Michael Abrash, Oculus’ Chief Scientist, whose expertise in the world of computers could not be done justice in the space of this sentence, is also an excellent orator, consistently delivering enthralling presentations with lessons far beyond the scope of VR alone. In a must-watch keynote presentation from Oculus Connect, Abrash shares insights on the ‘myth of technological innovation’ and ‘existence proofs’.
Elite: Dangerous emerged fairly early on in the Oculus Rift DK2s public life as the poster boy for the new hardware. With an exceptional, VR-tuned UI and an all-round best in class VR experience, it’s clear that the team at Frontier clearly care passionately about virtual reality. I was pretty enamoured myself in an early playtest (see above video). There was one gripe that DK2 owners found marred this great experience, visible judder when glancing around.
Frontier has just released the long awaited update Beta 2.0 which brings with it a vast array up fixes and tweaks, including Oculus SDK 0.4.2 support.
Anyone who followed the progress of the DK2 launch will know that it was originally delayed by a week in order for Oculus to work on issues with the revamped SDK which brought with it a host of fundamental changes and advances. With the introduction of Oculus Runtime and the debut of new rendering modes designed to minimise input to display latency (aka motion-to-photons). Somewhat inevitably for such a major overhaul, early recipients of their DK2s found a multitude of issues with the new SDK – including an annoying artefact that caused judder when panning your head whilst in the Rift. Additionally, early DK2 support in E:D was supported by a much earlier beta SDK which was not forwards compatible with the version which shipped alongside the DK2, so users had to hack about to get it to work in the first place.
It was an issue Oculus were more than aware of. Responding to some of my early thoughts on my DK2 experiences, Chris Talyor tweeted some good news:
“@catidgc: @muterobert glad you got all that working. Our driver guys are working on judder issues and already have the problem fixed.” Nice
Early reports are that the new release does indeed resolve this issue and brings along with it a vast series of additional Oculus Specific updates too (thanks to CogitoSum from /r/oculus for compiling the list).
Fix for crash when shutting down the game by clicking on the close button while rendering to Oculus Rift
Support for Oculus SDK 0.4.0 added
Fix for GalaxyMapCamera when Oculus Rift is enabled
Make sure the reference camera, which is used to provide the rendering service with a projection matrix, uses FOV and aspect ratio taken from the stereo cameras when Oculus Rift is enabled
Radar not being displayed on hyperspace when rendering to Oculus Rift fixed
If Oculus Rift isn’t present or the SDK could not be initialised, don’t show the Oculus Rift options in the 3D dropdown list part of the graphic options menu
Update Oculus SDK to version 0.4.1
Time warp fixes for Oculus
Updated Oculus SDK to version 0.4.2. This SDK isn’t compatible with runtimes 0.4.0 and 0.4.1, so installation of runtime 0.4.2 is mandatory
Added the setting ‘Oculus Image Quality’, a slider that controls the parameter ‘Pixels per Display Pixel’ passed to the SDK when calculating the recommended texture size. This gives users more control to find the right balance
between quality and performance for their particular setup. Since low values of the setting can have a very dramatic effect (e.g. text can become unreadable), the user is asked to confirm the selection even when only this setting has
been changed (using the already existing confirmation dialog). The slider is only enabled if stereo mode is set to Oculus Rift, and it will not be shown in the graphic options screen if an Oculus Rift wasn’t detected
Disabled depth testing for the landing pad schematic material as its billboard is now partially occluded by the cockpit after the Oculus depth
When disabling Oculus stereo mode, if using Direct Access, make sure the swap buffer gets recreated
The full patch notes (many pages long) can be seen here – it’s bewildering!
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Do let us know your thoughts on the patch and whether you’ve noticed any improvements or indeed any further bugs introduced in this version.
About Face is an accessory, aimed at the Oculus Rift DK1 and DK2, designed to improve comfort and hygiene with enhanced cushioning and weight distribution using custom, washable liners. 24 hours after launching on Kickstarter, the accessory has already blasted through its funding goal.
Despite not yet officially confirming a release date or price for Gear VR, Samsung’s first mobile VR headset, demo units are already popping up at electronics retailer Best Buy in the United States.
Continuing our tradition, we caught 11 reactions to the new Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype by folks who had tried it for the very first time at Oculus Connect.
Felix & Paul Studios can be revealed as the creators of the Introduction to VR 3D 360° virtual reality cinematic experience commissioned by Samsung and Oculus to come bundled with the Samsung Gear VR.
Darkfield VR is one of the earliest members of a new resurgence in the Space Combat genre – seemingly brought back from the dead with the advent of the Oculus Rift. It’s a pure multiplayer dogfighting game which pitches you against electronic or human foes as you battle for supremacy among the stars. I caught up with the developers, VR Bits, at Gamescom in Cologne this year to have a look at the latest build and to find out more. Plus the Darkfield VR Kickstarter launches.
VRClay is a recently revealed piece of digital sculpting software which utilizes the Oculus Rift and Razer Hydra motion controller to create 3D models in no time at all.
At Oculus Connect last weekend I spoke with the company’s Head of Mobile, Max Cohen, who confirmed that Oculus plans to release its Android mobile SDK in early October. Gear VR, which runs virtual reality games and experienced built with the Oculus mobile SDK, will launch this fall, according to the Oculus website.
We recently went into detail in an interview with Striker VR, a company working on a powerful gun recoil technology for virtual reality. Not shown in that interview was the company’s pistol prototype which felt to have even more satisfying recoil by my testing than their rifle (which was already impressive). Rather than design a weapon from scratch, Striker VR grabbed a freely available digital model of Halo’s famous M6 Magnum to build out the prototype.
At Oculus Connect 2014 last weekend in Hollywood, CA, I spoke with Oculus VR’s Head of Mobile, Max Cohen, about his work on the Android SDK and Samsung’s Gear VR. Among other topics, Cohen noted that Gear VR is meant for shorter virtual reality experiences than we might find on desktop VR.
There are two sorts of people in this world: those that have listened to John Carmack talk and those who are unenlightened. One of the key minds behind Doom and Quake is a most unlikely orator, but one who has the ability to hold the attention of a room full of geeks like no other. Anyone who’s witnessed his unscripted, unprompted streams of consciousness from his legendary Quakecon keynotes will know this, and for his inaugural talk as CTO of Oculus at their first developer event, ‘Connect’, he pulled no punches.
A previously unknown virtual reality software title, Tilt Brush, went home with the Proto Award for Best GUI (graphical user interface) thanks to its innovative virtual reality interface. The software uses a gaze-based interface that allows users to paint in 3D and even use the Oculus Rift DK2’s positional tracking for brush input.
At the first ever Proto Awards last week, Zombies on the Holodeck, developed by Survios, took home three awards including Best Overall. The event was a resounding success, honoring innovative work happening in the young VR industry. Nvidia, one of the sponsor of the event, sent winners home with brand new GeForce GTX 980 graphics cards.