Arguably one of the most critical and significant factors in determining the level of immersion in any virtual demonstration is the FOV. It’s an understated concept that often plays backseat to stereoscopic 3D images. I’m not going to pretend that I’m a mastermind when it comes to 3D concepts, or that I’m keenly knowledgeable about all the terms, technology, and history, but I would like to share some personal thoughts about why FOV is extremely important and should be one of the greater areas of focus in our never ending voyage of increasing the level of immersion in virtual applications. Oh, and I have some experiments too, so grab a coffee, put on your sleekest pair of reading glasses, and shut up. Let’s discuss
First of all, close your right eye and look around the room (do it. I’m watching you). Seems pretty normal, huh? Lacking that second eye and only viewing the world from one eye renders your entire vision as a flat surface, but despite this truth, everything still feels fine and groovy. We still have a considerably significant sense of depth though, but this is created from visual cues - shadows cast across objects, spatial arrangement, just knowing offhand that the remote control is smaller than the TV but appears larger in your sight (indicating it’s closer to you), etc. But closing one eye suddenly didn’t transport us to this completely flat realm where you feel like you’re sitting on a completely flat canvas. Not at all - we still feel like we’re laying down on our sofa, sitting out on the patio, or even planted in front of an HDTV watching a questionable documentary about naked bumble bees. This is the first hint that perhaps, maybe just maybe, 3D isn't the total determining factor of how immersive a virtual environment appears! And you’re exactly right!
A couple years back, my family and I took a trip to Disney World. I was a bit late on this, being an adult and all, but you’re never too old for your first Disney trip (or baby food)! At DisneyQuest (an arcade located in Downtown Disney), they had a particular arcade game I was immediately drawn to - Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride. It was advertised as a 3D virtual experience, where the players would don VR helmets and ride around a city collecting gems and destroying baddies. “Disney World, one of the most respected, innovative theme parks in the entire world, with their own take on 3D? This has definitely gotta be good!” But, I was terribly disappointed. The 3D effect was there, yes, but the display was blurry, the tracking crawling with latency issues, and as far as I can recall, the FOV was uncomfortably low. Why wasn’t my entire peripheral vision basking in the glory of Aladdin’ness? Did this VR game fall victim to another case of the common tunnelvision? And more importantly, where was Aladdin at?
I was disappointed and my hopes for immersive, innovative virtual experiences at Disney suddenly vanished. The next morning, we waited in line for another ride - Soarin’. It wasn’t touted as a virtual reality experience, it had no 3D effects whatsoever, yet it completely blew me away, enveloped me in the visuals, and reaffirmed my belief that maybe there is hope for the future of immersive virtual environments. No 3D glasses and no 3D screen, so what exactly was Soarin’s killer feature? The unbelievably huge FOV. For those who haven’t had the chance to experience this incredible ride - you and a bunch of other riders are lifted up slightly above the ground, and in front of you sits a massively large screen that shows a prerecorded video of soarin’(!) over green fields, trees, rivers, all accompanied by simulated wind and scents. The part that really takes the cake though, is the size of the screen. It’s designed in such a manner that your entire FOV is occupied by this screen, so no matter where you glance (so long as you don’t drastically turn your head), you’ll never catch sight of the screen’s borders. So besides the lack of 3D, there’s not too much to prevent Soarin’ from cleverly tricking your brain into believing that you’re really gliding over that lush green habitat. And it truly, honestly does work.
I walked away literally smiling. It was the most immersive, welcoming virtual application I ever had the opportunity of experiencing. And get this - no 3D! The incredibly high level of immersion was created almost entirely by the impressive FOV. I also remember reading an impression article on Gizmodo (or some similar tech blog) about the article’s author standing in front of a new insanely high-resolution, large screen TV on display, commenting about how incredibly immersive the experience felt especially when compared to a 3D HDTV.
So a wide FOV must be that golden relic, the king’s coveted jewel, the answer to all of our monotonously flat, unexciting virtual worlds, right? So then, it can pretty much be assumed, based on this compelling (albeit, firsthand) evidence, that all those big video game developers, the tv manufacturers, that dude named Bob on the street corner who says he has something ‘cool’ to show you in his coat pocket, must be focusing all of their efforts and spending tons of cash with R&D on creating devices that boast a wide FOV, right? Right?!
Well, no...
Here comes the sad truth that keeps me up at night - The industry is currently focused on pumping out HMD’s and devices that proclaim convincing 3D effects, but also almost completely ignore the importance of FOV. 3D HDTV’s are very slowly gaining a noticeable foothold in the television market with increased technology and drastic price reductions (You can pick up a 42” inch 3D HDTV for under $600!), and with the onslaught of 3D capable devices hitting the market every few months, it’s no surprise that the industry is trying to shove 3D down consumer’s throats. Nintendo, one of the biggest players in the history of video games, took a risk and released the newest iteration of their mobile gaming line as a 3D capable device, even going so far as using the 3D technology as the main selling point of the device. Heck, even the word “3D” sits right in the title of the 3DS. Some cell phone manufacturers are also gleaming at the potential of 3D technology, most recently HTC with its EVO 3D android phone. Movies, video games, cell phones, and just about any other form of media you can imagine are all getting a 3D makeover. I can’t imagine the last time I saw more than five movie trailers without at least one of them tossing out a variant of the stock line: “Also in eye popping 3D!” It’s not necessarily a new trend either - the resurgence of anaglyph glasses isn’t quite as recent as you might imagine (and invented even longer ago in the 1800’s!).
But before I have an angry mob lead by James Cameron and Shigeru Miyamoto arriving at my door, I’ll confess that 3D viewing technology DOES have the potential of being a wonderful thing. It’s badass (and admittedly, a bit scary) seeing Alice in RE:Afterlife tossing a set of shurikens right off of the screen towards my throat, and Disney World implementing some really appealing 3D effects in their short film cinemas. Without diverging too much from the importance of FOV, I think the most incredible 3D experiences rely on objects popping out of the wall, rather than sitting inside ala the window effect. If you want to have your mind blown and experience one of the most amazing out-of-the-wall 3D experiences possible with a consumer level price tag, I highly recommend you check out NVidia’s logo demo (included with their 3D Vision control panel). I had my ACER H5360 hooked up to my 3D Vision capable PC projecting a 100” image on my livingroom wall, and the spinning logo literally seems to completely tear away from the wall and hover directly in your livingroom, right in front of your face. I excitedly picked up a stick and waved it around (hope no one was watching...), and there was a definite sense of when the stick I held in my hand was in front of the virtual logo’s plane, and behind it. I imagined the potential of video games utilizing this incredible sense of 3D, perhaps a Donkey Kong-esque arcade game that relies on traversing through the Z axis. Unfortunately, through the countless number of 3D images and videos I’ve shuffled through, I could never again find anything that had such a strongly compelling 3D effect as that NVidia animated 3D logo demo. My point however - 3D effects that lend to virtual objects separating from the screen and populating your real world environment seem to have a much more convincing and appealing effect than those that rely on staring into the screen. For a brief period of time, I owned a 3DS and purchased a few games. All of them presented 3D in the window effect - nothing popped out. Everything was set back inside the screen at varying distances, almost as if you’re staring into a little aquarium filled with Mario and Rayman and that weird Sonic baddie I can never remember the name of. Yeah, sure, it was kind of cool, but I wanted things to pop! I also experimented with a couple of 3D addons for the iPhone/iPod Touch (such as Grilli 3D sheets and Hasbro's My3D), but they too also presented only the window effect. So you must be thinking, “You’re beating a dead horse, man. What does all this 3D stuff have to do with FOV, the whole point of this article?!” I’m getting there, patience my friends
3D does play a mentionable role in increasing the immersion factor, though when weighed against FOV, not entirely noticeable at first. Remember when I had you cover up one eye and glance around your room, while the neighbor’s pointed and laughed? Do that again. But this time, with one eye still closed, take your hand and extend it far in front of you so it’s lined up with the side of your computer monitor (or laptop screen, or cell phone, or SUPER VIEWMASTER 3000XZHAHA). Now, move your hand further back until it extends past your monitor, so it’s essentially behind your monitor on the Z axis but still visible. Repeatedly tell your brain, “My hand and my monitor are directly right next to each other”, even though you’re well aware that your hand is, in fact, extending past your monitor. In a few moments, you’ll begin to see and believe that your hand and monitor are right next to each other. Odd, isn’t it? Now, without adjusting the position of your hand, open your other eye and you’ll immediately see your hand sink into its proper position as your sense of depth is enhanced. This is an example of how 3D must also be present in conjunction with a wide FOV to achieve a higher level of immersion. Individually, both are capable factors of increasing immersion, but together is when they function best.
I would say, concerning FOV and 3D in regards to the level of immersion, FOV plays a much greater role. The immersion factor could probably be attributed to 80% FOV and 20% 3D (just personal figures I’ve derived from my own experiences, by no means solid statistics). So long as the virtual environment is being rendered in the majority of your FOV, peripheral vision included, and the visuals are legible, immersion seems to nearly be guaranteed to increase considerably.
I have one final experiment for you, and this one requires an iPad (any generation, but third will work best with certain videos) or any other device with a fairly decent resolution and roughly a 10” or similar sized screen. Browse youtube for any HD video recorded in first person (POV - point of view), and position the tablet in landscape mode so that the video fills the entire screen. Now, close one eye and hold the tablet about an inch or less in front of your other eye, such that when staring forward (without glancing off to the sides), all you can see is the screen. Play the video and observe how there’s a noticeable increase in the immersion level as opposed to watching the video from afar without filling most of your FOV. In some cases, I found myself smiling and laughing at how much I really felt like I was there, walking through the forest or riding the rollercoaster, which strengthens the fact of how important FOV is. The few people I’ve had try this had similar results. I have to toss you a disclaimer though - DO NOT FOCUS! Keep your eyes completely relaxed and make no attempts whatsoever to focus on the screen - it will most likely cause you incredible eye strain, discomfort, and potential headaches, and truthfully, I actually sort of advise not even trying this, for the fact that you’re holding a screen so close to your vision and the thought of any damage this could cause repeatedly doing this overtime is unsettling. But this is just a little “this-is-what-I’m-trying-to-show-and-tell-everyone” type of experiment, a way to see how important a wide FOV field is when concerning immersion.
Wide FOV = good. And PalmerTech and John Carmack get this. I’m sure most of you have been checking out the thread on here about PalmerTech’s Oculus Rift, and John’s modifications with the HMD to run the 3D-capable Doom 3 BFG edition. I’m extremely excited about this product, because they’re actually putting a considerable amount of focus on one of the most influential factors in determining the immersion factor - the FOV. It makes me anxious and excited that these two understand the FOV’s importance, something that almost seems to go unnoticed even in commercial HMD’s that carry a crazy high price tag. And best of all, the Rift is being offered at a consumer level price. Before this begins to sound too formal/article-like/review’ish, I just want to say thanks guys, the future is looking bright! I just have this hunch that this might be a nudge, or maybe even a considerable step, in the right direction to marketing HMD’s closer to average consumers or enthusiasts -- those who can see the benefits and won’t mind shelling out $500 or so. I haven’t been this excited about the prospect of a HMD in quite awhile.
So, to wrap up this super long post (Congrats if you stuck with me this far! For those who haven’t, the Dungeon of Humiliation awaits you in the near future), I just want to reiterate my personal thoughts on the importance of a wide FOV. It increases the immersion, should be a greater focal point of 3D HMD manufactures, and coupled with strong stereoscopic images, I can comfortably assume would offer an unparalleled, immersive experience in a virtual environment. I can just imagine in the (hopefully) near future when most households have an HMD equipped with a wide FOV, head tracking capabilities with no perceivable latency, laying down on their sofa traveling across the great plains of Africa listening to tranquil sounds of nature via binaural recordings. Perhaps even attach a Leap (motion detection technology) directly to the HMD so the user’s hands are rendered in the virtual environment, increasing the connectivity and sense of integration.
Thanks for reading all, and again thanks to John and PalmerTech, can’t wait to order my Oculus Rift. Love to hear everyone's thought about this... why do you guys think FOV is important (or perhaps, NOT important
)... Oh, and also... if you can count the number of times I typed “immersive” or “3D” in this post, I’ll give you a whole bathtub full of fresh, chocolate chip cookies 
Unless... It's night, and dark, and rainy, in which case, I'm gonna need a better analogy...hehe
