For Second Life™ it is thought the Oculus Rift is the most interesting development coming for 3D viewing. But, that is in the future. We may possibly see a retail version this year, but probably not. Daily Tech reported in March that the release date was slipping to 2016. None other than Oculus VR founder and chief Palmer Luckey announced the release date was moving back to early 2016. There were the usual disclaimers… ‘unless something goes horribly wrong’ … ‘but, it isn’t and won’t’ …
HP ZVR Holographic Display
Oculus is suffering now from feature creep and perfectionism. There is no lack of spin and hope. So, we can’t know when we will see it.
It looks like the Samsung Head Mounted Display (HMD) know as Gear VR is out or almout out for retail sales. The Road to VR has an article comparing the Gear and Oculus. The short story is it appears Oculus is doing software and software tech while Samsung is doing hardware. However that works, it is a device making it to market with the Samsung brand name.
While I am excited about Oculus Rift and the competing Head Mounted Displays, it seems we may get them about the same time or even after they appear in other fields. Medical uses seem to an interesting use of the new technology.
HMD Use
Atheer Labs (and they do use an ‘S” in their official name) is developing a device somewhat like Google Glass. Their information pages on the device are here: Atheer Labs, where they refer to this as ‘gesture-based 3D augmented interactive reality.’
They have numerous uses that they show for their device. They imagine assembly and repair manuals that superimpose over the object being worked on. Medical imaging (Fox News Video) that displays x-ray, CAT and MRI scans, and anatomy models imposed on the patient’s body.
Some describe the process as Google Glass meeting 3D. Whatever the case, this technology is breaking into mainstream RL uses.
And there is now the Kissing Bug as a hazard in the USA. (Reference) (DDT Safe but Illegal – University of Nebraska at Lincoln)
A significant number of people in the forum ask how to run Second Life™ on a laptop that has ample memory and CPU power but lacks adequate GPU power. The answer is disappointing, your hardware is not gonna cut it.
Now I find there is a way to add a PCI graphics card to a laptop. It isn’t pretty but, apparently it works.
This hands free controller is thought by many of us to be the answer to how to deal with hand movement while wearing a HMD (like an Oculus Rift). Jo Yardley has an article on the progress LEAP Motion is making with their VR effort. See: Leap motion announces VR related progress. She includes a video LEAP made (1:30 min) and a link to the source article at LEAP Motion’s site.
Oculus Rift – Image by: Franklin Heijnen – Flickr
Like many LEAP Motion controller owners, Jo does not use the controller often. Mine mostly sits in the box too. You can find LEAP controllers on eBay cheap. I am hoping that changes when the Oculus or another HMD unit go retail.
I have an update of this article: SpaceNavigator, Windows 10, and Second Life (9/2016). The information here has useful content. If you just want to get your SpaceNavigator working, jump to the newer article.
I found a deal on eBay for a SpaceNavigator, I bid and got it. It arrived. Yay! It works with everything BUT Second Life™. What a downer. Then I find out that 3D Connexion no longer supports Second Life. Eek!
But, people are using Spacenavigator (SN) with SL, so what is the deal and how does one get it to work? Torley has videos on how to use it… people are posting about using it in various places…
The SN Help Manual is of no use. It barely covers the basics.
Fortunately there is a page in the wiki that mostly explains how to get it working with SL and the latest SN software (3DxWare64_v10-1-4_r1818). It is not easy and there are gotchas in the wiki page. The page is titled: Flycam. Yeah, I would have thought of that for a title first thing…
SpaceNavigator NOT working (v10)
As you have probably Google’d for help before getting here you have likely seen posts about how to create a SN profile for Second Life. Those are pre-2013 as best I can tell and the software changed some time in 2013. I can’t find any way to create a profile via the 3DConnexion software v10. But, there are posts in the 3DConnexion site that help. I’ve used those to figure out how to get my SN working the way I want it to.
