3 ms·

I haven't seen anything that makes me think it's more than a gimmick. The tech itself is still a few years away from being where it should be (higher resolutio

I haven't seen anything that makes me think it's more than a gimmick. The tech itself is still a few years away from being where it should be (higher resolution, wireless, better framerate, improved immersion), but more importantly I've yet to see a compelling use case for it. Until somebody can make a case for why VR, it's just an expensive toy, and not even a particularly fun one after a very short period of time. It reminds me of the Novint Falcon so many years ago. Really cool technology that nobody wanted.

tapoxi 9y ago
A few friends of mine are VR developers, so I've tried every sort of headset and game under the sun. Short of CAD/CAM and video games, I can't see a reason for VR in its current form. And though I love video games, the space requirements, isolation, and setup involved for the Vive lead me to prefer non-VR experiences. Having tried a Hololens though, I'm certain that AR can improve in a direction where it would replace my laptop. I wouldn't like to use it for games, though.
- Judgmentality 9y ago
  So I haven't tried AR yet, but I do know it has a laws-of-physics limitation - it's impossible to draw black on the screen. Basically, you can only make things brighter than the background, not darker - so if you're already in a bright world, good luck seeing anything. Subtitles become impossible unless you're in a black/dark room because you can't draw black borders on the text, and just outlining things in general (so you can see them) is essentially impossible. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime-soon/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-...
  - guycook 9y ago
    > laws-of-physics limitation This is only true if you limit your AR HMD design to beamsplitter + projector. There are existing prototypes [1] which demonstrate quite accurate lcd based occlusion for darkening the environment on a per-hmd-pixel basis. [1] http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3041178 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3041178
erikpukinskis 9y ago
VR is a dev kit industry right now and that's ok. It's like we invented the mouse but no one has invented WIMP yet. (Windows Icons Menus Pointer) Or we have an automobile but not yet a steering wheel. There's a big research project to figure out some basic interaction primitives for VR, and there won't be any uniquely powerful VR experiences until after the first round of that work is complete. > why VR 1) Humans like feeling like we're nearby to other people we like. Ask anyone in a long distance relationship. VR will start a price war between digital and physical spaces. $800 for a single plane ticket vs. $800 for two headsets so you can sit in the same room as your kids doing their homework back in the Philippines every night. 2) Body language is the basis for much of our communication. The reason Google Hangouts, conference calls, etc, don't work as well as being in an office together is we rely on eye contact and posture to do turn taking, communicate emotional context, etc. VR with eye contact and finger tracking would give physical work spaces a huge run for their money. Basically: VR puts virtual spaces on the same playing field as physical spaces. Not automatically better in any case, but able to compete. Right now virtual spaces mostly compete in a separate arena. As a slogan: Eye contact is the killer app of VR.

tapoxi 9y ago

A few friends of mine are VR developers, so I've tried every sort of headset and game under the sun. Short of CAD/CAM and video games, I can't see a reason for VR in its current form. And though I love video games, the space requirements, isolation, and setup involved for the Vive lead me to prefer non-VR experiences. Having tried a Hololens though, I'm certain that AR can improve in a direction where it would replace my laptop. I wouldn't like to use it for games, though.

Judgmentality 9y ago
So I haven't tried AR yet, but I do know it has a laws-of-physics limitation - it's impossible to draw black on the screen. Basically, you can only make things brighter than the background, not darker - so if you're already in a bright world, good luck seeing anything. Subtitles become impossible unless you're in a black/dark room because you can't draw black borders on the text, and just outlining things in general (so you can see them) is essentially impossible. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime-soon/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-...
- guycook 9y ago
  > laws-of-physics limitation This is only true if you limit your AR HMD design to beamsplitter + projector. There are existing prototypes [1] which demonstrate quite accurate lcd based occlusion for darkening the environment on a per-hmd-pixel basis. [1] http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3041178 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3041178

erikpukinskis 9y ago

VR is a dev kit industry right now and that's ok. It's like we invented the mouse but no one has invented WIMP yet. (Windows Icons Menus Pointer) Or we have an automobile but not yet a steering wheel. There's a big research project to figure out some basic interaction primitives for VR, and there won't be any uniquely powerful VR experiences until after the first round of that work is complete. > why VR 1) Humans like feeling like we're nearby to other people we like. Ask anyone in a long distance relationship. VR will start a price war between digital and physical spaces. $800 for a single plane ticket vs. $800 for two headsets so you can sit in the same room as your kids doing their homework back in the Philippines every night. 2) Body language is the basis for much of our communication. The reason Google Hangouts, conference calls, etc, don't work as well as being in an office together is we rely on eye contact and posture to do turn taking, communicate emotional context, etc. VR with eye contact and finger tracking would give physical work spaces a huge run for their money. Basically: VR puts virtual spaces on the same playing field as physical spaces. Not automatically better in any case, but able to compete. Right now virtual spaces mostly compete in a separate arena. As a slogan: Eye contact is the killer app of VR.