Meant to be Seen

Sorry if this has already been posted, but this is totally making me seal the deal on a Hydra. I feel like I could probably just play with the basketball all day.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07IwxUD8N8E[/youtube]

And the accompanying article.
http://www.roadtovr.com/2013/03/30/gdc- ... -demo-4401

Saw this earlier today, impressive. Hopefully they release it for everyone to try.

I was on the fence about buying a Razer Hydra when the 50% deal went up on the official store. This made the decision pretty easy, ordered one without hestiation.

Looks awesome! I hope they'll release the demo to the public.

Sample Unity assets for Razer Hydra integration would be immensely helpful!

This reminds me of Peter Molyneux's demo "The Room" (from 2007?). All the objects lying around you could just "pick up" and toss around. The physics were impeccable, and all the lighting and shadows adjusted accordingly.

This demo is really impressive. One of the few things so far that I would call "virtual reality", even if it is just a tech demo.

I am so freaking happy I ordered the Hydra a few days ago!

THAT LOOKS FRAGGING AWESOME!!!!!!!









This is the pool of drool I just made:
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Gotta love the underhand volleyball style serve at the end that uses both controllers. Seriously just give me an environment with a ton of physics objects to play with on a hydra+rift , that incorporates different elements like this does such as fire and water. In other words we need a Garry's mod hydra style.

Wow, I can't wait for garry's mod with rift and hydra support.

I was starting to get a little down-trodden waiting for my Rift. This has completely renewed my interest. I'm going to do some awesome things when I get everything setup. I'm thinking about letting the player control my music visualizer with the rift. Making mountains grow and shrink with the wave of a hand, etc.

WNTD!!
(We need that demo!!)

That is a mind-blowing video. Was the guy driving it experienced with the Hydra? He seemed to be handling it very well, or is it that natural? Off to visit the Razer store... I need to buy Unity too.. this is going to get expensive!

Do the hydra controller cables have enough length to reach out to your left and right? Eg in the Tuscany demo if you are sitting down and look 90 degrees to your right, would you be able to reach down and pick something up with your right hand?

great! almost tempted me to buy a hydra but I am still torn, the 50% off is a great deal in the UK, because it is so expensive compared to what the Americans pay, but I then thought what if the improved+wireless version comes out in a couple months or something (when my Rift is due) then I would be regretting wasting the money so I am trying to delay as long as possible hoping the 50% offer does not expire

anyone know if it is plausible the hydra V2 will be out in a couple months? I know it was demo'd a couple years ago and I saw another demo from 2012. or do you think it is safe to buy a hydra now?

long wait for my 'riftawe' moment

He seemed to be handling it very well, or is it that natural?

Due to beeing really there having this FOV, and the headtracking, and beeing able to judge the distance of objects due to looking at infinity, grabbing a ball shouldn't be difficult. You just use your skills you've developed since playing with your perpeetum mobile

You know how much I had to pay for my hydra? 250 dollars

mrklaw wrote:Do the hydra controller cables have enough length to reach out to your left and right?

I'm about 6'5" and probably in the running for largest wingspan out of everyone registered for the forum, and I can just barely extend the two wands to the point where the cable between them is almost taut. You couldn't really ask for a better design unless you started demanding it be wireless.

Omarzuqo wrote:It has just been confirmed to be released to the public.

Gods bless those Sixense guys. They had the tech even when no one wanted it and stood by it. I'll bet the sales figures for March are going to blow some manager's toupee across the office.

anon84 wrote:anyone know if it is plausible the hydra V2 will be out in a couple months?

Hey, a few months ago I wouldn't have called the Rift plausible, and yet here we are. There have been rumors of an updated version, but nothing concrete; Oculus itself may be making something with Sixense's tech, but even if that's true we won't see it for a good long while. Considering the Hydra was very recently all but dead in the consumer market I have a hard time imagining they've been hard at work on an even better thing no one wants to buy. If you're a developer you really need to own a Hydra, period; if you're just an enthusiast I can't imagine seeing anything better until maybe the commercial launch of the Rift.

I paid about 75 bucks for my hydra and thank goodness it looks like it's about to pay off finally! Lolz.

I am going to order a few more hydras so I feel more confident modding them into gloves.

Namielus wrote:a few more hydras

nateight, I promise you that meme is going to be much much more applicable to my next purchase.
Its going to be the most insane thing I ever bought

I wasn't even going to buy a Hydra.... but after seeing that demo and seeing the potential of the controller.... HELL YEAH! Just bought it, and at $50 NEW!

I snagged a hydra new in box on ebay few days ago, tracking shows it will arrive on Monday

Definitely not what I was expecting - it just seems so natural, grabbing onto different parts of the models and the physics and interactions. Coupled with the Rift, this must be a really immersive experience.

I ordered my hydra 3 weeks ago (and shipped the next day) from that Woot deal, still no sign of it (shipped via USPS), I'm getting extremely worried and having trouble getting answers about its whereabouts. Idk if I should consider it lost at this point. I might just do the 50% off deal on Razer's main store, but that wouldn't ship for a whole week and what if my original order comes? Gaaaah...

In either case, I really really want to try this demo when my Rift and Hydra (hopefully) arrive! Things like this is what completely lures me in:

Ben wrote:The moment that really sold me was when I tossed a basketball up into the air above my head (see 3:35 in the video). I threw it in a way that the trajectory of the ball would have it landing somewhere slightly behind me. My natural reaction was to look at the ball as it was coming down, lean back, and grab it — and that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t have to think to myself, ‘how do I need to move the controls in order to do what I want to do,’ I simply followed the ball as it flew through the air, reached up behind me, and plucked it out of the air.

I'm very tempted to take the plunge after seeing this demo, but am a little hesitant for a few reasons. First, I've been spoiled by force feedback which this does not have. Not a total deal breaker but the ability to feel just a slight bump when interacting with objects would go a long way for that extra level of immersion. Also I'm not sure how many developers will adopt it. Aside from Valve and this demo there aren't too many options available. I wonder how difficult it is to implement a control scheme like this for the average indie developer.

I may take a wait and see approach, but if someone comes up with a control scheme like this for an amnesia like title I'll probably cave. That game had a pretty good physics based interactivity with pulling/pushing and turning for different objects.

cerulianbaloo wrote:First, I've been spoiled by force feedback which this does not have. Not a total deal breaker but the ability to feel just a slight bump when interacting with objects would go a long way for that extra level of immersion.

I've played with some multi-finger haptic demos, and they are really impressive. However, implementing the physics required for them is a massive leap beyond where game physics currently is. You could think of it as the real-time-raytracing of the physics world. Bounding boxes just don't cut it.

I went ahead and ordered a hydra because of this video.

WOW

That is impressive, the last time I did/used something like that the kit had cost somewhere in the the region of £100k (GBP) !!!!!
Although to be fair it also had pneumatic force feedback gloves and the manipulation was done by moving your fingers but considering that's a device that can be bought for $50 with a $300 HMD on a $1500 (ish) PC that shows just how far we've come....

Seriously pumped about all this.....

fireslayer26 wrote:I wasn't even going to buy a Hydra.... but after seeing that demo and seeing the potential of the controller.... HELL YEAH! Just bought it, and at $50 NEW!

Same. Well ~£50 as I'm in the UK, still a great deal as without the special offer its £100. TBH though the only use I see for the hydra is simulating hands in VR, I'm not really interested in anything else, so I have to wonder how/why these things were selling before the rift.

This seems pretty cool but makes me think that using the leap motion control might be cooler.... just saying

I have tried everything I could to squeeze something usefull for Oculus Rift out of the leap.
Hydra is just a much better option. Yes I have both, and I even started out being biased towards Leap.

Maybe in the future, it will be a better option. But right now its limiting.

Vamplifire wrote:This seems pretty cool but makes me think that using the leap motion control might be cooler.... just saying

GeraldT has a Leap dev kit, a Hydra, and one of the first Leap games that's generating a good amount of buzz, and his informed opinion stands directly opposed to yours:

GeraldT wrote:

yomer wrote:THE question going through everyone's head is.

Should I get the discounted Hydra or Pre-order the Leap?

For VR? That is not even a question if you ask me, I have both in front of me and the Hydra is what you want for VR.

I disagree with Namielus saying the LEAP is completely worthless for VR, but it will never be for VR what a Hydra is. A LEAP will not help with the feeling of being a human in a virtual Reality, it might help you with manipulating objects in a god mode version of yourself. But I don't want to go into that too much.

I will release games for the LEAP that will work with the Rift. And sometime in the future I might even create the one or other title where the LEAP beats the Hydra as an VR input device, but those will be the freak games, not the norm.

The Leap is cool, it will have its place as a VR input controller where very fine hand motion is necessary. As "the" input controller for VR, though? Not a chance. Its field of view relegates it to the same pile as mice and keyboards - if you want to turn your head at all you'll need to move out of the tiny physical space those devices are sensing. The Hydra is the very best thing going right now, and it will be for the foreseeable future.


EDIT: Added Licht link; check it out if you haven't already.

Can't the Leap be mounted under the Rift?

Still not sold on waving my arms around for long gaming sessions but that video is absolutely mind-blowing.

I am also very surprised by the low price. Very impressive.

Namielus wrote:I have tried everything I could to squeeze something usefull for Oculus Rift out of the leap.
Hydra is just a much better option. Yes I have both, and I even started out being biased towards Leap.

Maybe in the future, it will be a better option. But right now its limiting.

Fine, I bought it. Because you guys said I had to. (at least that's what I'm going to tell my wife)

donkaradiablo wrote:Can't the Leap be mounted under the Rift?

Lots of cool things you cant do if its mounted under the rift. You can fire directly up, you cant put the gun on your shoulder and fire backwards, you cant stretch your arm out to the side and shoot to the side while looking the other way.

You cant fire at all if you aren't looking at your own arm because the leap wont see your hand.

Then two leaps, mounted above the rift, like an antenna, facing down, with an angle

Namielus wrote:Lots of cool things you cant do if its mounted under the rift. You can fire directly up, you cant put the gun on your shoulder and fire backwards, you cant stretch your arm out to the side and shoot to the side while looking the other way.

You cant fire at all if you aren't looking at your own arm because the leap wont see your hand.

Know what I just realized the other day that blew my mind even though it's completely obvious? If you have a proper dataglove tracking your hand movements, you can also still hold a tracked gun.


If I had money to sink into stocks I'd be buying up lots of shares of Top Shot sling manufacturers and PS Move pistol holster makers.

Nateeight, im going to try to build a simple data glove for sure. Using hydra for arm/hand tracking and potentiometers for detecting closing of individual fingers. Thats the most accesible solution for me right now as I have very limited engineering skills and I found a really good usb-interface for 6 potentiometers that puts each potentiometer on a "joystick axis"