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[dangeROSS]

With the Razer Hydra, I think portal 2 overrides whatever mode you are in to the default mode they made for the game. I just tried changing my mode to dual analog to test it, and it did not seem to have an effect. I don't know if that's true with Team Fortress 2, I haven't re-installed that one yet.

Akimbo seems like an interesting control method. I should mess around with some of the different choices to really see what they are like.

I downloaded that freeware indie "game" TofuAlley designed to use the Hydra. Eh, it didn't seem to work to well. You could see it was kind of like a garage built game. Not really worth playing around with it.

 

[plagiarize]

With the Razer Hydra, I think portal 2 overrides whatever mode you are in to the default mode they made for the game. I just tried changing my mode to dual analog to test it, and it did not seem to have an effect. I don't know if that's true with Team Fortress 2, I haven't re-installed that one yet.

Akimbo seems like an interesting control method. I should mess around with some of the different choices to really see what they are like.

I downloaded that freeware indie "game" TofuAlley designed to use the Hydra. Eh, it didn't seem to work to well. You could see it was kind of like a garage built game. Not really worth playing around with it.

I know with TF2 you have to close the razer software if you want to use the native support. Perhaps you can override the portal 2 settings similarly. You aren't likely to be able to complete the exclusive levels though if you do that.

 

[Durante]

Durante, are you okay? Post if you are okay. http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/1bqpqp/oculus_rift_delivered_in_vienna_austria/

I'm not OK

My Rift went from Anaheim to Ontario to Hong Kong to Perth to Singapore to Köln to Vienna to Hörsching and is now for some inexplicable reason stranded in Nürnberg. UPS for some reason thinks it will only arrive by the 17th of April. Did I mention I'm not OK?

On the other hand, my tag is back to normal, so that makes things a lot better.

 

[TheExodu5]

What happened to your tag?

 

[Durante]

What happened to your tag?

It got a bit silly for a while.

Back on topic, I don't think I've seen this posted yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FxwknXZ_fR0

It's the Virtuix Omni, an affordable omnidirectional treadmill that will go up on kickstarter some point in the future.

From how I understand it, it consists of an extremely low friction surface and shoes, and a Kinect for tracking body movement and reconstructing walking/running speed and direction. I'd assume that Kinect lag is less significant for whole body movement than it is for headtracking, since the former is inherently less immediate.

Really curious to see where this goes.

 

[neptunes]

It got a bit silly for a while.

Back on topic, I don't think I've seen this posted yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FxwknXZ_fR0

It's the Virtuix Omni, an affordable omnidirectional treadmill that will go up on kickstarter some point in the future.

From how I understand it, it consists of an extremely low friction surface and shoes, and a Kinect for tracking body movement and reconstructing walking/running speed and direction. I'd assume that Kinect lag is less significant for whole body movement than it is for headtracking, since the former is inherently less immediate.

Really curious to see where this goes.

That looks really cumbersome.

Might as well add wind, scent and temperature add-ons.

 

[Dictator93]

I'm not OK

My Rift went from Anaheim to Ontario to Hong Kong to Perth to Singapore to Köln to Vienna to Hörsching and is now for some inexplicable reason stranded in Nürnberg. UPS for some reason thinks it will only arrive by the 17th of April. Did I mention I'm not OK?

On the other hand, my tag is back to normal, so that makes things a lot better.

It went from Wien to Nürnberg?

Since when does that make sense to get to Innsbruck?

Curious about that omni directional treadmill... too bad rift requires a wire right now. You cannot exactly spin multiple times without having problems.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I'm not OK

My Rift went from Anaheim to Ontario to Hong Kong to Perth to Singapore to Köln to Vienna to Hörsching and is now for some inexplicable reason stranded in Nürnberg. UPS for some reason thinks it will only arrive by the 17th of April. Did I mention I'm not OK?

On the other hand, my tag is back to normal, so that makes things a lot better.

Around the world in 80 days... part 2.

 

[Zaptruder]

It got a bit silly for a while.

Back on topic, I don't think I've seen this posted yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FxwknXZ_fR0

It's the Virtuix Omni, an affordable omnidirectional treadmill that will go up on kickstarter some point in the future.

From how I understand it, it consists of an extremely low friction surface and shoes, and a Kinect for tracking body movement and reconstructing walking/running speed and direction. I'd assume that Kinect lag is less significant for whole body movement than it is for headtracking, since the former is inherently less immediate.

Really curious to see where this goes.

I'd definetly like to give this a try. But I still think that the default full body motion movement scheme has to necessarily involve variations of walking on the spot foot tracking.

I mean, even this thing, which amounts to a motion tracker, a base and a rig to hold a player in is just too bulky for anything other than an enthusaist to bother with.

Also, even with such a rig, you'll be in the same position or worse with things like walking up and down inclines, walking up and down stairs.

I think as long as they can match the foot fall rate and knee rise rate with the rate of avatar movement (i.e. the higher you lift your knees, the larger the stride you take, the quicker you put your feet down, the more steps you take), then it'll provide a compelling proprioceptive feedback to the act of moving around.

 

[Blizzard]

Even if there was somehow a holodeck or treadmill that tracked one perfectly, I think one of the big things about virtual reality and videogames are that they allow you to do things you can't do in real life. And in real life, if you do a 4-hour hike across mountains while fighting monsters, it would probably be good exercise, but would probably be quite tiring. People might want super strength or endurance or flight instead of realism in that regard.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Even if there was somehow a holodeck or treadmill that tracked one perfectly, I think one of the big things about virtual reality and videogames are that they allow you to do things you can't do in real life. And in real life, if you do a 4-hour hike across mountains while fighting monsters, it would probably be good exercise, but would probably be quite tiring. People might want super strength or endurance or flight instead of realism in that regard.

It's fun for arcade style games. Which I guess is kinda why Palmer mentioned it'd be kind of cool to have a VR arcade with those type of things. But I sure as heck wouldn't want to play something like Skyrim with that.

 

[Mr.Green]

I'm not OK

My Rift went from Anaheim to Ontario to Hong Kong to Perth to Singapore to Köln to Vienna to Hörsching and is now for some inexplicable reason stranded in Nürnberg. UPS for some reason thinks it will only arrive by the 17th of April. Did I mention I'm not OK?

On the other hand, my tag is back to normal, so that makes things a lot better.

Oh god. The poor UPS representative that would have to deal with me...

You seem pretty calm though. You're a much better man than me.

 

[MrBig]

Oh god. The poor UPS representative that would have to deal with me...

You seem pretty calm though. You're a much better man than me.

Yeah after a screw up like that they should have just put it on next day air straight to you; if you call them up and just keep saying "agent" to any automated system you should get passed to someone quickly and they may be able to sort it out for you or at least explain what is happening.

 

[jack.]

Someone has already added Rift support to a Virtual Boy emulator and it is awesome: https://code.google.com/p/vbjin-ovr/

 

[Alchemy]

Someone has already added Rift support to a Virtual Boy emulator and it is awesome: https://code.google.com/p/vbjin-ovr/

Works great. Now I might have a reason to play through Wario Land finally.

 

[plagiarize]

Works great. Now I might have a reason to play through Wario Land finally.

screens?

 

[Alchemy]

screens?

Of the goggles on my face? All the emulator does is split the two images on each side of the monitor and distort them for the lenses. It isn't really the greatest use of the Rift, but definitely neat.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Someone has already added Rift support to a Virtual Boy emulator and it is awesome: https://code.google.com/p/vbjin-ovr/

Mother of god...

When they launch the consumer version of the Rift, I will be all over this day one. I loved my Virtual Boy!

 

[plagiarize]

Of the goggles on my face? All the emulator does is split the two images on each side of the monitor and distort them for the lenses. It isn't really the greatest use of the Rift, but definitely neat.

aww. I was hoping it was more like the virtual cinema.

 

[Alchemy]

aww. I was hoping it was more like the virtual cinema.

It does render the image in a square so you can see the entire image at once, but there isn't anything around it. Just a black border.

 

[CrashPrime]

Someone has already added Rift support to a Virtual Boy emulator and it is awesome: https://code.google.com/p/vbjin-ovr/

People are awesome. I didn't even think of this as a possibility. *fist pump*

 

[Zaptruder]

Even if there was somehow a holodeck or treadmill that tracked one perfectly, I think one of the big things about virtual reality and videogames are that they allow you to do things you can't do in real life. And in real life, if you do a 4-hour hike across mountains while fighting monsters, it would probably be good exercise, but would probably be quite tiring. People might want super strength or endurance or flight instead of realism in that regard.

Oh yeah, for sure. But I think 1 for 1 tracking (or as close to that as we can get as is feasible) will be a big thing about VR. It's just not something we've had before; but is now bordering on the precipice of achievable.

I think any unreal sensations (flight, etc) will be enhanced if you keep the things that can be kept real as real as can be, so that there are still frame of reference points for the user.

 

[Haint]

The VB emu is a great proof of concept for the Rift as a general content viewer. Blacking out the extremities of the viewing area and putting the content in the center portion seems to work very well. Given enough resolution and provided you could apply the correction, I could definitely see watching video content, playing legacy games, or browsing a desktop in the same fashion. The effect is kind of like you're sitting close to a large display in a totally dark room.

 

[Zaptruder]

The VB emu is a great proof of concept for the Rift as a general content viewer. Blacking out the extremities of the viewing area and putting the content in the center portion seems to work very well. Given enough resolution and provided you could apply the correction, I could definitely see watching video content, playing legacy games, or browsing a desktop in the same fashion. The effect is kind of like you're sitting close to a large display in a totally dark room.

Ideally, it wouldn't have to be a dark room; it could be any room... or with the cameras attached, it could be the same room you're sitting in.

 

[Vesper73]

Observation: I love how the UDKGame does the opening interface. It really would work to have menu elements available at up to 180 degrees, (horizontally and vertically), meaning you have to look around to see the particular menu item you want to select. This would be really cool with a VR Operating System. This is something I would have NEVER expected to work until I actually tried it. In fact, even with the low resolution of the dev Rift, (and it is VERY low), I believe we are at the point that we could easily have a fully functional VR OS if the interface was oversampled by 2x and available by looking around at >= 180 degrees.

I love being a part of these initial VR moments! (although the growing pains are certainly not for everyone).

Oh and I'm finally to the point where I can stay in for a couple of hours at a time, (my brain is finally accepting this as its own separate version of reality). By way of comparison, I got nauseated after 10 minutes the first time I used it.

And, UDK has the best implemenation so far, (in terms of visual quality and latency). Especially if you oversample, (which is a MUST for the dev Rift). Don't even think of getting a dev Rift unless you can oversample, (as the distant geometry will be unrecognizable).

Just know, even at the early states of the dev kit, if you are able to setup the proper environment, the Rift will give you amazing experiences that you have never had before! The future is VERY bright!

 

[Mr.Green]

Observation: I love how the UDKGame does the opening interface. It really would work to have menu elements available at up to 180 degrees, (horizontally and vertically), meaning you have to look around to see the particular menu item you want to select. This would be really cool with a VR Operating System. This is something I would have never expected to work until I actually tried it.

I love being a part of these initial VR moments! (although the growing pains are certainly not for everyone).

Oh and I'm finally to the point where I can stay in for a couple of hours at a time, (my brain is finally excepting this as its own version of reality). By way of comparison, I got nauseated after 10 minutes the first time I used it.

And, UDK has the best implemenation so far, (in terms of visual quality and latency). Especially if you oversample, (which is a MUST for the dev Rift).

/Plugs back in

This is GREAT news.

Do you mirror the display on your monitor? If so, as a 2nd display or using a DVI splitter? For reasons I don't recall, Valve seemed to recommend the latter.

 

[Vesper73]

This is GREAT news.

Do you mirror the display on your monitor? If so, as a 2nd display or using a DVI splitter? For reasons I don't recall, Valve seemed to recommend the latter.

It really depends on what you are focusing on at the time. For the moment, I am really into the UDK. The UDK tends to work best if using 'Extend these displays', with the Rift being the secondary display.

As for a spliter, I am using an Nvidia card with my primary 1080p display being plugged into the HDMI port on the card, and the Rift being plugged into the DVI port of the same card, (which is the best way to go IMO).

Let me know if you have anymore questions, I'll be glad to answer.

 

[Blizzard]

It really depends on what you are focusing on at the time. For the moment, I am really into the UDK. The UDK tends to work best if using 'Extend these displays', with the Rift being the secondary display.

As for a spliter, I am using an Nvidia card with my primary 1080p display being plugged into the HDMI port on the card, and the Rift being plugged into the DVI port of the same card, (which is the best way to go IMO).

Let me know if you have anymore questions, I'll be glad to answer.

Is there an advantage to using DVI for the rift rather than HDMI? I thought I heard of some advantage for clarity, latency, or otherwise with HDMI, but I don't know anything about it for sure.

 

[Vesper73]

Is there an advantage to using DVI for the rift rather than HDMI? I thought I heard of some advantage for clarity, latency, or otherwise with HDMI, but I don't know anything about it for sure.

I've heard the same thing about DVI, but seeing as it's not my thing, I would have to defer to someone more knowledgeable on the subject to be sure. I plugged the Rift into the DVI port just in case there were any advantages in terms of latency.

 

[mrklaw]

It really depends on what you are focusing on at the time. For the moment, I am really into the UDK. The UDK tends to work best if using 'Extend these displays', with the Rift being the secondary display.

As for a spliter, I am using an Nvidia card with my primary 1080p display being plugged into the HDMI port on the card, and the Rift being plugged into the DVI port of the same card, (which is the best way to go IMO).

Let me know if you have anymore questions, I'll be glad to answer.

How are you over sampling? Are you mirroring the main display at 1080p and letting rift scale it down, or are you running at a different resolution?

 

[YuShtink]

How are you over sampling? Are you mirroring the main display at 1080p and letting rift scale it down, or are you running at a different resolution?

I imagine he's running at a 16:10 resolution, probably 1920x1200

 

[MrBig]

I've heard the same thing about DVI, but seeing as it's not my thing, I would have to defer to someone more knowledgeable on the subject to be sure. I plugged the Rift into the DVI port just in case there were any advantages in terms of latency.

afaik HDMI is just a specialized iteration on the DVI connection for TV hardware. I never understood why the rift base had a DVI and HDMI input, as they are pretty much the same video connection and are easily interchangeable with cheap adapters (one even comes with the rift). Should have been DVI and Display Port.

How are you over sampling? Are you mirroring the main display at 1080p and letting rift scale it down, or are you running at a different resolution?

You can increase the res of the UE renderer via ini tweaks. "screenpercentage=150.000000"-200 in defaultsystemsettings.ini

 

[1-D_FTW]

http://3dvision-blog.com/8873-my-first-impressions-from-the-oculus-rift-development-kit/

Detailed impressions from someone who runs a popular 3D Vision blog. Nothing really shocking or unexpected. From a resolution POV, he's in line with LordCanti's impressions. It's not good, but the bigger issue is the blurring with motion.

He talks briefly about a couple demos I haven't seen others mention. Although maybe they just weren't mentioning.

 

[Vesper73]

You can increase the res of the UE renderer via ini tweaks. "screenpercentage=150.000000"-200 in defaultsystemsettings.ini

This, at 200

 

[syko de4d]

anyone already tested 3rd person games with OR, or RTS etc.? Sth. not first Person ^^

 

[Haint]

anyone already tested 3rd person games with OR, or RTS etc.? Sth. not first Person ^^

UDK has an Unreal Tournament map with vehicles that operate in third person. It works very well IMO.

 

[Durante]

I got mine an hour or so ago. Only played around with the Tuscany demo so far.

Quick impressions:
- the resolution issue isn't as bad as I expected.
- on the other hand, the pixel switching time is worse. We need OLED in these things.
- I managed to get motion sick, which usually never happens to me. To be fair though, I did everything everyone says you shouldn't do (mouse-looking and headtracking in different directions, leaning, strafing, and not setting up the IPD and all the other parameters correctly.

More importantly though, it works: I had the most shit-faced grin you can imagine on my face when putting it on and simply looking around in the world. The future is bright.

 

[Mr.Green]

I got mine an hour or so ago. Only played around with the Tuscany demo so far.

Quick impressions:
- the resolution issue isn't as bad as I expected.
- on the other hand, the pixel switching time is worse. We need OLED in these things.
- I managed to get motion sick, which usually never happens to me. To be fair though, I did everything everyone says you shouldn't do (mouse-looking and headtracking in different directions, leaning, strafing, and not setting up the IPD and all the other parameters correctly.

More importantly though, it works: I had the most shit-faced grin you can imagine on my face when putting it on and simply looking around in the world. The future is bright.

Awesome! Glad to hear you finally got it. Did you punch the UPS guy in the face by any chance?

Apparently, there are ways to greatly reduce the motion blur on the Tuscany demo. You should browse the MTBS3D forums, if you aren't already. I can't attest to that though. Haven't got mine yet.

Looking forward to MOAR POSTS!

 

[1-D_FTW]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ntrolled-rhythmic-score-attack-game-dropchord

Video from Double Fine's Leap Motion game. I have no idea what's going on there, but it could be a pretty cool VR arcade game if you taped the leap motion to the front of the Rift.

I got mine an hour or so ago. Only played around with the Tuscany demo so far.

Quick impressions:
- the resolution issue isn't as bad as I expected.
- on the other hand, the pixel switching time is worse. We need OLED in these things.
- I managed to get motion sick, which usually never happens to me. To be fair though, I did everything everyone says you shouldn't do (mouse-looking and headtracking in different directions, leaning, strafing, and not setting up the IPD and all the other parameters correctly.

More importantly though, it works: I had the most shit-faced grin you can imagine on my face when putting it on and simply looking around in the world. The future is bright.

Looking forward to more impressions

 

[Blizzard]

Awesome! Glad to hear you finally got it. Did you punch the UPS guy in the face by any chance?

Apparently, there are ways to greatly reduce the motion blur on the Tuscany demo. You should browse the MTBS3D forums, if you aren't already. I can't attest to that though. Haven't got mine yet.

Looking forward to MOAR POSTS!

Awesome, do you have any specific thread links about motion blur reduction?

I got mine an hour or so ago. Only played around with the Tuscany demo so far.

Quick impressions:
- the resolution issue isn't as bad as I expected.
- on the other hand, the pixel switching time is worse. We need OLED in these things.
- I managed to get motion sick, which usually never happens to me. To be fair though, I did everything everyone says you shouldn't do (mouse-looking and headtracking in different directions, leaning, strafing, and not setting up the IPD and all the other parameters correctly.

More importantly though, it works: I had the most shit-faced grin you can imagine on my face when putting it on and simply looking around in the world. The future is bright.

Make sure to set up IPD and try TF2, and don't forget to try UDK!

 

[jack.]

The Hydra Tuscany demo is probably being released today: http://sixense.com/forum/vbulletin/...emo-availability&p=13323&viewfull=1#post13323

 

[Glassboy]

my hype is slowly dying. I just want a tracking number damnit

 

[plagiarize]

The Hydra Tuscany demo is probably being released today: http://sixense.com/forum/vbulletin/...emo-availability&p=13323&viewfull=1#post13323

neat. I hope I can try this out on my hydras without the rift to get a feel for it.

 

[Vesper73]

Durante, one thing: UDK "screenpercentage=200"

Now if we could just get you to hack support in for Dark Souls! ))))

 

[metareferential]

I got mine an hour or so ago. Only played around with the Tuscany demo so far.

Quick impressions:
- the resolution issue isn't as bad as I expected.
- on the other hand, the pixel switching time is worse. We need OLED in these things.
- I managed to get motion sick, which usually never happens to me. To be fair though, I did everything everyone says you shouldn't do (mouse-looking and headtracking in different directions, leaning, strafing, and not setting up the IPD and all the other parameters correctly.

More importantly though, it works: I had the most shit-faced grin you can imagine on my face when putting it on and simply looking around in the world. The future is bright.

Great news! I'm glad you got it finally.

Great impressions, and I can't wait to see what you can come up with. Bring us the goods Durante <3

Now if we could just get you to hack support in for Dark Souls! ))))

We would need someone who knows very well how Dark Souls works...oh wait. xD

 

[E-Cat]

I was going through the old HMZ-T1 thread, when I happened upon this quote:

Three things that will put HMDs into the category of 'mind blowing, never ever going back, experience' are: Larger field of view, (greater than 90 degrees), much lighter apparatus, and full on head tracking. When all three of these are in place, and they will be faster than anyone can imagine, games and entertainment will truly move to the next level!

Now that we have all of those boxes checked--minus translation on the head tracking side, though we're already seeing promise with the Hydra--was the experience close to how you imagined it would be? Obviously, we still have a ways to go with things like resolution and motion blur, but it seems that only incremental upgrades are required to get from the basic fundamental platform that has now been achieved to the Holy Grail.

 

[plagiarize]

I was going through the old HMZ-T1 thread, when I happened upon this quote:
Now that we have all of those boxes checked--minus translation on the head tracking side, though we're already seeing promise with the Hydra--was the experience close to how you imagined it would be? Obviously, we still have a ways to go with things like resolution and motion blur, but it seems that only incremental upgrades are required to get from the basic fundamental platform that has now been achieved to the Holy Grail.

well, I think it's a bigger puzzle than that. I mean, I think Durante is right to call the future bright, and I really think the rift is going to be remembered as the start of something massive, but we are absolutely going to need a lot more pixel density, wireless screens/sensors, and a lot more computing power (to push all those extra pixels) before we're really at the holy grail level. I'm thinking all that is probably more than ten years away, but I'm also thinking things are going to start getting decent a lot sooner than that.

 

[E-Cat]

well, I think it's a bigger puzzle than that. I mean, I think Durante is right to call the future bright, and I really think the rift is going to be remembered as the start of something massive, but we are absolutely going to need a lot more pixel density, wireless screens/sensors, and a lot more computing power (to push all those extra pixels) before we're really at the holy grail level. I'm thinking all that is probably more than ten years away, but I'm also thinking things are going to start getting decent a lot sooner than that.

None of the things you mentioned are conceptually different from what we have now. Screens will get higher-fidelity, sensors will become wireless, Moore's Law will keep cranking on. Of course, we can refine that experience for decades to come, but the next completely novel thing will be direct neural stimulation.

 

[ReeseHoward]

I'd buy the dev kit, but I rarely ever finish the things I build.

 

[Unhandled Exception]

So I got mine today and ended up playing TF2 for about an hour and a half on my first sitting. Initially I got a little nauseated after the first 10 minutes but it went away and it's so much fun to play. Wish text was more readable but other than that this thing is very impressive.