AR and VR app development 虚拟现实和增强现实技术

Apple and Google are ready for an augmented reality tidal wave, but what of developers? Over the past several months, the availability of ARKit and ARCore have proven there’s plenty of interest in the technology on the developer side, and some big brands from Ikea to Disney have been publicly exploring the ways in which the technology can enhance existing applications. But developers working on a smaller scale could benefit from a push when it comes to embracing the tech at this still relatively early stage.

Shasta Ventures principal Jacob Mullins took to the Disrupt San Francisco stage this afternoon to announce that the venture capital firm is working to help incentivize development in the AR field with a new fund that will back eligible parties to the tune of $100,000 apiece. The Shasta Camera Fund seeks to invest in companies in the pre-seed and early seed stages for products in the augmented reality, virtual reality and “camera-first computer vision” fields.

Mullins laid out the firm’s vision on stage, citing his own experiences at Microsoft as a precedent for the value of investing in a developer ecosystem at this early stage. Even as VR appears to have stalled in the wake of its early hype cycle, most tech giants continue to be extremely bullish about the growth potential of augmented reality. It is, after all, the more accessible of the two technologies. An entry-level application only requires a handset to enjoy.

And the astronomical success of applications like Pokemon Go have demonstrated how even an extremely basic AR application can greatly enhance the appeal of a mobile experience. An explosion in early AR development could be the tide that raises all ships, reigniting interest in VR development. 

But a lack of truly compelling content early on could be enough to stop AR in its tracks before it has the opportunity to become a truly mainstream experience. “The earliest days of a new platform often pose a ‘chicken or egg’ problem,” Mullins said ahead of the announcement, “creative developers need funding to develop an idea, but because of lack of traditional scale, they can struggle to attract funding at such an early stage. Shasta Camera Fund fills that gap.”

苹果和谷歌已经准备好增强现实的浪潮，但是开发商呢？在过去几个月中，ARKit和ARCore的可用性已经证明在开发者方面对技术有很大的兴趣，从宜家到迪士尼的一些大品牌已经公开研究了技术如何增强现有的应用程序。但是，在这个较早的阶段，开发工作量较小的开发人员可能会受益于采用技术。

沙斯塔风险投资公司主席雅各布·穆林斯今天下午参加了破坏旧金山的舞台，宣布风险投资公司正在努力通过一项新基金帮助激励AR领域的发展，从而使合资格的合作伙伴回到10万美元。 Shasta相机基金旨在为增强现实，虚拟现实和“摄像头第一台计算机视觉”领域的产品投资于种子和早期种子阶段的公司。

Mullins在舞台上阐述了公司的愿景，引用他自己在微软的经验，作为在这个早期投资开发商生态系统的价值的先例。即使在早期炒作周期之后，VR似乎停滞不前，大多数科技巨头仍然非常看好增强现实的增长潜力。毕竟，这两种技术更容易获得。入门级应用程序只需要手机享受。

而像Pokemon Go这样的应用程序的天文学成就表明，即使一个非常基本的AR应用程序甚至可以大大增强移动体验的吸引力。早期AR发展的爆发可能是引发所有船舶的浪潮，重燃VR发展的兴趣。

但是，早期缺乏真正引人注目的内容就足以阻止AR在其轨道中，才有机会成为真正的主流体验。一个新平台的最早时期，往往会造成“鸡蛋或鸡蛋”的问题，“穆林斯在公布之前表示：”创意开发商需要资金来开发一个想法，但是由于缺乏传统的规模，他们可以努力吸引资金