute XR experiences and solutions ranging from operas to flight simulations.

An Opera Produced Entirely Through XR

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet (FNOB) spent two years producing Turandot opera with Sweden’s Malmö Opera. The ambitious international product involved designing complex sets and orchestrating intricate scene transitions. FNOB has commented before that Varjo is the only headset manufacturer that matches their high-quality requirements.

Varjo x FNOB and Sweden’s Malmö Opera - Digital Twin vs real-world comparison — *Varjo partners with FNOB and Sweden’s Malmö Opera – Digital Twin vs real-world view comparison*

FNOB, which has been gradually implementing XR production tools over the last three years, started with two things: the in-house Unreal Engine-driven “XR Stage” visualization tool, and a 3D model of the main stage created by ZOAN – a 3D content agency that uses the same hardware to bring employees into their virtual headquarters.

“Our artists were only open to using virtual tools if models would be photorealistic and it was an intuitive user experience,” FNOB Production and Technical Director Timo Tuovila, said in a release shared with ARPost. “We have been able to create a digital twin of our stage that actually is true to life, matching the expectations of our ambitious artistic and technical teams.”

The virtual stage was used collaboratively between the two opera houses to virtually design and redesign sets – a process that would normally have taken tremendous time, resources, and materials. It is estimated that using XR preproduction instead saved over $82,000 and 1,500 hours of production time, not to mention enhanced crew safety.

Varjo x FNOB and Sweden’s Malmö Opera.png — *Varjo partners with FNOB and Sweden’s Malmö Opera for Turandot*

This is the eighth FNOB production using XR preproduction, but this is the first time that they – or anybody – have used the technology at every step from proof-of-concept to final production, according to the release. It would be interesting to see XR also being used in recording and distributing live content at this level.

Twinmotion Programs Come to Varjo Devices

The virtual production of Turandot is a highly artistic example of using Varjo for architecture and design. That use case is about to get a big leg up as the company recently announced support for its hardware on Twinmotion. Users of the real-time visualization platform’s most recent update will be able to view its high-fidelity models on Varjo devices.

According to the hardware manufacturer, Twinmotion works with all headsets including Aero – the closest thing that the company offers to an entry-level headset. The headset, priced below the company’s other offerings but still within the almost exclusively enterprise range, comes without mandatory software subscriptions making compatibility with other solutions crucial.

Advancing Brain Health With MachineMD

Aero also plays an important part in a partnership with Swiss medical device company machineMD. The partnership’s goal is the development of “neos™” – a proposed device that would use eye-tracking technology for earlier diagnosis of brain disorders. In addition to helping specialists, the device could also be more accessible to doctors that aren’t neuro specialists.

“As a neuro-ophthalmologist, I use the eye as a window to the brain,” said michineMD Medical Director Professor Mathias Abegg in a blog post announcing the partnership. “The Varjo Aero provides me with the most powerful and precise view through this window.”

Varjo and machineMD — *machineMD’s solution will be based on Varjo Aero to perform comprehensive eye exams for the diagnosis of brain disorders*

Between the advancement of the technology and healthy financial support, machineMD expects neos to be ready by the end of this year. Of course, Varjo is also excited to be a part of the important work which could have far-reaching benefits in the brain health world.

“VR-based eye tracking in combination with ophthalmology and neuroscience is opening up important new avenues for researchers and the larger medical community,” co-founder and CTO of Varjo, Seppo Aaltonen, said in the post. “A rare window into the brain is possible with the Varjo Aero headset and we are proud to partner with machineMD to make this technology a reality.”

Hardware Built for Flight Simulation

Varjo is also a leading player in the simulation world, particularly automotive and flight simulation. In fact, one of its premiere headsets, XR-3, was recently released in a specially-tooled edition with cockpit simulations in mind. The variable-passthrough headset has a specially calibrated focal plane to optimize the display of the user’s immediate surroundings.

More recently, Varjo partnered with Leonardo – an aerospace, defense, and security developer. The relationship is intended to “enhance the capability of Leonardo’s aircraft training devices.” The above-mentioned XR-3 Focal Edition headset is already being used.

*Varjo and Leonardo partner in developing and deploying immersive solutions for flight training*

“Leonardo simulation and training experience, coupled with advanced Varjo technology, will allow our products to increase pilots’ training experience, bringing it into a more immersive environment, both within the specific customer training pipelines and within the scope of International Flight Training School,” said Leonardo Aircraft Division’s Head of Simulation and Training Systems Giuseppe Pietroniro.

Jumping Off of Virtual Cliffs

Simulation has a special place in the consumer space as well, where it allows individuals to experience convincing replications of activities that are costly, dangerous, or both. A recent experience offered by Varjo and Red Bull recreates diving from an 80 ft cliff.

“The VR cliff diving experience is really something that you cannot miss,” real-life cliff diver Orlando Duque said of the activation. “It places you right there in the location, in the middle of the action. It’s probably the closest thing to the real deal.”

Varjo and Red Bull - mixed reality watersports experience — *Varjo and Red Bull partnership – Mixed reality watersports experience “Water – Breaking the Surface”*

The experience is still not coming to a living room near you anytime soon. In addition to using the XR-3 rather than the more consumer-available Aero, the experience is currently only being offered as part of an exhibit at the Swiss Museum of Transport. The complete exhibit also uses AR technology and virtual production to replicate activities like surfing.

While available materials don’t mention plans for a more widely available version, it sure sounds like it would be a step up from Richie’s Plank Experience.

A Virtually Imagined Real World

Varjo is still pushing the limits of extended reality technology – and that means that a lot of its experiences and hardware aren’t available to just anybody. While some people get to put on the headset and jump off of a cliff, the benefits of the technology are definitely benefiting more and more people through the ramifications of work in design, defense, and the arts.

Catching Up With Varjo Partnerships and Experiences Around the World Read More »

How Different XR Companies Approach Cloud Services

Amazon, cloud technology, extended reality, featured, Lenovo, magic leap, microsoft, NVIDIA, Snap Inc., Software, varjo / Mike M. / December 11, 2022

XR hardware is on the move. But, software is important too. The bigger your XR needs are, the larger your software needs are. So, more and more XR providers are providing cloud services in addition to their hardware and platform offerings. But, what is the cloud anyway?

Generally, “the cloud” refers to remote servers that do work off of a device. This allows devices to become smaller while running more robust software. For example, some of the cloud services that we’ll look at are cloud storage solutions. Cloud storage is increasingly important because 3D assets can take up a lot of space. Others run computations on the cloud.

Other solutions make up “local clouds.” These are networks of devices managed from a central portal all on location. This kind of solution is usually used by organizations managing a large number of devices from one central computer.

Varjo’s Reality Cloud

“Cloud” takes on yet another meaning for Varjo. For Varjo clients, a lot of the management and IT solutions that make up cloud services for other developers are handled through software subscriptions bundled with almost all Varjo hardware. Varjo’s “Reality Cloud” allows users to join XR meetings including remotely present coworkers and virtual assets.

Varjo Reality Cloud - XR cloud services

“Varjo Reality Cloud is our platform that will allow the ultimate science fiction dream – photo-realistic teleportation – to come true,” CTO Urho Konttori said in a launch event last summer. “What this means, in practice, is true virtual teleportation – sharing your reality, your environment, with other people in real time so that others can experience your world.”

At the beginning of this year, Varjo announced that XR content will soon stream through Reality Cloud services as well. Just like streaming other forms of media, XR streaming aims to provide more content to smaller devices by hosting that content remotely and serving it to users on demand.

“These scalability opportunities that the cloud provides are significantly meaningful when we talk about XR deployment in the corporate world,” Konttori told ARPost in January. “We are now at the level that we are super happy with the latency and deployments.”

In a recent funding announcement, Varjo announced the most recent development in their cloud services. Patrick Wyatt, a C-suite veteran, has been appointed the company’s new CPO and “will be the primary lead for Varjo’s software and cloud development initiatives.” As this article was being written, Varjo further expanded its cloud with Unreal and Unity engine integrations.

CloudXR From NVIDIA

XR streaming is already a reality on other cloud platforms. NVIDIA offers CloudXR that streams XR content to Android and Windows devices. (Remember that Android isn’t a hardware manufacturer, but an operating system. While almost all non-Apple mobile devices run Android, it is also the backbone of many XR headsets.)

NVIDIA CloudXR - XR cloud services

According to NVIDIA, “CloudXR lets you leverage NVIDIA RTX-powered servers with GPU virtualization software to stream stunning augmented and virtual reality experiences from any OpenVR application. This means you can run the most complex VR and AR experiences from a remote server across 5G and Wi-Fi networks to any device, while embracing the freedom to move—no wires, no limits.”

This can be a “pure” cloud application, but it can also be an “edge” application that does some lifting on the device and some remotely. While NVIDIA promotes their cloud services for use cases like location-based experiences and virtual production, edge computing is being embraced by enterprises who may want to keep sensitive content offline.

RealWear’s New Cloud Services

Enterprise XR hardware manufacturer RealWear recently launched their own cloud. This is of the last kind of cloud discussed above. The solution allows IT specialists to “easily control and manage their entire RealWear device fleet from one easy-to-use interface.” That includes content, but it also includes managing updates.

If you own one headset, you know that installing software and updates can be a chore. Now, imagine owning a dozen headsets, or even a hundred or more. Putting on each headset individually to add content and install updates quickly becomes unscalable. The RealWear Cloud also allows real-time tech support, which wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

RealWear Cloud

The RealWear Cloud also allows data analysis across headsets. This is vital in enterprise applications which may be tracking items as they move through a supply chain or tracking employees as they move through tasks or training modules. Handling this data for an individual on an individual headset is possible but, again, becomes unbearable at scale sans cloud.

Cloud Storage in Lens Studio

As for cloud storage, Snapchat recently announced a solution in a Lens Studio update that gives creators up to 25MB of remote storage. While the file size is still capped per asset (you can’t have one 25MB asset), it drastically increases the abilities of Lens Creators working with large or complex models.

Snap Lens Cloud

“Prior to the launch of Remote Assets, if a project was over the Lens size limit, you only had two options: either remove the asset if it wasn’t critical to the experience or resize the image to lower its RAM usage and re-submit,” reads the release. “Now you can utilize our Lens Cloud service to host assets of larger sizes outside of the Lens, and then load them in at run time.”

This is significant because Snap Lenses run on mobile devices that not only have limited space but also share that computing power with a slew of non-XR applications. At least, until Snapchat makes a consumer version of Spectacles.

“At first, we were just building for the phone and porting to the glasses,” Lens Creator Alex Bradt told me when I got to demo Snap’s Spectacles at AWE. “Now we’re like, ‘what can we actually do with these that will solve problems for people that they didn’t know they had?’”

Parents and Partners

Not all XR companies offer their own cloud services. For example, Magic Leap has had a partnership with Google Cloud for the past year now. Likewise, AutoDesk offers its XR cloud services through a partnership with Amazon.

Similarly, ThinkReality cloud services are offered through parent company Lenovo. A similar relationship exists between Azure and Microsoft’s MR hardware.

Partnerships like these help each company get the most out of their existing offerings without needing to build services from the ground up. As enterprises explore entering XR, these offerings also help them integrate into cloud services offered by suppliers that they may already be working with, like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, or Lenovo.

Your Forecast: Cloudy

Right now, a lot of cloud services serve industry – where it is doing very impactful things for industry. That doesn’t mean that people with just one headset (or a phone) shouldn’t be taking note. Developments in XR cloud development (for enterprise or for consumer applications) are making smoother, faster, lighter-weight, and more robust XR applications possible for everyone.

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