NVIDIA’s CloudXR 3.0 release has added bidirectional audio support to improve extended reality environments, the company announced on Monday.
The US hardware giant’s CloudXR technologies have greatly removed barriers by streaming high-quality XR experiences to headsets without tethering, allowing quick design changes on tablets and mobiles.
NVIDIA’s edge computing XR platform uses RTX technologies and is designed to stream virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) content via 5G and WiFi.
The developments come as XR users struggled with restricted device mobility due to cable tethering, which limited collaboration with stakeholders.
Updates, Upgrades, One-Ups for NVIDIA’s CloudXR
NVIDIA’s bidirectional audio support will improve collaborations on devices to facilitate real-time communication, with top firms such as Autodesk and Accenture confirming the changes in testing.
An ‘In the Wave’ VR client will also enhance colour and gamma handling, and the update has also upgraded Windows SDK from version 8 to 10.
NVIDIA has also improved its application programming interface (API) for the firm’s CloudXR software development kit (SDK), along with numerous bug fixes.
The CloudXR update will boost its iOS client for features such as world origin updates, and will offer asynchronous connection support so that clients can remain responsive as connections are established.
Lukas Faeth, Senior Product Manager of Automotive Visualisation at Autodesk, said:
“NVIDIA CloudXR is opening new ways for VRED to bring even more people together in collaborative experiences by reducing dependency on hardware and location. We can’t wait to see where this technology will take automotive design and review workflows for Autodesk VRED users”
Nicola Rosa, Extended Reality Lead at Accenture Europe, said:
“We tested CloudXR 3.0 and experienced great performance with complex training apps originally built of tethered XR. The addition of bidirectional audio for collaboration will take cloud rendered collaborative XR experiences to the next level.
She said the release would also allow developers to design cloud-based XR apps “without any limitation.”
VR Firms Step Up SDK, API Development
The news comes as numerous tech firms upgraded their SDKs and APIs amid fresh product launches.
Agora Inc partnered with HTC VIVE in late June to develop a video SDK for the latter’s Synch App, with the solution allowing devices to stream XR content seamlessly across all VR-capable devices.
Apple Inc also announced updates to its iOS operating system last month, which added AR integrations for Apple Maps, as well as revealing its Reality Kit 2 designed to facilitate AR content creation.
US tech giant Google also revealed the release of its Depth API for its ARC 1.18 technology for Unity and Android, which allows access across nearly all Android devices, as well as a SLAM process for determining the phone’s distance from objects and additional visual performance tweaks, among others.
