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Oculus Rift Kickstarter [Ended, $2.4 million funded]
- Thread starter Lord Error
- Start date
The Rift achieves 3D by splitting one screen into two halves, and then showing each eye one of those halves (with a slightly separated image). I see no reason why the effect wouldn't be similar to the 3D achieved with a 3DS (a parallax barrier on a normal LCD screen), or the 3D you're probably familiar with from the movies, or at home with shutter glasses.
Ideally, the effect would be more subtle and immersive than things popping out.
It might work in 2D mode if both eyes got the same image. I'd imagine that support would be on a game by game basis though. The game would have to output as if it were outputting to two monitors that were next to each other and cloned, I guess.
If you increased the depth, it could do pop out though, couldn't it? (I might be phrasing this incorrectly)
Pop out is super fatiguing to me in any case. With very few exceptions (Avatar being one, when seed pods or whatever come out of the screen, was fantastic) I prefer the feeling of depth into the screen.
Well, you'll have full field of view and head-tracking at least.
Haint
Member
Ideally you shouldn't be aware you're looking at a screen, so there should be no distinction between depth and pop out (on the user's part)--but I can't say if the Rift specifically is at that point yet.
I guess that's the ideal, but I don't know how you'd implement that in practice (without much higher resolutions anyway).
Edit: Annnnd it's funded. Sorry wallet. Come on December.
Haint
Member
My guess is, given a large enough FOV, the amount a pop-out required to trick the viewer (i.e. approximate placing them in the environment) would now be a known quantity with a device like the Rift (unlike with TV's or Theater's where everyone's at a different distance seeing a different size window so to speak). In other words removing all those variables should allow content creators to remove the distinction between the positive and negative parallax.
Cheesemeister
Member
Sitting tight for the consumer version. How about some console support?
Would be nice, but it really depends on the specs of the Rift. If they get the 4K panels in there (which is possible!) then there's no way that an Xbox or Playstation could render 2 1920x1080 copies of the game.
But I could possibly see it come to next generation of consoles, whenever that may be. Not sure how console manufacturers or developers would set up this third party peripheral though.
Kickstarter is closed.
Your best bet now is EBay spring 2013..
Or consumer version late 2013+.
ChosenPredator
Banned
why do i picture Microsoft having a boner over there for it's next console.
Maybe cause their HQ is based in the US? Sony's the one with head displays out.
Unless MS and Sony actively tries to prevent this then developers could add support in PS3/X360 and PS4/X720 games without the platform holders having to do anything with the OS.
You just plug the console HDMI into the Oculus and as well as a USB (though that might be a problem on the X360).
I have no clue how much direct access console software has to the USB inputs.
I'm curious how they'd do it in java, supporting the distortion needed to match the optics. Maybe a shader patch like sonic ether's? They already support stereoscopic in anaglyph mode
For a consumer version, would you want HDMI passthrough or a switch like the HMZ-T1? So you could leave it plugged in between your PC and monitor, and switch to it when you need it. Navigating windows is probably worse than a console OS
metareferential
Member
This will be the greatest Christmas gift ever. I mean, virtual reality under the tree?
Fuck me sideways.
Now I kinda wish I had pledged for two units rather than one.
Fuck me sideways.
Now I kinda wish I had pledged for two units rather than one.
metareferential
Member
I was thinking: 7000 devkits means will be getting mods and patches for mainstream games in no-time.
I can't wait to play Skyrim or Fallout in this thing. Or Mirror's Edge (imagine leaping off a building and then suddenly looking down: oh-my-god).
I can't wait to play Skyrim or Fallout in this thing. Or Mirror's Edge (imagine leaping off a building and then suddenly looking down: oh-my-god).
Unless you get vertigo easily, I wouldn't count on it. Granted, maybe VR is MUCH more immersive, but I've jumped off ledges in Mirror's edge with the Sony HMZ and a 1080P 3D monitor and it's done nothing for me. And I'm someone who's not a huge fan of heights in real life (I can tolerate them, but it takes me overriding my brain and telling it to shut up).
metareferential
Member
Well, I've played it in 3D on my DLP projector (110" screen 4 meters away) and yes, it wasn't that scary or impressive.
But I think that having the ability to freely move your head in the environment while jumping off tall buildings could make a difference here (since the world "wraps" around you, so to say).
"don't look down, don't look down". xD
SirIgbyCeaser
Banned
It would be a bit tough, you have code a 3d rendering. And than, remove the head tracking from gun position. Add a neck replicating your 1 to 1 motion.
And than you got what carmack did for the DOOM 3 BFG support.
metareferential
Member
They do offer a lot of support material though, so I guess as time goes by and more and more devs/hackers/enthusiasts get the hang of it we will see great things.
There is so much talent out in the wild.
LemonGremlin
Member
From what I've read having your FOV be completely covered, stereo 3D with a focal point of infinity and low latency head tracking tricks your brain a hell of a lot better than just having the equivilent of a 3DTV strapped to your head. I've read and heard many anecdotes about vertigo being induced, including Carmack's keynote.
Climbing ladders in Doom 3 using this thing is sounds stressful, who knows what something like Mirror's Edge would be like. For one I'd imagine you'd have to tone down stuff like head bobbing and other fancy view effects they put in.
Pass through for sure.
You need to take off the headset to navigate the OS - and as cool as it would be to navigate an OS in VR... It's also highly improbable for now.
I mean the kinect would be an awesome tool for navigating an OS - but for some reason it hasn't happened yet!
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
The most important thing about the Rift isn't its ability for 3D but rather the high FOV. Carmack said in the 2012 Quakecon speech that 3D wasn't that important for the Rift and didn't contribute as much to the overall immersion effect as much as other features.
IMO, I have to agree. I have played with and owned a few different HMD's. 3D ,while neat, was never a deal breaker and was never that important for immersion.
But that FOV, that is the sweetness. A nice FOV coupled with a decent headtracker and you start to get really sucked in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_perception
Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. There are a lot more cues informing you of 3D - the most important with this VR headset is motion parallax (coupled with the proprioception of head movement).
I really want to see a proof of concept via pov. If only they had an ability to directly record what the player was seeing while concurrently recording his head movement as well. So in the end, you'd divide the screen into two panes with the player's visage in shown in one and the direct feed from rift another.
Modding in the optical distortion is not hard. There's already a small driver project going on on the forums that Palmer got his start that converts applies the distortion needed for the Rift's optics. With this, the game will appropriately take up the entire screen as it should and it'll be fairly immersive.
But as other have pointed out, that's only a small sub-segment of the Rift's technology. Positional head-tracking, decoupling weapons and heads, etc would be insanely hard to mod in without having direct access to the engine.
And even if you can get the right distortion on the game, unless the UI is modable, you're not going to have the best experience.
TL;DR: The optical distortion is easy to mod, but the rest is hard. Native support will always be best.
I've read impressions of the Rift where the reviewer was walking up a ladder (in Doom 3), looked down, and got an intense sensation of vertigo. A game like Mirror's Edge might be too intense.
Having played Amnesia recently with the physicality being particularly immersive, I can only hope for no Rift support in A Machine for Pigs ;-;
Actually Palmer Lucky stated in a reddit AMA that they would sell the dev kits on the Oculus website. However any orders would be released in a second wave after the kickstarter kits are all shipped.
I didn't hear about them selling the kits on their site. If that second run happens before Christmas, I'll feel like an idiot for basically loaning them $300 for a couple of months for nothing. I thought the whole point of the kickstarter pledge was that they were only doing the initial developer run, and that anyone else would have to wait until the retail version.
Oh well, if the developer version is good, I guess this means more of them for everyone. Having said that, the goal being to get the retail version out as fast as possible, I don't know why they'd want to continue sales (and support) of the developer version past the initial run.
It'll be interesting to see if any of those OpenGL games like Amnesia and Machine for Pigs(?) get Rift 3D conversions. Currently OpenGL games are non-starters for 3D. But I would assume Doom: BFG Edition is still OpenGL and he's got that running in 3D on PC just fine. Hopefully it's not that difficult and just needed someone to get the ball rolling.
LemonGremlin
Member
OpenGL games are non starters for NVIDIA driver 3D. However, the Oculus Rift uses side-by-side rendering (one long image with left eye on left side, right eye on right), so it's pretty much just as easy to support in OpenGL.
Three worthwhile tweets just came out of their account:
@Oculus3D
We're also working on a system for Kickstarter backers who forgot to add international shipping. Stay tuned and thanks for your patience.
@Oculus3D
We're building infrastructure for post-KS Rift developer kit orders. We'll notify everyone via Twitter/newsletter as soon as it's online
‏@Oculus3D
Great Develop piece on what we're doing at Oculus: "Making Oculus a reality" : http://www.develop-online.net/features/1700/Making-Oculus-a-reality
@Oculus3D
We're also working on a system for Kickstarter backers who forgot to add international shipping. Stay tuned and thanks for your patience.
@Oculus3D
We're building infrastructure for post-KS Rift developer kit orders. We'll notify everyone via Twitter/newsletter as soon as it's online
‏@Oculus3D
Great Develop piece on what we're doing at Oculus: "Making Oculus a reality" : http://www.develop-online.net/features/1700/Making-Oculus-a-reality
Fried Food
Banned
gotta love hip hop gamer
Ok, that is epic!
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