Today we’re excited to announce the latest milestone of our journey with a major release of our Orion VR tracking software, now available for public beta on Windows. This is the fourth generation of our core software overall, featuring a range of feature improvements across the board:

Better finger dexterity and fidelity

Significantly smoother hand and finger tracking, with motions that look and feel more natural

Faster and more consistent hand initialization

Better hand pose stability and reliability

Improved tracking fidelity against complex backgrounds and extreme lighting

More accurate shape and scale for hands

With this release we’ve also developed an ensemble of demos that showcase hand-centric design principles across a range of interactions.

VR interactions have the potential to be easier and more intuitive than with any other technology. Cat Explorer is a fun demo that points to the transformative potential of VR and natural interaction in fields as diverse as education, training, healthcare, and entertainment. Instead of learning how to use a controller, Cat Explorer encourages you to learn through play and experimentation. Get exploring!

How can combinations of four simple rules result in complex and lifelike behavior at scale? Particles is an interactive 3D simulation of this question – letting you interactively explore the emergent behaviors of that stem from basic mechanics. It’s fun, experimental, and may give a new perspective on the the rigid underpinnings of everything from atoms to cell life and celestial movements.

Paint is an application developed to remove as many barriers between ideas and creation as possible. Simply reach out your hand and pinch your fingers together to create a ribbon in mid-air. Switching colors, undoing a stroke, or changing the brush thickness is equally accessible with just a tap of a wearable interface.

This release also includes several changes to our SDK, including newly updated Unity and Unreal engine integrations, and the deprecation of older APIs. Learn more about it in our second blog post.