As Microsoft gears up to begin shipping the $3,000 Development Edition of its HoloLens augmented reality headset at the end of this month, the company is showing off one of its first AR apps for content creation. It’s kinda neat, if a bit cheesy.
Actiongram lets you create augmented reality stories by placing holograms of characters, objects and effects in your field of view and capturing them in action.
The video below demonstrates how you can choose from a range of props and characters, scale and place them in your scene (such as your living room or backyard) and then animate and record them.
Microsoft says the app is focused on helping creators develop humorous content suitable for sharing online, but it could also be used for educational or instructional storytelling.
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Here are a couple more clips to give you an idea of what to expect from Actiongram creators.
In addition to showing off the app’s capabilites, Microsoft says that it wants developers to understand that it’s not difficult to create software for HoloLens like Actiongram, which came together in roughly six months with a five-person team working on it. “It’s really no different than developing for any mobile platform,” the company explained.
Actiongram will become available to developers in the Windows Store this summer.
➤ Introducing Actiongram: A completely new holographic storytelling medium [Microsoft Devices Blog]
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