New Windows 10 Creators Update Bridges the Divide Between Physical Objects & the Digital Environment of Mixed Reality

Today, Microsoft announced its Windows 10 Creators Update, adding the ability to scan objects in your world and bring them into the computer. With newly-announced inexpensive VR headsets and the HoloLens, you can enjoy those transplanted 3D objects in mixed and virtual reality.

We knew Microsoft had a new version of Paint coming with several interesting 3D features. (Check out the video above for a preview.) It seemed only natural that these features would find their way to the HoloLens—and they did. Any 3D creations made in this new version of Paint can not only be exported and viewed in mixed reality through the HoloLens, but on the upcoming low-cost $300 headsets in virtual reality.

Beyond that, Microsoft demonstrated how you can scan an object in physical reality, using your smartphone, and import it into a digital environment. With a few adjustments and enhancements, you can use that object in Paint or use it in a holographic environment.

Saving your 3D scan or resulting creation to Microsoft's new 3D object community will allow you and others access to it across Windows 10 apps and in Windows-compatible headsets. Furthermore, you can bring a version of it back into physical reality with a 3D printer.

Microsoft's HoloLens brought mixed reality to life in a way that no other device has been able to do just yet, but the Windows 10 Creators Update demonstrates that the company isn't satisfied with just projecting holographic information in our physical world—they want to move objects between realities seamlessly. While this is just the beginning, it's a pretty impressive start.

The Windows 10 Creators Update will be released in Spring 2017 for free.

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Cover image by Microsoft