Not all VR is created equal

One of the things we often hear when we go to do a demonstration is ‘It’s ok, I’ve seen VR before’. That’s a tricky one for us as the customer may well have seen some great VR, but more than likely they haven’t seen something like the photorealistic, completely immersive and interactive VR we have spent years developing. What people consider ‘VR’ even differs, some people define VR as the old photo walk throughs. Not all VR is created equal, and VR headsets are definitely not created equal.

First up, when we say VR what do we mean and how is it different to TUI vs AR vs AV vs XR?

Mixed Reality (or XR) refers to the continuum from a real to a virtual environment encompassing TUI, VR, AR and AV. 

Tangible User Interface (TUI)

TUI Uses real physical objects to both represent &  interact with computer generated information

Augmented Reality (AR)

AR adds computer generated information to the real world

Augmented Virtuality (AV)

AV Adds real information to a computer generated environment

Virtual Reality (VR)

Refers to completely computer generated environment. Immersive.

For property, a huge investment both financial and emotional, users want to be completely immersed and experience their new home or investment as if they were really there, taking their time to explore and interact. From a design and build perspective, there is no better way to get stakeholders on the same page than to allow them to completely walk through a project, seeing it exactly as it will be built and understanding where any issues may lie.

I’ve used a stand alone headset or google cardboard, isn’t that the same?

Headsets are definitely not created equal and we have tried a lot of them to ensure the best quality, most realistic commercial experience.
There are a lot of great headsets out there for gaming, but for our completely immersive, interactive and photorealistic experience we require substantial computing power.

We need a headset that is:

Wireless (in a commercial application being wired into a computer just isn’t practical for customers)

Run from a video card powerful enough to effectively show all the amazing lighting, reflections and textures that make our experience feel real (we use a 2080 TI video card in a purpose built desktop in our kiosk).

Has a high rate of frames per second, wide field of view, high DoF and minimal latency. 

The below Q&A spells out some of the different features and specs that are important in creating virtual display homes and why.

Tethered vs Untethered?

Q Is the headset connected to the PC by a cable or is it wirelessly connected?

A Our headsets need to be wireless, for safety and for user experience (when we got our wireless adapter a year ago it really made our product commercially viable).

Stand alone vs PC Driven?

Q Is the headset stand alone (ie all the processing is done within the headset itself) or is it driven (via cable or wirelessly) to a computer?

A Stand alone headsets are great, but they are very very limited in processing power compared to what you can do with a powerful PC. The amount of information that can be stored and processed and the quality of the graphics are very different.

Frames per second (FPS)?

Q Speed with which a system can display consecutive images or frames.

A Without a FPS that mimics what we see in the real world things just don’t feel right when you move, and this is what can make people feel sick in lower FPS headsets.

Field of View (FoV)?

Q How wide is the angle of view peripherally? Can you only see a narrow box in front of you or can you see as you do in the real world (180 degrees although 110 pretty much simulates full FoV)

A Critical for perspective, having a wide and realistic field of view is what gives perspective and a sense of space in a project. A small field of view is just like watching something on a screen, you don’t get that peripheral vision.

Degrees of Freedom (DoF)?

Q The number of ways a rigid object can move through a 3d space – rolling, pitching, yawing, (these three are movement around the x,y,z axes) and elevating, straffing and surging (translational movement along the axes)

A VR headsets tend to be either 3 or 6 DoF. With 3 DoF you can view any direction in an experience by rotating and turning your head, but you can’t move around in the experience by moving around in real life. With 6 DoF you can view any direction AND you can move around in virtual reality space by moving around in real life.

Latency?

Q The delay between action and reaction.

A Latency needs to replicate the real world or the brain won’t believe it’s real.

Screen type?

Q AMOLED, LCD, OLED etc

A AMOLED where an ‘active-matrix organic light-emitting diode’ or a layer of semiconducting film behind the OLED panel allows quicker activation of each pixel and generally offers a better quality experience than others currently on offer.

Pixel Density?

Q The number of pixels per square inch or how tightly packed together the pixels are.

A Less pixel density means you can see the black space between pixels which give the ‘screen door’ effect.

In short, we want a headset that feels like you are in the real world, is powerful enough to run extreme realism in light reflections and textures, doesn’t make you sick and allows you to move around the room freely. We have tried a lot of headsets over the past few years and the only one that currently ticks all these boxes at the moment is the VIVE Pro with wireless attachment. 

We are excited about the capacity of the new stand alone headsets like the Occulus Quest, but unfortunately it just doesn’t have the processing power to effectively demonstrate a virtual display at this point. Having said that, we are always trying out new toys and always considering how different technologies COULD be used. They all have a purpose, and if you come to us we will sit with you, understand your business and how to get the best bang for your buck with this and future tech. 

Not all VR is created equal, and it’s critical to find both the supplier and the headset that will give you and your customers the best value and experience.
Revista will ensure we are constantly up to date with what this.

I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

 Elon Musk