Making sure objects can be reached

When we create a holographic scene, we determine where the objects are by putting them in our computer world. The HoloLens will later place these in the real world. The danger is that we do not know how the environment looks where the user is present. It can be a huge empty hall or it can be a small room in a student's dormitory. If we place an important object in our app four meters away from the user, and we expect the user to walk toward that object to interact with it, we might have a problem in that student's room. The object will somehow magically be visible through the solid wall of her room. The user, however, will not be able to go through that wall and is, thus, limited in the use of the app. Also, when this happens, the user will feel disconnected from the experience. What started out as an immersive experience, where she felt like a part of this augmented world, is suddenly just another app. The connection between her and the virtual objects is gone, and the app loses its appeal.

The HoloLens has an understanding of the rooms and the environment. So, we can ensure that the objects we present are within the confinements of that room. That way, we can ensure that the user is able to reach things and interact with them.

One word of warning--we cannot prevent items being projected out of reach when we have large glass window panes in the room. The depth sensor does not see the window and, thus, might consider walls and floors outside to be part of the room we are in. The result might be that the app will present items outside the room. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about that.