The Oculus rift was developed by virtually reality Oculus
VR. The brain of the Palmer Luckey and the extremely successful fundraiser
Kickstarter of nearly $2.4 million gave birth to the development of this
powerful device. Although the device was intended towards the game industry, it
is evident that other industries have incorporated the oculus rift into their
business model.
THE BASICS
The oculus rift is a head mounted device which displays 1080×1200
per eye, a 90 Hz refresh rate, and a wide field of view to the user. The device
is extremely lightweight and wraps around the peripheral vision of the user.
This allows for an extremely engaging 3D environment. By covering the user’s
entire view all external stimulation is blocked allowing the user to experience
a quasi-reality experience.
HOW IT WORKS?
The Oculus Rift resemble a pair of skiing google with a
rectangular box attached to the front, this box serves as a house for a Samsung
Galaxy Note 3. The eye lenses are 2.5 inches apart from each other, allowing
each eye to perceive objects in a more natural way.
In terms of motion, the oculus uses a custom-built sensor
which includes a gyroscope, an accelerometer and magnetometer. Combining the
three sensors the device gathers data to track the position and orientation of
the user’s head in order to and synchronize the position of the user.
The control box has HDMI, DVI, and USB ports which can be to
connect the computer to the box. Once a connection has been established, the
control boxes transfer’s the images from the computer to the Oculus Rift’s
display screen.
With all these technology backing the Oculus Rift it is easy
to see why this device is the most popular in the current world of virtual
reality. This powerful technology puts virtual simulation far ahead than any head
mounted display. Oculus VR also considered the design and comfort of the
device, previously any hardware developed was clunky and weighty. All that
combined for 350$, it is clear that the intentions of Luckey is to give the
community a taste of what’s coming next.
WHATS THE USE?
The applications of the Oculus Rift range across multiple
industries. Major game developers jumped the fence the moment this was
developed. To name a few, classic game studio Id
Software, PC gaming giants Valve Software, and two of the companies behind the
game industry’s most popular video game engines, Epic Games and Unity
Technologies.
Id Software has already implemented this into one of their
most famous games, Doom 3. The development kit can be connected and be played
with Oculus as a technical demo. The fact that a respected gaming company is
using the device speaks of the confidence that has been put under Oculus VR,
more importantly it boost this industry for years to come.
The Oculus Rift is not only being used in the gaming
industry. For example, Architecture has been using the Oculus Rift to gap the
bridge of those who lack of construction knowledge by incorporating augmented
reality into their 3D models. Jon Brouchoud the founder Arch Visual, a company
that specializes in creating 3D environments specifically with virtual and
augmented reality stated the following:
"You can almost conceptually
imagine a time when the architecture is literally perfect, crystallized around
exactly the way we're going to use the building," he adds. "Rather
than this abstract blueprint realization process, the buildings will fit like a
glove."
From manufacturing to education to post traumatic disorder
treatments the usage of the Oculus seems promising. It is an exciting time to
be a part of the technology industry and we should continue moving forward.
THE FUTURE
While the Oculus Rift was designed mainly for gaming
purposes, that is certainly not the limit of the device. NASA Jet Propulsion
Lab already started incorporating the Oculus into their scientific
applications. Such experiments include using the device to
remotely control a robotic arm, and feeding images from the Curiosity rover
into the device to create a Virtual Reality simulation of the environment of
Mars.
But not everything is perfect with the Oculus Rift. The
device lacks the ability to track user positioning, meaning there is a required
separate device to track your movement. Also the Oculus does not have any kind
of sound system which makes virtual reality a little dry. Currently, applications
of the device use separate headphones to make the experience a little more
complete.
Although, it is evident that Oculus Rift falls short for our
expectations in virtual reality, however one can only hope the popularity of
the Oculus will allow developers to use it as milestone to create a more immersive
experience.
WAY BEFORE OCULUS WE HAD AMIGA 3000
AMIGA 3000 VIRTUAL REALITY GAME
WHERE WE ARE NOW
THE VOID
WAY BEFORE OCULUS WE HAD AMIGA 3000
AMIGA 3000 VIRTUAL REALITY GAME
WHERE WE ARE NOW
THE VOID
I think it’s great that your company is taking game development to a whole new level of virtual reality. The gaming industry has consistently been a target market for young boys (and even young men because of their bond with the activity at a young age). However, I do have reservations about the ethics of the oculus rift. Because the game is so realistic, it may worry a group of individuals (ie: parents) that the line between virtual reality versus reality will blur during a child’s critical period. These games seem to promote violent skills at a young age. Has your company received any ethical concerns?
ReplyDeleteGreat point World Of Wu, however i think this is gaming issue more than a virtual reality issue. Granted virtual reality and augmented reality serve as a bridge to experience a realistic experience which could potentially create psychological consequences but I think is not up to the people behind VR to decide how the upcoming games are gonna incorporate this new technology. Moreover, I think violence in games are already an emergent issue, take Grand Theft Auto V as a an example, GTA V is a game developed by Rockstar North where the main theme is about three criminals who continue doing criminal activities during the entire game.I played the entire game and although it was a really enjoyable experience I would totally agree with you in the sense that none of this material is appropiate for child's.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to my personal experience, I do not deal with games and most of my work is oriented to an older generation (such as land developers, owners of companies,etc) so I think it would be safe to assume that issues in that regards will not be a big concern for us.
Last the biggest hurdle I see is that VR faces a lot of challenges when it comes to how many frames are generated in a given second. As of today, the Oculus Rift requires at least 60-70 to make this an bearable experience, this depends heavily in the quality and size of the file. First time users often get disoriented and very nauseous when trying to Oculus. Clearly, there is a lot of progress that needs to be done but in the meantime many companies and researchers are looking very closely on how to incorporate this technology into our lives.
Also as I was responding to your comment I found this online in regards to ethics and Virtual Reality (it applies to gaming more than my field but it is still pretty relevant)
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2009/09/should-we-be-afraid-of-virtual-reality/