Oculus "Half-Dome" prototype

[coconut]

140 FOV, variable focal length. Looks like they have interesting things in store.

 

 

[BeastyBaiter]

Very nice, 140 degree FoV will be a big jump. Just hope they up the resolution by enough to not only compensate, but also substantially improve image quality too.

[JaffaCake]

Honestly my main issues with VR is still screen-door effect and narrow FOV (140 is really no that much more than 100-110 of the Vive, for example).

 

Pimax looks a whole lot more attractive with the 200fov and 4k per eye (or is it 8k?).

 

the varifocal stuff is interesting... but meh? 

[dburne]

5 hours ago, JaffaCake said:

Honestly my main issues with VR is still screen-door effect and narrow FOV (140 is really no that much more than 100-110 of the Vive, for example).

 

Pimax looks a whole lot more attractive with the 200fov and 4k per eye (or is it 8k?).

 

the varifocal stuff is interesting... but meh? 

 

It's 4K per eye. Pimax uses fuzzy math, and considers two lens at 4k to be 8k... all for advertising as it sounds good.

 

Ohh, that is looking very nice from Oculus! So looking forward to their next gen headset.

This is why I am holding out for next gen from Oculus.

Edited May 3, 2018 by dburne

[dburne]

RoadToVR article on the Half Dome.

 

https://www.roadtovr.com/facebook-oculus-half-dome-prototype-vr-headset-140-degree-varifocal-f8/

[Nibbio]

Very interesting, although variable focal length seems an unnecessary feature introducing significant potential for failures without a clear advantage. Never really missed it so far, close object appear already very clear in the Rift. I must be missing something.

[BeastyBaiter]

It's designed to make viewing close things more realistic by forcing your eyes to focus on it instead of continuing to use a long distance focus as is currently done in the Rift. In effect, if you try reading a book in VR, the background will be slightly blurred with the upcoming setup. Alternatively, if you look at the background, then the closer book will be slightly blurred. It also means that if you take said virtual book and touch your virtual nose with it, it will be blurred and cause eye strain if you attempt to focus on it. To me this is all rather pointless, but it's something Oculus has wanted for a long time. Hopefully they can combine this with foveated rendering so we don't need triple GTX 1180 TI's in SLI to run the CV2.

Edited May 3, 2018 by BeastyBaiter

[Lensman1945]

1 hour ago, Nibbio said:

Very interesting, although variable focal length seems an unnecessary feature introducing significant potential for failures without a clear advantage. Never really missed it so far, close object appear already very clear in the Rift. I must be missing something.

Yeah, I was a bit puzzled by that part too. Everything is indeed 'in focus' in the RIFT display, the only adjustment you have to make is the convergence of your eyes when objects are at different distances. Maybe its going to be part of the eye-tracking/fovea  rendering implementation and there will indeed be variable focus/depth of field as in reality.

 

ahh..beat me to it BeastyBaiter

Edited May 3, 2018 by Lensman1945

[coconut]

52 minutes ago, BeastyBaiter said:

To me this is all rather pointless

I wonder how well it will work in our case: frequent focus changes when looking at instruments will make this mechanism work hard. If it's not fast enough, it will be frustrating, and may wear down the thing prematurely.

The FOV increase is nice, less ambitious than PiMax 8k, but also better chances of having it work well.

The finger tracking could also be nice. Interact with cockpit switches and keep using your stick, no need to grab a controller or wear a glove.

[dburne]

35 minutes ago, coconut said:

I wonder how well it will work in our case: frequent focus changes when looking at instruments will make this mechanism work hard. If it's not fast enough, it will be frustrating, and may wear down the thing prematurely.

The FOV increase is nice, less ambitious than PiMax 8k, but also better chances of having it work well.

The finger tracking could also be nice. Interact with cockpit switches and keep using your stick, no need to grab a controller or wear a glove.

 

 

[Nibbio]

1 hour ago, BeastyBaiter said:

It's designed to make viewing close things more realistic by forcing your eyes to focus on it instead of continuing to use a long distance focus as is currently done in the Rift. In effect, if you try reading a book in VR, the background will be slightly blurred with the upcoming setup. Alternatively, if you look at the background, then the closer book will be slightly blurred. It also means that if you take said virtual book and touch your virtual nose with it, it will be blurred and cause eye strain if you attempt to focus on it. To me this is all rather pointless, but it's something Oculus has wanted for a long time. Hopefully they can combine this with foveated rendering so we don't need triple GTX 1180 TI's in SLI to run the CV2.

 

Hope this doesn't mean I have to start using reading glasses inside the Rift as well as outside it...

[dburne]

More news on hand tracking from Oculus:

 

https://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-claims-breakthrough-in-hand-tracking-accuracy/

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

I see the hand tracking being something quite positive for modern click pits like in DCS. No tactile feedback sure,  but being able to press all those switches and mfd buttons with 1:1 hand movement would be quite a thing. 

[chiliwili69]

This is nice, but what excited me more is that they keep the Rift form factor and weight!  Almost nobody was clapping for that??

The bad news is that the head of Oculus for PC (They have at least one person for PC related headsets...  ) said that we should wait a bit to have that in a product.

In any case, resolution and FOV is what I really need in the Rift for IL-2. I can wait for this varifocal tech.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

I doubt these advanced technologies might find their way into IL 2 though. We'll probably get the increased resolution, that's it. 

 

Not even eye based rendering. The function for it must get included into the game code after all, must it not? 

[dburne]

7 minutes ago, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

I doubt these advanced technologies might find their way into IL 2 though. We'll probably get the increased resolution, that's it. 

 

Not even eye based rendering. The function for it must get included into the game code after all, must it not? 

 

I think the verdict on that is still out, I have not seen any information saying for sure one way or the other yet.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

Just a pessimistic thought, based on how the implementation of anything non-Rift/Vive had been proceeding.

 

I just read they will try to fix the WMR headsets. That's a good start. Even thinking about getting an Odyssey from abroad, and to hand out some collectors if it works.