Windows Mixed Reality

Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) is a Microsoft platform built around the Windows 10 API, allowing applications to render digital content on holographic and immersive display devices.

Holographic and immersive headsets

Holographic devices such as the Microsoft HoloLens allow you to see the physical environment around you while wearing the headset, blending the real world with virtual content.

Windows Mixed Reality immersive headsets feature an opaque display to block out the physical world and surround you in a 360 degree virtual environment.

HoloLens

The HoloLens is a device for running both Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality applications. There are a number of important differences between HoloLens and Windows immersive devices, which developers should consider when creating applications. While HoloLens applications use the same tools and APIs as other Windows Mixed Reality applications, their strength lies in allowing you to interact with the real world environment in unique ways.

What are holograms?

HoloLens renders 3D virtual objects in your device’s view, creating the illusion that those objects are in the surrounding real-world environment. The user can interact with these objects using gestures, voice commands and gaze. The objects can also interact with real-world surfaces in your physical environment. You can attach audio, animations and other components to holograms, as with any other GameObject in Unity.

More information on holograms is available on the Microsoft developer website.

Immersive headsets

Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) immersive headsets feature an opaque display to block out the physical world and surround you in a 360 degree virtual environment.

Many Virtual Reality devices, such as the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, use sensors built into headsets and cameras facing towards these to track user movements. This is known as outside-in tracking. The majority of WMR immersive headsets use inside-out tracking: Instead of using external cameras in the environment, inside-out tracking devices use outward-facing cameras built into the headset for positional tracking. Windows Holographic devices such as the HoloLens also use inside-out tracking.

Differences between Holographic and immersive devices

The table below presents the main features of Holographic and immersive Windows Mixed Reality devices.

Feature	Holographic device	Immersive device
Display	See-through display that allows you to see the physical environment while wearing the headset	Opaque display that blocks out the physical environment while wearing the headset
Tracking Scale	World scale	Stationary or Room scale
Tracking type	Inside-out	Inside-out
Headsets

The table below lists the important differences between Hololens and immersive devices.

For information about input control mapping differences, see Windows Mixed Reality Input.

You can also find additional details in Microsoft’s Mixed Reality documentation.

• 2018–03–27 Page published with editorial review

• New content added for XR API changes in 2017.3