More than half-a-year after being let go by Valve, Jeri Ellsworth, noted inventor, and fellow former Valve colleague Rick Johnson, programmer, are ready to begin gathering the crowd-funds they need to make their CastAR augmented and virtual reality glasses a big scale reality.
CastAR needs $400,000 on Kickstarter and initially seems to be off to a confident start.
CastAR are lightweight glasses that project 3D images onto a reflective sheet to produce a holographic scene in front of your eyes. There's head-tracking so the scene moves with you, and there's a joystick wand thing that allows you to interact with what you see.
CastAR becomes VR when you clip an additional attachment over the top. "With this component, you will have no need for any other head mounted display," the blurb reads - a sure dig into Oculus Rift's ribs.
CastAR is already fully formed enough to have been demonstrated to the public at events in America this year, where it received very positive responses.
The Kickstarter money will go into refining the hardware both functionally and aesthetically to make it ready for shops.
A CastAR starter kit requires a $189 - or higher - pledge.
