Project: Apple Vision Pro Books

Type: Concept Animation

Client : N/A

Timeline : February 2024

The Vision Pro provides a unique focus on XR with Apple putting their weight behind the technologies. Having used, developed and designed for a range of different XR devices, on the face of it, the AVP does not appear to be much different. Although I live in the UK and therefore haven’t been able to try the device, there are two points that differentiate themselves from the competitors; fidelity and interoperability. 

Having seen the Meta Quest 3’s passthrough, I was shocked by how grainy and unlike the promotional footage it looked like. While I’m aware the AVP may have some of the same issues, what I wanted to demonstrate in this concept is the power of XR when it gets to a point of clarity. Being able to read a book requires a lot of fidelity to have that experience mimic reality. Having recently got back into reading, I often find myself wanting to take the mass of the book away but keep the tangible experience of turning the pages. While a small weight, over time it can distract and pull you out of the experience, much like a lot of the discussion of the weight of the headsets themselves. It requires a reshuffle, a change of arm position, but in that moment, you’re back in the room and not in the book itself. What a high fidelity screen and great hand tracking offers is the ability to lean back to take a book with you, wherever is most comfortable and get lost in that as the experience. 

Having recently completed my Part-3 studies, referencing has been one of the banes of my life. This is where I think a closed system like Apple’s could help. While I'm not advocating for this in its entirety, I currently think Meta’s approach is better, the ability for Apple hardware and software to work seamlessly together and be able to react to one another is a great foundation to build upon. To reduce referencing to a simple drag and drop, would not only make it more likely to be accurate but save time in a necessary but laborious task.

Ultimately what I wanted to do with this project is take the workflow I currently use across XR projects and look at something that is speculative, perhaps a little mundane but really demonstrates where these devices could be incredibly powerful in the future.