Making the virtual into reality

In this Australian exclusive, Bennett Ring straps on the latest Oculus Rift DK2 headset to discover how far VR has come since the 1990s… and whether it’s yet ready for prime time.

Virtual reality (VR) has been the holy grail of gaming since it first appealed to the mainstream imagination in the early 1990s, when films like The Lawnmower Man showed how immersive this new form of entertainment could be. Huge VR booths started showing up at gaming arcades, charging $20 for a five minute dip into these digital worlds, but gamers soon discovered that the experience was less than perfect. In fact, it was downright horrible, with nausea, headaches and neckstrain all common complaints after just a few minutes of wearing the bulky headmounted displays (HMDs) of the past. VR faded from view, but it’s about to make a comeback. Thanks to the passion of one man, combined with the mass availability of miniaturised components used in smartphones, virtual reality looks set to finally arrive in the next year, delivering on the promises made back in the 1990s.

PALMER GOT LUCKEY

Born in 1992 in Long Beach, California, Palmer Luckey showed an interest in electronics from a very early age. He was particularly interested in VR and the impact it would have on his passion

for gaming, and started collecting consumer HMDs in his teen years. It became the world’s largest private collection of VR headsets, with over 50 different units, but none of them delivered the experience Palmer desired. So in 2011 Palmer built his own VR headset, using a seven inch screen glued into a set of ski googles, attached to twin lenses. Unlike prior VR headsets, Luckey’s approach utilised existing mobile technology to keep costs down, while delivering an image which filled the user’s field of view. This primitive prototype was soon discovered by the Stephen Hawking of game programming, John Carmack, who was looking for a way to promote the re-release of his game Doom 3 at 2012’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Carmack asked if he could borrow Palmer’s prototype to conduct VR demos to journalists. After making a few small improvements, Carmack’s VR demo became the talk of the show, winning several “Best of E3” awards, inspiring Luckey to take his VR concept to Kickstarter.

Thus Oculus VR was born, the company behind the Rift VR prototype. With an initial goal of $250,000 on Kickstarter, it went on to become one of the most successful Kickstarter projects of all time, raising $2.4 million in just 30 days in September 2012. As word of the device spread and funding started to roll in, Oculus started hiring some of the brightest names in the gaming industry. Brendan Iribe, formerly of Gaikai and Scaleform, joined as the company’s CEO, while John Carmack left the company he founded, id software, to work as the CTO at Oculus. Valve’s senior programmer Michael Abrash joined shortly thereafter as the Chief Scientist.

VR GOES MAINSTREAM

The first Rift Developer Kits (aka Rift DK1) arrived in early 2013. Aimed at enthusiasts and game developers, the DK1 proved that VR was finally possible at a price that consumers could afford, costing just US$300 per kit. After a year of development, in March 2014 Oculus announced the Dev Kit 2 (DK2), which would include several major improvements over the original prototype, including a higher resolution screen, better motion tracking, and a special low persistence screen. Shortly after, Facebook announced that it had acquired Oculus for US$2 billion worth of cash and Facebook stocks. As if March hadn’t already revealed enough VR announcements, Sony then debuted its PlayStation 4 VR headset, codenamed Project Morpheus. It used the exact same technique to deliver VR, using a single screen split in half and viewed through special lenses, and has similar specs to the DK2. In the space of three years, VR had gone from failed dream to a platform being backed by some of the world’s biggest brands.

THE DK2 — EYES ON

We were lucky enough to secure the first Rift Dev Kit 2 to land in Australia, and put it through its paces over a week to see just how far VR has progressed since the horrible Dactyl Nightmare game of the early 1990s. Despite some teething issues with software, by the end of the week we were convinced that VR is here to stay, though it will be several years before it’s perfect.

The biggest improvement over the first Rift prototype is the screen resolution, yet this is also its greatest weakness. The DK2 uses a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel (1080p) OLED screen that is 5.6 inches across, a large resolution increase over the original 1,280 x

720-pixel (720p) display of the DK1. Closer examination reveals that it’s the same screen found in Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3, and even includes the cut-outs for the phone’s home button and speaker. The screen is split down the middle, providing 960 x 1,080-pixels resolution per eye. This might sound relatively high, but each screen is viewed through a special lens that magnifies the screen, making it very easy to spot individual pixels. Games that aren’t built specifically for the DK2 can be impossible to play, as the low resolution makes it difficult to read text or see finer details. We think that VR is

“With a refresh rate of 75Hz, movement is silky smooth. This is key to removing simulator sickness — anything lower and the user will start to feel nausea.”

going to need at least a 4K panel, and probably an 8K panel, before the pixel-visibility issue disappears. Thankfully, games that have been designed with the Rift DK2 in mind are highly playable, and the huge field of view means that the gamer is totally immersed in the experience. The DK2 fills 100 degrees of the user’s field of view; it feels as if you’re looking out into another world through a set of ski goggles, as the view is slightly cut off on the sides.

With a refresh rate of 75Hz, movement is silky smooth. This is key to removing simulator sickness — anything lower and the user will start to feel nausea. Another new feature that assists with removing simulator sickness is the inclusion of an external motion tracking camera. This is placed in front of the user, at a distance of a metre or so. While the DK1 tracked the user’s head rotation over three axis — yaw, pitch and roll — the DK2 also tracks the position of the user via the external camera. This means that not only can the user look around by moving their head, they can also lean into and away from the screen, as well as from side to side, and the in-game view will mirror the movement.

It makes a huge difference in immersing the player in the world, now referred to as “presence”. The screen also includes a special low persistence mode; the original suffered from motion blur when the user turned their head, making it impossible to read text while moving. The low-persistence mode clears this up entirely, keeping the view crisp and clear during any movement.

We tested the DK2 across several games and demos, and noticed immediately that games specifically built for the Rift offer a much more immersive experience. The space simulator Elite: Dangerous is one of the first Rift-enabled games on the market, but we found it very hard to see far-off enemies due to the low resolution of the screen. Project Cars suffered from a strange disconnect between our head movements and the in-game camera, but this is due to be fixed in an upcoming patch. Being able to look around the cockpit of the racing car was incredible though, and the resolution was just high enough to be able to spot upcoming corners with plenty of time.

There are currently around 50 custom-built Rift demos available for free from the Rift web site, and these provided easily the best VR experiences. Whether it was exploring the inky depths of the ocean in the Deep

Sea Dive demo, or exploring a virtual recreation of the Millennium Falcon, the experience was incredibly impressive. It’s hard to put into words just how real these demos feel, but once you’ve experienced it, going back to a 2D screen feels like you’re looking at the game world through a small window. Perhaps the most impressive feat about the Rift DK2 is how light it is. Weighing a mere 440 grams, it’s much lighter than the archaic headsets of the 1990s, and we didn’t notice any neck-strain or motion sickness even after several hours of wearing the headset.

2015 — THE YEAR OF VR?

2015 seems to be the year that VR will finally make good on its promise, as both Sony and Oculus have mentioned that this is the year of release for their competing VR products. Sony’s Morpheus has nearly identical specifications to the DK2, but its reliance upon the PS4 could be a major issue; VR requires extremely powerful hardware to deliver a stereo view at 75fps. As a result, we’re betting our money on the product that Facebook is backing, the Oculus Rift. After testing the DK2 we’re convinced that VR is going to revolutionise the way we play games and watch films, but it’s going to be a long and interesting journey. 2015 will be the first small steps into these virtual worlds, and we can’t wait to see where the journey takes us.

The Rift DK2 is slightly smaller than the DK1 thanks to the smaller screen, but it also includes an external camera for motion tracking.

The twin lenses are easy to see in this view. DK2 includes two sets of interchangeable lenses, to accommodate varying eye accuracy. Those who wear glasses are advised to use contacts.

This is the position tracking camera that ships with the DK2. We used a camera tripod to mount it in front of a racing cockpit, but it will also clip onto monitors. Oculus released this rendered image to give Kickstarter backers an idea of what the final consumer version might look like.

Sony has the advantage of already having motion tracking of the player’s hands and arms covered, thanks to the Sony Move controllers from the PS3.

The folks over at ifixit.com pulled the DK2 apart, revealing the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 screen at the heart of the device.

This is a mockup of the Virtuix Omni, a large harness used to capture the player’s leg movements, allowing them to walk through their virtual worlds.

A rendered mockup of the Sixense STEM hand controller. The removable brick at the rear is the motion tracker, and up to five can be used simultaneously.

Sony’s Morpheus prototype offers a better headset design, but the interior specs aren’t quite as impressive as the DK2, as it lacks low persistence technology.

The original Rift DK1 used a slightly larger, but lower resolution, screen than the DK2, which is why it looks a little bigger from the outside.