Oculus Rift

[PrincessFrosty]

Thanks PF, nice write up. You hit on pretty much everything my coworker said. This is just the beginning. It will be interesting to see where this goes. While I know Sony is also making one for the PS4, I am glad there is a PC version because it will stand more of a chance of being adoptable rather than someone having to hack the PS4 version for PC (granted I am sure that will happen anyway and the PS4 version will probably sell more if it is good), but I think with a PC version you will see more creative people making new outside the box things.

You're welcome. Sony's equivalent Morpheus is in the works, the main problem that console gamers are going to face is that most console games run at 30fps often stuttering to lower frame rates, and the rendered resolution for most AAA games tends to be little more than 720p. This is a big issue, the DK2 runs at 1920x1080 and this is really the MIN screen resolution you need for compelling VR, something like 2560x1440 is likely to be in CV1 (consumer version 1), it also runs at 75hz and they're targeting 90hz or more for CV1.

I think the issue is going to be of quality, I doubt that Morpheus will take off because in order to deliver anything close to the rift gamers on the consoles will need twice the screen resolution and something like 3x the frame rate, which means dropping graphical complexity of their games by something like 6x

I'd be very surprised if Morpheus arrives on PC, the trouble with this kind of hardware is that it's completely unique and requires its own APIs and that requires support for the platform, support for developers wanting to create content for it etc, it's not a dumb device like a monitor where you can standardize the input/output.

if you want a compelling VR experience you'll need to go to PCs, maybe in 8 years time when we see PS5/Xbox Two they'll be able to deliver decent VR, not this gen, that's for sure.

 

[QuantumPion]

Which demos have you tried so far Frosty? For me the one which works best is by far Elite Dangerous. Titans of Space and The Chair are the best scenery demos. Technolust and Half Life 2 are my next favorites although I still do not really like first person games all that much. I can tolerate FPS's for a while but they do make me queasy.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I tried out the build in calibrate tool first, then the Tuscany demo, these are most compatible. Then after that we tried the Helix next level rollercoaster demo which is impressive.

I've tried The chair, there's one called Der Grosse Gottlieb which puts you on top of a crazy stack of chairs. One of my favorite demos is called Sight Line which having tested a quite a lot of demos now I think ought to be everyone's first experience with the Rift, it's a great show case.

The UE4 Rollercoaster is crazy, Matrix VR has a couple of scenes made from the movies that work well including being able to dodge the agents bullets in slow motion. Cyber space is a fairground ride that's seriously intense and makes me the most motion sick but it's a real thrill. Kon Tiki is a little relaxation thing where you're afloat at sea on a small raft. I've tried movies in both VR Cinema and Whirligig for 180 degree movies.

I've also tried TF2 which I played coop on MVM for a bit, that was fun but made aiming hard, I need to play with the cvars in that to find a good mode to play in, same with HL2, I started the campagin for that but found myself quite motion sick after just 20 minutes of play. I have to say seeing HL2 again but in 3D is quite something, the little flying robots that take your pictures feel like they have weight to them, the depth kinda gives them mass, and the combine guards feel bulky and more real, they're a lot more intimidating especially at the start of the game.

There's a few I have that I can't get to work with headtracking because they're made for DK1 primarily, Alone, Blocked in, and some that just don't render to the rift at all like Don't Let Go which sounds cool but sadly doesn't work.

I've just got up, I'll be trying more today, any other suggestions?

 

[mizzou]

I tried out the build in calibrate tool first, then the Tuscany demo, these are most compatible. Then after that we tried the Helix next level rollercoaster demo which is impressive.

I've tried The chair, there's one called Der Grosse Gottlieb which puts you on top of a crazy stack of chairs. One of my favorite demos is called Sight Line which having tested a quite a lot of demos now I think ought to be everyone's first experience with the Rift, it's a great show case.

The UE4 Rollercoaster is crazy, Matrix VR has a couple of scenes made from the movies that work well including being able to dodge the agents bullets in slow motion. Cyber space is a fairground ride that's seriously intense and makes me the most motion sick but it's a real thrill. Kon Tiki is a little relaxation thing where you're afloat at sea on a small raft. I've tried movies in both VR Cinema and Whirligig for 180 degree movies.

I've also tried TF2 which I played coop on MVM for a bit, that was fun but made aiming hard, I need to play with the cvars in that to find a good mode to play in, same with HL2, I started the campagin for that but found myself quite motion sick after just 20 minutes of play. I have to say seeing HL2 again but in 3D is quite something, the little flying robots that take your pictures feel like they have weight to them, the depth kinda gives them mass, and the combine guards feel bulky and more real, they're a lot more intimidating especially at the start of the game.

There's a few I have that I can't get to work with headtracking because they're made for DK1 primarily, Alone, Blocked in, and some that just don't render to the rift at all like Don't Let Go which sounds cool but sadly doesn't work.

I've just got up, I'll be trying more today, any other suggestions?

great!! could u descrive the 3d effect more...sometimes in 3d movies things seem to pop out of a 2d background. How would a view of a scene in hl2 differ from a scene either in real life depth perveption or complete 2d perception.

how good is your focus? ive also niticed in 3d movies the scene is not as clear as the 2d versiin.

 

[mizzou]

Thanks PF, nice write up. You hit on pretty much everything my coworker said. This is just the beginning. It will be interesting to see where this goes. While I know Sony is also making one for the PS4, I am glad there is a PC version because it will stand more of a chance of being adoptable rather than someone having to hack the PS4 version for PC (granted I am sure that will happen anyway and the PS4 version will probably sell more if it is good), but I think with a PC version you will see more creative people making new outside the box things.

im not so sure morpheus will show up in ps4....i dont think the system is powerful enough to handle modern games + vr processing needs. It COULD but we would need some scaled back graphics. Then again....Sony is in hardware development, they have nothing ti lose by trying it out.

on the opposite side....PC is messed up because almost nobodys build is the same and performance can be extreme or terrible. If sony can get a game to work well, it will work the same for everyone

 

[Fallen Kell]

great!! could u descrive the 3d effect more...sometimes in 3d movies things seem to pop out of a 2d background. How would a view of a scene in hl2 differ from a scene either in real life depth perveption or complete 2d perception.

how good is your focus? ive also niticed in 3d movies the scene is not as clear as the 2d versiin.

Well the problem with 3D and focusing in 3D movies has to do with the technology providing the 3D experience. The projected image on the screen was recorded with a set camera focus when it was filmed. Attempting to look at objects other than the one the camera was focused onto during the shot will result in attempting to look at an out of focus object, and thus blurred/fuzzy.

A rendered video such as in a game, or 3D animation computer effect, can remove the physical camera focus problems and provide a fully in-focus image for the entire image, allowing you to then focus on any part of the image and it will appear in focus (with the only blurring created as a visual effect added).

The only way to remove the camera focus would be to record the image/movie with a lightfield capture camera. This would capture both the light itself and the direction that the light came from. There are a lot of really cool things that can be done then with this information, including partially seeing around objects, since the light is many time reflected off other surfaces and you can get some idea of what parts of an object that are not pointed toward the camera actually look like from the reflections that occur. Anyway, with the data from a lightfield camera, you can then reconstruct a 3D image of the scene and allow for the entire 3D image to be in focus just like a rendered image, and can then project the two points of view that your eyes give you to a display device like a Rift to give a clean picture that you can then pick the parts to focus on with your own eyes. However, this technology is very data intensive and requires quite a bit of work after the images are stored before being able to view them.

 

[gorobei]

frosty have you tried couch knights?
http://www.theriftarcade.com/couch-knights-available/

kind of a 2 rift user game and needs a gamepad, but probably represents the future of pokemon type games.

 

[mizzou]

Oh no, haven't heard from frosty I think this may have happened

 

[Mandres]

Oh no, haven't heard from frosty I think this may have happened

hehe

 

[Subyman]

My DK2 arrived last night, as you'd expect with a Dev Kit there are some problems, you really have to fiddle about to get a combination of screens working that allow you to launch in and out of games without much fuss, it's frustrating but not entirely unexpected, there's loads of videos and advice from the community on how to set up a gaming environment with it that works well.

As for the experience...Wow.

Sounds like my experience the day I got the DK1. Setting it up wasn't super streamlined. I had to run a configuration utility to set up my eye width and all that. I had a hard time getting it just right without things looking slightly blurry. I have 20/20 vision, but I had deeper set eyes than a lot of folks so maybe that messed me up. I never could get it look really crisp, but since it was a developers kit I wasn't too concerned.

The first impression was amazing. I've never had a piece of technology wow me as much as the rift. It is such an intimate experience where the rift takes you away from reality and immerses you in another world. Nothing comes close to that feeling. No GPU, no monitor, no huge projector screen, nothing comes close.

The best part was letting others try it for the first time. My brother had a huge smile and almost fell over (try standing up and physically turning. It is spooky!) I let some older folks try it as well and they were completely baffled.

Lol screen door was terrible on the DK1. I knew 1080p wouldn't be nearly enough after using the DK1. It needs 4k to be enjoyable over long periods of gaming.

I am extremely optimistic about Oculus. I was very glad that I was able to preview the tech and eagerly await it maturing.

 

[Subyman]

great!! could u descrive the 3d effect more...sometimes in 3d movies things seem to pop out of a 2d background. How would a view of a scene in hl2 differ from a scene either in real life depth perveption or complete 2d perception.

how good is your focus? ive also niticed in 3d movies the scene is not as clear as the 2d versiin.

It is nothing like a 3D movie. You actually have a screen dedicated to each eye so there is not any shuttering and loss of brightness. There IS however the bigger problem with 3D, the camera, not your eyes, do the focusing. So the camera in the game (where your head is pointing) could be focused on something far away, but your eyes may be looking to the side so what your physical eyes look at is blurred because the virtual camera is looking ahead. This really aggravated me with 3D movies where the camera may be focused on a group of people walking, but you look at the tree in front of them and it is really blurry and my eyes then flip out trying to focus on something that can't be focused.

That effect doesn't matter as much in 2D because our brain is not processing it as reality, but in 3D is it very off putting. In the Rift, you can easily mitigate this issue by turning your head toward what your eyes are trying to focus on. I've heard they are working in implement eye tracking, which would resolve this issue.

I hope I was clear about the issue.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Mine is arriving this Friday, but I'm not going to have much time this weekend sadly :-(

 

[xantub]

on a tangent note about this, I totally recommend a book series by Tad Williams called "Otherland", read it or else!

 

[MeldarthX]

hehe Princess; Morpheus is coming along nicely; my friends back in the states that have had a chance to demo it at a few events; along with them owning dev1 kits for Oculus; they were blown away by Morpheus that were running on the PS4.

I think both will be awesome and very much something that is needed in the PC field.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Got my DK2 yesterday, played with it for a good 6 hours (3 on Elite Dangerous alone, the rest on calibration, fixes, demos), and I've got to say, I'm feeling very mixed on this.

The bad first (caveat that I'm well aware this is the DK2, not CV1):
- I'm apparently very susceptible to the screen door effect, although this seems to be just the tech itself as well as game implementation. Some demos I didn't notice it, but Elite Dangerous was pretty bad for me.
- Chromatic Aberration is pretty bad, even after calibration. Pulling the DK as close as possible helps a bit, but the peripheral remains somewhere between poor and acceptable. And I'm in their "optimal range" as well for eye structure. I also know that this has been a major focus for CV1, so fingers crossed.
- Resolution is too low. Like really too low. Granted, I'm coming from a 1440p monitor, but still, it's hugely distracting.

The Bad (don't fully count these since it's DK2)
- Software implementation isn't there
- Desktop is not usable in DK2 (haven't fully checked to see if there are any apps to fix that, that's my search for today), which is horribad since a lot of applications (Elite Dangerous for example) require the older extended desktop mode to work, and your main monitor needs to be set to 75hz in order to eliminate judder while looking around (which my Yamakasi isn't capable of).

The Good (aka HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME)
- Elite Dangerous
- Elite Dangerous
- ...
- Really, Elite Dangerous.

The sheer presence you get while in a cockpit, looking down and seeing your body, which in turn moves when you throttle up, down, or move your joystick around in near 1:1 (I use a X-55 Rhino). It's almost disorienting at first, but you really feel you're there. I piloted my Anaconda last night, and I'm able to move and look around in a way you can't without this...I didn't even know I was sitting in an elevated, suspended command chair until I got the DK2. I'm gushing like a school girl, but it gets even better when you start playing, as the positional tracking greatly improves situational awareness. And then there's the HUD, which is fully 3D and positional aware: look left, open your targeting menu, top left opens comms, right opens functional menu, look at something and it highlights it and spits out information.

Seriously, this is the single most game-changing piece of hardware and I believe is going to revolutionize gaming. And this is with my horrible screen door effect and chromatic aberration, and the resolution issues. Elite Dangerous looks noticably worse than on my 1440p monitor, but hot damn, it's just so much better in the DK2.

I'm still really, really, really, pretty sure I'm going to sell this on Ebay and grab the ROG 27" for the Gsync / 144hz and wait to see if CV1 fixes my major issues. But it's actually a pretty tough decision right now.

 

[Canbacon]

Nice to see you got your DK2 in SLU.

Make sure you are running SDK 4.2 it should fix most of the chromatic aberration issues. Also try moving the eye relief out to the middle or 2nd from the furthest position.

For the desktop try the following program, it clones the primary monitor's desktop.
http://www.vrdesktop.net/

Also try Bilago's GameManager, it saves preferences for Oculus programs/
http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2dzf5j/beta_unofficial_vr_game_launchermanager_by_bilago/

For selling the DK2, I would wait will ED updates their SDK implementation to 4.2.

Also, I would recommend putting on a screen protector on the lenses. They scratch easily, much more so than the DK1. Get a 40mm diameter watch protector.

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2f0cig/circular_40mm_screen_protectors_for_lenses/?sort=new

 

[MSCoder610]

Yep SDK 0.4.2 mostly fixes chromatic aberration, Elite Dangerous is still using the older 0.3 SDK.

The DK2 is definitely still early in the software stages. I think in a month or two the SDK should be better (e.g. more demos should work in Direct-To-HMD mode), and more games will be using the latest SDK (hopefully).

 

[Alok_Awasthi]

Hello I'm curious about its effect on eyes , I mean its sticking very close to eyes? ?

 

[QuantumPion]

Yep SDK 0.4.2 mostly fixes chromatic aberration, Elite Dangerous is still using the older 0.3 SDK.

The DK2 is definitely still early in the software stages. I think in a month or two the SDK should be better (e.g. more demos should work in Direct-To-HMD mode), and more games will be using the latest SDK (hopefully).

The chromatic aberration in ED is fixed with the new 2.12 firmware that comes with the .4.2 SDK.

 

[Canbacon]

The chromatic aberration in ED is fixed with the new 2.12 firmware that comes with the .4.2 SDK.

Ah yes, SLU make sure you firmware update your Oculus.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

frosty have you tried couch knights?
http://www.theriftarcade.com/couch-knights-available/

kind of a 2 rift user game and needs a gamepad, but probably represents the future of pokemon type games.

Not yet, I'll put that on my list.

Over the weekend I managed to get War Thunder working, it's multiplayer flight sim game based in WW2 which works exceedingly well with the Rift, these are the kind of games where the Rift won't just be a gimmick, you'll be compelled to use the Rift all the time you play, taking off the runway as you look across the wings either side of you gives you a really good feeling of scale.

I've tried Proton Pulse a cool little block breaker demo, that works surprisingly well and is fun to play. Spacewalk is a demo where you can maneuver a space suit around a space station, that really freaks me out because it makes you feel so isolated and alone, being adrift in space is really freaky. Don't let go is a really cool demo which you "win" by simply holding both control keys on your keyboard, in VR you see your avatar at a desk in an office with his hands on the ctrl keys of a laptop, then you're tested in a variety of ways that make you want to let go of the keys.

Lol screen door was terrible on the DK1. I knew 1080p wouldn't be nearly enough after using the DK1. It needs 4k to be enjoyable over long periods of gaming.

I am extremely optimistic about Oculus. I was very glad that I was able to preview the tech and eagerly await it maturing.

The screen door is still noticeable for sure, I don't think 4k will be the sweet spot because performance is going to be hard to achieve at 75-90fps required for low persistence along with the other post processing effects required. I think something closer to 2560x1440 will be best for CV1.

reat!! could u descrive the 3d effect more...sometimes in 3d movies things seem to pop out of a 2d background. How would a view of a scene in hl2 differ from a scene either in real life depth perveption or complete 2d perception.

how good is your focus? ive also niticed in 3d movies the scene is not as clear as the 2d versiin.

There's several major differences between stereoscopic 3D with movies and with the Rift, all of which make the Rift superiour.

First of all the rift displays 2 separate frames in parallel, one to each eye but it doesn't have to alternate between one eye and the other like typical 3D, this means you do not get flicker associated with switching, you do not get ghosting (where one eye see's the fading image previously displayed for the other eye), also because polarization isn't used the brightness and overall contrast of the scene is significantly better.

It also means the frame rate is better, not just because you can push games at a better frame rate to begin with but also because in traditional stereoscopic 3D each eye only see's half the frames presented.

Probably the biggest differences is being able to alter your point of view, depth through stereoscoposy is great, but the feeling of real depth comes from being able to move your head and see the parallax effect between objects at different distances, even if it's just a subtle movement.

3D in the Rift is basically better in every way, I own Nvidia Vision 2.0 and 3D glasses with a light boost monitor which I happen to think presents a better 3D experience than most cinemas do, but the Rift even blows that out the water.

hehe Princess; Morpheus is coming along nicely; my friends back in the states that have had a chance to demo it at a few events; along with them owning dev1 kits for Oculus; they were blown away by Morpheus that were running on the PS4.

I think both will be awesome and very much something that is needed in the PC field.

I think that development in the PC field is what really pushed Sony to do this, as always the innovation really comes on to the PC first and bleeds back to consoles. I think the main issue with the PS4 is it won't have the kind of GPU power to give a good VR experience with nice looking games, either they'll skimp on the graphics a LOT or it's going to be a choppy and unresponsive experience. It is good to see competition however.

 

[Aikouka]

There's several major differences between stereoscopic 3D with movies and with the Rift, all of which make the Rift superiour.

Although, you do have the same "problem" as you do with passive 3D : reduced resolution. Passive 3D works by alternating the polarization with each line, so you get left on top of right on top of left and so on. With the Rift, you have half the screen per eye, which means you have 960x1080 per eye. Is it bad? Eh, honestly... I prefer passive 3D ( mostly for the difference in eye wear ), so I don't care much!

 

[SLU Aequitas]

The chromatic aberration in ED is fixed with the new 2.12 firmware that comes with the .4.2 SDK.

Ah yes, SLU make sure you firmware update your Oculus.

Sadly, I've been using the latest firmware and SDK, it's still definitely there for me. One other gripe I've had with DK2 is that the FOV isn't complete, i.e. I still get the feeling I'm looking through a tunnel/helmet.

But my god, Elite: Dangerous...can play it for hours, no ill effects. Played the hang-glider demo and nearly threw up, but that was a fps issue.

Seriously, this is the most awesome piece of tech I've played with. I have the same feelings I did when I came home to discover my family's first PC (replaced an old Apple IIC) and managed to figure out how to install G-Nome (first 3d game experience).

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Although, you do have the same "problem" as you do with passive 3D: reduced resolution. Passive 3D works by alternating the polarization with each line, so you get left on top of right on top of left and so on. With the Rift, you have half the screen per eye, which means you have 960x1080 per eye. Is it bad? Eh, honestly... I prefer passive 3D ( mostly for the difference in eye wear ), so I don't care much!

Yeah this is just a hardware limitation of the current rift, it's not a limitation inherent to the type of technology, you can scale resolution upwards all you need is more expensive screens and faster hardware to drive games at that resolution. That's coming, we're told the Rift Consumer Version will have higher screen resolutions.

The screen is indeed split between two eyes so each eye has half the resolution of the screen, with a resolution as low as 960x1080 filling most of your vision you get fairly noticeable screen door effects and large pixels, it's borderline useable without it breaking the enjoyment but it's soemthing that needs impoving and will be improved for CV1

Passive 3D vs active 3D has mostly the same issues, polarization reduces the brightness 4x and ruins contrast and frame rate is halfed per eye, you also get ghosting etc, those things cna only be mitigated in traditional 3D but in the Rift they're not a problem inherent to the technology so it produces a much better 3D effect.