MRTK3 broadens cross-platform interoperability with support for Snapdragon Spaces

[Guest Desiree Lockwood]

Mixed reality app and game creators use a broad range of tools and hardware to support their solutions and creative vision. According to SlashData (2022), “Thirty-seven percent of AR/VR practitioners target both AR and VR and 61% of AR/VR developers target three or more platforms”. That’s why cross-platform tools, like MRTK3, that work across the full spectrum of mixed reality devices are important to making app creation less fragmented and, therefore, less time-consuming.

 

 

 

The growing adoption of OpenXR has been key to moving towards a more builder-friendly MR ecosystem. OpenXR is an open royalty-free API standard from Khronos that provides native access to a wide range of devices from many vendors across the mixed reality spectrum. Because MRTK3 is built natively on OpenXR, it is highly portable across OpenXR-based devices including HoloLens 2, Meta Quest 2, Magic Leap 2, and Ultraleap, among others. And now - we are pleased to share that cross-platform interoperability is expanding with support for Qualcomm's Snapdragon Spaces.

 

 

 

Now developers using MRTK have even more places to land their applications with little to no platform-specific code. Snapdragon Spaces enables developers to build immersive applications for AR glasses from scratch or add head-worn AR features to existing Android smartphone applications. Because it is conformant to the Khronos OpenXR runtime specification, developers will find that many MRTK3 features work out of the box.

 

 

 

For those targeting Snapdragon Spaces, they can now use MRTK3 Public Preview to build rich and expressive volumetric UI, like touchable sliders, buttons, toggles, and more. In addition, MRTK3 makes it easier to build performant applications with highly optimized shaders and rendering tools specifically tuned for mobile devices. In the near future, when MRTK3’s full range of capabilities is implemented on Snapdragon Spaces, developers will be able to do even more with the toolkit. This includes data binding, theming and a more straightforward way to implement object manipulations, like grabbing and resizing 3D objects.

 

 

 

We are thrilled to see Qualcomm and so many other platform and device makers coalesce around open standards. This will ensure that developers’ investments in OpenXR-based tools will remain valuable even as new devices and platforms emerge. More importantly, reducing platform fragmentation will allow developers more time to innovate, solve problems, and delight users.

 

 

 

Get a sneak peek on using MRTK3 in Snapdragon Spaces from our guest appearance at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more and stay up to date on MRTK3 Public Preview, join the Mixed Reality Developer Program today.

 

Continue reading...