Microsoft announces Mesh, a holographic meeting platform

Virtual full-body capture entertainment experiences, immersive deep-sea explorations, and mixed reality collaborative meetings. These are just a few of the implementations of Microsoft’s latest product, bringing the virtual reality (VR) experience to a whole new level.

Microsoft Mesh was announced on Tuesday, March 2, during Ignite, the company’s annual conference. It is a new tool for developers to create cross-platform with holographic apps on a variety of devices. Powered by Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Mesh will connect live and digital into a single event by using holoportation, a 3D capture technology that beams a lifelike image of a person into a virtual scene.

People in different physical locations will be able to join collaborative and shared holographic experiences to hold meetings, learn, and create across the virtual and physical worlds. The potential for getting remote expertise is huge, making holographic models and prototypes from architecture and engineering to medical studies, an essential component of the product.

“This has been the dream for mixed reality, the idea from the very beginning,” said Microsoft developer Alex Kipman. “You can actually feel like you’re in the same place with someone sharing content or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people even when you’re not physically together.”

Two apps have already been built on the Microsoft Mash platform, the company has announced. Microsoft Mesh app will enhance HoloLens 2’s performance, the smartglasses realised in 2019 and start at $3,500, to create expressive avatars, while a new Mesh-enabled version of AltspaceVR will facilitate companies’ work gatherings and hangouts in VR.

Over time, the company said, customers can expect to be able to choose from a growing set of Microsoft Mesh-incorporated applications.