Google's VR Headset is Literally Made of Cardboard

[Strazdas]

this is a joke. or a very very stupid action on googles part. there is no way our phones come even close to being able to do VR. for one, the resolution of the screen is far too small to be able to just place it there. refresh rate and frequency control is also nowhere clsoe up to VR bare minimum.

This is Google slapping them in the face for investing time and effort into tech barely better than what you'll be able to do with your phone, not to mention 3D tech has been around forever. The hardware just had to catch up.

except that, you know, this is more like shooting yourself in the foot the moment somone wants to actually try it. because it wont work. its physically impossible for current phones to act like VR screens. they simply dont have the hardware requirements.

What's so hard to get about this?

probably the fact that your "Regular smartphone" is incapble of outputting the required visuals? The expensive specialized hardware is there because thats what you need to make VR.

That leaves getting a high enough frame rate out of the smartphone screen whilst it bifurcates itself and projects two images at once, whilst also figuring out how to make the phone give accurate head tracking without the vomit inducing lag.

Given where smart phones were six years ago and where they are now, a phone (or several) that can do that doesn't sound implausible to me. Maybe not in the next couple of years, but VR by the use of a cheap add on to a smart phone sounds pretty cool to me.

Also, that is way cooler than Google Glass.

given where smartphones are not its FAR from plausible. if only framerate was enough to make it stop inducing vomit we would have had it decades ago.

years down the line? sure. smartphones are already faster than consoles from pure rendering perspective, and they are catching up really fast, so maybe in a decade they will be able to render it well enough. provided we actually make screens capable of that, as currently resolution is not even close.

I assume the app uses the phones sensors to do the head tracking part, so it's possible but I agree that it's quality would vary depending on the phone etc and the dedicated head sets would be far better. Still, as a dev test kit or even small use stuff it could do the job.

you also assume that phone tracking sensorts are accurate. not even close. not to mention latency problems. this is a joke, there is no way this actually works.

I have the technology for that in my 3DS. It's not hard to do.

No you dont. There is no 3DS on the market capable of VR. unless you built your own VR machine and called it 3DS.

 

[ultrabiome]

this is a joke. or a very very stupid action on googles part. there is no way our phones come even close to being able to do VR. for one, the resolution of the screen is far too small to be able to just place it there. refresh rate and frequency control is also nowhere clsoe up to VR bare minimum.

This is Google slapping them in the face for investing time and effort into tech barely better than what you'll be able to do with your phone, not to mention 3D tech has been around forever. The hardware just had to catch up.

except that, you know, this is more like shooting yourself in the foot the moment somone wants to actually try it. because it wont work. its physically impossible for current phones to act like VR screens. they simply dont have the hardware requirements.

What's so hard to get about this?

probably the fact that your "Regular smartphone" is incapble of outputting the required visuals? The expensive specialized hardware is there because thats what you need to make VR.

That leaves getting a high enough frame rate out of the smartphone screen whilst it bifurcates itself and projects two images at once, whilst also figuring out how to make the phone give accurate head tracking without the vomit inducing lag.

Given where smart phones were six years ago and where they are now, a phone (or several) that can do that doesn't sound implausible to me. Maybe not in the next couple of years, but VR by the use of a cheap add on to a smart phone sounds pretty cool to me.

Also, that is way cooler than Google Glass.

given where smartphones are not its FAR from plausible. if only framerate was enough to make it stop inducing vomit we would have had it decades ago.

One of the original prototypes of the Oculus Rift was a single smartphone screen where each half (turned horizontally) displayed the slightly offset images, which were redirected optically to the user's eyes. Clearly the tech is there and it works.

If you mean VR as a device that fills your entire field of view and refreshes fast enough that you can't notice and has motion tracking accurate and fast enough that you will never notice motion lag, this is clearly not what this device is for. But for VR that gives you a 3D window and tracks your head movement, a smartphone can clearly accomplish, even with its lower resolution and motion tech. Could it make some people sick, maybe. Will it make me sick, probably. But that's not the point. Being able to turn a phone into a simple 3D viewing device is pretty awesome. Is it a more attractive solution to people than buying a $200 headset that is tied to their computer or game console? For some, for sure.

 

[Stabinbac]

This is like someone claiming that they don't need a car by demonstrating that they can walk next door...

And another situation for people to demonstrate that they really don't get what HMDs are for. It's really not that tricky of a concept.

 

[Strazdas]

One of the original prototypes of the Oculus Rift was a single smartphone screen where each half (turned horizontally) displayed the slightly offset images, which were redirected optically to the user's eyes. Clearly the tech is there and it works.

If you mean VR as a device that fills your entire field of view and refreshes fast enough that you can't notice and has motion tracking accurate and fast enough that you will never notice motion lag, this is clearly not what this device is for. But for VR that gives you a 3D window and tracks your head movement, a smartphone can clearly accomplish, even with its lower resolution and motion tech. Could it make some people sick, maybe. Will it make me sick, probably. But that's not the point. Being able to turn a phone into a simple 3D viewing device is pretty awesome. Is it a more attractive solution to people than buying a $200 headset that is tied to their computer or game console? For some, for sure.

And they quickly scrapped that because it wasnt working. you point to something they rejected and claim that its successful?

See, you use 3d projection and claim its VR. i dont think it means what you think it means. Oculus is VR. smarphones cant be VR because they dont have the hardware to be VR. there are many reaosns why, some of which you mention - motion tracking and motion lag for example. We have been able to make 3d imagery on screens for decades now, this is nothing new. VR is different thing than what this does. which is why this will never do VR till we have smartphones that at least match current Oculus in hardware.

 

[ultrabiome]

Spoiler

One of the original prototypes of the Oculus Rift was a single smartphone screen where each half (turned horizontally) displayed the slightly offset images, which were redirected optically to the user's eyes. Clearly the tech is there and it works.

If you mean VR as a device that fills your entire field of view and refreshes fast enough that you can't notice and has motion tracking accurate and fast enough that you will never notice motion lag, this is clearly not what this device is for. But for VR that gives you a 3D window and tracks your head movement, a smartphone can clearly accomplish, even with its lower resolution and motion tech. Could it make some people sick, maybe. Will it make me sick, probably. But that's not the point. Being able to turn a phone into a simple 3D viewing device is pretty awesome. Is it a more attractive solution to people than buying a $200 headset that is tied to their computer or game console? For some, for sure.

And they quickly scrapped that because it wasnt working. you point to something they rejected and claim that its successful?

See, you use 3d projection and claim its VR. i dont think it means what you think it means. Oculus is VR. smarphones cant be VR because they dont have the hardware to be VR. there are many reaosns why, some of which you mention - motion tracking and motion lag for example. We have been able to make 3d imagery on screens for decades now, this is nothing new. VR is different thing than what this does. which is why this will never do VR till we have smartphones that at least match current Oculus in hardware.

A successful prototype using over-the-counter components (i.e. a smartphone screen) was eventually retired for more dedicated hardware phototype is completely different from something they 'rejected'.

I guess I'm unclear as to your definition of "VR", but in the context of the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheous, "VR" is a device that can send projected renderings of a 3D scene from the viewpoint of each eye (2 views) to each eye. The apparent viewpoint is changed via motion tracking of the viewers head, giving the illusion of virtual reality. There isn't a resolution, framerate or motion-induced lag requirement. It may make the experience better for the viewer to have high resolution images with little to no distortion in the image, at high frame rates and little to no lag from the motion tracking tech, but it does not invalidate it's designation as a "VR" headset.

Google cardboard and the associated app takes a 3D scene, renders a projection on each half of the smartphone screen, which is then optically projected onto each eye. It's still VR.

 

[Epicspoon]

I have the technology for that in my 3DS. It's not hard to do.

No you dont. There is no 3DS on the market capable of VR. unless you built your own VR machine and called it 3DS.

Yes actually I do because I was referring to the motion tracking, not the VR. I don't even understand how you made that mistake, go back and read the comment.