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There are a couple of dev teams working on something similar with Kinect(s) and Oculus Rift. The two main applications I've seen are VR "movies" that would rec
by soylentcola 12y ago
There are a couple of dev teams working on something similar with Kinect(s) and Oculus Rift. The two main applications I've seen are VR "movies" that would record a scene with both video and depth information which would allow you to walk around in a recorded "scene" as it plays back. The other is focused on using depth cameras to capture depth and video information and then compress and transmit it to create a more immersive form of telepresence.
I think that sort of thing is a much "bigger" application of VR technology than the gaming focus that it's starting out with. Gaming makes sense as a starting point since there are already engines and frameworks in place for generating 3d content that can be rendered from different angles to create the 3d illusion.
Still, I look at it like the early nickelodeons and parlor games seen at the advent of motion pictures. I think it will be much more useful when you can place small, inexpensive depth cameras near the top of each wall of a room (for example) and use that to capture depth and video information. That could be used to build a real-time 3d map of a room and people in the room and used in recorded or live communication. I think it's already at the point where this stuff can be done in a prototype form but as head-mounted displays and processing hardware is refined, it will be able to move from something requiring ski goggles and beefy workstations to streamlined specs and consumer-electronics base station appliances.