Lullaby: Google's New C++ Libraries For VR/AR

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Lullaby: Google's New C++ Libraries For VR/AR

Google's newest open-source project is called Lullaby...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Google-Lullaby-VR-AR

[samdraz]

seems to be a result from arkit , how well does this compete with arkit and artoolkit ?

[oleid]

Disclaimer

This is not an official Google product.

So much for the latest Google source...

[thesandbender]

So much for the latest Google source...

It's checked in under the official google github account and there are already commits merging "internal" branches. I think in this context "not official" means "expect no support"/"we're not responsible if it causes your daughter to start dating that disreputable rooted phone down the street".

[coder]

This seems to give the clearest understanding of what it is and isn't: https://github.com/google/lullaby/bl...ation-guide.md

In particular:

Lullaby does not provide a platform-indirection layer. The responsibility of creating the necessary windows and graphics context and setting up the main event loop is left to the users of the library. Similarly, Lullaby does not provide I/O abstractions, networking libraries, power management, etc. The focus of Lullaby is purely on the simulation of the VR/AR "world".

So, when they say it's cross-platform, don't think it solves the problem of supporting multiple HMDs on multiple OSes. It seems to be cross-platform in the sense that it doesn't solve any of the platform-specific problems.

Hopefully, some projects will be forthcoming (or already exist) for running it on different HMDs and OSes.

[coder]

So much for the latest Google source...

If it's used internally by Google, as seems to be the case, then that's really the next best thing to it being an official API.

[TheBlackCat]

So much for the latest Google source...

And how many years was gmail in beta? This is normal for google.

[name99]

seems to be a result from arkit , how well does this compete with arkit and artoolkit ?

Yeah, exactly my analysis. Panic in Google and quick conference: "What can we do IMMEDIATELY to look like we have a response?"

[name99]

If it's used internally by Google, as seems to be the case, then that's really the next best thing to it being an official API.

You mean it'll be supported as well as Allo/Duo/Picasa/Ara/NaCl/...?

Google does many great things, and does many things well. API design and long-term support are NOT among those things...

[coder]

Yeah, exactly my analysis. Panic in Google and quick conference: "What can we do IMMEDIATELY to look like we have a response?"

First, developing this wasn't immediate. Releasing it might've been.

Second, how is Tango not their answer to ARKit? Rather, how is it not the other way around, with ARKit being an answer to Tango? Likewise, ARToolKit seems like a lower-level of a subset of what Tango does, albeit on generic hardware.

Lullaby seems complementary to Tango and potentially ARToolKit. Releasing it might be some sort of reaction to ARKit, but it clearly dates back further and has a scope well beyond what I can see of ARKit's functionality.