Blazing Hand Trails | State of Matterless #34
We had a hand trail viral tweet that got 160k views! We are experimenting with new types of hand interaction in real-time.
Hand Trails
We caused a bit of a stir on the interwebs when we shared several posts showcasing some AR hand trail effects we’re working on! The one above got 160k views on Twitter - this was an exciting time to watch the numbers go up during the 48 hours after we posted!
But, what exactly are hand trails for? Well, if you recall, in our previous update regarding Inco interactions, the team has been exploring different ways matterless objects can respond to the touch of your hand. Since you can’t physically feel them, there must instead be a visual and aural response, and that’s what these hand trail effects are for.
Flippin’ AR hand trails; how do they work?! Our CTO Robin explains:
When a hand is detected, the fingertips are tracked to render trails in the air. When a fingertip touches a plane (as detected by ARKit, the SDK for developers to make AR apps for the iOS), a wider trail follows your hand movements on the plane.
It uses Auki Labs’ monocular hand reconstruction tech to detect your hand using only the camera (no LIDAR needed!) to give a full 3D representation of a hand.
I’m eager to see these effects applied to Incos and future AR toys we create. What else do you think we could do with them? Let us know on our Discord!
A New Wizard Arrives
We’ve recently augmented our team with new arrivals Andy and Sylwia, but Matterless magic requires MOAR sorcerers to conjure, so this week we’re fortunate to have another high-level spellcaster join our adventuring party. Say hello to Darko Tomic, our new Senior Unity Engineer hailing from Bosnia!
I share a passion for experimenting with new technologies and inventing new ideas. I am an early AR adopter, having started with Vuforia and Google’s Tango back in 2017. Later, I transitioned to ARKit and ARCore technologies where I learned about ground-based AR experiences.
I am known for Skeletons AR, a game that pushed AR to the limit back in 2018. In 2022, I released a remaster of the same game, Skeletons AR 2022. These days I am focused on open source and creating technologies that will help me build AR experiences. I’m excited to be on the frontier of this technology at Matterless!
Cyberdelic Podcast
Earlier this week, we released episode four of The Cyberdelic Podcast! In episode 04, our CEO Nils and CCO Damir discuss the internet as a global nervous system and how AR’s capacity for nonverbal communication gives it a physicality that can transcend human language.
One of my favorite parts of this week’s episode is the idea of a matterless Inco being a digital avatar for platforms like Spotify and YouTube to calibrate content based on your preferences. Instead of making a disembodied machine smarter, imagine teaching a digital animal to understand your content and give you more of what you want. Does that sound fun?
Listen to the whole thing here:
This is the kind of stuff we constantly think about and talk about on our Discord. We’re also into D&D and painting Warhammer minis — come nerd out with us.
— Kerwin, social media manager
