Oculus Rift and Industrial Design

My whole design career started when I was first getting into video games (as per the screen name).

Doom came out in 1993 (I was 9) and not only was it revolutionary from a game perspective, but it was one of the first games that was easily modified which sparked my interest in computer graphics and coding. That led to several years of amateur mod making, which lead to me learning 3D modeling and is actually what made me discover “Industrial” design when I found out one of our teams lead artists was an ex-Big 3 car designer who decided it was more fun to model cars in games than it was in real life.

I realize that’s a far cry from the value kids get out of playing Super Bubble Pop on an iPad, but I think even Minecraft shows there is still some potential “hope” - minecraft is very much just a virtual Lego set that you can play with friends, and don’t have to worry about stepping on while walking around the house in the dark.

An engineer friends daughter is 6 or 7 and already picked up on how to write iOS apps…which gives me some appreciation for the future.

An article that was just sent out by Michael Abrash who is the Chief Scientist at Oculus (Formerly id Software and Microsoft) which give you a sense of the opportunity.

didn’t even look at it that way but i guess that is prolly true…our attention is zero sum

Again, it’s not just about the technology, it’s about a cultural shift and willingness to embrace it as a platform - and that has never happened before, even though people have been playing with stereo displays and 3D graphics in labs for decades (anybody remember the CAVE?).

i remember the CAVE! my school was one of the few that had the whole setup i believe…i remember being surprised at the time how long it had been around. i thought it was cool then, i think it still cool now and even though the technology & maybe even the zeitgeist at large may be more open to it, it still strikes me as being well too niche to have like 5 different consumer versions…

This is going to be as big as 3D tv’s. Oh, wait…

R

What about 3d curved TVs though? :slight_smile:

Man you guys are salty. I’m going to come revisit this thread in a year and we’ll see where things land. :wink:

I’m mostly with the 3D tv argument actually. I feel the head-up displays are great for immersive experiences, invaluable in entertainment to present architectural and other projects where spatial experience is key. It would be a great research tool as well especially combined with brainwave sensing. As a work tool though, I feel the 3D immersion only adds as much as 3D did for movies and TV. The immersion as a work tool is less desirable since we need to do all kinds of things all the time and would continuously have to take the set on and off. I like the Samsung better than the Oculus, both designs need some spicing up though.

How does the tech. in the Oculus Rift compare to the gadgets that get thrown around for free?

Recently I had a VeeDub folded Paper 3D Box in the mail, that can be used with your mobile. The VW content did not load, but I found some vids on youtube working with it. Toyish stuff and not well calibrated, which is a hurdle, as neither the heardware nor the film developer know which optical device and settings will go into the cardboard box.

How do the dedicated devices of Oculus or Samsung compare to this? Usable for anything else but p*rn?

On a side note: I’d rather like VW to put their development and marketing power to more pressing issues.

mo-i

I’m listening to a podcast and one of the guests asks why VR has failed to take off. He theorizes that there is an natural human fear to covering ones eyes, no matter how realistic the experience maybe after they are covered.

I think there could be something to this. So many of the publicity shots make me feel that the users are kidnapped or trapped.

Any other ideas?

I don’t think it’s just that, it may make some people more resistant but so far no one I’ve stuck in the headset has had a personal apprehension to trying VR. I’m naturally somewhat claustrophobic myself.

I think a lot of the reasons have to do with:
1 - High end VR is super expensive and difficult to setup. (Drill probes into my walls? Spend $600 on a GTX 1080 video card? No thanks)
2 - Mobile VR experiences are not terribly engaging or compelling - 3d Video and Daydream games are neat, but still very basic.
3 - There has not been a huge media push for VR being amazing. Maybe some Playstation commercials but Facebook needs to buy a superbowl ad if they want to sell us.

I actually saw they just added a VR experience booth in the mall by us. You sit in a little pod chair and they strap on some mid-tier mobile based headset and you get to do the rollercoaster type railed experience. 2 of the 3 were full when I was there on a random Tuesday so it seems to be something people are willing to try. IMAX just launched an NYC theater that has VR demos that accompany movies, which is a good pairing as well.

I think once people start to see value in the experience and realize it’s something they can afford it will take off, but it’s still too much of an early adopter technology to hit mainstream.

3D Tvs (and movies) were pushed on us by the media. Big fail. How is VR any different?

R

To start - have you tried a high end VR experience? If the answer is no, then I can see this making sense as a question.

3D movies were not a new experience, they were a depth addition to existing experience of sitting on your couch or a theater and watching a movie.

It’s wholesale different than being immersed in a virtual world with which you can interact, move around, and be immersed in the experience.

If you have played with VR, I’d be interested to know what games/demos you tried that you feel it is similar enough to 3D films.

I’m a huge proponent of VR because everyone I’ve stuck into a VR experience, whether it’s someones mother or my own blue collar friends the consistent result has always been shock/amazement and utter joy. My friends mom didn’t want to come out she was enjoying it so much and that was on a much cruder Oculus Dev kit.

Tilt brush and 3D VR experiences make you wonder how we spent so long building stuff in 2D. I just started working on a remodel of my basement and threw a 3D model into Unity to quickly experience it as a prototype, and it’s amazing how quickly the medium transferred information. I could immediately see I needed to make the bathroom a foot bigger just by walking in and looking around.

Which again all goes back to the experience point - VR is tough to describe on paper and easy to be cynical of. And even todays experiences are limited in scope but some of them are truly amazing and when those continue to develop and become affordable and easy to use it will take off.

No, I’ve never tried VR. High or low end. (maybe once at a trade show, can’t recall what it was).

I can for sure see applications like the 3D design/environment applications you mention.

From my un-experienced POV, I just can’t see the mass market adoption as much. At least in terms of entertainment I see the biggest challenge as the lean in vs. lean back experience. Most people want to lean back and experience watching a show, vegging on the sofa, not doing work, moving around, putting on gear for an experience. It’s the biggest reason I think 3D sucked. Gotta find the glasses, gotta find the appropriate content… not the same as browsing netflix or TV for something mindless to watch or binge on. I’m not a gamer however so maybe there’s opportunity there…

R

I don’t argue that the experience must be incredible, and the price certainly limits its adoption. However, it feels like there is something more to the lack of enthusiasm than just those elements.

I think the first adoption wave will be in video games. As much as people like to think that game platforms are dieing (vs gaming on mobile), this seems like a a great augmentation to Xbox. These types of things seem to take a long time and then explode (think Wii, and the cameras on Xbox 360) and then normalize. I think it will catch, there just hasn’t been the right mix of software/hardware and use case put into the market.

I think MMO video games is probably the right kind of lean immersive experience and that amazingly catchy MMO game with VR has not appeared yet.

Fair enough - I think that’s why I am super excited about all of it. It’s too hard to really articulate the sensation of presence that VR affords - and it’s game changing. 3D TV never afforded that.

The hurdles for device usage and content will be streamlined. Mobile all in one headsets, natural hand interaction (vs magic wands or remotes) are all on the next wave of VR hardware, and screen resolution and GPU technology are ramping up to get there quickly. The first gen hardware is clunky and never will become main stream for those same reasons.

But already the UI is fairly well done. Put on an Oculus and you end up in your virtual living room. You can look at the content/game/experience you want to play and jump right into it - that barrier to entry is rather well crafted all ready and they’ve eliminated a lot of the issues in terms of jumping in.

Think of areas where VR is a huge opportunity - such as flying. I fly with noise cancelling earphones, ear plugs, eye mask, and a tablet to avoid engaging with the world around me as much as possible. I may not be able to walk around and go rock climbing, but it’s a great area for being somewhere else. Gaming is obviously the first market, but you’ll also see a lot of other areas where this will become really useful in mainstream settings (2 hour wait in the dr’s office?)

The social aspects also haven’t been fully figured out yet. It’s one thing to experience this on your own, but will be wholly different when you can game or engage with your friends and family across the world. Imagine being able to interact with your family while stationed overseas in a way that felt far more real than a phone call or skype chat.

A large portion of the future generation is ripe to adopt this kind of stuff. You already see introverted behavior in teenagers who sit around snap chatting each other in the same room. VR fits right into that lifestyle.

Just don’t get stuck on the “these dang kids and their headsets” side of history. :smiley:

New problem to solve. Thieves rifling through Mike’s stuff on the airplane while he has nose canceling headphones and VR goggles on :stuck_out_tongue:

Love VR or hate it, Silicon Valley’s take on VR was pretty funny.

I snapped this photo recently on a trip to NYC. Samsung has a newish technology showroom in Greenwich Village where they are pushing the VR tech quite largely. I left the experience feeling a little sheepish and wiser as to just how much money is being pumped into this next future. Sheepish because my experienced brain could not buy into what they were pushing to younger less experienced brains and wiser because as I surmised, VR cannot capture the over 25 market with mere gaming and sports and amusement simulation (unfortunately for my VR experience, I have been surfing many times, ridden many roller coasters and have shot pistols and rifles). These ‘real’ experiences of mine get in the way of accepting what VR is offering currently.

The girl in the photo was amusing to watch. She was giggling and buying in as the gas shock platform tossed her to and fro. My VR experience was different however. Although I fended off a few zombies, and waved in the air at their reaches towards me during my session with the gaming goggles on, my brain soon realized during my session that these were just pixels and not blood sucking monsters. Game over.

Once you break that suspended disbelief and get over the industrial design experience of donning the gear, it is game over for the over 25-30 and up year old crowd. I walked away realizing that an enormous amount of money will be required to make the current application of the technology seem to match what is reflected in the large budget to market this stuff. Not very sustainable as it is now…

Here is a little SciFi short showing some of the implications of fully immersive AR

Shrug - belief/immersion is ultimately up to the user. I’m in my mid 30’s and have spent hours believing I’m a long haul space trucker trudging minerals across the galaxy, or a rally car driver tearing up the Swiss alps.

You could make the same argument that the Xbox is not a “mainstream” product because most 30 year olds don’t play video games - but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a market and I’d argue that VR offers experiences in the realms of education, healthcare rehabilitation and enterprise that in the long term (along with Augmented reality and other technologies) will have a much bigger impact than the video game/entertainment market.

But yes, a massive amount of money will be required and has already been pumped into the field. Investment in the space has slowed a bit, but I think that’s the nature of having to wait to let investment money actually catch up with what people are promising to make sure the whole thing isn’t a Magic Leap inspired vaporware techno-bust.