A new project by Polish open source software tutorial website mepi.pl aims to give you the opportunity to follow your own movements as if you were a 3rd person spectator on your own life.
The project rigs a dual, customised webcams to a motorised assembly that is, currently controlled manually by the user. The assembly is strapped to a poll, in turn strapped into a backpack raised a couple of feet above your head. The stereo view is rendered by an Intel powered backtop which then in turn feeds the output to the wearer’s Oculus Rift. The effect is akin to playing a 3rd person game, with an elevated position presented to you as you move and look around – for this reason the creators have nicknamed the system a TPP, or Third Person Perspective device.
The project was conceived and produced as an entry to Intel’s ‘Make it Wearable’ competition – designed as a way to promote creative advances in wearable technology. We’d love to see a more advanced version of this which takes live positional input from the Rift and automatically adjusts the camera position accordingly – that would make for a truly surreal out of body experience, made possible only with virtual reality.
