The acceleration of immersive technologies over the past 10 years, along with the rise of social networking, has tended to divide virtual and augmented realities. On the one hand, a ubiquitous headset, and a slow take-up that still needs to convince the general public. On the other, the adoption of AR at the service of brands through the spread of platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat or Tik tok (in particular).
What if 2024 marked the reunion of all with the arrival in force of mixed reality, prefigured by HoloLens or Magic Leap, and now in a pivotal year with Apple? We share our views at this crossroads with Elisabeth Eon, Chief Strategy Officer, and David Letourneau, Chief Executive Producer, at Atomic Digital Design.
A creative digital agency
Elisabeth Eon – At the start of 2024, Atomic will be employing +65 people, between Paris and our new office in Dubai, around the production of AR content – And +600 productions over the past three years with high creative added value. The social AR ecosystem is in a period of consolidation worldwide, with strong competition between creative studios. Nevertheless, we’re maintaining the idea that we can broadcast to an impressive market of over 3 billion smartphones, with brands that are still motivated! Today, we’re working on diversifying our offerings into mixed reality formats, with initial proposals already in the pipeline for Magic Leap or Meta on the Quest 3. This is clearly an up-and-coming market, where our creative and technical skills in AR are a real added value. And we need to be able to envisage all the uses and technologies in the pipeline, such as WebAR…
E. E. – On the AR side, it remains clear that the market is expanding on the marketing side, with public adoption now a foregone conclusion. According to ARtillery Intelligence forecasts, the mobile AR sector is set to triple by 2027 (source). We can see the energy of Snap or Tik tok in this field, of Niantic, but also of other technological giants like Qualcomm with recent functionalities such as geolocation, visual search at Google, etc. Creatively speaking, with the arrival of 5G and now powerful phone ranges, we have the opportunity to offer even more beautiful and interactive experiences.
David Letourneau – If we start with usage, we immediately think about the new forms of experience that are possible. The maturity of our technologies helps us a lot. It’s clear that more immersive equipment will develop alongside telephones over the next few years – after a first decade marked by Meta’s major contribution to this sector, and an easily accessible consumer headset. The Apple Vision Pro is an attractive product, but at an elitist price, and for a different use. With the Quest, the focus is on gaming and entertainment. Other manufacturers, such as XReal, are also dedicated to gaming and entertainment. And Samsung, Google and others are coming or returning.
Technological maturity
D. L. – The real turning point is the possibility of having easy-to-use equipment that no longer depends on a vast technical installation. In two or three years’ time, we’ll be seeing these famous mixed-reality goggles, which will be even lighter without losing performance. A miniaturized, mobile piece of equipment that won’t be a telephone, and which will enable us to augment and transform the world. It’s worth noting that the general public already has an appetite for Fake Out Of Home (or FOOH), a trend that consists in distorting reality with the help of digital technology. Brands are finding a real dialogue with their audience: Jacquemus, L’Oréal and others. Did users want selfies and self-portraits a few years ago? Now they want to turn their camera towards the outside world, and recreate it with their own eyes. We’re moving forward with content that bridges the gap between the imaginary and the tangible, and it’s a great opportunity to talk about the concept of reality.
D. L. – A strong trend last year was the VTO or Virtual Try-on, and this remains a very useful possibility for many of our customers. They try on online and/or virtually to convince themselves before buying or visiting a store. ROIs can be fascinating in the fashion, beauty and luxury sectors.
D. L. – And beyond the improving hardware, it’s the possibility of persistence storage that has totally convinced me of the future of MR and mobile AR. This ability to anchor 3D elements in a geolocalized way (implying the idea of a spatialized web) around us is a total revolution. We’ll be able to personalize our daily lives with virtual assets – and potentially share them. We’re already applying this in AR with some of our customers, in personal applications or to discover external devices (in the streets, around a bus stop…).
From augmented reality to immersive mixed reality
D. L. – 2024 marks a real turning point for Atomic, which two years ago claimed to be the “AR Company”, and its agnostic approach in this sector: social networks, app, 3D design… Today we want to be recognized as the experts in augmented experience on all media. Beyond social networks, we can imagine installations for the outside world (billboards, tablets, giant screens, headsets…) and reach the public in the real world. Just look at the giant 3D OOH panels in London and other major capitals. The interaction with the public is fascinating, because the promise is often skewed: you have to be in a very specific place to see the 3D effect. But we want to believe it!
E. E. – For us, the development of the XR must focus on uses that do not completely confine the user. Mixed reality is therefore a priority. VR itself will have more and more uses in business, or for specific B2B2C uses: point-of-sale in stores, demonstrations, culture and education… But the end user won’t own the headset, he’ll come to enjoy an outside activity. Apart from the video game segment, which has already been widely adopted…
D. L. – Virtual reality is hard to share – because it’s not very mobile. Mixed reality, yes, because it can be experienced outdoors. But we’ll get there, because the real metaverse, as envisaged by Mark Zuckerberg, is the real world. Horizon is a way of exploring certain uses, but it hasn’t convinced us. Meta is moving towards MR, and Quest 3 is very convincing in terms of passthrough etc. For MR, at Atomic, we came to it iteratively. All the right criteria had to be met: a quality passthrough, a well-configured play area (safety is paramount!), color definition, etc. Our first prototype went straight to the real thing. Our first prototype immediately became a real experience, and Meta has already ordered the sequel. And playing on gamification also comes in handy for our customers – retail, luxury goods, etc.
D. L. – I’m interested in mixed reality because it allows direct interaction with the outside world. You can pick up objects, have a physical environment included in the experience. And play with all that. Over the past ten years, we’ve accepted the idea of being able to put a helmet on our heads to experience things we’ve never been able to before. Just look at the videos that have come out with the Quest 3, where influencers drink their coffee or cook with the headset… And beyond the joke, these uses will gradually develop with more meaning.
D. L. – The future of MR must go towards the absence of joysticks. For ease of use, but also to limit friction at the start of an experience. We see this in our projects for retail, which is still a very strong sector. In-store phygital experiences may move towards smartphones, or mixed reality in the near future – but access must be as simple as possible.
And artificial intelligence?
E. E. – Artificial intelligence is already very present in our company, with conversational tools on the one hand, and a strong commitment to creation on the other. We’re making better and faster progress. AI can become the brain of augmented reality, with the implementation of complete AI-guided experiences. But in any case, our 3D creation processes are about to be revolutionized by this.
D. L. – It’s already possible to create entire characters or contexts from prompts. And even users, via platforms, will be able to do so. But that doesn’t take away the need for human checks, manual corrections and optimizations.
E. E. – We’ll always need teams at the helm, and it won’t be long before we can do without designers and developers to produce satisfying experiences.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.