Documentation/Labs/Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality support

The goal of this page to coordinate activities related to improving 3D Slicer's support for augmented reality and virtual reality headsets (such as Microsoft HoloLens, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift). The scope includes all solutions that allow content created by 3D Slicer shown in an AR/VR headset. Some way of real-time interaction, data exchange is preferred, but not essential for all applications.

Current approaches

• Native VR renderer: SlicerVirtualReality extension
• Unity viewer
  • Send and receive transforms via OpenIGTLink to/from Slicer or Plus (Franklin King - BWH)
  • Send and receive transforms and images via OpenIGTLink from Plus (Lyla Mu - Western)
  • Send images from Slicer via web server (Franklin King - BWH, PerkLab)
  • Load model files exported from 3D Slicer
    • HoloLens QuickNav brain surgery (Emily Rae, Zac Baum - PerkLab)
    • Abdominal organs (Franklin King - BWH)
• UWP (Universal Windows Platform) application for HoloLens
  • OpenIGTLink communication to receive images/transforms from Plus or Slicer (Adam Rankin - Western)
• Web viewer
  • Generate pre-rendered panoramic image in 3D Slicer and show it in a web browser (Franklin King - PerkLab)
  • Load models exported from 3D Slicer into https://aframe.io/ (Steve Pieper - Isomics)

Previous efforts

• Native VR renderer using VTK only (Franklin King - PerkLab) - obsolete, since VTK has built-in OpenVR support
• Using OpenVR and OpenVR VTK remote module (Adam Rankin - Western) - obsolete, since Slicer has official SlicerVirtualReality extension