Making AR Porn Magic

Spatial computing may not have attracted the same buzzword status and hype as VR, MR, AR, or 5G. Still, Magic Leap’s commercial consumer-level debut device, Magic Leap 1, is being touted as a revolution in precisely that: spatial computing.

Although holographic displays can indeed seem like magic, Magic Leap 1 uses a tri-directional light projection system identified as a “photonic lightfield chip” that throws angled images against glass lenses. The system utilizes multiple planes of projected light to create apparently three-dimensional focal planes for the user. Instead of creating fully immersive VR environments for the user to step into, Magic Leap’s AR places virtual objects into real settings and allows us to interact with and manipulate them in ways many of us have long fantasized about. (And with AR’s revolutionary potential for porn, some of those fantasies are insanely exciting!)

Your Own Private Sex Club

Image: The World News

The field of view is of paramount importance to any AR user since displayed elements can partially disappear once they reach the FOV’s outer edges. When viewing characters or ogling holographic pornstars, you don’t want them to lose a limb – unless you’re an acrotomophiliac, of course. Magic Leap One doesn’t exactly blow away users on this front. Numerous reporters have cited the modest FOV as one of Magic Leap’s significant problems.

Abracadabra for the Real World

Image: Spotify / Magic Leap

Home from a night out or exhausted after a long workday, you fall onto your sofa and take a moment before slipping into Magic Leap-style AR and tossing your favorite show onto a mid-air projection “screen.” You’re home alone, and the mood strikes, so, with a flick of the controller, you’re face-to-nipple with a digitally recreated partner whose sole devotion is your pleasure. No more TVs, no more phones, and no more worrying that a neighbor might see through the muffled sex sounds and pink-and-blue glow leaking out your windows. This is true porn viewing privacy. And it’s actually pretty close to reality already.

Among other services, music streaming giant Spotify has already fashioned itself an impressive Magic Leap presence. Hang your favorite album cover on your wall for easy browsing and selection, stack your digital records on the coffee table so a friend can criticize your taste or be suitably impressed, control the spatial distribution of your tunes. Now imagine doing the same with Netflix, with porn, and with holographic humans. How could the idea of a virtual sexual smorgasbord filling your flat, apartment, or house not whet your appetite for fully-realized AR?

The Problem of Price

Any avid porn fan hoping to snag a Magic Leap 1 and begin a wild journey into augmented reality sex will note the not-exactly-affordable price tag of $2,295 USD. Microsoft’s recently launched HoloLens 2 costs an additional $1,200, leaving the first-generation HoloLens as Magic Leap’s closest competitor. Pitting the two side-by-side in most respects has Magic Leap 1 coming out on top; it’s more generally powerful, lighter, and, now, that a Lumin OS update has introduced advanced eye and hand tracking along with voice control. To summarize, it offers a broader range of control options than HoloLens 1.

Image: Magic Leap

As with all technology – like, ever – prices will come down and put the technology of Magic Leap, if not an actual Magic Leap 1 headset, in reach of your average porn consumer. The wait for this to happen may even be a blessing in disguise. AR porn hasn’t exactly saturated the market. What does exist has proven quite promising and won over many fans, but there’s still much to be done to bring convincing virtual sex experiences into our real-world environments.

“For My Next Trick…”

Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz revealed in December 2019 that Magic Leap 2 might ship as early as 2021, causing some concern that Magic Leap 1 was underperforming and simply a stop-gap on the way to the forthcoming (and allegedly 5G focused) Magic Leap 2. Just where Magic Leap goes from here is still uncertain. Still, like AR Porn itself, there’ll be many eager adopters hoping the parallel developments in content and hardware really deliver the goods – and deliver them somewhat affordably – and finally, make our AR fantasies a reality.