RIFTing reality; demo'ing 101 for the Oculus RIFT

December has already flown by without me getting much of a chance to post a topic. With holiday madness and a week spent interstate, a self-imposed deadline for a functional tech-demo and other commitments, I haven't had much of a chance to keep things updated. I had planned on making a post about some of the more specific issues faced when developing for virtual reality, however, I shall save that for another time. Instead, I thought I would summarise some of the lessons that I have learnt so far while demo'ing the RIFT and the assorted digital constructs. It's pretty incredible when people first "gaze through the looking glass" and have their first real glimpse at virtual reality. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to setup a camera or record some of the more "enthusiastic" reactions this time around, as I had my hands full guiding demo's and doing my best to operate without a controller (something I had foolishly neglected to pack). It was either that or I was far too busy enjoying their responses (read: laughing my ass off) or providing support in some way (making sure they were enjoying themselves and/or handing out ginger as required). Never the less, I thought it might be a good idea to summarise some of the lessons I have learnt while demo'ing the RIFT and various virtual reality experiences to the public.

The first lesson is obvious - when traveling with your RIFT and other equipment (such as laptops, controllers and other gear) - ensure it is all well protected. While the Oculus RIFT itself comes in a very nice padded case with neat slots for all the parts, I have found it best stored in a padded backpack with some of the other equipment required for demos. Not only does this mean that you can take it on board as carry on luggage, it makes one less case to carry and will prevent any oportunistic thieves who may recognise either the Oculus logo or the PVC equipment case itself.  Secondly, carry a bottle of ginger concentrate or ginger pills with you. After working with the RIFT for a while, I have my "VR legs" and I consider myself aclimatised, yet nausea and motion sickness can strike even the most experienced of us and trust me when I say that ginger does indeed help. Also, limiting demo times to roughly fifteen minutes a turn for those not affected by motion sickness will help with aclimatisation and even if a person does not feel nausea during a demo, it can hit them *after* they take off the RIFT. Third, bring your own powerboard and any other cables and adaptors you think you will need for the demo. Never assume there will be enough power points, or atleast enough within reach. I have also invested in a USB-DC cable (you can buy premade or DIY) so that I can run the RIFT without taking up an extra plug for the power brick. This also allows you to run the whole lot off the gaming laptops battery should you need to either make it mobile or run without mains power.

USB to DC (Type M = 2.1mm ID) cable - USB 3.0 should be fine
<USB 2.0 *may* need twin USB connectors to provide adequate power>

Silicone Ninja strap - provides security for your RIFT

Along with the above lessons, also consider securing your RIFT control box with something so that if someone does accidentally drag the RIFT with them, your expensive equipment wont end up on the floor as well. Personally, I have an elastic ninja-strap that is looped around the control box. This way, I have a bit of give while preventing a potential catastrophy. Also, while demo'ing, it's best to use the Oculus calibration utility first to try and set it up optimally, thus providing a viewable experience. While in the rush of demo'ing and in cases where people's eyesight is either 20/20 or farsighted (longsighted) - it is often easier to just throw them in the demo. Personally, I try and avoid swapping lenses as the inside of the RIFT is a dust magnet and can be an absolute PITA to clean properly. I use the standard lenses with my glasses and I try and do this with others of shortsighted (nearsighted) vision. Of course, IPD calibration can make or break a users experience as well, so if possible this step should still be done. At this particular demo however, I was swamped with people wanting to try it out (which normally occurs at public demos), so it was straight into the RIFT with me asking a few questions to deturmine if their viewing was atleast within an acceptable range.


Some of the other lessons I have learnt when demo'ing...

Working with kids; Be prepared for things like getting sprayed in the face with buscuit crumbs. Especially when said biscuits are freely available and a kid pauses, mid chew, to ask a seemingly pertinant question. Lucky for me I wear corrective "safety glasses", so I avoided crumbs-to-the-eyeball, just consider this your fair warning. If possible, try to get the kids to hold the RIFT HMD too, as the size of the mask is ideally suited for big kids like myself (even if you have time to adjust the head straps for each child). Also, check to see if they are OK during their VR experience, silence and swaying can lead to dry heaves and possibly mess - this is one thing that affects both kids and adults though, so *always* be aware of the signs of motion sickness. It probably wont hurt to have a bucket on hand either, just in case. I am aware that there can be issues with children's exposure to 3D and how it is supposed to interefere with their depth perception development. However, small doses combined with plenty of breaks should be fine. I would probably advise against long-term use for children (like Nintendo has done with the 3DS), however, that's more my own $0.02 worth and not something I would consider a qualified opinion on the matter.

Working with seniors; Some are suprisingly accepting of virtual reality. I don't mean they have no problems with it, I have met some elderly users who flat out refuse to even try the RIFT. I am talking about how some seem unphased by how much of a "game changer" this new HMD is. I was able to setup a gallery for a family members birthday and loaded in some high-res scanned slides for them to look at. While they seemed impressed at being able to see their pictures inside a virtual gallery, the idea of being inside a digital world was almost a non-event for them. Whether or not this is because the digital age now ceases to suprise them as much or not is a discussion for another day. Personally, I still get a kick out of the size and capacity of USB flash drives from time to time, fondly recalling sneakernet and other limited storage solutions of the past (Zipdrive anyone?). Of course, not all seniors are like this and some of the best reactions have been from elderly users. One of my favorite reaction videos is this one <here>. However, my favorite "senior moment" with the RIFT thus far, is the grandma who was bedridden because of cancer. Oculus sent the developer a free dev-kit so that she could give gran a chance to "go outside and walk around" again. When the video of her doing this was posted on youtube, a comment led to the developer loading up the RIFT compatible version of Google maps street view. When the dev punched in gran's address, she was amazed to discover gran herself waving at the Google truck as it drove by the house. This means that this particular grandma is one of the lucky few who have been able to glimpse a virtual version of themselves through the RIFT!

gardening gran - read about it (and all the links) here on reddit

Finally, make sure the area around the user is clear and free of any obstacles and objects. If you thought a remote through your LCD or flatscreen was bad, be acutely aware that users are essentially blindfolded. They are usually unable to hear your proximity to them either (especially when wearing headphones) so make sure you approach with caution, especially if they are using tracking controllers like the Hydra/STEM. Even with just a RIFT and a controller in hand, users can still walk into things if you're not carefull and can even accidentally punch you or others when reacting suddenly to a perceived experience. Seated demo's can avoid some of these problems and when the Omni arrives next year, it will create a rather neat way of containing end-users range and scope that will prevent many of these very issues. The only other issues with demo'ing the RIFT I can think of would be one of minimising sweat buildup on the foam, something easily fixed with a bit of DIY thinking. Personally, I havent had much of an issue with this sort of problem, even with several demo's under my belt. There are plenty of solutions on the interwebs to account for this, from the rather simple "pack a headband" to lining the HMD with an aditional layer of removable foam that can be swapped out when one becomes particularly funky. Carefull use of sanitising spray and deodorisers can also help in this scenario. One more caution that I always make when discussing demo's and such, DO NOT  expose your RIFT to sunlight. While I have demo'd outside, it has always been done in the shade and I have never left the optics face up. I think I mentioned the sorry tale of a user who had bought a devkit off ebay once. They bought it in new condition, only to get it and find out the sellers act of photographing the HMD outside had caused the sun to burn two rather small but thorough damage points on the RIFTs display. The optics are focused at infinity after all!

Aldin Dynamics ASUNDER: EARTHBOUND

Darkfield ALPHA

HAWKEN with RIFT support ("borrowed" from IGN's website)

Next month I hope to cover the updated HAWKEN RIFT support as it would seem the reticule has been fixed in the latest patch, plus maybe more fixes and features. Also, Aldin Dynamics Asunder : Earthbound and the Darkfield Alpha build are next on my hitlist. While Darkfield is still in early Alpha 3 state, it promises to offer some rather neat galactic battles and with multiplayer on its way - gaining some early experience might prevent some of the more vicous PvP shenanigans I have witnessed (or experienced) in HAWKEN. Access to the current Alpha build starts at USD$15 and includes all future versions of the game (DRM free). Asunder : Earthbound is apparently more of a made-for-VR experience of its own rather than a game, but should be worth the USD$10 as Aldin Dynamics are the folks behind the rather excelent "Trial of the Rift Drifter" tech demo (still freely available on their website).

Broadband blues and the bleeding edge...

I have been running a combination of ADSL2+ and mobile interwebs for a while now. When I first entered the mobile broadband market, the reception was spotty, was plagued by random disconnects and would rarely even hint at the theoretical speeds available via HSDPA. Much of this remains the same today regardless of which ISP you choose, although some improvements have been made (eg. additional infrastructure/4G etc). While I have access to fixed line internet at some locations, I finally grew fed up with catastrophic failures in network signal, not to mention the vastly more expensive cost per gigabyte that mobile broadband seems to extort. Cost per gigabyte for fixed line bundles can reach as low as <$0.10 per Gig, while comparitively (avoiding peak/off peak restrictions) mobile broadband is *atleast* double that or more. Datablocks, pre-paid and other month to month contracts can make it even more expensive. Not to mention that all mobile broadband services I have experienced, offer no shaped usage after exceeding quotas. They either charge per MB, charge automatically in gigabyte blocks or charge per datablock - the so called "walled garden" is a poor substitute for shaped usage. An example is purchasing an additional data block with Optus under my current service... cost = $20 per gigabyte.

On top of this, a gigabyte is usually counted as 1000 Mb, which, as any geek will tell you is not really an actual gigabyte (1024Mb = 1Gb). Mind you, this "acceptable standard" type of definition of a gigabyte is also used by some other tech products and services as well.  Just about every company I have looked at in my quest for a suitable fixed line ISP has usually this listed somewhere in the fine print and most will happily count your upload traffic towards your monthly quota aswell. When choosing an ISP, especially anything on a fixed term contract, it is essential for you to do your homework. I have personally had companies offer me mobile broadband for locations that are in a confirmed blackspots - so make sure you check all facts and fine print and, should you opt for mobile broadband, be aware that you will most likely never get anywhere near the cost-per-gigabyte ratio of those on a fixed line. To get some independant reviews and a better idea of what the customer service and support is like, head over to the whirlpool forums broadband choice domain (bc.whirlpool.net.au), or visit whirlpool direct (whirlpool.net.au).
 

HAWKEN in VR mode with HUD enabled
(piloting the controversial technician class)

Free-look without turning the mech opens up some tactical possibilities

Clipping outside of the mech has been resolved,
however drift still needs a manual reset

 As mentioned previously, I spent some time recently with HAWKEN's RIFT mode. While this mode is definately early-alpha and many of the game options are designed with the HD-RIFT version in mind, as you can see by some of the screenshots above (all captured in low-res/DK1 mode), issues faced when forcing RIFT mode on via the config files are slowly being resolved/officially supported. If you'd like to learn more about this, I go into more a bit more detail in last months post.

Looking back, Kickstarter has made a regular appearances in many of my more recent posts. While I am not affiliated with the site in any way, I find that the main reason why it keeps popping up here in my topics is due to the large number of technical products that the KS community seems willing to support. Of course, it would be nice to have deep pockets so you could throw money at every project that catches your eye, however *most* of the bleeding edge technology that appears here on this site has originated from successfull kickstarter campaigns. More often than not though, people get this sort of financing model confused with something more akin to a pre-order. This is not what KS is all about. While various tiers and rewards are offered, more often than not, like in the recently launched Tactical Haptics Kickstarter, it is a way for a company to pay the large investment required for tooling moulds and other manufacturing setup costs. This paves the way for QoS and creates a way to mass-produce the controllers that will make their way to the early adopters. This is one of the reasons why Tactical Haptics lists their campaign as a dev-kit, it's a first-run production of a item they wish to bring to market, so naturally, costs of "buying" one of these first run devices will probably exceed expected RRP.

Tactical Haptics Reactive Grip (early prototype)

Tactical Haptics has done some incredible work, most recently, their reactive grip controller system (which will automatically cater to many tracking solutions (including the successfull Sixense STEM)) shows real promise. More than just another "rumble" feedback device, these hand-held controllers provide more haptic feedback that can be changed dynamically according to what the user is doing in-game. The feedback becomes more realistic using shear/pressure forces rather than just basic rumble packs - making the device far more suitable for a wide range of applications - not just gaming. While physically holding a controller is a long way off haptic gloves/suits, it promises to be an impressive step forward. considering any glove/suit haptics will come with their own unique issues and problems, it could be a while before we see anything resembling a realistic feedback device of this type. Head on over to the Reactive grip Kickstarter to learn more/become a backer.

Sixense STEM system - 3D concept

STEMs electromagnetic positional tracking generations
(prototyping still in progress)

So what exactly is the Sixense STEM? It is essentially a much improved Hydra, which will now come with a wireless/wired connection option. I jumped at the chance for the five point system as, even with improvements on tracking solutions for the Oculus RIFT and Virtuix's Omni on the way, you can never have too many tracking points for VR :) Heck, it might be fun to 3D print a sippy cup with a STEM slot (or just duct tape a module to your beverage) so that you could potentially drink from your virtual cup - I am looking at you soda drinker pro. There is even potential to use it to avoid accidentally bowling over cups of liquid around your precious computer/laptop/tech while RIFTing inside a virtual experience! Sixense originally developed the Hydra and chose to distribute through Razer and while the magnetic cores inside the Hydra were hand-wound, the ones inside the STEM system promise to be much improved over the originals (along with countless other improvements). 

Fortunately, the success of the Oculus RIFT thus far (even though it is probably atleast a year away from commercial release) tends to have a flow-on effect, as it has done here. Without the RIFT, Razer would probably still have Hydra's in stock, STEM would probably still be just a concept design until Sixense could either launch it via Razer (or another company), and Tactical Haptics Reactive grip may not have made it from the Haptics and Embedded Mechatronics Laboratory to VR enthusiasts and Kickstarters. Also - a host of software devs have already launched RIFT-based games and demos or added RIFT support as a stretch goal (such as Cyan's ambitious ($1.1m) Obduction).

In closing, an honorable mention has to go to Pushy Pixels "Proton Pulse" - which is one of the better made-for-VR games out there. It used face-look to bounce a ball off a translucent paddle back and forth between walls and blocks, even promising multiplayer in a future build so that you could go PvP against others. It may not sound like much, however, it was incredibly well built and designed and utilised the game mechanic it featured to maximum effect. Early demo's made available prior to the successfull Kickstarter campaign (raising over double the inital goal) are still around on the interwebs. As a backer of this project, I still have my latest beta-build, along with my refund from the creator. While Pushy pixels hates being forced into this position and is staying tight lipped about the real reasons behind the refund, speculation is that it had everything to do with heavy handed legal tactics from a major game studio laying claim to the IP. It is a sad day and age when indie game devs must choose to face a lengthy (and costly) legal process just because a major company has the pockets to effectively buy-out the game without ever spending any actual money. While this isnt a rant on the legal system so much and I do realise legal channels can help stamp out some blatant rip-offs, I can't help but presume it had something to do a team of lawyers, a cease and desist letter and a independant developer too scared to talk about the real reasons behind the projects cancelation because they are afraid of litigation. In memory of the game, I shall post this awesome 90's inspired television advert made for the original tech demo...

Peter Populous, 22cans and Godus

As an old school geek, I was fortunate enough to grow up with games as they evolved over the years.  I have had the opportunity to experience many of them on various devices and in different formats and while I will not reveal my actual age here by discussing specific platforms or titles, I will instead acknowledge one thing that can make a good game great. In fact, it can even turn one of the most bug-ridden, graphically inferior, frustrating software builds into something you can remember fondly, despite all of your misgivings. Can you guess what that is? No? How about another hint.... A completely random example of this is Bullfrog's "Syndicate". I recently loaded up this low-fi gem on DOSbox and revisited a few missions. While attempting to load my agents onto the shuttle train into the city one time, I somehow managed to get one down onto the stations tracks, unable to climb back up again, another two boarding the train and the fourth was dragged along behind the shuttle as it left the station. While I may not have experienced this particular bug on my original playthrough (or I did, but have since forgotten about it), the game itself went onto critical acclaim and much success.

For those of you playing at home, I am of course, talking about game mechanics. Being able to have a way of controlling one or more agents from a top down perspective, along with giving the player the added complexity of being able to specialise agents/research tech for tasks all the while having real time control, soon became the genre in gaming known as RTS (real time strategy). Good mechanics can make a game AND define a genre, or they can be "just" a good idea. While modern games and the emerging VR experiences on offer can often share elements of their design, more often than not, they generally stay within their defined specialty/genre. While there are no limits to what a game/experience can offer, trying to "do it all" is more often than not, an unwise decision. Recently, another old-school, genre defining classic (coincidently, yet another Bullfrog game), has been reborn by its original creator (Peter Molyneux) and the 22cans team. "Godus", the "spiritual successor" to Populous, has opened up for early *OPEN BETA* access via Steam.

GODUS; if you are a fan of Populous (or curious about exactly what a "god game" is),
then *this game* is the one to play. Even if it happens to be in OB and can be prone to crashing.

GODUS; "Mount or the gods" - Player vs AI

POPULOUS; This was *the* defining god-game of its time,
one that I must admit is a personal favourite.

While this game has nothing to do with VR (although I think it certainly has potential for a port/adaption of some kind), it was the most fun I have had with a god-game since playing Black-and-White. The interface is intuitive, the graphics fit the game (it walks the line between being high-fidelity while keeping it bling-free for the most part) and I had a blast just clicking through without a tutorial - just so I could see how easy it was to pick up. I also admit to some frustration with the controls. Sculpting land and the click-fest required to collect belief can be RSI inducing, especially when you ended up getting sucked into the game, which is easy to do here. Trying to expidate the process by clicking faster only results in accidentally demolishing homes and/or flag clicks. The same can occasionally be said for sculpting land - accidentally knocking down homes while trying to find squares of land for your followers. As noted above, this game is in open beta, so expect crashes and patches that can change or break things - however - updates and hotfixes are well supported and issues are sorted out quickly. This game is in quite an addictively simple format... enough to perhaps gift a copy to a lucky friend/family member even, bugs and all.

HAWKEN in-game screenshot - default <medium> settings
(post Ascension patch)

 HAWKEN has recently included Oculus RIFT support with its Ascension patch. Originally, RIFT support was supposed to be provided at "launch" on 12.12.12. Obviously, seeming this is now the date which it went open beta, the early-alpha "support" now included by the devs is most certainly that, early-alpha indeed. While you will still need to tweak ini files and link a shortcut to the win32 executable (along with the now ubiquitous "-vr" addition in the command line), more has been done than simply adding Oculus RIFT support. Much, much more work is needed here, which I guess will be a lower priority for now, since the team now have their hands full post patch, and have a still-broken matchmaking/autobalance system to sort out.

Still, I had a ton of fun with my HAWKEN/RIFT combo (although to be fair, HAWKEN is still a solid game, even without the RIFT) and while initially concerned about some motion sickness, having the fixed location of the pilot inside a seated "cab" helps mitigate this alot. Even more so inside a faster paced game like this. Personally, I used the console command "togglevisor" to remove the HUD because the crosshairs were useless, even with appropriate IPD adjustment. At this stage however, even the minimap, radar and health are not visible because of the distortion and optics. Having the HUD "visor" toggled off also removes information relating to heat and the crosshair is reduced to a tiny dot - even though you can use your secondary weapons ability (unlike before). It is obvious that the dev's plan on moving the radar and other such information onto ready-made slots for aditional monitors inside the Mech. Being able to free-look around the cabin while my mech remained stationary was awesome and full of tactical potential. On a reddit topic that discusses how to get the Oculus RIFT working with the game (link), someone mentions disabling the turn-cap HAWKEN has. However, not only is even editing your ini files technically a breach of the ToS, It certainly wasn't noticable for me, even with the cap at the default. Mind you, I am not sure how quick my head-turns wearing the RIFT are, so its possible it could impact some FPS'ers.

HAWKEN; end game - RIFT-compatible screenshots comming soon!

VorpX, another driver for the RIFT has been released after much anticipation from the community (although it is still in beta). Unlike Vireo's Perception (open source) and Tridef, VorpX brings support for newer games such as Bioshock's Infinite and other modern day DirectX titles. While initial problems with payment gateways and a manual code-issue process by the developer meant delays for customers receiving serial numbers, the additional options that VorpX offers, along with support for more recent titles, VorpX should be considered a go-to solution for those wanting a universal VR driver for their RIFT. While you will be paying per-licence, VorpX allows two installs per license, meaning you can avoid having to pay for another license for the laptop or second PC. I stopped my playthrough of Inifinite the moment I found out that VorpX would be supporting it, so with any luck I shall have that opportunity soon, provided some of the initial teething problems with the payment gateway have been sorted.

The pain in my vrAse...

As mentioned previously, I recently became backers of two projects on Kickstarter, one called "360specs" and the other "vrAse".  Both of these campaigns launched around the same time and, while at first looking very similar to one another, these two are as different as night is from day. After the first few weeks of both their campaigns, the vrAse is on track to reach its funding goals, while the 360specs have yet to reach even five percent of their target. This however, may not just be because of a slick marketing campaign and active community like there is with the vrAse. Upon further investigation, the 360specs use fresnel lenses, which, according to Palmer Luckey (the inventor of the RIFT) "... kill contrast, add a variety of annoying artifacts, and don't actually save all that much weight. They don't help with form factor, either; Fresnels cannot come close to matching the focal length/magnification of other optics tech." (source). The vrAse use aspherical lenses, which is what the Oculus RIFT uses, however that is where the similarities end.

Before I go into detail about the differences between the two lens types, it is important to remember a few things about both campaigns. Both are effectively "only" a pair of head mounted holders for your smartphone/device, along with some form of optics to provide the required distortion for total immersion. No electronics, no software, just a plastic case that holds your smartphone (or even tablet) and the relevant lens of the projects choice. While 360specs hints at Unity integration, vrAse seems to be suggesting some sort of a custom ROM/Launcher in the form of the AetherAR (link) as their go-to solution. IMHO, vrAse seem to be overstating just how much of it you will be able to actually do with current model smartphone technology. While hinting at engine integration and 3D movie watching, it doesnt look as though either the vrAse or 360specs will be offering any software/SDK directly, instead rellying on developers to offer solutions along with made-for-VR applications etc.

vrAse photorealistic render (not actual product)

360specs early prototype

Ray Latypov, the creator of the 360specs (and inventor of the Virtusphere, a VR locomation device) says that fresnel lenses "...allows wider field of view; light weight, cost effective and give others flexibility in design...". Compartively, the Oculus RIFT and the vrAse use bi-convex lenses, while the 360specs have chosen plano-convex lenses. What all that geek-speak basically means is that the lenses in the 360specs are flat on one side while the vrAse lens types, like the RIFT, are convex on both sides of the lens.

While the concept of this sort of 3D viewer isn't new, it is only in recent times that smartphone technology has started to pack the required hardware/software and sensor fusion required to create an immersive experience. Projects like FOV2GO (link) and Durovis's opendive project (link) show how, outside of the kickstarter community, users can create their own versions of what vrAse and similar projects offer. For example, purchasing the opendive lens kit and 3D printing the case and holder, can end up being relatively cheap to make a DIY version. One caveat however, is that unless your smart device supports direct USB connections and/or has appropriate software, additional hardware (such as certain controllers, external sensors, positional tracking etc) will not work "out of the box". This could be a bit of an issue when encountering things like drift and other problems that introduce disconnects between the virtual world and the user.

opendive3D demo running one of the four stereoscopic demo's

For those who are, like myself, skeptical as to just how low-latency something like an integrated graphics chip and an on-board gyro/accelerometer can be - there is an example that you can get running on your android based device right now. Using a smartphone with this opendive demo app (link), you can get an idea of what sort of experience your device may provide. Keep in mind, however, that as far as high fidelity graphics are concerned, even if your smart device has the latest Tegra based GPU and cutting edge display - it is unlikely that you will come anywhere near close to the fidelity of  a dedicated setup like the Oculus RIFT can offer, for obvious reasons. Especially once the consumer version of the RIFT hits the market sometime in late 2014/ early 2015. Of course, as smart phone technology improves, we will see advancements in these fields and I think that, despite these current limitations, the potential is definately there. Perhaps not as a direct competitor for the RIFT,  more like a low-cost/entry point into the emerging virtual world(s). The portability of a setup like this definately has its appeal, even when compared to a RIFT and laptop configuration. It seems to me that these sort of products are geared more towards the "casual gamer" and other, less tech-savy crowds.

The one thing I do dislike about the vrAse project (aside from the misleading marketing in the Kickstarter and on their website), is the name of the product. Personally, while I think it could benifit from a better name ("mybae tehy suohld rtehnik tehir pdorcut nmae?"), having something that encourages discussions on forums can only help a Kickstarter project acheive notoriety. While this sort of thing may not get the developer support at the same level as something like a dedicated HMD can, fortunately much of the content developed for VR can be ported relatively easily. Obviously, however, current issues facing development using distortion shaders and optics that involve UI (user interface) and resolution/Pixels per inch(PPI)/aspect ratio will continue with products like this and other VR HMD devices.

In other news and before this post becomes TLDR, I will wind it up by mentioning the STEM kickstarter by Sixense (here). Effectively, a wireless version of the Hydra with improvements in tracking and many other areas, the STEM system was funded within four hours of its campaign launch. By funding production through Kickstarter, Sixense have been able to avoid Razer's bloated software and drivers. Also, HAWKEN continues its open-beta with very much alpha Oculus RIFT integration being provided in its massive Ascension patch. It still requires manual IPD adjustment, additional tweaking and the text is quite unreadable (the alpha support was designed for the HD version of the devkit). However, I did not get as much motion sickness as the last time I tried it and clipping outside of the mech/kill cam issues have been addressed with hints at future HUD integration also on display. A more detailed post discussing my experiences with this will follow soon.

My MSY MSI and my marketing moan...

 I recently decided it was time to buy a new laptop. Having the gaming rig is awesome and all, you just can't beat the portability of a laptop. While there is nothing quite like gaming in full high definition, surrounded by sound, being fully immersed within the virtual world and becoming captivated by whatever story or adventure you are on - having something that can fit into a backpack and be taken with you, wherever you want to go, can make demo/developing/gaming-on-the-go a whole lot simpler.

Having to cart around the Shinobi Stormtrooper rig is no fun either, especially as the case alone weighs in at 12.6 kilograms, which ends up being even heavier when you add the weight of all the hardware too. Having a laptop obviously reduces many of the problems/logistics faced when confronted with having to cart a full sized PC (and all the other hardware it requires) about, and while most standard gaming laptops aren't exactly lightweights compared to other laptops/tablets/etc, all gaming spec laptops/devices have dedicated GPU's and usually aren't cheap. Also, if you want to game for more than a couple of hours, you will need access to a power point as most gaming devices available have limited battery life. Having a gaming capable laptop will now allow me to demo the RIFT much easier and let me showcase/work-on my own content while I am on the road. As a bonus, it also just happens to play most modern games in high fidelity and the creative labs sound isn't bad, although it's no competition to a good set of ear-cans :)

my new MSI laptop; not all G-Series laptops come with back-lit keys. while it is often pictured with them online, this particular model (GE70 2OC-0371AU) does NOT have them - despite it having the steel series chiclet keyboard.

 While the latest and greatest gaming laptop models can cost upwards of $4,500, you can still pick a decent machine for around the $1,500 mark - anything less than that and it is unlikely that you will end up with a model that has a dedicated GPU (most likely having only the integrated graphics or a low-end GPU). Personally, while initially I didn't want to spend more than $1500 - after seeing what another $200 could get me in features (better GPU, more RAM,  SSD boot drive and a larger (17.3") screen) - I opted to spend that little bit extra. Being able to check it out at my local MSY retail outlet as opposed to online, allowed me to take it home direct from the store without having to wait for shipping and it came supplied with 16GB RAM instead of the factory standard 8Gb. The only downside was that it comes standard with windows 8, which means that if I wanted to "downgrade" to windows 7, I would need to buy a copy of it as most modern laptops come with windows 8 as standard. Although, strangely - no external product key sticker either - something I must now use other software to obtain. Guess it's finally time for me to give into Microsoft's latest OS and hope there are enough hacks to make it run like *WINDOWS* should (hint: search for "start8" in the app store). For those who want specifics, I ended up buying the MSI GE70 2OC-037AU for a total of $1,699.

I have also backed two more "VR" projects on Kickstarter.  Oculus posted information about the "vrAse" on their feed and, despite some initial reservations between this one and another similar project (see "360specs"), both are basically "just" the plastics, headband and optics, and have no actual hardware (such as a positional trackers) and both have limited software support. While there are clear differences between the two projects (vrAse uses aspheric lenses while the 360specs use fresnel), the main difference in the amount of support garnered from the Kickstarter community and VR/AR enthusiasts at this early stage, comes down to marketing. while I plan on making another post looking at both of these HMD "shells" and other similar devices in more detail soon, I must warn you that for the remainder of this post (after the pics), I will be ranting a bit about marketing a Kickstarter campaign etc.

photorealistic render of the vrAse with a white smartphone
(download and zoom in to see how a photorealistic-renders works)

Ray Latypov wearing the "360specs" prototype.
If the name sounds familiar, it is because Ray Latypov
helped co-create the Virtusphere, a VR locomotion platform

Ok, ignoring differences in the actual reward on offer, there is a significant difference in how the two campaigns have been run so far. to start with, vrAse went public a week before the KS launch, which probably led to Oculus announcing the launch within its community of developers. while this helped get the almost-critical spike in support from day one, there are many more reasons why the vrAse has reached almost half of its funding goal inside a week. While early interest isn't a guarantee of success, having that initial rush often leads to other backers pledging early and while it is inevitable that not all backers will remain backers by the time the campaign winds up, it helps bring in additional supporters. The other way that vrAse's campaign leads the 360specs is that the creators are actively answering questions and wording replies well in the comments section, despite the obvious fact that English is not their native language. This shows potential backers that the "company" has good customer services and an interest in feedback, despite being "just" a Kickstarter. Yet all of these factors aren't really what makes me moan about marketing - It is what it is and there are, of course, countless other details required for running a successful KS campaign that I will simply skip for now.

What really seperates the two projects and is the focus of this marketing moan is the campaign video that vrAse has chosen to run. Despite it being a "proven" way to entice backers, it is an easy way to scare off as many as it attracts. The vrAse campaign is all music and video with fancy graphics and well designed logos. Questions in the forums, some suspecting copyright issues with music used, and the video showing people happily using software and functionality that simply does not exist yet in the mobile space, often leads to negative adoption. While it is true that this may not be the case by the time backers get their rewards, it can be incredibly misleading to Joe or Jane public who thinks they will be able to fire up a ton of content from day one. Oculus navigated these tricky waters by making it abundantly clear that it was a developer kit, and, while some concession to the fact that the vrAse Kickstarter is purely a HMD "shell" - it could be construed as misleading. Even more so when you revise the entire campaign page that was submitted and approved and take the campaign as a whole. In contrast, the 360specs video ends up far too "plain" and this, combined with the creators lack of communication - has seen initial funding problems exacerbate. It's a shame really, because while I have my own personal doubts over whether or not the optics on the 360specs may or may not present problems, it is sad how some projects suffer from poor marketing/management rather than bad ideas. Who knows, maybe the fresnel lens used in the 360specs isn't as bad as its made out to be by the likes of Palmer and other VR enthusiasts/devs. I for one would welcome such innovations, and if it means me trying it myself for <$100, then we shall see... excuse the pun. If only because it is this sort of thing that can make VR/AR more readily accessible to the rest of the general public when us dev's and geeks start launching products/projects of our own.</rant>

if you want a perfect example on how marketing and media
influence the masses, take a look at the recent Australian election result.
sneaky tricks, media blackouts and Rupert Murdoch will cost Australia, DEARLY.

<*sniff*> goodbye NBN, it was a nice dream while it lasted :(

Geeking it up, gadget style...

Another month has just flown by. I have been preoccupied with the Oculus RIFT lately and new wonders are still being found frequently in this virtual wonderland. A very active community is still serving up some impressive tech demo's and there is, at the time of writing, a VR Jam (with prizes provided by Oculus) currently underway. Some works-in-progress (WIPs) are already showing up on the dev forums and each of the five grand prize winners get $10k each, flown to demo their game at IndieCade later this year and get a meet-n-greet at Oculus HQ.

So that this doesn't turn into another post entirely about the RIFT, in other news, the LEAP motion finally shipped (third times a charm). I have only had a brief amount of time with this new motion sensing input device and I must admit that further testing is needed before I can draw any solid conclusions. The "LEAP" installs easily enough and sets up/downloads some free demo apps from the "airspace" store, however, you have to create a free account as well. I must say that, while impressive, I was a little underwhelmed by the whole device. Don't get me wrong, I realize I need to spend a bit more time using this thing before passing final judgement, however, the early signs aren't very promising. While there are some free apps, most cost $2-$3 dollars and currently, the marketplace is populated by more MAC apps than those for PC. In some ways, I can see why. The LEAP's whole look and style match Apple's approach very closely, with similarities in how they market their device and other not-so-obvious ways. With time the marketplace will improve, populated by more choice as developers get stuck into the SDK. Whilst not really intended as an input replacement (more like an augmentation) extended use could see fatigue develop far quicker than the traditional input methods as you must hold your hand in the air to manipulate the controls and/or write. There are also reports of trouble with using the LEAP in bright areas/rooms and I do have some concerns surrounding occlusion, although these are things I am yet to test fully.

LEAP motion sensor

My new Razer HYDRA also arrived. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to make the purchase via e-bay as Razer were out of stock and unable to provide any sort of ETA on when they would be back in.Whether this is simply because Sixense is focusing on their new wireless version, remains to be seen, however - the Oculus dev forums (and  a recent news post on the company website) suggest that this could be a reality sooner rather than later...

Tatical Haptics wrote:

" Danny Woodall from Sixense, at the Silicon Valley VR Meetup, announces that Sixense will put their wireless dev kit (which they are calling STEM -- Sixense Tracking Embedded Module) on Kickstarter in August, and that it will support tracking up to 5 points (2 of their controllers and 3 other points with pager-sized devices). Their kickstarter will allow backers to get just the 2 controllers, or add up to other tracking modules to their dev kit. They suggested that they would also have tracking modules available separately." — at Hacker Dojo.

It would be entirely possible that they could end up offering haptic feedback, considering some hackers/engineers have been working with such technology using a modified Razer HYDRA to offer more immersive interaction in virtual spaces (LINK)

unboxed Razer HYDRA +Portal 2 DLC

The Razer HYDRA I purchased via e-bay for under $100 (inc. shipping) was one I expected to be old stock. Left over hardware that a retailer hadn't been able to shift to the public, so they were selling them for less than the RRP of $125. To my surprise, I discovered it was in fact, new stock. How could I tell? Because it came bundled with the Portal 2 DLC - which was the last promo Razer ran on their website. This content would have cost me about $50 - so all up I got the HYDRA Portal 2 bundle for nearly half price :)

Obviously, there are some limitations with the hardware. It is a magnet based positional tracker with two controllers (one for each hand) and using the various buttons or thumb-sticks you can control various elements in-game. It can also be used as a keyboard/mouse replacement, although this is not what it is intended for, nor would I recommend it unless you have a large amount of patience :) Using the HYDRA, I was able to see my real hands represented in real-time in virtual reality, which was rather cool. Being able to pick up something with my hand and then throw it was quite immersive, however, the disconnect I felt because I was pulling a trigger or pressing a button instead of actually grabbing the object was still present. How much of a disconnect seemed to depend on how convincing the rest of the immersion was, or, even how well calibrated the HYDRA ended up being. Razer provides little to no documentation on this process and it took me several aborted attempts and some google-fu on optimal calibration procedures before I could really test it properly.

So, further testing of both the leap Motion controller and HYDRA remains, while the recent boom in both software and hardware solutions will be keeping me busy on the research front. I do still plan on developing my own content for the RIFT, have been experimenting with UDK and looking at some custom-hardware input devices for VR of my own. I have also backed a few RIFT-based Kickstarter campaigns for software, although not usually ones with RIFT support as a stretch goal. However, it is swiftly becoming apparent that, unless I actually schedule some "study time" soon, I may be limited in how effectively I can produce content. It may be time for a course via a reputable online university, one that will give me the refresher I need in order to turn my old-school programming skills into virtual reality. To finish this post, I can confirm that HAWKEN is actually finally getting native Oculus RIFT support in the next patch, which is due to land at the end of August.

Through the looking glass...

I have been a total geek for decades folks. Way back when it wasn't cool to wear glasses, when it wasn't cool to be into computers, gaming and all sorts of generally technology based stuff. Back when the internet was an ASCII based BBS and connectivity was measured in baud instead of megabits. Back when the sneaker-net was the fastest network around and animated "under construction" signs plastered the web. Because of this, and my bankroll of limited disposable income, I have been more or less free to indulge in my geeky needs and wants over the years. So it brings me great joy to announce that I have, over the past month or so, developed a new relationship with an old friend of mine, virtual reality. Or VR as it's known to its mates. I feel privileged that we have known each other for this long. In fact,we go back decades! What I wanted my first VR experience with a head mounted display to be back then, is what I have now with my Oculus RIFT :)

Since I got my dev-kit in the post, I have had some incredible and truly epic experiences. Finding myself nervously looking over my shoulder in shooters, catching my breath as I navigated a tricky ledge with a long drop or simply gazing around the environment just because I was amazed at how real it all felt, even with the somewhat limited resolution (the "screen door effect") that is the developers kit. I have orbited earth as an astronaut on a spacewalk and have flown an x-wing like spaceship complete with pew-pew lasers and rockets through space/combat. And Skyrim... the dragon...  great zombie Jesus! the dragon.

Yet as immersive as the RIFT is, there are several issues that you encounter when using not only this particular head mounted display (HMD), but any device that provides a sudden and complete immersion in the virtual world. For example, using the keyboard while unable to see the real world. For me, after years of gaming and geeking, I am able to locate keys by touch or muscle memory. New users or those unfamiliar with such control devices may not find it so easy. A game controller can overcome some of these limitations, however, I am more of a keyboard warrior than a console owner - which means that my ducky shine 2 (keyboard) and razer taipan (mouse) are my personal "weapon of choice" ;P

razer hydra

project holodeck

Unreal Development Kit (UDK) - demonstrating player scale in-world and box-brush.

Both Unity and Unreal offer support via the Oculus SDK. I am still undecided on which engine I will run with - however - at this stage, UDK has my attention. I also decided to purchase a Razer Hydra. I had to revert to finding one on e-bay seeming Razer has completely sold out of stock. It would seem that Razer/Sixsense are also unable to provide any sort of ETA on when they will be back in, only indicating that they have not discontinued the product line. Fortunately, I was able to find an online supplier who still had stock on hand, so I should have mine soon. The first tech-demo I intend on trying out with the RIFT/Hydra combo?

ZOTHD tech demo for RIFT&HYDRA

Zombies On The HoloDeck...

Project Holodeck has done some incredible work in tracking and immersion in the past. This is some of their work and it is worth a viewing, even without the Razer Hydra on hand. ZOTHD is an amazing tech demo featuring some great work. Looking forward to seeing what these devs can cook up :)





Total immersion is possible with the RIFT. After demoing a HD 1080p version of the dev-kit at E3 this year, Oculus are only limited by current available hardware (the ideal display for the RIFT hasn't been built yet).  Although improving the display is one of the big goals, additional tracking improvements have also been promised for commercial release. Given the strong community support and continued sales of the dev-kit (Oculus have already sold more dev-kits through the website than they did during the Kickstarter campaign), there is infinite potential in many aspects of this "new" reality.

Yet how immersive can it get when you stay seated while your avatar "walks" through something like a gaming environment. Things like cockpits or seated positions are fine for some games, however, can it be as "real" when you are just sitting there in your chair clicking away instead of walking forward? walking, running, jumping and such in a virtual world...  don't get me wrong, I loved my time bounding through Skyrim proper, shooting fireballs and ice! It's just that it would be far more convincing if I could literally walk through the world.  I understand it's an activity that you may only want to do for a limited time. Personally, while I am hardly the physical type, the increased disconnect by not actually walking while your avatar does can only decrease the immersion factor.

Virtuix's OMNI

wizdish

 












Then the Omni Kickstarter launched, along with the WizDish campaign. Suddenly, omni-directional treadmills were available and for a significantly cheaper entry price point. Personally, I backed the Omni. While the Wizdish offered a cheaper initial pledge, it did not include a tracking solution - something that when included in the budget, places the cost of the WizDish roughly equal that of Virtuix's Omni. Secondly, while the fixed support of the Omni has its limitations, for example, currently you have to lean forward to crouch, I think a waist support is needed. Not just to keep you within the 3D space, but also to protect you from when your senses fool you into trying to sit down while you are standing nowhere near an actual chair.  Besides, the Wizdish doesn't support you actually lifting your feet off the ground like you would in real life. Wizdish's action may mimic a real walking gait, however, the stability and rate of turn are a concern for me - especially with no price yet on the enormous inflatable "crash-pad".

I have lots of plans for both software and hardware involving VR and while some may be currently focused on proof of mechanics/concept over gameplay/functionality, I think it is essential to begin building it now because when the Oculus RIFT goes commercial sometime in 2014, virtual reality will finally have its time "in the sun"(A) 


 
(A) - DO NOT expose your Oculus RIFT to sunlight. The forums reveal one poor buyer who received an ebay devkit with two dots burnt into the display. turned out the seller had photographed the RIFT outside in the sunlight, causing the sun to focus through the lenses and damage the screen.

RIFTactular!

Its been quite busy this last month, progress on the Shinobi stormtrooper build has stalled while work and other things get in the way. HAWKEN is progressing nicely, and while I still have my doubts about them adding a healing class (which is somewhat overpowered (OP) in my opinion), Meteor seem to be happy with it staying open-beta (OB has been running for nearly six months now). I have also taken a stroll through a few levels of Bioshock Infinite and have been impressed with what I have seen so far. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to dedicate to other titles that are worth checking out and unless I find about a month of free time soon - that pile of shame in my steam account will continue to grow. Especially now I have added Monaco and Rues to that list!

As you may have surmised from my less-than-subtle title, I shall be discussing the Oculus RIFT in this post, especially now that I have my very own dev-kit. Upon unboxing, I was pleased to see it came with its own padded case for all the equipment, several eye-cups for those of us (like myself) who need corrective lenses and all the required cables and connectors (as well as some handy adapters for both DVI and universal power).

RIFT HMD and its control box

So far, I have really only had about 12 hours hands on with my kit and already I've experienced several moments that have been simply too epic to try put into words. Some are jaw dropping, others can be nauseating and overall I think that anyone who tries the Oculus RIFT for themselves walks away with their mind blown. Whether or not they agree it's the next big thing in tech is entirely personal. For me however, I think that this is the birth of a whole new world, albeit a virtual one(s).





Sure. As it stands right now, the RIFT needs a lot of work. These high tech snow-goggles are really just that, they just happen to be an extremely awesome, lightweight and comfortable VR device masquerading as a dev-kit. Already there are a number of high quality tech demo's available online and in the developer forums. Things are being done and games are being developed with native Oculus RIFT support built into them. Also, aside from Unity and Unreal integration already working with the Oculus SDK, many games available right now offer RIFT support. Especially seeming Valve is on-board. I won't list them all here but instead mention a few that offer native support - Team Fortress 2, Half Life 2, Doom3BFG (modded by the community) and even HAWKEN (although HAWKEN's RIFT support is not yet in a usable state).

Currently, the RIFT display resolution is just 1280x800, which limits the per-eye resolution to a paltry 640x800 - hardly anything approaching high definition. Yet, keeping in mind that the commercial version is still a ways off (current speculation places its release around Q4 2014) and that it is still thoroughly immersive when strapped on (its field of view (FOV) offers a massive 90 degrees). It is quite capable of creating neurotoxic responses (eg. nausea/vomiting) if you are one of the unlucky few who suffer from this potential side-effect. It doesn't take long to see past the "screen door effect" and see how, with improvements made (already well underway), this will emerge as the next big thing at its launch. You see, there are vast and wide ranging applications outside of the gaming arena and while i am excited at the promise on offer from the developers and online community, this emerging technology and its supporters are already starting to hint at some of the alternative applications.

MotM (museum of the microstar)

UDK Roller coaster

RIFT (with right lens removed) running BlueMarble demo

Right now, there are numerous tech-demo's and some pretty incredible experiences to be had. As it stands, I have a few ideas for projects of my own and while I am an old-school code monkey of sorts, it will take me a while to work up something not already covered by several of these impressive demo's AND have it in a playable state. Rather than go into a list of them all here, I will instead list some of these online resources now, along with a brief description on what they offer. Check out some of these sites for further details...


www.riftenabled.com - lists games and demo's along with some handy info (including ratings)
theriftlist.com - another list of games and demo's.
www.reddit.com/r/oculus/ - the oculus reddit
www.vireio.com - Vireio's "perception" is an open source 3D driver of the Oculus Rift
<EDIT> to ensure proper Oculus RIFT support, ensure you have the latest build from the MTBS forums here... http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=17069
www.vorpx.com - another 3D driver, only this one doesn't appear to be ready yet.
developer.oculusvr.com/forums/ -  the official dev forums.


Should you buy your own Oculus RIFT? That all depends really. At just $300 plus shipping, it is an absolute bargain. Is it something that you should buy if you have no intention of developing games for this device? That all depends on whether or not you want to buy a product that is already superseded by its next-gen prototypes. Whether or not you want to spend that sort of coin on what is essentially a development platform for people to create new realities is entirely up to you. Personally, I took the leap because not only do I wish to develop my own experiences, I wanted to be one of the few early adopters who strapped the virtual world onto their face for the first time and "gazed through the looking 'glass'" ;P

build logs and more

the shinobi stormtrooper build is progressing nicely. i have fitted the new mobo, CPU and RAM into the case and used the GPU, PSU and various drives from the old rig to finish the initial build. the wiring is currently a temporary setup, mainly done to test the new install. now that its all installed and running, its given me a better idea of the sleeving i will need to order.  I also ended up having to geek it up DOS style, after forgetting to back up some existing data before gutting the old rig. felt like a true old-school geek, already knowing the required command line commands ;P

plenty of room inside the full tower case

installed and ready to go

geeking it up DOS sytle ;P

during installation, i managed to resolve an issue with an EFI setting and, after a bit of google-fu on my smartphone, discovered that this conflict was preventing me from formatting the existing boot drive. changing this setting in the BIOS fixed this issue (in this case, shuffling the boot order so the standard optical drive booted before the uEFI option fixed it). I also overcame the " mom.exe error " by downloading and installing the latest .NET framework after the GPU's software (catalyst) kept causing an error on every boot. also, in order to save some time in the whole patch/reboot process,  i created an offline archive of windows updates, saving me the hassle of downloading nearly three gig of data. after patching and updating windows, the archive definitely helped save some time, although the reboot process during the patching process was as usual... numerous.

so, cabling to complete next and maybe some ideas on staging fleshed out ahead of time. while i would love to splurge another $300 plus on fitting a custom watercooling loop, buying all the wiring is going to cost about half that again, which means the water cooling will have to wait. I definitely have a lot of ideas for this build - and while a water cooled rig would be the ultimate geek, right now however, it's the lowest priority item in the budget.