Fool me, this is real good shit ! [the VR thread]

[gumboot]

Wasn't it the case that the only distinguishing characteristic of the Wright brother's first flight was the insanely optimistic press that it got?

[pogo]

Well yes. And he mentions computers and smartphones. But for every breakthrough technology (flight, PCs, mobile phones) there are many many more technologies that don't become an essential part of everyones lives. Think e.g. of 3D TV which was spoken of in similar tones a few years ago.

The key example's is mobile/smart phones. Think of all the other technologies it's hoovered up over the years. Pagers. GPS/navigation. Compact phones. Webcams. PDAs. Blackberry-like devices. It's not that people don't want to do these things but they don't want clunky dedicated devices they want a computer they can take with them in their pocket.

So maybe one day VR will be commonplace. But we won't call it VR, it will be part of some other device, something that combines all the functionality of Rift, with a computer as powerful as an iPhone (so able to drive the VR screens), all in a package no bigger than Google Glass.

[Darkflame]

Indeed.
Really successful tech will be able to emulate previous techs.
An idealized Augmented Reality display is the perfect output form factor for convergence imho as it can (in principle) emulate a lot of other things. For example, the compromise between cellphone screensize and portability doesn't really matter anymore when the screen is emulated straight into your eyes. You could resize it on the fly, in fact.

A general computer coupled with a way to portray anything visual locked to your environment effectively lets you emulate any device you dont need to touch or feel - and thats actualy quite a lot.

We are, of course, quite a long way from that though. While I am a big believer in stuff like META/Spaceglass for functionality, its a long way from being slick and portable enough for the true mass market - and even then functionality has a long way to go screenwise.
Light-additive with variable grey back is pretty much all we can do.
We also have a trade off between great VR (Rift) and practical AR. Cant do both at once yet.

Still I am sure one day having full RGBA displays with decent fields of view in a Dennou Coil style display will come.

[Darkflame]

Wasn't it the case that the only distinguishing characteristic of the Wright brother's first flight was the insanely optimistic press that it got?

Not really - in fact, they wernt believed for ages and were put down as a hoax for awhile.

[gumboot]

Wasn't it the case that the only distinguishing characteristic of the Wright brother's first flight was the insanely optimistic press that it got?

Not really - in fact, they wernt believed for ages and were put down as a hoax for awhile.

Not believed by some and believed with fantastical extropolation by others. A lot of people were dicking about with flight at the time, and a lot of people got comparable results and were written off as hoaxes or just immaterial because the results weren't useful.

[beerman]

It's not quite the Oculus, but this looks like it could be amusing to play with.
DIY VR headset with a cardboard box and an Android phone

https://developers.google.com/cardboard/

[Portland]

[MegaZoid.]

I have a cardboard clone winging is way to me at the moment , was gonna build my own but i found that the lenses were a pig to get hold of.

[gilesgoat]

I think Augumented Reality is a "field by its own", maybe related to but not at all the same like VR.

What I like about VR is not just that it can imitate reality but that it can actually make new realities that don't exist in the physical world.

Meanwhile.. having some fun being inside Klein bottles and stuff alike and have a good look at things up close

[Darkflame]

"ideal" AR headsets could emulate VR. But thats probably a decade away at best.

[gumboot]

I would have thought that VR would emulate AR, using cameras.


Anyway; had some motion sickness research time last week and, above-and-beyond "look at the horizon", it seems that "stand upwind and watch the waves that are going to rock the boat" was an improvement on that. Although, "stand upwind" is a bit of a liability with someone likely to puke.

Since you don't get any unexpected motion in VR, I guess the problem is showing expected motion which never arrives?

[Yak]

I think the logical destination for the HMD is basically super hirez displays built in to ordinary glasses. Just fill in some of the pixels for AR, fill in all of them for VR. Big glasses will come back in style for the first time since the 80s.

Oh and at that point I guess the need for monitors, tellies and other displays will simply disappear once everyone's wearing big glasses.

[Darkflame]

AR communities have somewhat settled on optical transparent as the way forward. It boils down to a few things, but the general idea is that if your viewing mostly the real world, its best to keep as many of those real world photons as possible - you get real world focusing, no lag, and are less likely to be sick.
Thus an "ideal" AR display would be RGBA, with alpha being truly transparent. As of yet theres not really any display technologies that forfill that role.

Video-transparent or additive optical transparent is the best that can be done right now. The main thing against Video-transparent being the lag putting you "out of sync" with the real world. (as well as a much reduced viewing angle).
As things get quicker, the lag will become less and less of an issue. So tech wise its a bet between "RGBA" display being invented first vs "perfect-focus VR" being invented first

I suspect however social issues will always favor optical - are people ever going to be prepared for their whole field of view to be replaced when walking around? An optical solution could always put you in control of the opacity - video, well, are you sure you haven't been hacked to make it look like theres a street crossing there when there isnt?

Oh and at that point I guess the need for monitors, tellies and other displays will simply disappear once everyone's wearing big glasses.

Absolutely.
Basically anything we use visually but don't need to touch or feel could be replaced.

You could reskin your house's "theme" even if the tracking was perfect.

[Dio]

I would have thought that VR would emulate AR, using cameras.

You can't emulate AR with VR, because the camera needs to be located at the same location as your eye, and that location is otherwise occupied.

[gilesgoat]

I would have thought that VR would emulate AR, using cameras.

You can't emulate AR with VR, because the camera needs to be located at the same location as your eye, and that location is otherwise occupied.

.. it's only a matter of time someone will make a device with 2 cameras in the right places .. trust me ...