Oculus Reality:

I finally got my hands on an Oculus Rift – probably the last batch to ship

The aim is to explore it’s usability for Virtual Reality Training or – ‘Serious Game’ usage in scenarios such as:

Employee orientation tours for critical locations
Emergency Shutdown Training – in virtual reality
“Oculus Reality” projects – or Digital See-through Augmented Reality – A camera captures our analog world as a digital video stream, and integrated Digital Content, presenting the final composite on the Oculus Rift HMD.

(Above: work in progress of valve shutdown simulation at an industrial site)

 (Navigating a Point Cloud laser scan of a Water Desalination Plant on the Oculus Rift. Click for larger image)

In the hard science novel, Memories with Maya, the characters in the story devise a visor; they call it “Wizer”, and it features true see-through capability. This is not far from reality, with Google Glass being a start, and offerings from Vuzix and Meta, hold promise. As I research for the sequel to the book, the OR has already given me an interesting plot-device to use in an early chapter as the story unfolds.

Impressions:

On first wearing the Oculus Rift – the developer version- as seen in the pictures above, my impression was not overwhelming, the main culprit being the “screen door” effect, and to a lesser extent the frame update “shimmer” due to the head tracking. However, the Dev Kit comes with changeable lenses, and on swapping out the lenses for the “B-cup’ pair, the screen door effect reduced dramatically. After a few minutes, the stereo 3D immersion took over, and the wearer learns to move their head in a manner that does not produce as much shimmer or judder.

Overall, the Oculus Rift at it’s price point, offers the best VR immersion possible due to it’s large field of view. There is every reason to believe the consumer version will be a system to reckon with – in the domain of Virtual Reality gaming, simulation, education and … VR ‘intimacy’