Oh man, this is what I get for going to SID and having not time for the forums. Long post ahead!
To all the people signing up to let me know you support this project: Awesome, glad to have you on board! Responding to each and every one of you in this post would make it crazy long, but I really appreciate the support.
BillRoeske wrote:I do hope that you do turn a small profit from the kits. It sounds like you've devoted a bit of personal time to this and have come up with something good, possibly great. You should totally be compensated for that. My impression is that this is going to be an assembly-required kit, so I'm sure there will be some post-release support work to be done, too. If nothing else, I'd view it as an investment in you continuing the good work with new displays, optics, connections, battery power, weight reduction, and so on. At the very least give us access to a tip jar or something.
A lot of feedback on this, so I think this is what I will do: Set things up so that rather than allocating money for time on a laser cutter/CNC machine/other costs, I get enough money to buy my own. That way, I can work on my future units cheaply and more easily, so everyone benefits! If you want to leave money as a tip, Kickstarter allows you to send extra money on top of the reward. I will figure out some way for people to get recognized if they do that.
davidgutierrezpalma wrote:I'm not a "hardware guy", but I won't have any problem with DIY kits as long as they can be assembled easily: I don't have any soldering skills nor the ability or knowledge to place the lenses manually in the precise angle/position required to get the best effect, so I hope this type of skills are not necessary.
The kits will not require any soldering, it should be well within reach of anyone capable of, say, taking a phone apart and putting it back together.
You will have to be careful with the lenses, but getting them placed correctly is not too hard. You just need to make sure they are aligned with the faceplate properly.
Damo3D wrote:1) What is the process for getting existing games to work with the unit - eg: Flight Simulator X, or Just Cause 2 for example. Is it simple or do games need an entirely new driver..etc
2) When released what would one use with it? Would DOOM be our only demo for a long while (with hopefully Rage to follow) or would we be able to look forward to a slate of working titles (this question is kinda like my first one)
Existing drivers like IZ3D and TriDef DDD drivers will allow things to work mostly correctly. IZ3D has a mode that allows for proper aspect ratio that only works for some games, and distortion can be taken care of with Nthusim. Of course, you still only have mouse emulation for head tracking, so not at all optimal. Cybereality is working on a driver with proper 3D and head tracking support, but like he has said, it will be awhile before he finishes. As far as future titles, there are some things in the works, but I would rather wait for those developers to announce things themselves than have me spilling the beans.
mickman wrote:RIFT is not so bad .. does it stand for anything ?
Not at the moment. Still trying to figure out if it is the "Rift" or the "RIFT". The choice to go all caps is mainly just for easy laser-cut readability on the unit.
Thanks for the offers of help, I might need it when making assembly instructions. The Kickstarter should launch in one week.
Yeah, saw that panel at SID, it looks amazing. Would need two of them, though, not quite big enough for single panel use.
blitter wrote:
- Is the kit spec on the RIFT webpage an all-inclusive list? Will the kit include an option for the "wireless video link" and if so, are there more details on that?
- Is head tracking also included as an option in the kit or will a solution for that be required independently?
The $500 version will not include a wireless video link, but it will be available as an option, probably for about $200. Seems expensive, but you get a good wireless link (Less than 1ms latency) and a battery pack to power both the link and the HMD. The hardware inside is nearly identical to this Sensics unit that costs $2,000!
http://sensics.com/products/low-latency ... ess-video/
Head tracking is also not included in the base price, since a lot of people will probably want to use it with trackers they already own. One of the Kickstarter bundles will include a Hillcrest labs tracker and Doom 3 BFG edition for a little more.
Guspaz wrote:Does the Oculus Rift have diopter correction?
It has diopter correction, you can set the focus during assembly.
It would be better to wear contacts, though, so the lenses can be properly collimated.
[quote="clancey"Lurking as well. I am subscribed so I can jump on the kickstarter. I am most interested in the expandability. How difficult would it be to swap in a higher resolution LCD? I would be willing to pay more for a higher resolution![/quote]
It is not a matter of difficulty or even cost, at this point. Better panels that are suitable for this design are simply not available at the moment.
Within the next 12 to 18 months, though, there are panels coming out that are 4x the resolution! Upgrading to use those panels should be a piece of cake.
paratay wrote:My first post here on MTBS and had to join in with this product, sounds Great! I just like to know PalmerTech, which LCD panel and Controller are you using, is it from Vitrolight?
The 5.6inch Panels I tested had Major Ghosting issues. (
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-6inch-TFT- ... 45fd0f9722 )
They look great with images, however when there is any motion due to it's slow response, there is significant ghosting.
Yes, they are those panels. I am not buying them there though, for several reasons. I can get smaller and higher performance control boards from elsewhere, and they have sent me used panels before when I purchased as "new". On top of that, there are several different revisions of this panel, and I want to use the latest one. The response is still not perfect, but with the latest control boards and panel revision, I am getting extremely good results. I would love to be using a better panel, but there is nothing out there that can match this resolution at a reasonable price. The only things out there that would be suitable would push the price of the Rift into the tens of thousands of dollars.
hast wrote:I saw similar claims on some comment thread that Boing engineers who worked with design in VR environments suffered permanent eye damage in the early 90s. But I couldn't find anything online to support it.
Considering the number of head mounted displays available for casual use this is something we'd heard of by now if it was a problem. (Vuzix have been selling their devices for quite some time now.)
The thing is, diverging your eyes is very, VERY uncomfortable to do. If you have any sense at all, you are able to tell that something is wrong, and adjust the IPD. Aside from that, modern HMDs are no less safe than a normal monitor; You should really take a break every once in a while to give your eyes a chance to relax and adjust, nothing new. That said, the potential for a lawsuit is one reason that I am making this available as a kit instead of a "real" product.
bcpk wrote:Is there an audio element to this that is yet to be announced?
I love audio as well! There is a great VR game project called "Wild Skies" being done by some students at USC, they are going to do most of their binaural audio recording with a dummy head I made.
The thing is, I am a hardware guy, and this is a hardware project. Most of this audio work is done on the software side, and the best I could do would be to include some good headphones, something many people will already have. Perhaps selecting an specific headset that works well with the Rift would be a good idea, so we are all working with the same hardware?
BrianSmith42 wrote:Replace the gyros & accelerometers with a 3d camera system (like the kinect) mounted to the goggles. Use the change in view and distances to "static objects" to figure out the position and orientation of the head. gyros are only going to give you good data for orientation, a stereoscopic camera systems will let you bob your head up or down or side to side to see around objects and will add to the realness.
This will happen at some point, but we cannot do it with low enough latency yet, and that will not change in the short term future. We already have lots of other good tracking options, so not really a priority.
pierreye wrote:Palmer might have a problem with normal user expectation as they might compare this to commercial HMD or big screen tv. The support might overwhelm him to design a v2 in the future and also of noob question such as why my desktop 2D is split in both eye (due to the device only work in SBS).
Yes, that is the main reason I am doing this as a kit. I want it very clear on the Kickstarter that this is for the DIY/hacker/enthusiast crowd, not a mainstream product. If they miss all those clear warnings and then complain about having to put it together or something, I am not going to waste much time consoling them.
If the HMZ-T1 is any indication, people will start modding and improving these as soon as they get them, and I hope to put those improvements to use in a second revision.