Light Field Tech May Enable AR Porn

Google recently announced a breakthrough in their development of light field technology. This is a technology that records video in a whole new way. Unlike standard photography, a light field camera captures all the light in a scene that it records. This potentially enables video in which you can ‘walk around’ the scene after you have recorded it. The potential for virtual and augmented reality is clear and obvious, although I feel it has far more implications for AR porn rather than VR. In recorded VR porn, you are ‘trapped’ in the body of the male actor, and see things from his perspective (usually). So although light field should enable more realistic rendering of closeup first person scenes (kissing and such will finally be a realistic thing in VR) it might not radically transform the whole nature of VR porn.

However, with augmented reality, there are fewer limitations, and the whole idea is to place a realistic object in your surroundings (in the case of adult AR, a sexy girl or whatever). When you move, and look at the object/girl from a different angle, there should be a seamless flow so that the girl appears to be actually part of the space of your physical environment – that she is really there in 3D.

VR can do this with conventional stereoscopic 3D camera rigs, but relatively crudely. A live webcam girl would potentially only have to have one or two lightfield cameras in her room, and a person with the suitable glasses or headset will find her realistically transported into his home.

There are already companies pioneering the use of light field technology for augmented reality, among them being Avegant, who have already produced a light field AR headset as early as 2017.

The global light field display market is forecast to reach over $2 billion by 2025. Let’s hope that augmented reality porn will be contributing quite a substantial share of that.