Second Life and Virtual Worlds
The Road to VR has an interesting article challenging 3 common ideas about why VR will fail. Well written and with rational challenges to the 3 common ideas about VR. See: The 3 Most Common Arguments Against VR and Why They’re Wrong.
One common thought about VR that I think has some merit is ‘gesture based’ control like Kinect is going to fail because users do not have enough room/space… or patience.
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’ …
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.
See: Samsung Gear VR Detailed Review: Part One – Design Comparison to Oculus Rift DK2.
See: You can buy Samsung’s virtual reality headset right now for $200.
See: Buy Samsung Gear VR.
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.
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.
Check this out: EXP GDC Laptop External PCI-E Graphics Card. You could add a GTX980 to a 4 year old laptop.
I am not endorsing the product. You are on our own deciding if this is for you. I am just pointing out a possibility.
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.
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.