Version 2022 of AR 3S is out. It introduces several impressive features and optimizations: from “Hand Pose Capture” to “Collision Detection” to an optimized and simplified design for all interactions. Plus, the appearance of the newest version just looks great.
What’s new?
Welcome to the new “Tools” menu! The former “Measurement” menu has been renamed and extended. It contains now all previously existing tools, plus some new functionalities:
- Hand Pose Capture – Whether in multi-user or single-user sessions, hand poses and positions can be captured and stored in “AR 3S Space” for review and evaluation purposes. The trigger works like a self-timer of a camera.
- Collision Detection – The second major change in the “Tools” menu is the “Collision Detection” feature. It detects and visualizes the intersection of the hologram with the user’s virtual hand. There are three ways of visualization. The “Hand Outline” (1) allows to visualize the outline of the hands as soon as they start to intersect with an object or are behind it. The “Hand Outline+” (2) adds colors to the outline visualization: the red outline is for intersecting points, the green outline stands for non-intersecting points and the colored pattern for intersecting areas**. The “Hand Intersection” (3) applies a heat map to the virtual hands highlight with red color to the closest point of intersection.
- Multimedia / PDF – Multimedia and PDF files can be loaded and visualized using the integrated Multimedia player available inside the “Tools” menu. Videos and PDFs can be browsed and viewed like on a regular desktop application.
Furthermore, the “Space Origin” has a new shape. It’s position in space can now be manually aligned. Once activated, the “Space Origin” gizmo axis line are virtually extended to infinite for better positioning and two rotation handles allow adjustments for X and Z lines.
Also, the “Loading Cube” experience has improved. Before the user confirms the import of an object, he/she can mirror geometries along the three different axes. All mirror options can be also combined to flip objects along multiple axes at the same time.
What changed in terms of UI/UX?
A strong UI/UX improvement is the new “Hierarchy” menu, which makes it easier to switch back and forth between objects. Objects loaded in AR 3S are now organized inside the “Hierarchy” menu with “Object Tabs”. At the same time the user is now also able to merge the hierarchy tree of two or more objects in a single structure assembly.
Additionally, the “Interaction” menu has been unified and simplified – it does contain only selection and manipulation mode. “Select all” and “Deselect all” have been grouped together with “Undo” and “Redo” buttons to have every possible interaction only one click away.
Further optimizations:
- “AR 3S Space” file content has been extended to menu status and position. Once the space file is reloaded, menus are restored with the same arrangement of the last saved session.
- The user interface of “AR 3S PRO Server” includes two new functionalities. Now it contains a network bandwidth setting to increase/decrease data compression therefore optimizing network traffic to better fit with the existing infrastructure.
- Secondly, it contains the export log file, where users can log their applications in case they need help from the Holo-Light Support Team.
Conclusion
The new version reaches a new level of practicability and makes working with AR 3S even easier. More than ever, the new version enables a strong basis for the collaboration of engineers and industrial designers.
*The AR 3S version naming has changed. This version as well as future versions will be named after the year in which they are created.
**Hand Outline+ (2) is currently supported only in AR 3S PRO.
