Virtual reality equipment and technology is almost mature

“We are close to the point where it will be difficult to see the difference between virtual reality and the outside world,” says Tim Sweeney (1), founder of Epic Games and one of the world's most famous computer graphics experts. In his opinion, every few years the equipment will double its capabilities, and in a decade or so we will be at the point he indicated.

At the end of 2013, Valve organized a game developers conference for the Steam platform, during which the consequences of the development of technology (VR - virtual reality) for the computer industry were discussed. Valve's Michael Abrash summed it up succinctly: "Consumer VR hardware will be available in two years." And it really happened.

The media and cinema are involved.

Known for its openness to innovation, the New York Times announced in April 2015 that it would include virtual reality alongside video in its multimedia offering. During a presentation prepared for advertisers, the newspaper showed the film "City Walks" as an example of content that could be included in the media repertoire. The film allows for five minutes to "enter" the production process of the magazine, prepared by the New York Times, which includes not only watching the editorial work, but also a crazy helicopter flight over the New York high-rise buildings.

In the world of cinema, too, novelties are coming. Renowned British director Sir Ridley Scott will be the industry's first mainstream artist to make the leap into virtual reality. The creator of the iconic Blade Runner is currently working on the first VR movie to be shown in multiplexes. It will be a short film that will be released alongside The Martian, Scott's new production.

Film studios are planning to use short VR videos as commercials on the Internet - as soon as virtual reality glasses hit the market in the summer. Fox Studio wants to further expand this experiment by equipping select Los Angeles theaters with virtual reality glasses to test this short expansion for The Martian.

Head in VR

Whether we are talking about virtual or only augmented reality, the number of ideas, proposals and inventions has skyrocketed in the last dozen or so months. Google Glass is a small thing (although they may yet come back), but plans are known for Facebook buying Oculus for $500 billion, then Google spending over $2015 million on Magic Leap glasses designed to offer a combination of virtual and augmented reality - and of course or Microsoft, which has been investing in the famous HoloLens since early XNUMX.

In addition, there is a series of glasses and more extensive VR sets, most often presented as prototypes by the largest electronics manufacturers.

The most famous and widely used are HMD (Head Mounted Display) and projection glasses. In both cases, these are head-mounted devices with miniature screens placed in front of the eyes. Currently, smartphones are often used for this. The image generated by them is constantly in the user's field of view - regardless of which way the user looks and / or turns his head. Most titles use two monitors, one for each eye, to give the content a sense of depth and space, using stereoscopic 3D rendering and lenses with the correct radius of curvature.

To date, the American company's Rift projection glasses are one of the most famous solutions designed for private users. The first version of the Rift goggles (model DK1) has already delighted potential buyers, although it did not represent the pinnacle of sleek design (2). However, Oculus has perfected its next generation. The biggest complaint about the DK1 was the low image resolution.

So the image resolution in the DK2 model was raised to 1920 × 1080 pixels. In addition, the previously used IPS panels with a high response time have been replaced with a 5,7-inch OLED display, which improves contrast and improves image dynamics. This, in turn, brought additional and decisive advantages. Combined with an increase in the refresh rate to 75 Hz and an improved head movement detection mechanism, the delay in converting head movement into a cyberspace rendering has been reduced - and such slippage was one of the biggest drawbacks of the first version of virtual reality glasses.

3. Feelreal mask with Oculus Rift

The DK2 projection glasses provide a very large field of view. The diagonal angle is 100 degrees. This means that you can barely see the edges of the mapped space, further enhancing the experience of being in cyberspace and identifying with the avatar figure. In addition, the manufacturer equipped the DK2 model with infrared LEDs, placing them on the front and side walls of the device. An additional camera receives signals from these LEDs and, based on them, calculates the current position of the user's head in space with high accuracy. Thus, the goggles can detect movements such as tilting the body or peeking around a corner.

As a rule, the equipment no longer requires complex installation steps, as was the case with older models. And expectations are very high as some of the most popular gaming graphics engines already support Oculus Rift glasses. These are mainly Source ("Half Life 2"), Unreal, and also Unity Pro. The team working on Oculus includes very famous people from the gaming world, incl. John Carmack, co-creator of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, Chris Horn, formerly of the Pixar animation film studio, Magnus Persson, the inventor of Minecraft, and many others.

The latest prototype shown at CES 2015 is the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay. The media wrote about the huge difference between the early version (DK2) and the current one. Picture quality has been greatly improved, and emphasis has been placed on surround sound, which effectively enhances the experience. Tracking the movements of the user covers a range of up to 360 degrees and is extremely accurate - for this purpose, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer are used.

In addition, the goggles are lighter than previous versions. An entire ecosystem of solutions has already been built around Oculus glasses that go even further and advance the virtual reality experience. For example, in March 2015, Feelreal introduced an Oculus mask attachment (3) that connects wirelessly to the glasses via Bluetooth. The mask uses heaters, coolers, vibration, a microphone, and even a special cartridge that contains interchangeable containers with seven scents. These fragrances are: ocean, jungle, fire, grass, powder, flowers and metal.

virtual boom

The International Consumer Electronics Show IFA 2014, which took place in September in Berlin, was a breakthrough for the industry. It turned out that more and more manufacturers are interested in virtual reality technologies. Samsung has introduced its first own solution in this area - Gear VR projection glasses. The device was created in collaboration with Oculus, so it is not surprising that it looks very similar in appearance. However, there is a fundamental technological difference between the products. While in Oculus the image of cyberspace is formed on the built-in matrix, the Samsung model displays the virtual space on the screen of the camera (phablet) of the Galaxy Note 4. The device must be inserted into a vertical slot on the front of the case, and then connected to the glasses via a USB interface. The display of the phone offers a high resolution of 2560 × 1440 pixels, and the built-in screen of the DK2 only reaches the Full HD level. Working with sensors in the glasses themselves and in the phablet, Gear VR must accurately determine the current position of the head, and the efficient components of the Galaxy Note 4 will provide high-quality graphics and reliable visualization of the virtual space. Built-in lenses provide a wide field of view (96 degrees).

The Korean company Samsung released an app called Milk VR at the end of 2014. It allows owners of Gear VR displays to download and watch movies that immerse the viewer in a 360-degree world (4). The information is important because anyone who wants to try virtual reality technology currently has relatively few films of this type at their disposal.

Simply put, there is equipment, but there is nothing special to look at. Music videos, sports content, and action movies are also among the categories in the app. This content is expected to be available online soon for app users.

Find cartridges in the virtual box

During last year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Sony unveiled a new version of its prototype VR kit, Morpheus. The elongated glasses are designed to work with the PlayStation 4 console and, according to the company's announcements, will hit the market this year. The VR projector is equipped with a 5,7-inch OLED display. According to Sony, Morpheus will be able to process graphics at 120 frames per second.

Shuhei Yoshida of Sony Worldwide Studios stated at the aforementioned San Francisco conference that the device currently on display is "nearly final". The possibilities of the set were presented on the example of the shooter The London Heist. During the presentation, the most impressive was the quality of the image and the meticulous movements that the player made in virtual reality thanks to Morpheus. He opened his desk drawer for gun cartridges, took out bullets and loaded them into his rifle.

Morpheus is one of the most pleasing projects from a design standpoint. It's true that not everyone thinks it matters at all, because what matters in the virtual world, and not in the real world, matters in the end. It seems that this is what Google itself thinks when promoting its Cardboard project. This does not require large financial costs, and users who find the proposed price level already too high can take matters into their own hands. The case is made of cardboard, so with a little manual skill, anyone can assemble it on their own without incurring large costs. The template is available for free download as a zip-archive on the company's website. To visualize cyberspace, not a separate display is used, but a smartphone equipped with an appropriate VR application. In addition to a cardboard box and a smartphone, you will need two more biconvex lenses, which can be purchased, for example, in an optics store. Munster-based Durovis lenses are used in their DIY kits, which Google sells for around $20.

Users who are not at home can purchase folded goggles for about $25. The NFC sticker is a welcome addition as it automatically connects to the app on your smartphone.

The corresponding application is available for free in the Google Play store. It offers, among other things, virtual tours of museums, and in cooperation with the Google service - Street View - also the possibility of walking around the cities.

Microsoft surprises

However, jaws dropped when Microsoft introduced its augmented reality glasses in early 2015. His product HoloLens combines the rule of augmented reality (because it superimposes virtual, three-dimensional objects on the real world) with virtual reality, as it allows you to simultaneously immerse yourself in a computer-generated world in which holographic objects can even make sounds. The user can interact with such virtual digital objects through movement and voice.

Added to all this is surround sound in headphones. The experience of the Kinect platform was useful to Microsoft developers in creating this world and designing interactions.

Now the company intends to provide developers with a Holographic Processing Unit (HPU).

Support for HoloLens glasses, which display three-dimensional objects as if they were real components of the perceived environment, should be one of the features of the new Microsoft operating system, announced at the turn of summer and autumn this year.

Films promoting HoloLens show a motorcycle designer using a hand gesture to change the shape of a tank in a designed model, presented on a one-to-one scale to accurately reflect the scale of the change. Or a father who, based on a child's drawing, creates a three-dimensional model of a rocket in HoloStudio, meaning a 3D printer. Also shown was a fun building game, deceptively reminiscent of Minecraft, and apartment interiors filled with virtual equipment.

VR for pain and anxiety

Usually VR and immersive equipment development are discussed in the context of entertainment, games or movies. Less often you hear about its more serious applications, for example, in medicine. Meanwhile, a lot of interesting things are happening here, and not just anywhere, but in Poland. A group of researchers from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Wrocław together with a group of volunteers initiated, for example, the research project VR4Health (Virtual Reality for Health). It is supposed to use virtual reality in the treatment of pain. Its creators program virtual environments in it, develop graphics and conduct research. They try to take their mind off the pain.

5. Patient tests using Oculus Rift

Also in Poland, at the Dentysta.eu office in Gliwice, Cinemizer virtual OLED glasses were tested, which are used to combat the so-called. deontophobia, that is, the fear of the dentist. They literally cut off the patient from the surrounding reality and take him to another world! Throughout the procedure, relaxation films are shown to him on two giant-resolution screens built into his glasses. The viewer gets the impression of being in a forest, on a beach or in space, which at the optical level separates the senses from the surrounding reality. Still further enhanced by disconnecting the patient from surrounding sounds.

This device has been successfully used for more than a year in one of the dental clinics in Calgary, Canada. There, adults, sitting in a chair, can take part in the landing on the moon, and children can become an alien - one of the heroes of a 3D fairy tale. In Gliwice, on the contrary, the patient can walk through the green forest, become a member of a space expedition or relax on a sun lounger on the beach.

Loss of balance and falls are serious causes of hospitalization and even death of older people, especially those with glaucoma. A group of American scientists have developed a system using virtual reality technology to help people with such problems identify problems with maintaining balance when walking. The description of the system was published in the specialized ophthalmological journal Ophthalmology. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego studied older patients using specially adapted Oculus Rift glasses (5). Virtual reality and attempts to move in it on a special treadmill have demonstrated the inability to maintain balance in people with glaucoma much more effectively. According to the authors of the experiments, the VR technique can help in the early detection of imbalances caused by causes other than eye diseases, and thus prevent dangerous falls. It may even become a routine medical procedure.

VR tourism

Google Street View, that is, a panoramic view service from street level, appeared on Google maps back in 2007. Probably, the creators of the project did not realize the opportunities that would open up for them, thanks to the renaissance of virtual reality technologies. . The emergence of more and more advanced VR helmets on the market has attracted many fans of virtual travel to the service.

For some time now, Google Street View has been available to users of Google Cardboard VR glasses and similar solutions based on the use of an Android smartphone. Last June, the company launched Virtual Reality Street View, allowing a virtual transport to one of the millions of real places around the world that were photographed with a 360-degree camera (6). In addition to popular tourist attractions, stadiums and mountain trails, the interiors of the most popular museums and historic buildings recently accessed virtually include the Amazon jungle, the Himalayas, Dubai, Greenland, Bangladesh and exotic corners of Russia, among others.

6. Google Street View in Virtual Reality

More and more companies are interested in the possibilities of using virtual reality in tourism, which would like to promote their tourism services in this way. Last year, the Polish company Destinations VR created a VR visualization of the Zakopane Experience. It was created for the needs of the Radisson hotel and residential building under construction in the capital of the Tatras and is an interactive tour of the still non-existent investment. In turn, the American YouVisit has prepared virtual tours with Oculus Rift to the world's largest capitals and popular monuments directly from the level of a web browser.

Since the first months of 2015, the Australian airline Qantas, in collaboration with Samsung, has been offering VR glasses for first class passengers. Samsung Gear VR devices are designed to provide customers with exceptional entertainment, including through the use of 3D technology. In addition to the latest films, passengers will see specially prepared travel and business materials about the places they fly to in 3D. And thanks to external cameras installed in several places on the Airbus A-380, Gear VR will be able to watch the plane take off or land. The Samsung product will also allow you to take a virtual tour of the airport or check in your luggage. Qantas also wants to use the devices to promote its most popular destinations.

Marketing has already figured it out

More than five thousand participants of the Paris Motor Show tested the interactive VR installation. The project was carried out in order to promote the new Nissan model - Juke. Another installation show took place during the motor show in Bologna. Nissan is one of the first automotive companies to innovate and take advantage of the Oculus Rift. In Chase the Thrill, the player takes on the role of a rollerblading robot that, while chasing a Nissan Juke, parkour-style jumps over rooftops and cranes. All this was complemented by graphics and sound effects of the highest quality. With the help of glasses, the player could perceive the virtual world from the point of view of the robot, as if he himself were one. The traditional gamepad control has been replaced by a special treadmill connected to the computer - WizDish. Thanks to this, the player has full control over the behavior of his virtual avatar. In order to be able to control it, all you had to do was move your legs.

7. Virtual drive in TeenDrive365

Nissan's advertisers weren't the only ones to come up with the idea of ​​using virtual reality to promote their products. Earlier this year, Toyota invited attendees to TeenDrive365 at the Detroit Auto Show. This is a campaign for the youngest drivers to promote safe driving (7). This is a car driving simulator that tests the driver's tolerance for distractions while traveling. Participants of the fair could sit behind the wheel of a stationary car paired with an Oculus Rift and take a virtual tour of the city. During the simulation, the driver was distracted by loud music from the radio, incoming text messages, friends talking, and sounds from the environment, and his task was to maintain concentration and avoid dangerous situations on the road. During the entire fair, almost 10 people used the installation. people.

The offer by Chrysler, which prepared a virtual tour of its factory in Sterling Heights, Michigan for Oculus Rift glasses and demonstrated it during the Los Angeles Auto Show in late 2014, should be considered a specific form of automotive marketing, technology enthusiasts could immerse themselves in the working robotic environment, relentlessly assembling Chrysler models.

Virtual reality is an interesting topic not only for companies in the automotive industry. Experience 5Gum is an interactive setting game developed in 2014 for 5Gum by Wrigley (8). Simultaneous use of devices such as the Oculus Rift and Microsoft Kinect guaranteed the recipient full entry into the alternate world. The project was initiated by placing mysterious black containers in the urban space. To get inside, it was necessary to scan the QR code placed on the container, which gave a place on the waiting list. Once inside, the technicians put on virtual reality goggles and a specially designed harness that allowed the participant to…levitate.

The experience, lasting several tens of seconds, immediately sent the user on a virtual journey through the tastes of 5Gum chewing gum.

However, one of the most controversial ideas in the world of virtual reality belongs to the Australian company Paranormal Games - Project Elysium. It offers a "personalized post-mortem experience", in other words, the possibility of "meeting" deceased relatives in virtual reality. As the item is still under development, it is not known if it is only 3D images of deceased people (9), or maybe more complex avatars, with elements of personality, voice, etc. Commentators are wondering what is the value spending time with computer-generated "ghosts" of ancestors. And won't this lead in some cases to various problems, for example, to emotional disorders among the living?

As you can see, there are more and more ideas for using virtual reality in business. For example, Digi-Capital's forecasts for revenue from often combined augmented and virtual reality technologies (10) predict rapid growth, and billions of dollars are already quite real, not virtual.

9. Screenshot of Project Elysium

10. AR and VR Revenue Growth Forecast

The most famous VR solutions today

Oculus Rift is a virtual reality glasses for gamers and not only. The device began its career on the Kickstarter portal, where those who wished to finance its production in the amount of almost $ 2,5 million. Last March, the eyewear company was bought by Facebook for $2 billion. The glasses can display 1920 × 1080 image resolution. The equipment only works with computers and mobile devices (Android and iOS systems). The glasses connect to a PC via USB and a DVI or HDMI cable.

Sony Project Morpheus - A few months ago, Sony unveiled hardware that is said to be the real competition for the Oculus Rift. The field of view is 90 degrees. The device also has a headphone jack and supports surround sound that will be positioned like a picture based on the movements of the player's head. Morpheus has a built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, but is additionally tracked by the PlayStation Camera, thanks to which you can control the full range of rotation of the device, that is, 360 degrees, and its position is updated 100 times per second in space. 3m³.

Microsoft HoloLens - Microsoft opted for a lighter design than other glasses that is closer to Google Glass than the Oculus Rift and combines virtual and augmented reality (AR) features.

Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality glasses that will allow you to plunge into the world of movies and games. The Samsung hardware has a built-in Oculus Rift head tracking module that improves accuracy and reduces latency.

Google Cardboard - glasses made of cardboard. It is enough to attach a smartphone with a stereoscopic display to them, and we can enjoy our own set of virtual reality for little money.

Carl Zeiss VR One is based on the same idea as Samsung's Gear VR but offers much more smartphone compatibility; it is suitable for any phone with 4,7-5 inch display.

HTC Vive - glasses that will receive two screens with a resolution of 1200 × 1080 pixels, thanks to which the image will be clearer than in the case of Morpheus, where we have one screen and clearly fewer horizontal pixels per eye. This update is a bit worse because it is 90Hz. However, what makes Vive stand out the most is the use of 37 sensors and two wireless cameras called “lanterns” – they allow you to accurately track not only the movement of the player, but also the space around him.

Avegant Glyph is another kickstarter product that will debut on the market this year. The device should have a retractable headband, inside which there will be an innovative Virtual Retinal Display system that replaces the display. This technology involves the use of two million micromirrors that reflect the image directly onto our retina, providing unprecedented quality - the image should be clearer than with other virtual reality glasses. This extraordinary display has a resolution of 1280×720 pixels per eye and a refresh rate of 120Hz.

Vuzix iWear 720 is equipment designed for both 3D movies and virtual reality games. It is called "video headphones", having two panels with a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels. The rest of the specs, i.e. 60Hz refresh and 57-degree field of view, are also slightly different from the competition. Anyway, developers compare using their equipment to viewing a 130-inch screen from a distance of 3 m.

Archos VR - The idea of ​​these glasses is based on the same idea as in the case of the Cardboard. Suitable for smartphones 6 inches or smaller. Archos has announced compatibility with iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Vrizzmo VR - glasses of Polish design. They stand out from the competition by using dual lenses, so the image is devoid of spherical distortion. The device is compatible with Google Cardboard and other VR headsets.