Mozilla is working on a new Mixed Reality Web API for different platforms. The new Web XR expands on the limitations of Mozilla current API build, adding MR support into the mix. Initially running on Firefox Reality browser, the plan is to bring Mixed Reality experience directly to the users, apps free.
Last year saw many advances in bringing the Mixed Reality content to Web browsers. Mozilla’s own Web VR for Firefox proved a success, while Microsoft made a big forward stride with Edge. While 8th Wall is the undisputed chip holder with its recent AR Web breakthrough, Mozilla is looking to make a subtle MR transition from their last year’s Web VR. The Web XR looks to be a definite success in succeeding the Mozilla’s current API.
‘Mixed reality is going to be a powerful platform’, writes Lars Bergstorm, Mozilla’s VR/AR Research Engineering Manager. ‘Like any new creative medium, we want it to be widely accessible, so curious viewers can experience the next generation of digital media without having to shell out hundreds of dollars for a high-end viewer’. The words ring true in the most fundamental sense. As the reality technology develops, so is the support for it. Smartphone cameras, for instance, are fully capable of mixing the real with the virtual. The Web XR JavaScript is Mozilla’s effort to capitalize on this and deliver MR Web experience to a wider audience.
The possibilities with new Mozilla MR Web API are enticing. The new build will markedly improve on every MR image generating aspect while also adding a few features of its own. Eye tracking, computer vision, or light estimation are only some of the improvements, while the addition of Skyboxes will make overlaying a vivid MX background onto a Web page look seamless. Interacting with and navigating the virtual spaces receive a major overhaul too. With MX Web support, these will include voice and gesture commands. Moreover, Web XR will deliver the frame rate required for each particular MR task at hand. To top things off, Mozilla is also looking into ways to improve world scanning capabilities. In a word, developers are in for a powerful new tool from Mozilla.
While Mozilla successfully integrated Web VR into Firefox browser, Web XR still has a long way to go. Conceived, the new API will be born and bred in the Mozilla’s new Firefox Reality, a browser especially designed to showcase the MR Web potential. There will be stages to cover before it comes to platforms like Windows, Android, or iOS, though the latter of these is at a slight advantage. There is an ARKit-based Mozilla app out there, used mainly as a testing ground.
The MR technology has grown enough for the world to enjoy it. Things like the New Channel disturbing MR hurricane report are hardly a novelty nowadays. The next step is reaching the audience as big as the Web would allow, and Mozilla is creating the new Web XR API platform with this very sentiment in mind.
