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Oculus Rift

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Sergey Orlovskiy using the first version of the Oculus Rift development kit (with separate headphones)
TypeHead-mounted display
Invention date2012
Inventor(s)Palmer Luckey (founder)[1]
ManufacturerOculus VR, Inc.
CostDeveloper kit: $300,[2] Developer kit 2: $350,[3] Consumer version: Unknown (rumored less than $300) [4]
ResolutionDeveloper kit: 1280×800 (640×800 per eye),[5] Developer kit 2: 1920×1080 (960×1080 per eye), Consumer version: ≥1920×1080
Horizontal FOVDeveloper kit: > 90°,[5] Consumer version: TBA
Diagonal FOVDeveloper kit: > 110°,[5] Consumer version: TBA
Head TrackingDeveloper kit: 1000 Hz absolute 3DOF orientation (gyr/acc/mag). Consumer version: TBA, positional tracking confirmed.
PlatformWindows, Linux, OS X,[5] Android
ConnectionDeveloper kit: DVI/HDMI and USB,[5] Consumer version: TBA
Website

The Rift is an upcoming virtual reality head-mounted display, being developed by Oculus VR. During its period as an independent company, Oculus VR had raised US$91 million for the development of the Rift.[5] The consumer version of the product is expected to become available in late 2014 or early 2015.[6]

History

Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, earned a reputation for having the largest personal collection of head-mounted displays in the world, and is a longtime moderator in Meant to be Seen (MTBS) 3D's discussion forums.[citation needed] Through MTBS' forums,[7] Palmer developed the idea of creating a new head-mounted display that was both more effective than what is currently on the market, and inexpensive for gamers.

Coincidentally, John Carmack had been doing his own research and happened upon Palmer's developments. After sampling an early unit, Carmack favored Luckey's prototype and just before the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Id Software announced that their future updated version of Doom 3, which would be known as BFG Edition, would be compatible with head-mounted display units.[8] During the convention, Carmack introduced a duct taped head-mounted display based on Palmer's Oculus Rift prototype, which ran Carmack's own software. The unit featured a high speed IMU and a 5.6-inch (14 cm) LCD display, visible via dual lenses that were positioned over the eyes to provide a 90 degrees horizontal and 110 degrees vertical stereoscopic 3D perspective.[9][10]

On March 25, 2014, Facebook announced that it had agreed to buy Oculus VR for $400 million in cash, $1.6 billion in Facebook stock, and an additional $300 million subject to Oculus VR's meeting certain financial targets in a transaction expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.[11][12][13]

Developer version

The Oculus developer kit was an initial version financed by a Kickstarter campaign, which sought to get the initial Oculus Rift into the hands of developers to begin integration of the device into their games.[14] In August 2012, Oculus announced that the "dev kit" version of the Oculus Rift would be given as a reward to backers who pledged $300 or more on Kickstarter.[15] There was also a limited run of 100 unassembled Rift prototype kits for pledges over $275 that would ship a month earlier.[5]

Developer kit preorders were made available for $300 on their website starting on 26 September 2012. These kits sold at a rate of 4–5 per minute for the first day, before slowing down throughout the week.[16] As of 12 March 2014, the Rift DK1 kit was no longer available to order from Oculus.[17] In March 2014 at GDC, Oculus announced the upcoming Devkit 2 (DK2) which they expected to begin shipping in July 2014.[18] A few weeks later they stated on their website that new orders was expected to be shipped in a second batch in August of the same year.[3]

  • First version of the Oculus Rift development kit
  • Front view
    Front view
  • Back view
    Back view
  • Control box
    Control box

On March 19, 2014, Oculus VR announced the much anticipated second iteration of their development kit (DK2) and started taking pre-orders. It features several improvements over the first development kit, such as having a higher-resolution low-persistence OLED display, higher refresh rate, head positional tracking, a detachable cable, and the omission of the need for the external control box.[19]

Consumer version

A consumer-oriented version of the Rift is in development, which will be aimed at a general market and feature improved components. Improved head tracking, positional tracking, higher resolution,[20] and wireless operation are some of the features under consideration for the consumer Rift.[21]

In June 2013, a 1080p version of the Rift was shown at E3.[22] At Consumer Electronics Show in January 2014, an updated prototype codenamed "Crystal Cove" was unveiled, which uses a special low-persistence of vision OLED display, and includes a new motion tracking system that uses an external camera which tracks infrared dots located on the headset. The new motion tracking system would allow the system to detect actions such as leaning or crouching, which should help alleviate sickness experienced by users when the software did not respond to these actions.[23]

On April 30, 2014, Business Insider titled an article to assert that the consumer version of the Rift will be released in 2015, based on a partial quote attributed to "Management at Oculus VR." The quote in question indicates that the company would be "disappointed" if the headset is not released commercially before 2016.[24] This article has been referenced by multiple other sources as official confirmation of a 2015 release date,[25][26][27][28] but representatives of Oculus assert that no release date has yet been announced.[29][30]

Conflicts with ZeniMax Media

In May 2014, ZeniMax Media, parent company of Carmack's former employer Id Software, sent a letter to Facebook and Oculus asserting that any contributions that he made to the Oculus Rift project is the intellectual property of ZeniMax, stating that "ZeniMax provided necessary VR technology and other valuable assistance to Palmer Luckey and other Oculus employees in 2012 and 2013 to make the Oculus Rift a viable VR product, superior to other VR market offerings."[31][32]

Hardware

The first prototype of the device used a 5.6-inch (14 cm) screen, but after the unexpectedly successful Kickstarter, Oculus determined that the panel was not available in sufficient quantities, so they changed their design to use a new 7-inch (18 cm) screen, which makes the Rift developer kit somewhat bulkier than the first prototypes.

The new panel's pixel switching time is significantly lower, reducing latency and motion blur when turning one's head quickly. The pixel fill is also better, reducing the screen door effect and making individual pixels less noticeable. The LCD is brighter and the color depth is 24 bits per pixel. The 7 inch screen also makes the stereoscopic 3D no longer 100% overlapping, the left eye seeing extra area to the left and the right eye seeing extra area to the right. This mimics normal human vision, which does not 100% overlap either, although the overlap area is smaller on the Rift than in real life.

The field of view (FOV) is more than 90 degrees horizontal (110 degrees diagonal), which is more than double the FOV of most competing devices, and is the primary strength of the device. It is intended to almost fill the wearer's entire field of view, and the real world is completely blocked out, to create a strong sense of immersion. The resolution is 1280×800 (16:10 aspect ratio), which leads to an effective of 640×800 per eye (4:5 aspect ratio). However, since the Rift does not feature a 100% overlap between the eyes, the combined horizontal resolution is effectively greater than 640. The image for each eye is shown in the panel as a barrel distorted image that is then corrected by pincushion effect created by lenses in the headset, generating a spherical-mapped image for each eye. The panel's resolution is expected to be upgraded to at least 1920×1080 for the final consumer version.

Initial prototypes used a Hillcrest Labs 3DoF head tracker that is normally 125 Hz, with a special firmware that John Carmack requested which makes it run at 250 Hz, tracker latency being vital due to the dependency of virtual reality's realism on response time. The latest version includes Oculus' new 1000 Hz Adjacent Reality Tracker that will allow for much lower latency tracking than almost any other tracker. It uses a combination of 3-axis gyros, accelerometers, and magnetometers, which make it capable of absolute (relative to earth) head orientation tracking without drift.[33][34]

The weight of the headset is approximately 379 g (13.4 oz),[35] which is an increase of about 90 g (3.2 oz) in weight due to the increased screen size, and it does not include headphones.

The headset has a dial on each side that can be turned with a screwdriver which allows adjusting each display to be moved closer or further away from the eyes. The development kit also includes interchangeable lenses that will allow for simple dioptric correction. Adjustment for the interpupillary distance is done in software, although given its large exit pupil, this should not be a severe issue with the Rift.[citation needed]

The developer version of the Rift has DVI and HDMI input on the control box, and comes with one HDMI cable, and a DVI to HDMI adapter.

A USB interface is used for sending tracking data to the host machine. It also comes with a power adapter that must be used to connect the control box to a power outlet.

Software

See also: List of games with Oculus Rift support
Paramount for the immersion into virtual reality are, a high frame rate (at least 95 fps) as well as a low latency. Furthermore a pixel persistence lower than 3 ms is required to not get sick when moving the head around.

Games and game platforms must be specifically designed to work correctly with the Oculus Rift. Oculus is producing a software development kit (SDK) to assist developers with integrating the Oculus Rift with their games. The SDK will include code, samples and documentation. According to Oculus, game integration will begin with PCs and smartphones, and be followed by consoles at a later date.[citation needed] Since its introduction, many developers have been working on integration.[36]

Several titles are playable on the Rift via the free and open source Vireio Perception VR drivers.[37] Games currently with full or partial support include Left 4 Dead, Skyrim, Portal 2, Half Life 2, and Bioshock.[38]

Several commercial options are also available, including Vireio Perception 2.0,[39] the VorpX commercial driver,[40] and Dynamic Digital Depth's Oculus Rift "Add-On" VR for their TriDef Ignition stereoscopic 3D drivers.[41]

In an effort to make sure claims of VR compatibility have an objective meaning, Meant to be Seen released GameGradeVR.[42] The service is non-proprietary and works with DDD, Vireio Perception, VorpX, and native VR software that does not require a middleware add-on. Gamer driven, the service asks the user a series of questions about required game settings, visual flexibility, and any problems or anomalies that remain. The final score and entry tells users what they need to get the best results, and informs software developers what problems need solving without infringing on artistic choices.[43]

Adoption

Team Fortress 2 was the first game to add support for the Oculus Rift, and is currently available to play with the Oculus Rift dev kit by use of a command line option. The second title to support the Oculus Rift was the Oculus-only version of Museum of the Microstar which was released in April 2013. Half-Life 2 was the third, and Hawken is likely to be the fourth game to support the Rift; it was prominently featured in the Kickstarter, and Oculus used it to demo the Rift at the GDC. Doom 3: BFG Edition was originally going to be the first game to officially support the Oculus Rift, but after the change of tracker and the change to the 7-inch panel, Id Software has not yet updated the game to support it.

The Gallery: Six Elements is the first announced game being designed specifically for the Oculus Rift and Virtual Reality, rather than adding Rift support to an existing game. This is considered important because many existing games use features that do not translate well to VR, such as a HUD, cutscenes, menus, third person sections, fast movement speeds, not being able to see one's own body, etc. It is currently on Kickstarter.[44]

Epic Games, creators of the Unreal Engine, have announced that the engine will integrate support for the Oculus Rift. David Helgason, CEO of Unity Technologies, has announced support for the Oculus Rift with the Unity engine. John Carmack, formerly of id Software, has stated that he plans to make the Oculus Rift a concurrent part of the Doom 4 development cycle to ensure that it works well with the game at launch.[45]

Star Citizen, an upcoming space role-playing simulator from Chris Roberts (creator of Wing Commander and Freelancer) and Elite: Dangerous, a continuation of the Elite space trading and role playing game series from the 80s & 90s, are both being built with Oculus support (Elite: Dangerous Alpha releases have support already, as does the Hangar Module and upcoming Arena Commander dogfight module of Star Citizen).

Several prominent figures from the games industry, notably John Carmack, the co-founder of Id Software, Gabe Newell, the co-founder of Valve Corporation, Michael Abrash, the author of Zen of Graphics Programming and Graphics Programming Black Book, Cliff Bleszinski, former design director at Epic Games, and David Helgason, the founder of Unity 3D publicly endorsed the Rift. Michael Abrash, who was researching virtual reality and augmented reality at Valve said "I personally would like to get our games running on the Rift and make it a great experience".[14] Notch, developer of Minecraft, while initially stating that his games would likely support the Rift, announced soon after the company's acquisition by Facebook that he was canceling any such plans.[46][47] However, a Minecraft mod by the name of "Minecrift" adds unofficial support for the Rift.[48]

Broadcasting

Demos of the Oculus Rift featuring impressions and gameplay with both single images and stereo images have been broadcast on YouTube by a number of popular video game content providers.[49][50] A home video titled "My 90 year old grandmother tries the Oculus Rift" went viral with over 2 million views.[51][52][53]

While working as a designer at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Palmer Luckey worked on the FOV2GO project: an inexpensive kit consisting of a simple housing and optics to allow someone to put together a cheap HMD using a mobile phone as the display device.[54][55][56] The FOV2GO project is now available as a template allowing anyone to build the unit themselves.[57]

A team from the University of Southern California is working on creating a fully immersive virtual reality experience called "Project Holodeck", which utilises Razer Hydra motion controllers, PS Move positional tracking, and the Oculus Rift HMDs to give the user the impression of being inside of a complete virtual world.[58][59]

At the 2014 Game Developer's Conference, Sony announced Project Morpheus, and had prototype units on hand for demonstration.[60] Like the Rift, the Morpheus is a head-mounted display designed for immersive virtual reality. The Morpheus is designed to work with the company's flagship video game console, the PlayStation 4. Like the Rift, it is not yet available to consumers.

Oculus Rift is being used by students at University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, with wearers immersed in a 3D virtual world.[61]

See also

References

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