I told you guys I would give a writeup on what it feels like to use the Wide5/body tracking/Unity based engine setup we have at my work, and I think this is the best way to do it. It sounds crazy, I know, but The Matrix is so much closer than we all think. Right now, I am astounded that nobody else who has used these systems has ever written about them! These are life changing experiences we are talking about, keeping it all to high end government research labs is a travesty! I know why it is the case, and I do not begrudge anybody in the VR industry (These setups cost a lot of money to make, and they are not making fat profit margins off them, either), but as a gamer, as a DIYer, and as a person who dreams... I want these everywhere. People need to experience this to believe it.You stand in the middle of a large, brightly lit warehouse. Rows of high end computers hum on the far end of the room. Cameras, blinking lights, and stacks of expensive simulation gear litter the walls and rafters, a sight that on their own would normally inspire a feeling of awe. Today, though? Your focus is intently concentrated on the backpack being tightened around your waist, and the lightweight headpiece that you are adjusting on your head. The lightweight fabric that drapes from the sides blocks out the harsh glare from the overhead lights, and you are completely in the dark, feeling the typical loss of spacial awareness that accompanies sensory deprivation.
You hear a loud, distinctly mechanical "click" as the backpack you are wearing is switched on, and the cooling fans carry a slight vibration into your body. Split seconds later, though, a bright flash of light appears in front of you, and what appears to be a gravelly floor stares you in the face, at a twisted angle that very much contradicts what you would expect to see, looking straight ahead. What gives?
WHOOSH! All of a sudden, the image spins at a breakneck pace as the tracking cameras along the roof of the warehouse lock onto your body, shifting your view to the correct position. After a few seconds of jitter... the view suddenly stops shifting, settling on a perfect, dead ahead view. Your entire field of view is engulfed with an enormous scene, and your eyes take a moment to focus. You do not feel any eyestrain, and the image before you is even larger than what the average soldier gets to see while wearing a standard issue combat helmet.
You seem to be standing on a post-apocalyptic bridge, what used to be a roadway that carries cars. Rust runs the lengths of the thick iron beams above you, and the road is littered with debris; A few old tires, weeds rustling in the wind, and a burnt out humvee all sit in their respective spots. The asphalt of the bridge has some superficial damage, but is in good condition, for the most part. You glance down, and quickly step back; your foot had been mere inches away from a sharp, rusty spike protruding from the ground, and your instincts want it as far away from your foot as possible. Slowly, you raise your head, looking past your immediate surroundings.
Underneath the bridge runs a strong river, though it is clear from the expanse of riverbed laying dry alongside it that there had been better days in the distance past. Alongside the river, and at either end of the bridge, is a forest. Beyond the forest, many miles in the distance, you see a range of tall, snowcapped mountains. It must be Fall, as many of the trees are mottled in shades of red and yellow, dropping leaves in the wind. Wait, the wind?
Turning slowly around, you can feel the wind press at your body, hitting different sides as you take careful steps to full circle. Wizardry! Or, more likely, computer controlled fans lining the stage. But at this moment in time, it certainly does not feel like it! You decide to walk along the bridge to get a closer look at your surroundings. Taking slow steps, you look up to the sky, rotating your head. As you rotate your head, your surrounding stay in absolutely perfect orientation. You try to convince yourself that you are looking at a screen, but staring into the blue sky, focusing into the vast distance beyond, it is hard to believe that is the case. You look down once again and, growing more confident, take longer strides down the bridge. After about 70 feet of walking, you stop once again, crouching on your knees to get a better look at the large tire that has rolled up against a length of twisted, rusting steel. You lean forward, peering inside the tire, and note the small puddle of water that lies inside the wall. Very, very slowly, you pull your head back out, lest you hit it on the side of the tire.
Up till now, you have been alone in the simulation. All of a sudden, though, you hear someone calling out from where you originally spawned, on the other end of the bridge. Now fully confident of the world you are in, you spring about 60 feet back to where you came from, meeting another avatar portraying a US Army soldier in full desert gear, carrying a large handgun. You salute, and reach out to shake hands. As your hands meet, you feel the real touch of warm skin, which makes sense, considering you are really shaking hands with the physical person that this avatar represents! "So, pretty cool, eh?" You answer in the affirmative with a mirthful voice, betraying youthful enthusiasm that makes the grizzled soldier laugh. "Well, lets see how this new Kinect based tracking system works. Not wearing any body markers, so if this works, we are in good shape." You take a step back, and as he makes a series of arm and leg movements, you let him know that everything seems to be working fine. Without warning, the soldier jumps forward, and swings a fist towards your face. Startled and scared for your safety, you leap back, tripping a bit onto one knee. "Hah! The near field visual cues are pretty realistic, eh? Was that voluntary, or instinctive?" You assure him that it was in no way voluntary, and wonder at the wisdom of scaring people so badly when they are wearing a $100,000+ simulation suit.
And then as quick as he came, the soldier thanks you for the help, and blips out of existence. You know in your mind that he was really just a software engineer controlling a virtual body, but your subconscious is having a pretty hard time believing that. You look around the bridge once again, and walk over to the side of the bridge. Crouching underneath a crumbling sheet of iron and out over a small concrete ridge, you step onto a metal grated walkway on the edge of the bridge, with just a thin metal railing between you and certain death. You lean over the railing without touching it, peering at the rushing waters far below, and a sense of vertigo kicks in. You are usually not afraid of heights, but standing on a bridge that feels ready to fall apart and crash into the river? Well, that is a special situation. You, without thinking, reach out to the railing to steady yourself; To your surprise, your hand clasps around it, the cold surface of the metal draining heat from your hand. You instantly reach away from the sharp temperature change, then slowly reach back out. Bracing both hands against the railing, you lean far out over it, getting an even better look at the waters rushing below you. You can see your hands tightly holding the railing, and you shift your arms further along the railing, watching them with astonishment, as you marvel in the flawless accuracy that they are tracked with.
Seconds later, you hear a a voice echoing out of the sky. "Okay, looks like the cameras we added are syncing to the tracking server just fine. I am running all the shutdown procedures now, so stand still. If you are walking around when tracking goes out, you might get unbalanced and trip on yourself." You follow the command of the voice, dropping your arms to neutral position and staring at the other end of the bridge. You know the tracking has shut off when the slight movements of your head vanish, and take a final look at the scene, trying to see the edges of the scene. Try as you might, though, you can only barely see the edges of the lens, even as you strain your eyes to rotate as far as they can. Growing tired, they snap back forward, once again engulfed the torn world of the bridge... And that is it. It winks into blackness as fast as it blinked into brightness, and the entire world is put into suspended animation on a solid state hard disk. You hear a now familiar click as the backpack powers down, and reach up to your head. You are surprised at how far the headset sticks out from your head, having completely forgot that it was even there for the past 20 minutes. Twisting the ratchets that loosen it from your head, you carefully tilt it off, clipping it to a large stand on the side of the room. You slide the backpack off, and clip it to the same stand.
You take another look around the warehouse, and marvel at how real it all seems. Wow, the shadow effects on the bright lights are amazing, and the tracking is flawless!
In the next moment, you remember something incredible: This IS the real world. The bridge that you were on? That was just a simulation. But even as you stare at the gear all around you that made it possible, you have a very hard time believing yourself. As far as you are concerned, the bridge, the forest, and everything around it is just as real as the hard concrete floor you have your feet planted on.
Any questions?