First Impressions From Rift Owners

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MrGreen
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by MrGreen »

geekmaster wrote:but I just found it amusing that the author mentioned both examples previously used in the screendoor discussions (beekeeping and fencing), making me think that he reads these threads...
Yeah I agree. He also seemed way too enthusiastic to not be at least a lurker. :)
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by geekmaster »

unsilentwill wrote:... The second half of the show is about the new Batman. If no one makes the Nate Mitchell connection of being Batman, I may lose hope in gamers these days.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvtk5toGJg
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by kludd70 »

ALright, I'll try and do an extensive writeup of my Rift impressions here. And take note, this is coming from someone who has no experience with VR or HMDs outside of Virtual Boy.

Initially everything outside the center was really blurry since I was using the wrong eyecups. It looks like the C cups are the ones I need, even though I can see much clearer IRL than in the Rift and don't even wear glasses most of the time. Once I had the C cups in, things looked more as expected. Very immersive, but low res and screendoory and such, yet still perfectly playable.

What I was kind of disappointed with was the FOV. I was under the impression that the Rift takes up "almost" your entire vision and that you could see things to the left and right of you, but that really isn't the case. It is a lot like looking through binoculars, as some have said. If you want to see left/right/down you need to turn your head. This to me, moreso than the resolution/screendoor/blur/etc, is still the biggest barrier between what we have now and the sensation of really "being there". Though it is pretty close and I'm sure it's a big step forward from what we've had before. But is there any reason the lenses couldn't be a bit larger?

Another thing I haven't seen mentioned much is the color quality of the screen being pretty weak. Light, washed out colors with very poor black levels (and the brightness/contrast controls on the receiver don't help much, they just seem to control the backlight intensity). Of course it's just a dev kit so that's understandable, but this is something that needs improving for the consumer version just as much as the resolution does.

In terms of nausea, I played for about 4 hours straight at first and didn't feel any more than slight discomfort at times. I only became very disoriented when trying to play some games with Vireio where the pitch of the headtracking isn't fixed and you can still look up and down with the controller/mouse. That's definitely something that needs more tweaking. Also just tried Museum of the Microstar and that seems to have some major lag which makes me nauseous right away. Other than that though, there's been no problem.

And so far I think the "requirement" of 60fps is just PC gamers being PC gamers. Yeah, framerate drops can be jarring, but I've tried running some things at a locked 30fps and I thought it felt just fine, still very responsive and smooth. In fact I think I may feel less dizziness from moving and turning with the controls this way. So I think that could bode well for people without supercomputers, I dunno, try it and see what you think.

In all, I feel like I've gotten what I paid for. Though the idea that this is just a test run and we could eventually get a vastly improved product for around the same price is phenomenal, provided the improvements are made (and I'm still gonna say FOV should be #1 on the list).
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by geekmaster »

kludd70 wrote:Initially everything outside the center was really blurry since I was using the wrong eyecups. It looks like the C cups are the ones I need, even though I can see much clearer IRL than in the Rift and don't even wear glasses most of the time. Once I had the C cups in, things looked more as expected. Very immersive, but low res and screendoory and such, yet still perfectly playable.
I used the C (short) eyecups for awhile, because I am nearsighted and the were the only lenses that gave me a sharp focus. However, I got frustrated with the really small FoV those lenses give, so I tried them all again when it occurred to me I could define how many floor tiles wide I can see in the OculusRoomTiny demo, to compare the relative FoV of the different lens sets. I discovered that the A (large) cups have a little more FoV than the B (medium) cups, but a LOT more FoV than the C cups.

So I changed back to the original A (large) cups. With use, I discovered that I can get a little bit better focus if I can get my eyes EXACTLY over the "sweet spot" in the lens axis (for both lenses). This is hard for me to do without holding the RiftDK in my hands like Granny in the YouTube viral video, so I can continuously tweak my RiftDK position on my face to keep my eyes in that tiny little sweet spot. That hold would make using my Razer Hydra impossible though. It would be nice to have some controller buttons on the top edges of my RiftDK to press while holding it to my face like that.

I keep my eyes so close to the lenses that my eyelashes brush against the lenses, which is the only way to get a really huge FoV. And with those C (small) cup lenses, you lose about half the FoV of the larger eyecups.

My best experience (but only with one eye at a time) was with my 2-inch 5x aspheric acrylic lenses (recommended in the DIY Rift thread), mounted on one-inch tall "eyecup" cylinders. They needed to be offset outwards though to make room for my nose, which causes tangential distortion and more chromatic aberration. However, when I used those lenses offset like that with my 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet, the Vireo videos designed for the fully-overlapped 5.6-inch LCD DIY Rifts looked great. The lenses pulled the images inward when looking through the inner half of the larger lenses, so software IPD compensation was not needed for those fully-overlapped image pairs.

But for now, I am just using the original A cups that came pre-installed, for maximum FoV at the expense of poor focus ,but okay if I hold my eyes EXACTLY over the lens optical axis (i.e. "sweet spot"). Using eyeglasses would move my eyes farther back from the lenses causing a large reduction in my FoV, so I am just living with the poor focus (until I get contact lenses or custom Rift lenses).

Recommendation: If you are more concerned about FoV than focus (like me) use the longest (A) eyecups, and try to keep your eyes EXACTLY over the lens sweet spot (optical axis), to get the best focus that you can.


And yes, the larger 2-inch diameter "DIY Rift" lenses do give more FoV, because the 1.5-inch RiftDK lenses do restrict how far to the sides you can look (but not very much when your eyelashes brush the lenses).
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by kludd70 »

Hmm. Okay, I tried out the A cups again (pushed all the way forward) and I honestly don't notice any difference in FOV compared to the C cups. I still can't really see to the sides or below, maybe it's a difference with our eyes or smth. The C cups are zoomed in very slightly, but that can be corrected for in software.

Even with my contacts the A cups are still totally blurry outside the center, Bs are ok though, but like I said, I don't notice a difference in FOV so I'm sticking with the Cs for convenience.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by brainpann »

Here is my second day experience with the rift. Much better! I retried several of the previous demos and a few new ones; the motion sickness was much much more subdued. When I did start to feel a little woozy, I bobbed my head a bit just like Cymatic Bruce recommended. It worked very well and felt oddly natural.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by BullittClay2 »

I've had the Rift for a week now - here's my thoughts so far...

Day One
...was exhilarating, but tough. I felt pretty nauseous for most of the first day from motion sickness. I definitely feel much less so now. I have found that strafing sideways is just generally bad news for me. It's such an unnatural motion. If you just move forward, then rotate and move forward etc - I think it feels much better.

General Thoughts
As many have said - there are a number of things that need improved on for the consumer version. Top 4 being - Resolution, Blurring, Head Tracking and FOV. (The binocular effect) If they can fix those, it will really be a stunning piece of kit.

My Favourites So Far
The Sixense Tuscany demo with the Hydra controllers is by far the most amazing 'experience' I've had so far I think. As soon as you no longer need the mouse and keyboard, you can stand up which feels much more natural to me, as the height of the character in the demo is standing height. Having hands in the world is a completely different experience also. So much more immersive. Just picking things up, inspecting them, moving them, throwing them is so much fun. It feels very natural. Even slapping the shutter windows is awesome. :)

I also tried the Tuscany Demo with the head-tracking, (using the Hydra strapped to the Rift) which was also super awesome - you could definitely feel that extra sense of immersion when you can duck, lean to the side etc - and the tracking matches. The only negative here for me is that it wasn't always tracking perfectly. And it feels really strange when it's just slightly off.

Walking around some of the levels in UDK was also very cool. The quality of the visuals is so much higher than anything else, the stereoscopic 3D is totally perfect. I was blown away just looking around those levels - like DM_Deck etc. Really stunning. Team Fortress 2 is also very cool.

Things that have not been as good as I hoped
With the Rift itself - Resolution, blurring and the FOV. I thought it was going to be full vision - peripheral and all. But its not. It's like looking through a pipe - or binoculars as someone else said. Hopefully they can fix this.

In terms of game experiences - whilst I totally appreciate the Vireio Perception drivers - I've found that the games using those drivers don't have the same quality of stereoscopic 3D. I've tried HL2, Mirror's Edge and Dear Ester - and none of them really feel as good as the Tuscany Demo, TF2 or UDK. I tried tinkering with the settings, but it didn't help. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Let me know if you feel like the 3D works great for you on those, and how you achieved it.

Overall
It's awesome. It clearly feels like a dev kit version - but the potential is 100% apparent. There are some real moments, when you get a feel for how this has the potential to make a major impression on not only games, but all forms of entertainment and beyond. I think that we are right at the start of a revolution.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by brantlew »

@BullittClay2: Glad your nausea has subsided a bit. Can you try this just to see if you still feel strange while strafiing? Turn your head sideways so you are looking across your shoulder and then hit the strafe key so that it looks like you are just walking forward with your head turned to the side. Does that give you the same sense of nausea or not? I predict not, but I'm sort of taking an informal poll here.

Also, why did you expect full field-of-vision? It's always been advertised as 90 degrees (horizontal) which is only about half your FOV?
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Omozinox »

@ Brantley "Also, why did you expect full field-of-vision? It's always been advertised as 90 degrees (horizontal) which is only about half your FOV?"
Re-watched the rift kickstarter video and at ~3:05 into the video it clearly states that the rift has a FOV of 110 degrees.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Omozinox »

Sorry meant @brantlew :roll:
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by BullittClay2 »

I think the original pitch quoted 110 degrees FOV. And I had heard it said in a few videos (can't remember who by - not necessarily Oculus) - that it pretty much filled your vision. I did hear the odd comment about the 'black edges' but it was then said that it 'depended on your eyesight as to whether you seen those edges'. But in reality, it is much more like 'binocular vision' than I thouht it would be.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a great piece of kit even in it's current form - but those black edges are more pronounced than I thought they might be.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by cerulianbaloo »

110 diagonal 90 horizontal, it's on the main page of the kickstarter.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Omozinox »

I guess I am confused with the terminology. I understand a horizontal FOV but what is and how do you measure a diagonal FOV?
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

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Omozinox wrote:@ Brantley "Also, why did you expect full field-of-vision? It's always been advertised as 90 degrees (horizontal) which is only about half your FOV?"
Re-watched the rift kickstarter video and at ~3:05 into the video it clearly states that the rift has a FOV of 110 degrees.
That's diagonal FOV, not horizontal.

I'm afraid some people will be just as dissapointed with the consumer version because they have much too high expectations. That's not something a better Rift will fix, but better content will.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by BullittClay2 »

Either way, it's not a huge deal right now. I just hope they can minimise the black surround on the final consumer version.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Parallaxis »

BullittClay2 wrote:Either way, it's not a huge deal right now. I just hope they can minimise the black surround on the final consumer version.
Are you sure you set the lenses close enough to your eyes? Sounds a lot like thats the issue here. They need to almost touch your lashes.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by BullittClay2 »

I know what you're saying - I've tried both extremes. I normally settle for the middle - so that my lashes are not hitting the lenses. But even when they are as close as possible, you still get a reasonable black border.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by yomer »

Looking at other DIY's, not necessarily per Palmer's design, there are ways to get a greater FOV. Perhaps not 180 horizontally, but something close enough that with some custom lights at the very border, the effect would be of complete immersion. There has to be a combination of lens form and screen size(and maybe concaveness) that would help us achieve this.

I bet Oculus is more preoccupied on how to increase the FOV than to get better resolution. Since res is a given in about a year and it depends on a third party, while achieving a better FOV is more of an own breakthrough that they would have to accomplish.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong, can't the FOV be increased for the consumer version?
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by boone188 »

It's going to be pretty difficult to increase horizontal FOV using the displays that are available. Too bad 21:9 displays haven't become the rage..
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Syke408 »

Forgive me but I am so confused reading this thread. I read reviews from forum members and from articles linked in this thread saying the FOV on the rift is amazing and it feels like you are actually "in" the game. Then I hear people on this thread say the FOV is a huge problem and its like looking through a tube. This really worries me seeing as Oculus and all the press are hyping up the FOV as something amazing and even the kickstarter video shows an awesome FOV graphic. So is it just that "actually being in the game" is subjective, or are some people just trying to hype up a new piece of tech that they want to succeed? I know everyone has an opinion but I am seeing both extremes here, some say it is not good and other say that it is so good that you are "in" it. So which is it? Can someone please enlighten me. Thanks in advance!
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Parallaxis »

The actual FOV differs hugely from person to person, that much we have learned so far. We have also learned that people experiencing lower FOV, don't see the screen door effect much, and that people experiencing a huge FOV, also see a lot of screen door effect.

You just have to wait and see.

What does not differ much is that people seem to love the Rift experience much more after a few days use and even more so after a week. So accept that it takes a little time to adjust.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by V8Griff »

Syke408 wrote:Forgive me but I am so confused reading this thread. I read reviews from forum members and from articles linked in this thread saying the FOV on the rift is amazing and it feels like you are actually "in" the game. Then I hear people on this thread say the FOV is a huge problem and its like looking through a tube. This really worries me seeing as Oculus and all the press are hyping up the FOV as something amazing and even the kickstarter video shows an awesome FOV graphic. So is it just that "actually being in the game" is subjective, or are some people just trying to hype up a new piece of tech that they want to succeed? I know everyone has an opinion but I am seeing both extremes here, some say it is not good and other say that it is so good that you are "in" it. So which is it? Can someone please enlighten me. Thanks in advance!
There's a few things going on here in my opinion.

Something that's being discussed is using the different eye cups that give differing FOVs due to their distance from the screen and the subsequent 'narrowing' of the FOV. I've pretty bad eyesight but I wear contact lenses to correct my vision so I can use the standard eyecups that come fitted and haven't seen any of the narrowing of vision that brings the edges into view to a point were they're a deal breaker.

Secondly as early adopters many people are being uber critical and are analysing what they're seeing so rather than just putting the HMD on an playing they're looking around. Also I think people's expectations are unrealistic, the early comments from people like John Carmack and Cliffy B are based on their experiences of what they've seen before and in direct comparison to anything else currently available the sense of 'immersiveness' in the Rift is unparalleled at this price point.

I can only draw on my experience of the Virtuality systems I used to operate that had a FOV of around 70 degrees and if players went in to play the game they had a good time but if anyone went in to analyse the experience they were more than likely disappointed.

The same thing is happening here, imo (in simple terms) we spend most of our time looking straight ahead and our peripheral vision is extra information, I don't spend my time looking out of the corners of my eyes but that is what people are doing here rather than move their head to keep the sweet spot they're moving their eyes within the HMD and as a result they're looking at the edges. This moving of your head rather than your eyes I believe is another VR 'trick' that needs to be learnt to keep the experience at a good level.

My personal opinion is for the stage of development, general approach and money this is way better than anything seen before, yes it has room for improvement and it can only get better with development.

As mentioned above my experience (certainly from nausea) has improved over the period I've used the Rift and I'm sure once the analysis phase has moved on and people have found their 'sweet spot' with regards to the lenses etc and it's being used as a simple peripheral (and that is all it is) people's experiences will improve
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Machinima »

With a flat LCD panel I'm not really sure how you could get a large horizontal FOV without the panel and optics being huge. Even if you had the panel touching your nose it comes no where near to 180 degrees FOV, IMO only curved panels will be able to achieve full peripheral FOV.

I find it hard to believe that some people have been expecting full peripheral FOV, to me its always been obvious that if I look left or right with my eyes I will see the plastic of the goggles, after all we're looking into a pair of circular lenses... since when have lenses like that taken up your whole FOV? Either these people are drunk on hype or they're idiots.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by yomer »

There are two ways to achieve a wider field of view per my basic understanding.

1. There have been two phones, from LG and Acer which sported a low res 21:9 LCD screen. If you move forward a couple of years if those same ratio screens could be procured from a manufacturer(Oculus would have to buy hundreds of thousands if not millions in advance), then those screens could have high PPI and be used in the consumer version. This would allow a pretty good FOV

2. You get a very high density 7 inch screen and basically render to just a section of the screen, emulating a "vertically" smaller screen. The deal here is to do enough cropping vertically yo keep the vertical FOV covered and at the same time save from rendering pixels. The best candidate is the retina display screen for the next gen ipad mini, which is said to be approximately 2,048 x 1,536

I really don't care if the consumer Rift has a big face plate. As long as it's relatively lightweight and high res.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ON7UkFbkyw

First impressions from a bunch of people.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Pingles »

Leo LaPorte (host of TwiT) was a backer of the Kickstarter but lately he has sounded very negative towards the Rift. Now that he's finally gotten his hands on one it will be interesting to hear what he has to say. He records his This Week in Tech podcast today and livestreams the video at 2PM PST.

Roger Chang was on his show last week and when Leo mentioned the Rift Roger threw a couple of jabs at it. *grumble*
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

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V8Griff wrote:Something that's being discussed is using the different eye cups that give differing FOVs due to their distance from the screen and the subsequent 'narrowing' of the FOV. I've pretty bad eyesight but I wear contact lenses to correct my vision so I can use the standard eyecups that come fitted and haven't seen any of the narrowing of vision that brings the edges into view to a point were they're a deal breaker.
My experiments that compared eyecup FoV by using the number of floor tiles visible when looking down in the OculusRoomTiny demo showed that the FoV is larger with a longer eyecup. The shortest eyecups appear to have about half the FoV of what you see with the longest eyecups, when my eyes were close enough to them so my eyelashes brushed the lenses. For the shortest eyecups, that measurement was performed with the foam removed from the RiftDK facemask (to allow my eyes to get closer to the lenses).

When your eyes are farther back from the lenses (such as while wearing glasses), your FoV is substantially reduced, because when you look far to the sides you are not looking through the lenses nearly as much as you would with your eyes closer to the lenses.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by V8Griff »

geekmaster wrote:When your eyes are farther back from the lenses (such as while wearing glasses), your FoV is substantially reduced, because when you look far to the sides you are not looking through the lenses nearly as much as you would with your eyes closer to the lenses.

Eyes close to the lenses, with my eylashes more or less touching the (standard) lenses and the faceplate quite close to the screen? So isn't what I'm saying the same as your last comment? :?

I'll admit I haven't changed the lenses as I rarely wear my glasses during the day and with my contacts in haven't needed any correction.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

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V8Griff wrote:
geekmaster wrote:When your eyes are farther back from the lenses (such as while wearing glasses), your FoV is substantially reduced, because when you look far to the sides you are not looking through the lenses nearly as much as you would with your eyes closer to the lenses.
Eyes close to the lenses, with my eylashes more or less touching the (standard) lenses and the faceplate quite close to the screen? So isn't what I'm saying the same as your last comment? :?

I'll admit I haven't changed the lenses as I rarely wear my glasses during the day and with my contacts in haven't needed any correction.
Actually, my interpretation of what you said was the opposite of what I said.
V8Griff wrote:... different eye cups that give differing FOVs due to their distance from the screen and the subsequent 'narrowing' of the FOV
The keyword there is "subsequent", which implies that increased lens-to-screen distance of causes narrower FoV. My experiments show that the longer A eyecup (which has more distance from the screen) actually has a wider FoV, and not narrower as my interpretation of you quote above seems to imply.

However, increased lens-to-eye distance (such as when wearing eyeglasses) certainly causes a narrower FoV (because the eyecup lens itself covers less of your FoV). So, I may have misinterpreted what you were trying to say, having been confused by your use of the word "subsequent" in that particular choice of words.
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by V8Griff »

geekmaster wrote: However, increased lens-to-eye distance (such as when wearing eyeglasses) certainly causes a narrower FoV (because the eyecup lens itself covers less of your FoV). So, I may have misinterpreted what you were trying to say, having been confused by your use of the word "subsequent" in that particular choice of words.
That was what I was trying to say so the word "subsequent" did cause the confusion, perhaps "resultant" would have been a better word?
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by Tbone »

I originally started my own thread here, but I figured I would cross post for those who missed it.

-----------------------

Image

TLDR: This is about the Oculus Rift - just read it already!

INTRODUCTION

Hello! Recently I had the opportunity to spend two hours trying multiple demos on the Rift, and I thought I would share my experiences! A little bit of background - I am not a game developer and haven't been following the Rift or VR/3D gaming until this past January, so you can kind of consider me a future consumer. I learned about the Rift through CES coverage and have been OBSESSIVELY following it ever since. When a thread popped up on the MTBS3D forums about people receiving developer kits who were willing to demo them to others, I constantly checked back to see if "Washington, DC" popped up on the list.

And then he appeared: rmcclelland - here on out known as "the coolest guy I know"! Not only was this guy getting a dev kit and willing to demo it in my area, he was #101 in line to receive it, which means he was in the first batch! We PMed back and forth for a few weeks, and finally set up a time for last Thursday. I was nervous. Should I bring a 6 pack of beer? No wait - Palmer said no alcohol. This guy was kind enough to invite me, a stranger, into HIS HOME to show off his toy. Seriously the coolest guy I know. I showed up about 8:20 (I couldn't help but be early) and spent the next two hours powering through everything he could show me in the Rift!

Please note that my time in the Rift was without any calibration. He switched it to A cups and in I went.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

RMC and I talked for a bit about the Rift and our backgrounds in VR enthusiasm. I tried to hide my impatience to just throw the thing on my face, but when he finally handed it to me to look at, I instantly went to put it on my face. "Whoa, there's nothing to see there yet!". Ok, I should take it all in anyway.

The thing is light, like everyone says. He loaded up the Tuscany demo and I jacked in. A flood of information entered my brain. It's hard to describe what I noticed first. I was in the middle of the Tuscany house, staring at the stairs. It looked completely different from all the videos I had seen. The colors were toned down a bit, and yet seemed very realistic. The 3D was perfect. It seemed like I was peering through binoculars, and my first impulse was to see if I could increase my FOV. I knew to expect limited FOV horizontally, but I could see "the mask" at the top and bottom as well. This locks out most of your peripheral vision. No problem - I just need to look around with my neck more than with my eyes.

The head tracking was spot on - I didn't even think about it. I looked up and the room was so big! I had no idea. As most people have heard, the sense of scale is hard to describe. I had seen this room a million times in demo videos, but it seemed like a completely different room. The fire, the chairs, the chandelier ... I looked where RMC was talking to me from - an empty bench. I turned around to a doorway leading to outside. I saw the fountain in the distance with leaves (or whatever they are) floating around. I probably spent 10 minutes not moving and just looking around.

I had heard about the screen door effect, but it wasn't really noticeable unless I focused on something for too long. Staring in one place for too long could cause the black lines to come into focus, but only when I was really looking for it. The rest of my time in the Rift I didn't even think about. The motion blur is a different story, though. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I tried Tuscany, RMC's space station, Rift Rush, Epic Citadel, Epic Citadel Flying, Museum of the whatever, Tuscany+HYDRA, and Epic Citadel ROLLERCOASTER!!! I'm going to take you along my journey through each of these demos.

TUSCANY

I started out in Tuscany. After spending about 10 minutes just looking around in one place, I finally got brave enough to move. It took a little getting used to moving around. As soon as I used the analog stick to turn left or right, I could feel the uneasy sensation that comes with the motion blur. I didn't like that at all, and tried to turn more by moving my head than using the controller, though this isn't always possible. I walked outside, stopping to admire the door frame. I felt that I could touch it, and really wanted to have the Hydra demo to try that - later, though! Going through the doorway felt like going through a doorway. Haha, simple but effective. There was so much beauty to just look at. I looked at the sun through the trees. I went back inside and upstairs to the balcony. There I stopped again, just looking out.

At this point I commented about how I feel I could just relax in the space. I imagined having a virtual laptop on the ledge and wanted someway to track my beer in the real world. I wanted to sit on a beach and just relax. I commented about how the world didn't need more detail to appear realistic. Our graphics are already there, and the Rift tricks my brain to accepting the textures of the world. RMC disagreed with me here. He said he notices the inconsistencies more. I moved around a bit more and then starting "feeling it". The left/right movements and blurriness were getting to me, and I jacked out to take a quick breather.

SPACE STATION

Next RMC jacked me into a space station he had sort of thrown together. I immediately noticed that it didn't have as much detail as Tuscany, and so it was harder to accept it as a "reality". The first thing he pointed out was that I had a body. I looked down, but didn't see it at first. I tucked my head into my chest and finally saw it - my binocular vision had been obstructing it. He led me over to a ledge to jump down from. Gravity was turned down (because I'm in space!), and so I gently floated to the platform underneath. I noticed that heights didn't really bother me - at least not in this demo. Beside me was another astronaut, only he was huge. I went up to him, his arms outstretched. He would have been intimidating except it looked like he wanted to give me a hug. Ok, over another ledge and falling away - time to jack out!

RIFT RUSH

Now it was time to get completely away from realism. Rift Rush is a simple platformer game. The goal is simply to jump from platform to platform before time runs out. One thing I noticed immediately was the UI. The options would float in front of me. Sometimes it would track with my head. Sometimes I could use my head to choose an option. The 3D UI was very cool, even though it was simple. Despite jumping from platform to platform, I didn't find myself feeling uneasy as quickly in this demo. Again the sense of scale was dramatically different from the monitor to the Rift. This game acted as kind of a proof of concept that casual games have a real place in the Rift. Even if your computer can't handle Skyrim in stereoscopic 3D, you could probably play Rift Rush. The platforms seemed so much larger in the Rift! I was a natural, but got cocky and kept falling! Ok, enough of this! I gotta try as much as I can!

EPIC CITADEL

On to the classic Epic Citadel. No snow. No knights. But still the Citadel! This was the first demo that really was showing things from a distance. I noticed that signs were hard to read and details were hard to make out when they are far away. The limited pixels means that things become kinda fuzzy when they are far away. Still, it didn't stop me from enjoying a running stream and banners flapping in the breeze. I started to get my VR legs a little by now and did a bit more walking around and exploring. I found myself wanting to have things to interact with - enemies to shoot or other people to look at. The castle was huge - again the sense of scale. All this moving around was starting to get to me, though, so it was time to jack out for another break.

EPIC CITADEL - FLYING

I got a glass of water and waited for the uneasiness to subside. As soon as I was feeling better, it was right back into the Epic Citadel - this time for a no clip flight! Flying was surprisingly natural in the Rift. I steered with my head as much as I could, weaving in and out of thruways, alleyways, and whatever other way I could find. It sort of felt like controlling a cinematic 3D movie camera. I didn't feel vertigo or the sense that I might fall. In some ways there was a disconnect, but still a wonderful feeling of freedom.

I also noticed and commented on the lack of detail from far away. Flying high into the sky and looking back down at the citadel, I wanted to be able to see it sharper - clearer. RMC commended that he didn't notice this as much, so perhaps it's a part of not having the Rift calibrated for me. I more think it has to do with the lack of pixel density - there just aren't enough pixels to see details from a distance. You could compare it to being slightly near-sighted. Up close you can see perfect detail, but far away things are slightly out of focus. I flew around for quite a while before the uneasiness came back. I was afraid of pushing myself too far, as I wanted to last as long as I could, so I jacked back out and into reality.

MUSEUM OF THE MICROSTAR

Ok, I had heard this was impressive, so I wanted to try it out. I jacked in and waited to be released from my chamber. The particle effects were cool, but I was already getting a slightly uneasy feeling. I remember hearing that 60 FPS is harder to achieve with the Museum, and RMC asked if I was noticing a dip. I couldn't consciously tell, but it wasn't long before I felt like I was groggily walking through a dream. The door opened onto a platform. There was a huge machine in the middle. Cool! There were signs everywhere, but it was blurry unless I stopped and focused on it. RMC threw headphones on me so I could hear the dialog. Hmm, information about wood. Ok. Again just feeling uneasy and weird. I pushed on, wanting to see more of the demo. I didn't get far before I just couldn't take anymore. Out I went for another break. Consciously I couldn't tell what was off with the demo - the 3D seemed fine and I didn't notice any stuttering, but I couldn't last long at all. If I had to guess it was the FPS combined with having to use the analog stick to turn (my head movement was independent of the direction I would move, meaning I had to turn with the controller). Sorry Microstar - maybe I shouldn't have been flying around before I dropped in for a visit!

TUSCANY DEMO - HYDRA STYLE

Ok, enough of just walking around. I wanted to interact with the world. I persuaded RMC to boot up his Hydra. I went through the calibration and he showed me a gun firing demo with the Hydra (without the Rift). Hey, turns out I'm a natural shot, shooting a can up into the air and then shooting it again in mid-air! Kick ass! But I wanted to combine it with the Rift, so into Tuscany I went.

Having hands in the Rift adds a whole new level of immersion almost immediately. I could pick things up and bring them to my face. I dribbled a basketball - much better than I can in real life! I'm a VR natural! Throwing was a little harder. We learned that the Hydra's slight latency had us releasing too soon. Waiting a millisecond longer to release seemed to give better results. I picked up a log, put it in the fire, and brought it to my face. I was inspected the log when the fire suddenly danced towards my face, causing me to jerk back and drop the log! Very cool. I picked up a baseball and treated it like an apple, bringing it to my mouth. This was all very realistic. I felt like the ball was heading towards my mouth.

Hydra's Tuscany had the option to auto-crouch when reaching down, and this caused a kind of simulated positional tracking. I think this is one of the reasons I was able to stay in this demo much longer. It wasn't long before some of the limitations of the Rift+Hydra combo started to come through, though. Despite trying to re-calibrate my hands to my shoulders, my hands were never quite where I expected them to be. Sometimes they were a foot higher, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. Because of this, I couldn't just rely on reaching where I thought something was. My virtual hand was more of a robotic hand in a cube that was mimicking my real hand. This made me really desire the ability to positional track the Rift and both my hands all together, so that my virtual hands are exactly where my real hands are in relation to where my Rift is.

Still it was very promising, and even without it being a perfect 1:1, having a way to interact in the virtual world definitely upped the immersion. I was trying to find a plank that someone had used to escape from Tuscany. I found it, but by the time I did, it was time to jack out again and catch a breather. I had been in the Rift for nearly two hours, with only 2-5 minute breaks in between. RMC commented that I lasted much longer than he did his first night, though it's easy to lose time in the Rift. Still, I had one more demo to try.

EPIC CITADEL - ROLLERCOASTER

It was getting about that time to leave, but I refused to move until I tried one last demo - a rollercoaster that someone had thrown together in the Epic Citadel. This was the most realistic demo I had in the Rift. I jacked in seated in a wooden rollercoaster. As it slowly escalated, I could see some of the falls and turns that awaited me. I had that same sense that I get in real rollercoasters. It was the calm before the storm. A turn and then I was coming up on the fall. My excitement grew as I got closer and closer - everything was so real. Something about being seated in one place in real life and in the Rift simultaneously really helped my brain connect the two. The coaster peered over the edge and then down I plunged. I screamed, completely forgetting RMC's kids sleeping in the next room. I was completely in the roller coaster, speeding through the Citadel. I couldn't speak. I just sped along, leaning into turns and having the complete feeling of speed. It wasn't long before I was back at the beginning, climbing again. I jacked out immediately, knowing I needed to get going and wanting to end on that high note.

CONCLUSION

Looking back on it now, my journey through the Rift feels like a dream, in almost every sense of the way. Was it real? Was it not? It seems a little too hazy to be real, and yet I can pick out specific moments that felt real. It's like when you are trying to read something in a dream. You really have to stop and concentrate to read it - it's kind of like that in a Rift. It's a trip in which at times you think it is real, all the while in a sort of weird dream state.

The Pros - Head tracking, 3D, and light-weight.

I didn't even think about the head tracking. I had zero issues in all the demos with it. It was simply a non-issue. During my journey, I took it for granted, but it really is an accomplishment that the thing never stuttered. The stereoscopic 3D was also spot on. I hadn't really played games in 3D, so it was a big leap for me. So realisic. The Rift was also very light, another thing I took for granted.

The Cons - FOV, motion blur, and resolution.

Ok, so FOV doesn't really belong in the "con" category when you compare it to HMD's normal 45 degrees. The binocular effect did take some getting used to. Not being able to use my eyes to dart around the scene and instead have to move my head presented a bit of a learning curve and a slight disconnect from what I was seeing being a "reality". Now the Rift also wasn't tuned to my eyes, which are set into my head a good bit. I tried pressing the Rift tighter onto my head, but that didn't help. Want to know what it looks like? Make binoculars with your hands (two circles) and put them around your eyes. Now try to look down at your chest. You'll find you have to look down pretty far before you come into view.

Motion blur was my main source of sickness. Using the analog stick to turn left and right never felt "good". Subtler movements with my head were ok, though. To simulate this, hold your thumb out in front of you while standing. Now twist your torso all the way to the left and all the way to the right, bringing your thumb with you and only focusing on your thumb. Keep your head stationary to your torso as you twist. The blurry world going by behind your thumb is what it looks like in the Rift, only without your thumb there to focus on. You can also just naturally blur your eyes and do the same twist. You'll probably find you can't do it very long before you don't feel well. Generally our eyes focus from point to point as we rotate around, but when everything is blurry, there is nothing to focus on.

Resolution is noticeable when viewing things from a distance. It just feels like you're near-sighted and can't quite see things far away. Things up close are just fine. This is easily fixable with a higher resolution panel, but it was more noticeable to me than the "screen door".

AS A CONSUMER

Speaking as a consumer, I feel the Rift shows promise of what could be. I don't want to feel sick in it. I want to do the marathon gaming that I can do on a monitor. I want to see my hands in the game and just be able to interact naturally. I didn't get to try shooting with a cursor, so I can't speak to that. I REALLY want to have someone else in there with me. I want to talk to my friend on Teamspeak or Skype as we explore a world or have a conversation. I want to have a guild meeting at a virtual round table. I want it to be clear and crisp.

I don't think the consumer will get everything they want immediately. Resolution can be fixed, but perhaps at the expense of performance. Motion blur is a big obstacle. Maybe if there was some sort of floating UI to focus on (like my thumb in real life), I wouldn't feel as queasy - not sure. A natural controller scheme would be nice - I want to have 1:1 virtual arms/hands, but still be able to shoot and move.

I also didn't experience all of what I consider to be the three big pillars of VR. You need the visual, the control, and the audio. I got most of the visual. I got a taste of the control. My audio was always turned down to very quiet. If I'm able to do this again, I want to try to experience all three at once and see what the difference makes!

In the end, the current Rift, Dev v1, is a dream machine. It transports you into a different reality - one where dream rules apply. You can do and see anything, but with the detail of a dream. It's a bit hazy and at times you feel off, but it's a trip nonetheless, and one I already want to take again! Will I buy the consumer Rift? YES, DEFINITELY! Will the masses buy the Rift? I think it depends on the fixes that are made between now and then.

SPECIAL THANKS

Special thanks to rmcclelland, who invited me into his home to experience the Rift. He officially is the Coolest Person I Know. I feel honored to experience what I think will ultimately will be a huge part of the history of technology!
geekmaster
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by geekmaster »

V8Griff wrote:
geekmaster wrote: However, increased lens-to-eye distance (such as when wearing eyeglasses) certainly causes a narrower FoV (because the eyecup lens itself covers less of your FoV). So, I may have misinterpreted what you were trying to say, having been confused by your use of the word "subsequent" in that particular choice of words.
That was what I was trying to say so the word "subsequent" did cause the confusion, perhaps "resultant" would have been a better word?
No, "resultant" also implies causation. This is a case where it may help to simply state that longer eyecups give a wider FoV, like I did. It is hard to find an antonym for "subsequent" or "resultant" that would imply inverse causation (i.e. prevention). Increased lens distance from the screen (longer eyecups) PREVENTS a narrow FoV.

English is such an imprecise and potentially confusing language, so perhaps we should make Latin the Lingua Franca (standard language) of these fora (i.e. forums)? Confusion such as distance/FoV could be avoided automagically with a "more better" language.
kludd70
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by kludd70 »

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why not use square lenses instead of circular?

Maybe another stupid question, but couldn't the FOV still be increased further by bringing the screen even closer (there's room in there), combined with larger lenses? I don't know anything about optics, so forgive me if they don't work like that.
3dvison
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by 3dvison »

From building a Diy Rift this is what I noticed about FOV.
If I used a 2inch lens and put my eye very close to it, the FOV could feel about the same as using my 3inch lens, but with my eye much further away from the 3inch lens. Of course putting my eye very close to the 3inch lens gave me what felt like a much larger FOV, but that was not what I liked about the 3inch lens the most, it was the feeling of almost no Tube-Ooo-Vision that I would get with the 2inch lens.
geekmaster
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by geekmaster »

3dvison wrote:From building a Diy Rift this is what I noticed about FOV.
If I used a 2inch lens and put my eye very close to it, the FOV could feel about the same as using my 3inch lens, but with my eye much further away from the 3inch lens. Of course putting my eye very close to the 3inch lens gave me what felt like a much larger FOV, but that was not what I liked about the 3inch lens the most, it was the feeling of almost no Tube-Ooo-Vision that I would get with the 2inch lens.
The eyecups that come with the RiftDK have 1.5-inch lenses, allowing some people to look directly through the optical axis. Any larger (such as the 2-inch lenses) and your nose is in the way, preventing you from looking through the optical axis. However, that lens offset also happens to extend your stereoscopic overlap a lot more (including see pixels where your nose should be), and the lens (and what it sees) is visible much farther out into your peripheral vision.

To control lens focus (for any lens) you need to adjust its distance from the screen, and the current version of the eyecups does not allow that. I plan to design some replacement eyecups that allow adjusting both lens offset (IPD) and focus (distance from screen). Hopefully, Oculus will beat me to that project, and offer some adjustable lenses for sale on their website.
3dvison
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by 3dvison »

Got it geekmaster.
I am now way off topic, but I forgot to say, that I did make a cut-out in the 3inch lens, to make room for my nose.
geekmaster
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by geekmaster »

3dvison wrote:Got it geekmaster.
I am now way off topic, but I forgot to say, that I did make a cut-out in the 3inch lens, to make room for my nose.
That is cheaper and less painful than making a cut-out in your nose to make room for your lenses. :lol:

You know, like the surgery you would need to use these Apple video glasses:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/ ... of_glasses

Image
Image

Notice that the "patent filing" date is April 1 (April Fools joke). :lol:
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cybereality
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by cybereality »

Ha!
3dvison
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by 3dvison »

Through Apple's Genetic engineering program, they will soon be producing customers with no noses..but lucky for them, they will be able to buy this Apple only device at the Apple store (LINK)
http://www.halloweencostumes.com/funny- ... asses.html
BinarySplit
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Re: First Impressions From Rift Owners

Post by BinarySplit »

[First impressions retracted]

This post was probably a bit premature on my part. I had only spent about an hour wearing the rift and was quite nauseous. I just tried the UDK Citadel Roller Coaster and was blown away. It's clear to me that things will get better as I become more accustomed to viewing things through the Rift.
Last edited by BinarySplit on Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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