Browsed by
Category: VR

Continuous Scene Meshing On Quest 3

Continuous Scene Meshing On Quest 3

Comments 0 Comment

The Quest 3 lets you scan a room and build up an internal 3D mesh that represents the world you are in. This can take from 20 seconds to minutes and requires the user walking around the area – and is not able to change dynamically to opening/closing doors/etc.

The Depth API provides live depth frames up to 5 meters in distance – but how to use that to build up the environment in real time?

Julian Triveri‘s multiplayer mixed reality Quest 3 game Lasertag does just this. It takes the live frames and uses an open-source Unity implementation of marching cubes. Apple Vision Pro and Pico 4 Ultra already use this method – but have hardware accelerated depth sensors to help. Quest 3 developers need to do this computation themselves.

See the code on GitHub.

https://www.uploadvr.com/developer-implemented-continuous-scene-meshing-quest-3-lasertag

Bigscreen Beyond 2 VR Headset

Bigscreen Beyond 2 VR Headset

Comments 0 Comment

This new VR headset proports to fix a lot of common VR issues. It boasts 2560 x 2560 micro-OLED displays at 75hz native and a hugely wide 116º diagonal FOV that claims to have 100% edge-to-edge sharpness all in a much smaller package than current VR headsets. It comes in a dramatically lightweight 272 grams compared to 518 grames of a Quest 3.

Bigscreen Beyond 2 isn’t cheap – it costs $1019

This is a pretty good review. He’s most impressed with the groundbreakingly amazing lenses, comfort due to light weight, and using some methods that help reduce the jitter that normally makes quick left-right head turns disorienting.

The CEO is clearly a technically knowledgeable fellow who likes talking about the factors that make this device good – a wonderful change from Apple’s ‘magical’ marketing and Meta’s shotgun approach. He talks about the challenges and promises of newer approaches like foveated rendering.

Volumetric display from Voxon

Volumetric display from Voxon

Comments 0 Comment

Voxon has been showing off it’s Voxon VX2 VLED technology to create interactive volumetric holograms. It costs $6,800 so it’s definitely not cheap.

It’s likely using a high rpm spinning panel to generate the image which means that dampening the sound of the spinning array, keeping the display carefully synced to avoid pixel drift, and are some of the primary engineering concerns. They do provide a Unity and Blender SDK which is interesting.

Here’s a version of Doom playing on the volumetric display

Reminds me of the fellow that re-created the projector from Riven using a similar method.

Links:

FLY – the VR successor to Google Earth

FLY – the VR successor to Google Earth

Comments 0 Comment

Google Earth VR was the first mainstream real-world immersive map exploration app for modern PC VR headsets, but the app never made it to the standalone VR headset era. The new app FLY still uses Google Earth’s 3D map tiles, but brings exploring Google Earth in VR to Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3, and Apple Vision Pro. It even includes the 3D geometry for certain cities.

Living in 3rd person

Living in 3rd person

Comments 0 Comment

Ryan Trahan used VR goggles and a camera attached to a rig looking down on him from the classic 3rd person game camera location. He then tried to survive the next 50 hours doing everyday things.

It appears to have largely gone comically rough for him. Doors, curbs, playing basketball, manipulating anything small (eating food with utensils, picking up coffees, brushing his teeth) were his worst enemies.

However, I think he might be onto something. It makes me wonder if the camera setup was better and could be moved to left/right so he could see his own hands then someone could likely make a living being a ‘living robot’ who livestreams their life.

Creating Augmented Horror experiences – in your own home

Creating Augmented Horror experiences – in your own home

Comments 0 Comment

We’ve all seen the low-budget horror movie where a killer chases down their victim in their homes. Imagine if you could don some AR goggles and live that experience in your own home.

David Montecalvo has made a name for himself experimenting with mixed reality experiences. His YouTube videos explore a lot of his interesting ideas such as hoping on a real motorcycle and creating mixed reality teleportation:

He started with the Quest 3 and created experiences as Hauntify and FPS Enhanced Reality in which ghosts and soldiers appear in your home to hunt you. You run around your real-life house trying to escape them. It’s quite amazing and scary:

He recently moved onto the Vision Pro since the Quest 3 has limited augmented reality capabilities. The Vision Pro was better and now he has made an experience of creatures following you in the real world. It reminds me very much like the movie It Follows.

He’s experimented in large outdoor environments like a forest and apparently the Vision Pro does an amazing job automatically mapping the terrain and calculating occlusions and lighting. It’s pretty scary!

I’ll admit is has some really innovative, amazing, and terrifying. He recently gave an interview with Mixed about what he’s learned.

Links:

Fractal VR experience

Fractal VR experience

Comments 0 Comment

While most of VR is focused on creating 3D worlds like we currently know them – some artists are experimenting with mathematically generated audio-visual journeys.

Recombination is an VR album by Dutch artist Julius Horsthuis. When it launched a year ago, the VR app offered eight experiences that take you on a journey through beautiful mathematical spaces

Algebra of Awe is another of his works that focuses more on fractal geometry.

Article: