"Rift Rider" Virtual Amusement Park

[twofoe]

Here is a little demo. It runs on Windows. It was my first little test to get my dev tools installed on my new computer.

It uses the SDL library, which is available on just about anything with any kind of video output. This demo comes with SDL.dll for windows, which it needs in the same folder as the bump.exe file. Just unzip it, and run bump.exe.

This is just a tiny taste of things to come. It (and much more) will be converted to stereoscopic 3D, and dynamically head-tracked and warp mapped.

Despite appearances, this demo is extrememly light on CPU usage, and should run on just about anything, including a RasPi and smartphones (with HDMI output).

Let me know what you think...

I will provide executable binaries for other platforms later (when I get my cross-development tools installed on this computer).

This is just a small taste of things to come.

Enjoy!

Sweet. Runs great on the intel graphics of my laptop.

[geekmaster]

I am starting with a round room, with 12 exhibits spaced around it, like the numbers on an analog clock. Each exhibit has a wall that covers 30-degrees of the circumference. An exhibit wall can have a door, a window, or a video screen (or whatever else that exhibit wants to advertise to entice visitors). Some "exhibit space" can be replaced by hallways to more exhibit spaces, or to rides, or theaters, sports arenas, or gaming arcades for old-school games.

Exhibit rooms can also be divided up into small areas, like you see at a high-school science fair, or a craft fair, or a "ham fest", or even at a gun show (where you can buy virtual weapons like the BFG).

[nateight]

Let me know what you think...

I've never tried peyote but it somehow just kicked in, that's what I think...

[geekmaster]

Let me know what you think...

I've never tried peyote but it somehow just kicked in, that's what I think...

The really sweet thing is that digital psychedelia is legal, and this is barely scratching the surface of what can be imagined. Full stereoscopic immersion will be truly mind bending. Going on a mind bender after work will be quite an enjoyable trip, and a fine way to spend your evenings. Much better than TV, after we add interactive haptics with full ExoHaptic EasyChair support. There is a rabbit hole in the park. Who needs "games" when you can do digital drugs? And that was just a hint of a taste of what I have in mind. So strap in and enjoy the ride!


I spent far more time watching it than I did creating it. Too many "just one more time" temptations on that one little taste before bed, right there in that little demo. Of course, it is tuned for my uniquely personal mind. The fully interactive version may suit your tastes and desires much more completely. Sleep may be sacrificed, but only in the name of pleasure.

The Rift Rider park will be one hell of a ride! I guarantee it...

[geekmaster]

I named the demo simply "bump", as in "Bump in the Night". Perhaps it should be called "The Psychedelic Flashlight", or maybe "PalmerEyes".

... Well, yeah, for those tech heads who recognize such algorithmic esoteria, it does "bump mapping" too...

[geekmaster]

I just ran this on an older laptop computer, and it ran slower than expected. There are several optimizations that I can do to fix that. I hope the bottleneck is not in the SDL library, but even so, using two threads, and double buffering the SDL frame update calls should (hopefully) fix that.

This first demo was just small and simple, to test my development tools. The next demo app one will be tested on the older laptop before release, and I will take more care with low-level optimization.

But even when running slower, it still demonstrates an interesting graphical "video feedback" effect.

[Alkapwn]

What about for the transition between amusement park walkways and rides, you have like a cylindrical "elevator" that you walk into. doors open on one side, you step in, game loads up and then the doors open on the other side. That way there's no break in visual cues or immersion.

[geekmaster]

What about for the transition between amusement park walkways and rides, you have like a cylindrical "elevator" that you walk into. doors open on one side, you step in, game loads up and then the doors open on the other side. That way there's no break in visual cues or immersion.

I think we can use a number of transition effects. Fade out/fade in, walking through an overlaid door, star trek style teleporters. Going through a door into another sim would not matter where that door was, elevator or not. A game can provide its own minimal intro sim while it loads assets.

[Evenios]

sounds fun i saw a anagylph video of a old roller coaster and i bet those things might be fun on the oculus rift wheee! :-p

[Hornet]

It would be nice to add too base jumps with wingsuit - mountain with high slope and wingsuit through canyons and trees....in 3d awesome i think.....hope

[geekmaster]

I think the Rift Rider amusement park is a great way to organize MANY different VR activities so you do not have to exit to a desktop filesystem to launch the next app.

I envisioned this as a sort of VR desktop replacement that would be NATURAL for these types of apps. The amusement park could provide virtual portals to anywhere (and anywhen) for all sorts of communal (and personal) VR activities.

[LukePoga]

how are you going to transition to totally separate processes? I think it would be a simple case of Process.Start(Demo1.exe) and you will have to bear the screen flashing to desktop etc. You might be lucky and its smooth but i doubt it would be a smooth transition.

[LukePoga]

the amusement park launch pad is a good idea. are you able to connect it to a website so that people can upload exe files and it automatically creates a stall? i doubt you could make a customised stall very easily but at least put the name of the ride on the front. are you a developer and capable of setting up this infrastructure?

basically it would be a clone of apple's app store. but in 3d. maybe they can submit a jpg poster and banner of their ride and your program will show the poster and banner out front of the stall.

i would find it fairly easy to set up this system but time wise not so good at the moment

[geekmaster]

the amusement park launch pad is a good idea. are you able to connect it to a website so that people can upload exe files and it automatically creates a stall? i doubt you could make a customised stall very easily but at least put the name of the ride on the front. are you a developer and capable of setting up this infrastructure?

basically it would be a clone of apple's app store. but in 3d. maybe they can submit a jpg poster and banner of their ride and your program will show the poster and banner out front of the stall.

i would find it fairly easy to set up this system but time wise not so good at the moment

I have the skills to accomplish this, but not enough time. I need to borrow other people's time... Too many projects, don't you know? But even as a child I knew I had enough projects on my To Do list to last me six lifetimes, and it has been growing steadily since then. Ideas flow like a river, but manhours are in short supply. I have always been told I should spend my time in "pure research" and let others puzzle out the time-consuming abundant minor details that "ordinary" people can solve. And I am not getting any younger. My "real job" eats the vast majority of my time, detracting from my "real" life's work. Maybe I need a kickstarter to help me "go wild" in VR. I am certain others would love to share my VR world with me...

[kalabalik]

I just want to chime in with some positive vibes here after the one sided and extremely negative pushing from Mystify on the roller coaster theme...

When I was a kid I lived outside a small town that had no real amusement park, but they did have a room with a large projection screen from floor to roof and close to the audience. There they showed five minute rides from the front of a roller coaster in high speeds; and this attraction was obviously without any form of motion sim, but yet people almost fell over if it wasn't for the handle bars in front of us (we were all standing up). And I can tell you we all freakin loved it!

Many years later in an IMAX theatre they showed a mix of situations ranging from roller coasters to planes in Grand Canyon in high speed. In 3D. It was mind blowing how much I and the rest of us in there just loved those scenes. Ever since I've tried to find more immersive films of roller coaster riding just to get sucked in there via projector again. To no avail.

One of the first ideas and hopes I had when ordering the Rift was this. A freaking wild roller coaster ride!


Let the haters hate with their doom and gloom,
There is an audience out there that appreciate your work and not trying to stop a creative at work. Keep at it man!



EDIT: I live on the country side again after many years as a metropolitan, so there is no roller coaster or theme park anywhere close by. And the prospect of having mental roller coaster rides from heaven to hell, around the moon and even through time make me giggle fanatically.

[maboo63]

hehehe oh yes u're right mr kalabalik

[mr.uu]

Any chance to add D-Box motion-chair support?

Mostly used for racing/flight-sim, but for sure awsome in combination with a rift...

[geekmaster]

Any chance to add D-Box motion-chair support?

Mostly used for racing/flight-sim, but for sure awsome in combination with a rift...

I will try to provide plug-in support, so anybody can add devices to it. I discussed in another thread a proposed motion chair (ExoHaptic EasyChair), for use with the Rift Rider app and other apps.

[mr.uu]

Btw: i have the d-box GP200pro, so i could test whatever you want me to .
Still waiting for my rift to be delivered (roughly 4 weeks more waiting) though.

[Syke408]

Hey Geekmaster. I am a concept artist and I am totally on board with your idea. Drop me a line if you need any help : )

[geekmaster]

Hey Geekmaster. I am a concept artist and I am totally on board with your idea. Drop me a line if you need any help : )

I need all the help I can get. Too many projects, and not enough time. And too many new ideas flooding over me all the time. I am trying to stick with my Rift Pi project (Rift with Raspberry Pi), and this Rift-Rider virtual amusement park "application launcher", and the ExoHaptic EasyChair, and... and... and...

But work is eating all my time at the moment. Back to work!

[zoraswe]

Huh, i just noticed i had an account lol
I'm a 3d artist (self learned in 3d's max) my primary skills are mapmaking for halo 1 pc, but i'm a quick learner and if you like i might be on board with this, it depends on whether I have the time or not at the moment, but just reaching out there for the potential on-boarder so to speak.

[geekmaster]

This is a repeat of a previous discussion, quoted here to add continuity to the following posts:

Q. What is "GS"?
A. Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation, using a simple electrical device for "electrical stimulation of the sensory organs used for balance for the purpose of inducting a feeling of rotation":
http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=120&t=15403

[Neil]

We moved the threads around in response to what members were asking for and that it be easier for people to find things. We ask very little of our members except to be nice. So be nice.

I'm open to trying different things, but this isn't the way to encourage them or ask for them. Something serious you want to talk about? Fine. I sent you a PM to discuss further.

Regards,
Neil

[geekmaster]

A vestibular stimulator is just a H-Bridge? Really?

Yes, really. And a 9-volt battery, and some variable resistors to adjust current. And some cheap replacement gel pads for a TENs unit. And a case to hold it. Surprising?

EDIT: For computer control, we need to add safety devices, such as opto-isolators. You would not want a computer power-supply malfunction to harm the user when you have electrodes attached to your body.

[geekmaster]

A vestibular stimulator is just a H-Bridge? Really?

Yes, really. And a 9-volt battery, and some variable resistors to adjust current. And some cheap replacement gel pads for a TENs unit. And a case to hold it. Surprising?

Well.. YES I'm surprised! .. I have everything to build such a thing in like 10 seconds

Do NOT power this from a power supply. For safety, it MUST be powered by a battery. If you know what you are doing, you *could* use an isolation transformer to supply an external power supply (like is sometimes done in hospitals), but it would be safer and easier (and more portable) to just use a battery...

[geekmaster]

Do NOT power this from a power supply. For safety, it MUST be powered by a battery.

What is the recipe for the gel if you know?

It needs to be electrically conductive (perhaps containing salt). Here are some DIY saline electrodes for EEG use:
http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/buildeeg/electrodes.php

You could try a "quick and dirty" saltwater soaked foam setup like those shown at the above link, but for long term use I would just buy something like these:
http://www.medicalproductsonline.org/te ... =Df0su775S

[geekmaster]

Well I don't see a problem with using a transformer. I DO see a problem with switching high frequencies with the H-Bridge, this could give someone a very unpleasant shock.
It's possible to get a system like this to oscillate and send AC current.. It's essentially a power inverter.

I have had transformers short out before, giving me a nasty electrical shock through my arms. I would not have liked having that AC current going through my head, so I prefer to use a battery.

But you are free to do as you wish. I hope you survive your experiments...

I did not design that circuit. It is just something I found on the interwebs. Feel free to improve on that design, and publish your results here.

[geekmaster]

Well I don't see a problem with using a transformer. I DO see a problem with switching high frequencies with the H-Bridge, this could give someone a very unpleasant shock.
It's possible to get a system like this to oscillate and send AC current.. It's essentially a power inverter.

I have had transformers short out before, giving me a nasty electrical shock through my arms. I would not have liked having that AC current going through my head, so I prefer to use a battery.

But you are free to do as you wish. I hope you survive your experiments...

I did not design that circuit. It is just something I found on the interwebs. Feel free to improve on that design, and publish your results here.

Haha no you're right, I thought you meant that because of voltage noise, the transformer wouldn't be safe..
In fact it's probably best to use a battery in that case.. But I would be careful with the frequency of this thing!
And I'm not even sure I want to try that, I have tinnitus, and anything that would play with my inner ear scares me.

I have (permanent) tinnitus too, but I will not let that stop me from playing with GVS. Who knows? Perhaps I can COMPENSATE for my tinnitus-induced dizziness with GVS...

[geekmaster]

wait, I thought tinnitus was a ringing in your ears, not anything to do with your balance and inner ear.

It is a loud (sometimes painful) combination of whistling and buzzing and ringing, rather than just "ringing". And although tinnitus may not be the cause of the dizziness, it is likely that the real cause of the problem has symptoms that include both balance and tinnitus. This decades-old persistent problem actually went away completely for awhile while I was taking an unusually high dosage of prescribed antibiotics and steroids, but as that drug regimen was decreased and eliminated, the symptoms returned slowly until they were as bad as ever within six months. People accumulate these kinds of problems as they age, so enjoy your health while you can, and learn to live with these problems as you must. I wish I could trade this body in on a new one, like I do with my automobiles!


But WHATEVER the cause of my somewhat persistent dizziness, it would be interesting to see if GVS can compensate for it to some degree. Perhaps some sort of waveform modulation may be required, similar to a TENS unit.

EDIT: My doctor calls it "Meniere's disease", and recently gave me pills that greatly help with my hearing and dizziness. He also said steroid injections into inner ears help with more severe cases, which explains why steroids worked in the past. Still, GVS seems safer than drugs, and cheaper too. And now Samsung has GVS headphones. (Sorry for thread necromancy, but this is relevant).