When I put on the headset, it wasn’t as disorienting as I had been told to expect. The optical illusion of the hologram floating in front of me worked well enough, but the 40° field of view kept my vision mostly clear. I was getting a demo at the Trimble Dimensions conference, and a helpful Trimble employee walked me through the sight- and gesture-based interface. I stared at a 3D model on a bare table, then expanded it until I was standing on a street outside it.
Mixed reality is a new form of content visualization, distinct from 2D screens or VR goggles. Architects will surely find it useful for giving owners dazzling walk-throughs of possible designs. Advocates say mixed reality is the biggest thing to hit design and construction since BIM. Today, Trimble’s HoloLens-compatible SketchUp Viewer can’t handle detailed BIM models or complex annotations. Its long-distance collaboration is a step up from screen-sharing conference calls, but its usefulness in actual workflows is limited.