8 ms·

Tricks That Make Virtual Reality Feel Real

68 points by Aoyagi 11y ago

pmoriarty 11y ago
I've become convinced that there's one attribute of VR headsets that's more important than realism, more important than presence, more important than input. Once the novelty has worn off, the main thing that will keep average users coming back is comfort. And none of the bulky, unwieldy headsets that exist today have it. I'm not sure if we have to wait until VR headsets become as unobtrusive as ordinary glasses or contacts before users get the level of comfort they'll need to use VR for extended periods of time. But we're nowhere near that level with today's technology.
- ldom66 11y ago
  I agree, I had an Oculus Rift Dk2 and while the technology was truly impressive, plugging the thousand cables needed to make it work and trying to make it fit comfortably was never worth it. The first thing they need for this to work is think of it like a game controller. To play a game with a controller you only need to plug it in, and it will just work. The same needs to be done with VR headsets. You should not have to worry about display resolution and placement, cable management, sound devices, etc, just to play with a VR headset. The ideal would be plugging your headset into a single USB type-c port with a technology allowing it to act as a display, sound card and controller all at once. Or at least have a kind of dock where you plug in the VR controller and this dock is plugged into your computer in various ways. Still, I think they should work on this before resolution and accuracy for VR to really work.
  - soylentcola 11y ago
    I look at this sort of thing the way I looked at my first smart phone in 2004. Sure, they should have been fully graphically accelerated in a less bulky package with a bigger screen and such things were possible even then. But at the same time, I could download and run programs on my phone. I could stream Shoutcast radio in the car and check email or watch little low-res video streams. I even had a Nintendo emulator on it for portable gaming! The other stuff came eventually. Within 5 years it was finally (relatively) affordable to improve the ergonomics and responsiveness of the UI and within 10 it was common even among cheap, mainstream devices. I see VR following a similar path. Get the actual basic features up and running first as that's the basis of the platform. Then iterate and benefit from scale to get the nicer, more polished hardware into something under $1000+
- samizdatum 11y ago
  Have you tried the consumer version of the Oculus Rift? It's significantly more comfortable than previous iterations, enough for hours of continuous use. Oculus has placed a huge emphasis on comfort, because "presence"- the visceral feeling of being in a virtual space- is so fickle to achieve. While it's not exactly a binary, there-or-not-there kind of thing, presence is a gestalt that's really easy to get kicked out of, and Oculus found that discomfort was one of those things that would reliably inhibit a sense of presence. They went to incredible lengths to improve the comfort of the device, going as far as designing new manufacturing processes to wrap the Rift in some bespoke fabrics, and designing the straps to eliminate the "ski goggle wobble", and distribute weight evenly across the head.
  - strictnein 11y ago
    "Presence" is a weird thing, because you can kind of pop in and out of it quickly. Was calibrating my DK2 yesterday and ran the demo scene (the desk with the stack of cards and soda can, etc). I tried to reach for the house plant and the can, knowing full well that they weren't there, and there was nothing triggered in my mind. Then I thought "it'd be fun to knock over the cards" and I swiped my arm through the space they would occupy, and my brain switched for a second or two and I fully expected to be hitting the cards and causing them to tumble. When it didn't happen, it was jarring, because it should have happened. With the DK1 and DK2, those moments come almost randomly for me, and I keep wondering if we'll get to a point where they can be sustained for long periods of time, or if it'll be like those magic eye pictures where you finally see the sailboat and as long as you concentrate and don't blink you can keep looking at it.
    - daheza 11y ago
      I had a similar feeling when doing the DK2 Desk demo. I was doing the usual looking around then reached out to touch the virtual desk. I had forgotten how close I was to my real desk so when I touched the desk virtually I touch my real desk. This flipped something in my brain, no way could I be touching a virtual desk. It was a really incredible experience.
      - 11y ago
- VikingCoder 11y ago
  The Vive Pre looks uncomfortable and heavy to me: http://img-2.gizmag.com/htc-vive-pre-hands-on-7.jpg?auto=format&ch=Width%2CDPR&fit=crop&h=394&q=60&rect=0%2C51%2C1620%2C912&w=700&s=c1dbfbe6859baeaef5f2b1e41dd22113 http://img-2.gizmag.com/htc-vive-pre-hands-on-7.jpg?auto=for... Meanwhile, the Oculus Rift looks quite reasonable to me: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8866/18101066053_ab8bab1a2c_b.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8866/18101066053_ab8bab1a2c_b....
- chm 11y ago
  I agree but find comfort in the fact that History is on our side: the devices should only get better. In 10 years, give or take 5, you're going to see this technology everywhere. The first iPhone was released in mid-2007. If you had asked me in 2000 whether such a device was possible, I'd have said yes, but not practical. The time will come, don't worry :)
strictnein 11y ago
I'm not surprised that realism is not essential to the VR experience. In fact, I've been wondering if a more Tron like scene [0] would be better. It would be simpler and easier to scale up to at higher resolutions, while still maintaining high frame rates. [0] https://fronteffects.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/tron-disneyscreencaps-com-7858.jpg https://fronteffects.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/tron-disney...
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

68 points by Aoyagi 11y ago

I've become convinced that there's one attribute of VR headsets that's more important than realism, more important than presence, more important than input. Once the novelty has worn off, the main thing that will keep average users coming back is comfort. And none of the bulky, unwieldy headsets that exist today have it. I'm not sure if we have to wait until VR headsets become as unobtrusive as ordinary glasses or contacts before users get the level of comfort they'll need to use VR for extended periods of time. But we're nowhere near that level with today's technology.

ldom66 11y ago
I agree, I had an Oculus Rift Dk2 and while the technology was truly impressive, plugging the thousand cables needed to make it work and trying to make it fit comfortably was never worth it. The first thing they need for this to work is think of it like a game controller. To play a game with a controller you only need to plug it in, and it will just work. The same needs to be done with VR headsets. You should not have to worry about display resolution and placement, cable management, sound devices, etc, just to play with a VR headset. The ideal would be plugging your headset into a single USB type-c port with a technology allowing it to act as a display, sound card and controller all at once. Or at least have a kind of dock where you plug in the VR controller and this dock is plugged into your computer in various ways. Still, I think they should work on this before resolution and accuracy for VR to really work.
- soylentcola 11y ago
  I look at this sort of thing the way I looked at my first smart phone in 2004. Sure, they should have been fully graphically accelerated in a less bulky package with a bigger screen and such things were possible even then. But at the same time, I could download and run programs on my phone. I could stream Shoutcast radio in the car and check email or watch little low-res video streams. I even had a Nintendo emulator on it for portable gaming! The other stuff came eventually. Within 5 years it was finally (relatively) affordable to improve the ergonomics and responsiveness of the UI and within 10 it was common even among cheap, mainstream devices. I see VR following a similar path. Get the actual basic features up and running first as that's the basis of the platform. Then iterate and benefit from scale to get the nicer, more polished hardware into something under $1000+
samizdatum 11y ago
Have you tried the consumer version of the Oculus Rift? It's significantly more comfortable than previous iterations, enough for hours of continuous use. Oculus has placed a huge emphasis on comfort, because "presence"- the visceral feeling of being in a virtual space- is so fickle to achieve. While it's not exactly a binary, there-or-not-there kind of thing, presence is a gestalt that's really easy to get kicked out of, and Oculus found that discomfort was one of those things that would reliably inhibit a sense of presence. They went to incredible lengths to improve the comfort of the device, going as far as designing new manufacturing processes to wrap the Rift in some bespoke fabrics, and designing the straps to eliminate the "ski goggle wobble", and distribute weight evenly across the head.
- strictnein 11y ago
  "Presence" is a weird thing, because you can kind of pop in and out of it quickly. Was calibrating my DK2 yesterday and ran the demo scene (the desk with the stack of cards and soda can, etc). I tried to reach for the house plant and the can, knowing full well that they weren't there, and there was nothing triggered in my mind. Then I thought "it'd be fun to knock over the cards" and I swiped my arm through the space they would occupy, and my brain switched for a second or two and I fully expected to be hitting the cards and causing them to tumble. When it didn't happen, it was jarring, because it should have happened. With the DK1 and DK2, those moments come almost randomly for me, and I keep wondering if we'll get to a point where they can be sustained for long periods of time, or if it'll be like those magic eye pictures where you finally see the sailboat and as long as you concentrate and don't blink you can keep looking at it.
  - daheza 11y ago
    I had a similar feeling when doing the DK2 Desk demo. I was doing the usual looking around then reached out to touch the virtual desk. I had forgotten how close I was to my real desk so when I touched the desk virtually I touch my real desk. This flipped something in my brain, no way could I be touching a virtual desk. It was a really incredible experience.
    - 11y ago
VikingCoder 11y ago
The Vive Pre looks uncomfortable and heavy to me: http://img-2.gizmag.com/htc-vive-pre-hands-on-7.jpg?auto=format&ch=Width%2CDPR&fit=crop&h=394&q=60&rect=0%2C51%2C1620%2C912&w=700&s=c1dbfbe6859baeaef5f2b1e41dd22113 http://img-2.gizmag.com/htc-vive-pre-hands-on-7.jpg?auto=for... Meanwhile, the Oculus Rift looks quite reasonable to me: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8866/18101066053_ab8bab1a2c_b.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8866/18101066053_ab8bab1a2c_b....
chm 11y ago
I agree but find comfort in the fact that History is on our side: the devices should only get better. In 10 years, give or take 5, you're going to see this technology everywhere. The first iPhone was released in mid-2007. If you had asked me in 2000 whether such a device was possible, I'd have said yes, but not practical. The time will come, don't worry :)

strictnein 11y ago

I'm not surprised that realism is not essential to the VR experience. In fact, I've been wondering if a more Tron like scene [0] would be better. It would be simpler and easier to scale up to at higher resolutions, while still maintaining high frame rates. [0] https://fronteffects.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/tron-disneyscreencaps-com-7858.jpg https://fronteffects.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/tron-disney...

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]