Display Zone Overview
What is the Display Zone?
The Display Zone is the three-dimensional area within which virtual content can be viewed through the Magic Leap 2 headset. The Magic Leap 2 device has a set default Display Zone, which protects users from discomfort and safety hazards sometimes associated with viewing virtual content at close distances.
The near boundary of the Display Zone is enforced by the near clipping plane with a default value of 0.37m. Starting in OS 1.4.0, Magic Leap supports an adjustable setting that allows users to customize the Display Zone for personal viewing preferences, within set boundaries.
Why Does it Matter?
The default near boundary (clipping plane) of the Display Zone protects users from viewing content at close distances that can cause discomfort such as eye strain, blurred vision, headache, eye fatigue, double vision, dizziness, and nausea. The default setting allows your apps to automatically provide user experiences that are safe and comfortable, supporting adoption and positive user perceptions.
Magic Leap set the default Display Zone based on research we conducted to address visual discomfort and sickness from optical displays, a longstanding challenge in the extended and augmented reality (XR and AR) fields. We found that viewing content closer than 0.37m could lead to severe side effects caused by the Vergence-Accommodation Conflict. In some cases, these effects can be severe enough that people cannot work or sleep for hours afterwards. See the Vergence-Accommodation Conflict article to learn more.
The likelihood and severity of these symptoms vary between people, depending on age, gender, arm length, and other factors. We set the default Display Zone to support comfort for the widest range of people.
If left unaddressed, these side effects threaten to impact adoption of your solutions. Discomfort and physical sickness cause customers to reject demos, abandon augmented reality (AR) projects, or discard the field of AR altogether. Safety, comfort, inclusion, and user experience are essential to win over enterprise decision-makers and drive adoption. A properly set Display Zone enables the widest range of users to have positive experiences deploying your solutions on our device.
Based on feedback from developers, in OS 1.4.0, we added an adjustable setting that enables users to adjust the near boundary to a minimum of 0.25m. We will continue working with you to explore solutions that are both more comfortable and more capable.
How is it Used?
Starting in OS 1.4.0, users have the option to adjust the Display Zone near boundary (clipping plane) setting between the default 0.37m to as close as 0.25m.
We added the option after feedback from our developer and customer communities that some apps could benefit from closer virtual content.
The adjustable setting gives you and your customers more control for AR experiences. It allows users to view content at closer distances for key use cases, including:
- Real-time viewing and manipulation of 3D content in fine detail
- Near-field interaction with hand-tracking capabilities, particularly for users with shorter arms
- Close-proximity collaboration among multiple users
You are solely responsible for determining an appropriate Display Zone near boundary for your application and its intended use case. You are also responsible for the health and safety of your applications, and for including appropriate warnings regarding health and safety to your end users. Distances below 0.37m should be used only when absolutely necessary and in limited use cases only.