Does anyone in this group (including remote/non-SFe folks) own or have
had some direct experience with the Oculus Rift pre-consumer models?
Matt and Janire (last year's Artists in Residence at SFx) have one now
(in the UK) and I've a collaborator using one for viewing OmniStereo
still images captured by the CaveCAM.
My experience with (even professional grade) HMDs has always been
disappointing, especially because of tracking lag/error.
It looks like
<http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/18/oculus-rift-john-carmack-interview/>
the consumer model may be a System On a Chip (sorry Owen, not in a
browser) running Android, available mid 2014. Not clear how that plays
*with* a computer, but is conceivable that the Android SoC has a
"passthrough mode" that just displays whatever is coming in on it's
video interface.
I almost pulled the trigger this week and ordered a Dev Kit but there is
indication that the next hardware rev will have improved tracking.
And *then* I discovered there is a new player on the (KickStarter
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/technicalillusions/castar-the-most-versatile-ar-and-vr-system>)
block... This Technical Illusions castAR
<http://technicalillusions.com/?incsub_wiki=home> system is a
glasses-mounted pair of pico-projectors that project onto a
retroreflective screen surface. It is sortof a proto-AnySurface(tm)
system. A head mounted projector (pair) with tracking, if you will. A
multi-view, shared space. And *bonus*, a clip-on mini-screen turns
these into an HMD very much like the Oculus Rift.
Their KickStarter video has a lot of obfuscating hype (live testimonials
of people who have just seen it for the first time) but it looks like a
very promising Alpha example of, as I said, AnySurface(tm) experience.
- Steve
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