Eye Floaters Break Immersion

[Marulu]

I have found eye floaters to be the biggest immersion breakers while using the Rift.
For those that don´t know, eye floaters are little pieces of vitreous humor, which is the fluid of your eye.
You can normal not see them because they are transparent, but if you look at something bright they cast a shadow into your eye.
These shadows are very distracting, and I can always see them while wearing the Rift because of the lighting of the screen.
The best way to fix this would be going for lighting the panel naturally, using by using a front lit screen.

For some of you eye floaters are not a big problem, but their size and numbers very from person to person.

Pictures of eye floaters:

[Marulu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdrTQlClb08
(Skip to 5:20 for eye floaters explanation)


The video above does a good job at explaining eye floaters.

[Trabbi]

since i see them massively in rl i think it would help the immersion in my case

[Parallaxis]

I have never seen them. Maybe because i'm mildly nearsighted.

[Marulu]

since i see them massively in rl i think it would help the immersion in my case

I have many of them, but i only see them if I look at something bright, like a computer screen, the Rift, and the blue sky.

[Trabbi]

since i see them massively in rl i think it would help the immersion in my case

I have many of them, but i only see them if I look at something bright, like a computer screen, the Rift, and the blue sky.

same here, I didn't mean that I see them all the time, but I have also many of them, of course I see them only when I'm looking at bright things, mostly the blue sky but hardly on my computer monitor.

I don't have my rift yet, but i expect the brightness to be similar to the sony hmz-t1 and i never had this problem with it, maybe they are there and i just don't notice them while playing.

[colocolo]

aah, now i know that i'm not the only one who sees this little flying transparent amoebias.
I see them only when i look into the bright sky and when i concentrate on them.
is the immersion interruption really that high?

[Marulu]

is the immersion interruption really that high?

For me personally it is, but the immersion breaking could be amplified by the bad resolution of the Rift.
The resolution also plays a role in this because some of my floaters block out the pixels.

[Direlight]

Seems like laazzeerr tech should fix floaters.

[Trabbi]

Seems like laazzeerr tech should fix floaters.

"However, the MedicineNet web site states that "there is no evidence that this [laser treatment] is effective. The use of a laser also poses significant risks to the vision in what is otherwise a healthy eye."[23]"


A few years ago I was reading about an upcoming pill? that would rebuild the vitreous body, but as I said that was a few years ago, can't really remember what this was really about.

[Marulu]

A few years ago I was reading about an upcoming pill?

Pills only help if your eye floaters are caused by white blood cells from an infection.
But under normal circumstances those pills do nothing to reduce them.

[Direlight]

However, the MedicineNet web site states that "there is no evidence that this [laser treatment] is effective. The use of a laser also poses significant risks to the vision in what is otherwise a healthy eye.

New lasers are invented all the time. They have anti-scar lasers now, in 20 years anti-floater collagen lasers might exist.



Or some other method to smooth/zap them out.

[urban]

I get some of these aswell, but just in my right eye mainly when outside looking at the sky, cant say I have noticed them when using the rift though

on a side note, I did the dukan diet a couple of years ago, and lost a couple of stones, oddly enough my eye floaters also seemed to go away

they are back now though since stopped doing the dukan, and put the weight back on

[lmimmfn]

in the past i would have them briefly at the outer part of my vision, while on holiday and a heavy nights drinking a few weeks ago i woke up with one of the damn things smack bang in the centre of my vision, what a head wreck. Luckily it went away after a few hours and i dont get them often.
Theres some disease if you have lots of them on a permanent basis isint there?

[zalo]

I never see them while using the rift. I also always have the brightness at its lowest setting. Perhaps you should do the same?

[mattyeatsmatts]

eww thats nasty

[Evenios]

this shouldn't be happening with normal vision you may wish to see an eye doctor i never had that problem.

[Popopinsel]

Marulu, take out the eye cups and check the screen for dust or other particles. I've had things like these in my vision as well and at first thought it was from a little scratch or bubble in the acryl lense (which actually was there) but it turned out it was just a little fibre/dust on the screen.

[Okta]

I have massive floaters in my right eye but do not notice them at all in the Unless I try. They are the least of visual problems for the Rift at this stage.

[geekmaster]

My floaters collect in the bottom of my eyes where they are less of a problem. Where they were really annoying is when I used the ceiling as a projection screen, when the floaters would settle directly on my retinas while I was on my back looking at the video projected above me. Much better to use a projection screen on the wall if you have significant floaters. Or just use a Rift.

Treatment of Eye Floaters

Benign eye floaters almost never require medical treatment.

If they are bothersome, you can move them away from your field of vision by moving your eyes. This maneuver shifts the fluid in your eyes. Looking up and down is usually more effective than looking from side to side.

If eye floaters are so dense and numerous that they affect your vision, your eye doctor may consider a surgical procedure called a vitrectomy. During this procedure, the vitreous and its floating debris are removed and replaced with a salt solution.

Vitrectomy may have complications, such as:
- Retinal detachment
- Retinal tears
- Cataracts

The risks of such complications are quite high. Most surgeons will not perform vitrectomy unless eye floaters are seriously affecting the patient's vision.

Of course, when we can get an affordable high quality Direct Neural Interface for our life in VR, we won't have much use for our real eyes and their floater problem, eh?

[azl]

I have found eye floaters to be the biggest immersion breakers while using the Rift.

Since floaters exist in reality, the only impact on immersion I can imagine is looking at something that is supposed to be dim but is unnaturally bright due to an overly bright display and thus reveals your floaters. Obviously looking at a bright wall or blue sky should reveal the floaters, because that would occur in real life.

So maybe a better screen with higher contrast would improve that. That way the blacks, dark reds, dark blues, etc., won't cast such strong shadows, but a bright sky will still be sky-bright.

[Marulu]

Since floaters exist in reality, the only impact on immersion I can imagine is looking at something that is supposed to be dim but is unnaturally bright due to an overly bright display and thus reveals your floaters.

That is what i meant when I said they break immersion, I guess I should have been a little more precise.
For those worrying about my eye sight, I have been to a doctor specialized in eyes and he said my eyes are fine.

[boone188]

Solution: drain all the fluid from your eyes