Oculus Rift

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  • YuffieYuffie Posts: 9,864
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    I was at a Game of Thrones event in Sydney today and they had a thing where you go up an ice wall and they used Occulus Rift to do it.

    It was AMAZING. I've been keeping an eye on VR and this is the first chance I got to use it. It's so immersive, I don't think anyone can appreciate how real it feels until they use it.

    In this one you get brought up a huge ice wall in a lift, turn around, walk to the other edge, get hit by a fireball and then fall off (any GoT fans will know what I'm on about). But I kept losing my footing while doing it. It was weird because I obviously knew I wasn't moving but as soon as the headset goes on, you just forget and think you're somewhere else.

    It's crazy but I love VR so much more now. I can't wait to get my hands on one.
  • seanfseanf Posts: 3,092
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    I can't wait to get my hands on this, I remember when vr first hit the arcades in the mid 90's
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    They've only just announced DK2 shipping is to start, but before it does they've weeded out 'large numbers' of preorders that they believe were intended for resale - all in China, for now:

    http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/4/5870577/oculus-rift-dev-kit-sals-suspended-in-china-due-to-extreme-reseller

    http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/07/04/oculus-rift-suspends-sales-to-china-because-of-extreme-reselling/

    All suspected preorders cancelled - and China is now removed from the order site.

    I wonder if this bumps some of the rest of us up the list.... though I suspect they must have known for some time and did nothing until now to avoid giving the resellers an opportunity to try again.
  • LyricalisLyricalis Posts: 57,958
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    We spent a couple of days putting together a quick set of demos of Google Glass and Oculus Rift for some potential customers and interested people within the company. This was pretty much stuff downloaded and/or patched together due to only having 2 days to do it.

    Anyway, people were very ambivalent about Google Glass (can't say I blame them), but absolutely loved Oculus Rift. The biggest draw was setting it up with Google Street View. No real effort on our part (just downloaded some stuff and away we went), and yet people kept coming back for another go along with people they'd pulled in from all over.

    When this stuff does eventually go on retail sale, I think it's going to be massive. All people kept asking us was when they could buy one, and that's the mark one version!

    A few people did say it made them a bit dizzy though, more women than men, though whether that's men pretending it wasn't bothering them, or women actually having more problems was hard to tell.

    Still, it was enough for me to get my order for some DK2s authorised. Even ordered one for myself for research at home. :D

    No one was interested in seeing Google Glass again.
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    Lots of people say eating ginger, in any form including biscuits, alleviates or even prevents the 'motion sickness' effect it can have. Next demo you run, serve some ginger snaps beforehand!

    I don't know anyone with any interest in google glass, it just seems... uninteresting.
  • LyricalisLyricalis Posts: 57,958
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    Asmo wrote: »
    Lots of people say eating ginger, in any form including biscuits, alleviates or even prevents the 'motion sickness' effect it can have. Next demo you run, serve some ginger snaps beforehand!

    I don't know anyone with any interest in google glass, it just seems... uninteresting.

    Thanks for the tip. I'm sure providing snacks would be appreciated even if it didn't help :).

    One thing that really surprised me was how light the Oculus Rift is. I'm sure you'd still feel it after a while, It still weighs more than the average pair of glasses and you feel those after a few hours, but still pretty light. I even managed to squeeze a pair on without having to remove my glasses, but I had to sort of hold them in place without using the straps to do so - hardly something you could do for more than a few minutes. Looks like contact lenses or lens inserts it is then.
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    You never know, the likes of specsavers could get in on the act offering prescription Rift lenses..

    I bet someone will.
  • LyricalisLyricalis Posts: 57,958
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    Asmo wrote: »
    You never know, the likes of specsavers could get in on the act offering prescription Rift lenses..

    I bet someone will.

    You can already order glasses over the internet, so I agree that there's bound to be someone who will get into the market to offer these. It's not as if wearing glasses is that rare a thing, so plenty of customers.
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    Project Cars running on a DK2 - the footage here is actually shot with the camera looking into one of the eyepieces of the headset, so this (restricted FOV of the camera aside) is pretty much what an actual DK2 looks like to the wearer:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBG-YJLCEv4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTfvUUEqqE0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWqpdCNj6E

    The rain effect in VR, with sound effects, is supposed to be pretty amazing. Almost worth just parking up to enjoy the environment. Wonder if anyone left anything in the glovebox....
  • LyricalisLyricalis Posts: 57,958
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    Asmo wrote: »
    Project Cars running on a DK2 - the footage here is actually shot with the camera looking into one of the eyepieces of the headset, so this (restricted FOV of the camera aside) is pretty much what an actual DK2 looks like to the wearer:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBG-YJLCEv4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTfvUUEqqE0
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMWqpdCNj6E

    The rain effect in VR, with sound effects, is supposed to be pretty amazing. Almost worth just parking up to enjoy the environment. Wonder if anyone left anything in the glovebox....

    Very impressive. I wonder if we'll ever see a purely first-person VR version of GTA? It would probably work great for the driving parts, but not so good for the parts on foot.
  • Jimmy_McNultyJimmy_McNulty Posts: 11,378
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    The new prototype: Crescent Bay

    http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/20/6660905/oculus-shows-off-new-prototype-coming-towards-consumer-virtual
    It features 360 degree tracking, higher resolution, lower latency, and a built-in audio solution. The weight has been lowered, with improved ergonomics, and includes optional integrated audio; the audio will deliver what you would expect to hear from 3D space.

    Carmack's keynote speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqzpAbK9qFk
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    Yep, looks like the new Rift has the first of the Samsung 1440p displays. The fiends, everyone's just started to get their Dk2 and now there's another upgrade!

    There's a lot of movement in Graphics cards supporting VR too, NVidia SLI setups can do per-eye rendering (and some other Oculus-derived tricks) , with 1440p @90fps well within reach - something that should filter down to a more reasonable price level by the time the Consumer headset arrives -

    http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2014/09/18/maxwell-virtual-reality/
    http://anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/5

    It also appears that Oculus have negotiated for Rift support in the free version of Unity, previously you had to buy Unity pro ($1500) to dabble with making VR demos and applications, but when a free version arrives that incorporates the Rift plugin, everyone can have a stab at making VR stuff - or reworking existing games to support it. Exciting times!
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    Hands-on with the new 'Crescent Bay' Rift:

    http://www.roadtovr.com/hands-on-oculus-rift-crescent-bay-prototype/
    Though Oculus isn’t sharing specs for now, my best guess is that we’re looking at a resolution of 1440p or possibly higher. Compared to my experience with Gear VR, it looks higher than 1440p, but it could have been a difference of more anti-aliasing. Regardless, it looked incredibly impressive, with the ‘screen door effect’ so reduced that I was focused wholly on the scenes in front of me. From Oculus’ rhetoric when revealing the Rift Crescent Bay, I would guess they are running at 90Hz right now, but I can’t be certain.
    The lenses on Crescent Bay are no longer a perfect circle, they’re now asymmetrical. (...) The field of view of the lenses was wider than that of the DK2 to my eyes, even without any adjustment to reduce the lens-eye distance, I felt like there was room to bring the lenses even closer, which may have further increased the field of view.


    News about NVidia cards and VR -
    http://www.roadtovr.com/nvidia-maxwell-graphics-card-gpu-designed-for-virtual-relaity/

    Free Rift support for all Unity developers:
    http://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-connect-oculus-partnership-means-free-rift-support-unity-developers/
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Blimey!

    They really are milking the living shit out of the whole "developer kit" thing, aren't they?

    Surely it's about time they just released something as a retail product, even if they supercede it next year?
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    To be fair, the 'Crescent Bay' isn't available as a dev unit, it's more or less the first demonstrated prototype of a CV1 - the DK2 is still the current devkit that you can order. They won't even discuss the screen tech in Crescent Bay, it's probably not in mass production yet, and even if it was it'd probably be astronomically expensive right now - that'll change when Samsung starts pumping them out next year. Still, it certainly differentiates the future of PC VR from console VR - Morpheus, I believe, is going to be great for consoles, but clearly there will be a huge difference between that and what will be possible with a premium PC setup.

    Wired (who very much liked the CB unit) speculated that the display used was one that Samsung patented recently, with a 21:9 aspect ratio (very wide) -

    http://www.wired.com/2014/09/oculus-crescent-bay-prototype/
    the experience was vastly improved over anything I’d seen for the DK2, and even The Room itself. The so-called “screen door” effect, in which the spaces between individual pixels are visible, was completely gone. The 360-degree tracking was nearly flawless; try as I might, spinning this way and that, I could only break presence in two of the 13 demos. The 90Hz refresh rate made everything appear incredibly smooth and lifelike, from a hugely magnified microbe to a friendly alien. The display was, frankly, astounding, though whether that was due to improved resolution or a diffusion layer that blurs out the screen door effect I’m still not sure. (At this time, Oculus is refusing to discuss display specifications, leading to conjecture that Crescent Bay might utilize a new 21:9 panel that Samsung patented earlier this year.)

    If they get such a panel in a curved format, the holy grail of 180 degree FOV could be achieved. It could be better than anyone had hoped for, right from the start!
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Asmo wrote: »
    To be fair, the 'Crescent Bay' isn't available as a dev unit, it's more or less the first demonstrated prototype of a CV1 - the DK2 is still the current devkit that you can order. They won't even discuss the screen tech in Crescent Bay, it's probably not in mass production yet, and even if it was it'd probably be astronomically expensive right now - that'll change when Samsung starts pumping them out next year. Still, it certainly differentiates the future of PC VR from console VR - Morpheus, I believe, is going to be great for consoles, but clearly there will be a huge difference between that and what will be possible with a premium PC setup.

    Wired (who very much liked the CB unit) speculated that the display used was one that Samsung patented recently, with a 21:9 aspect ratio (very wide) -

    http://www.wired.com/2014/09/oculus-crescent-bay-prototype/



    If they get such a panel in a curved format, the holy grail of 180 degree FOV could be achieved. It could be better than anyone had hoped for, right from the start!

    I suppose.

    Just seems, to me, that the technology required to create a decent VR headset is mostly related to all the motion-tracking stuff.
    Get that properly sorted, bung in the best LCD available at the time and start selling it.
    As better LCDs become available, you can pretty-much just swap out the screen, modify the software and release an updated product.

    I recall, a few years ago, I was working with a guy who wanted to buy a new laptop but he was constantly "just hanging on for a little while" because there was a constant stream of new laptops appearing on the market with better spec's.
    Course, that's always going to be the case so if you're always going to wait for "the next best thing" you're going to be waiting forever.

    Kinda seems like that's what Oculus are doing at the moment.

    Course, having said all that, I suppose Oculus did say that the DK2 was more about proving the MT technology in the hope that it'd convince LCD manufacturers to take them seriously and begin to produce suitable panels.
    Given the current trend for curved smartphone screens and the appearance of the Samsung Gear VR, maybe Oculus has achieved that goal and we'll soon be seeing a curved Samsung panel in a retail product from Oculus?
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    They signed a deal with Samsung earlier this year, trading their related VR development secrets for access to Samsung's forthcoming (unanounced) OLED screen tech - Gear VR aims to use a 1440p OLED screen equipped phone, but there are lots of rumours about super-wide displays (probably non-standard resolutions in excess of 2k) in Samsung's pipeline, so given the timeline for an Oculus CV release (late next year, at best) it's far more likely to be something we haven't seen yet. Apparently it's also easier to manufacture high definition OLEDs in a curved format, as this provides greater surface area behind the panel - so, win-win!
    Swapping out screens isn't quite so easy, the optical lenses have to match the geometry of the display - the DK1 and DK2 lenses are circular, the wider display of the Crescent Bay requires elliptical lenses to accomodate the additional width. So you could replace a display only if it's the same size and AR, otherwise new lenses would need to be made to match.

    Looks like they're being true to their word, that they don't want to release a 'good enough' product, that will lead to disappointment and ridicule - now the GPU makers (ie NVidia, so far) are on board, by the time they release a consumer headset there should be a lot more awareness - and raw grunt - to deliver a pretty spectacular proof of concept to the sceptical punter.

    They're winning a lot of people over with the CB unit - check out PC Gamer -

    http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/09/21/oculus-rift-crescent-bay-prototype-hands-on-experiencing-true-vr-presence-for-the-first-time/
    Oculus says that Crescent Bay is as big a jump from DK2 as DK2 was from DK1. I say it’s bigger. This is some next level shit. Hyperbolic enthusiasm is the only way I can convey the sense of wonder and excitement I felt for the 10 minutes or so I was wearing it.
    (...)
    If the consumer Rift lives up to Crescent Bay, this thing is going to rule the world.

    !
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Asmo wrote: »
    Apparently it's also easier to manufacture high definition OLEDs in a curved format, as this provides greater surface area behind the panel - so, win-win!

    That's an interesting point, which makes a lot of sense.
    As well as creating more space behind the panel, I guess it'd allow you to create larger pixels within the same surface area and, hopefully, help to reduce "screen-door" effect too.

    Kinda makes you wonder why some companies are monkeying around with convex screens though.
    What's the impetus behind that, other than to make funky-shaped phones?
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    Hmm.. teeny convex screens for those smartwatches and bracelets? Maybe a smartmug that'll give you the days headlines as you have your morning cuppa, & warn you that your drink is at sub-optimal temperature.*

    *I expect my cheque in due course, Apple.
  • Si_CreweSi_Crewe Posts: 40,202
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    Y'know, I was thinking about this some more and I think they might be barking up the wrong tree by striving for a curved, 180° screen or, at least causing themselves a lot of extra problems.

    Thing is, it makes a lot of sense in theory but as well as thinking about the screen, you've got to figure out what to do with the optical lenses as well.

    Currently, the technology requires that you look through an ocular lens at a flat LCD directly in front of your eyeball.
    That "works" because your eyeball is always looking straight ahead, through a standard ocular lens at an LCD that is a fixed distance away, with a fixed focal length.

    If you use a curved screen you've got to create a system whereby the ocular lens can, firstly, allow you to actually see all of the curved screen and, secondly, maintains the focal length throughout the entire arc of the field-of-vision.

    At worst, if you're seeking to create any kind of system that allows a person to move their eyes left and right to view things in their peripheral vision then you are creating massive problems in finding a suitable ocular lens which will allow this.
    To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, the US armed forces are pretty-much the world leaders in optical technology and even they've struggled to find a solution to the problems associated with creating a wide FOV. In the end the best they could come up with was the GPNVG which is rather clunky and, basically, simply has two separate ocular lenses siamesed together so that you look through one lens to see one sector of the FOV and then look through the other one to see objects in your peripheral vision.

    I suppose it might be possible to create a curved fresnel lens which'd work with a curved LCD to provide a constant focal length throughout the entire FOV of the screen but fresnel lenses tend to be kinda crappy and don't provide a constant optical effect across their surface, and, even if you can overcome those issues, you've still got to ensure that the user's eyeball is constantly at exactly the point of focus or it's still a bit of a waste of time.

    Basically, it seems like you're going to struggle to create any kind of system that allows people to actually "look around" by moving their eyeballs while using a VR device because we just don't know how to make an ocular lens that allows this.
    If it was possible, the US military would probably be using it in their NV goggles.

    So, that means your only choice is to go with a system whereby a user always keeps their eyeball still and looks through a standard ocular lens at a screen.
    Now, as long as the screen is big enough to fill all the FOV that's available through the ocular lens, you're done. You can't achieve any more.
    It is fair to say that you might accomplish this better using curved LCDs but, ideally, what you'd want would be two smaller LCDs (one for each eye) that were both concave or, perhaps, one large LCD that was a really funky shape, with two separate concave curves in it.

    I think they might be approaching all this from the wrong end.
    Rather than trying to create ever-fancier LCDs to provide the largest possible FOV and then facing the problem of trying to figure out an ocular lens that allows you to actually see it all, they might be better off picking out a suitable ocular lens and then just finding an LCD screen that fills the FOV of that lens, building a product and putting it on sale.
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    At present, the extremes of the FOV are probably being treated as the icing on the cake, eliminating the 'world through a window' effect of visible borders, even to the point of rendering much lower resolutions approaching the edges, saving GPU resources in the process. There are emerging technologies that could lead to a solution, a few years off but NVidia have been toying with light-field displays, which you could imagine being adapted to address this issue -

    http://lightfield-forum.com/2013/07/refocus-your-eyes-nvidia-presents-near-eye-light-field-display-prototype/
  • YuffieYuffie Posts: 9,864
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    From IGN:

    The consumer version of the Oculus Rift is expected to begin shipping in Q1 2016, with pre-orders opening “later this year,” Oculus VR announced today.

    The consumer model is based on the Crescent Bay prototype and builds upon its "presence, immersion, and comfort." It also features an improved tracking system that accommodates seated and standing experiences, according to Oculus VR, along with updated ergonomics and a tweaked industrial design.

    The company will share more details of its hardware, software, input and unannounced speciality games in the coming weeks, beginning with its technical specifications next week.

    Speaking at a panel during SXSW in March, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey explained that the tentative launch of the Oculus Rift in late 2015 was made them before they "made a lot of changes to [Oculus'] roadmap." The vague release window was also mirrored by Facebook CFO Dave Wehner during Facebook's Q1 2015 earnings call.
    The Incredible VR of the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay Demo - CES 2015

    Luckey also confirmed at the time that the Crescent Bay prototype headset uses two screens instead of one, which the company attributes to the Rift's visual quality.

    Awesome news. 2016 is going to be year of the VR. Can't wait.
  • AsmoAsmo Posts: 15,327
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    I see IGN pulled, reposted and pulled the story again. I think it's largely correct, but there seems to be some fear of stepping on toes or something, but others are reporting the key details:

    http://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-announce-consumer-oculus-rift-release-date-is-q1-2016-breaking/

    Dual displays is massive. I'm guesing these will be in excess of 1080p - effectively making the CV1 '2k' resolution (as compared with single-screen solutions), but I wouldn't be surprised if they turned out to be even higher. The pixel density per-eye will be so high the screen door effect will be a non-issue.

    Fresnel lenses suggests several things, obviously lower manufacturing costs but also that the lenses can be rectangular, which means they can deliver a much wider FOV with greatly reduced edge distortion, meaning it may be possible to if not eliminate then greatly reduce the need for chromatic aberration correction and the level of barrel distortion. Flatter lenses too, letting them be brought as close as possible.

    I've had my DK2 for some time now, and many games look fantastic in it, the limitations are almost irrelevant it's so immersive. Classic games like Doom and Duke Nukem look spectacularly crisp and clean, no issues at all with the resolution or pixel density.
    360 degree video, however, will benefit tremendously - even 4k 360 (spherical) videos look a little 'soft' in the DK2 - still amazing but suffering some of the obvious artifacts of a low resolution display, effectively only using around 2 fifths of a single 1080p panel per eye. The CV1 should be near perfect.

    Couple this news with GoPro's recent acquisition of a Spherical Video 'stitching' software company (Kolor) - the killer VR video rig (which is my particular area of interest and current dabbling..) is about to land!

    http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/28/8509595/gopro-virtual-reality-kolor-acquisition-vr-video

    http://gizmodo.com/i-think-gopro-is-building-a-virtual-reality-camera-1700759526
  • Jimmy_McNultyJimmy_McNulty Posts: 11,378
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    The CV1 requirements have been revealed:

    NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
    Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
    8GB+ RAM
  • fluffedfluffed Posts: 1,791
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    Took a while to find the thread, but I knew there must be one: Anyway, price announced £500. Anyone still interested?
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