Oculus Rift

Design

Some of the elements of the Oculus Rift dev kit have not been announced yet, but the company has released information on some of the specifications for the developer kit.

What is known is that the field of view is more than 90 degrees horizontal (110 degrees diagonal). That is more than double the FOV of most competing devices, and is the primary feature of the device. It is intended to almost fill the wearer's entire field of view, and the real world is completely blocked out, to create a strong sense of immersion. The resolution is 1280×800 (16:10 aspect ratio) which is split between both eyes, rendering the effective resolution at 640×800 in stereoscopic 3D. The view is taller than it is wide (4:5 aspect ratio). However, because the Rift is not 100% overlap, the combined resolution is effectively wider than 640. The resolution is lower than some other HMDs and is one of the Rift's weaknesses. Oculus is aiming for at least 1920×1080 (960×1080 per eye) for the consumer version. The lenses in the Oculus Rift warp the image so that pixels are closer together in the center and stretched further apart at the edges, so it would look pin-cushioned, except that the software corrects for that using a pixel shader. The developer version Oculus Rift has DVI and HDMI input on the control box, and comes with one DVI and two HDMI cables, and a DVI to HDMI adapter.

Originally the prototype used a 5.6 inch screen, but after the unexpectedly successful Kickstarter, Oculus discovered that panel wasn't available in sufficient quantities. So they changed their design to use a new, 7 inch screen. However, it makes the Rift dev kit larger and heavier than the prototypes. The pixel switching time is significantly faster, reducing latency and motion blur when turning one's head quickly. The pixel fill is also better, reducing the screen door effect and making individual pixels less noticeable. The LCD is brighter and the color depth is 24 bits per pixel. The 7 inch screen also makes the stereoscopic 3D no longer 100% overlap, with the left eye seeing extra area to the left and the right eye seeing extra area to the right. This resembles normal human vision, which does not 100% overlap either, although the overlap area is smaller on the Rift than in real life.

It will include Oculus' new 1000 Hz Adjacent Reality Tracker that will allow for much lower latency 3DOF head tracking than almost any other tracker. It uses a combination of 3-axis gyros, accelerometers, and magnetometers, which make it capable of absolute (relative to earth) head orientation tracking without drift.This new tracker was first shown in all the CES 2013

 demonstrations (but with the old screens). Previous prototypes and demonstrations used a Hillcrest tracker that is normally 120 Hz, with a special firmware that John Carmack requested to get it to run at 250 Hz. Tracker latency is a very important issue for Virtual Reality because the display needs to update as soon as you turn your head for it to seem real.

A USB interface is used for sending tracking data to the host machine and powering the device, partially negating the need for an external power supply. However since its power requirements slightly exceed the rating for USB, it will come with a power adapter that can optionally be used to connect the control box to the power-point for those computers that don't provide enough USB power.

The weight of the headset will be approximately 379g, an increase of about 90 grams due to the new 7 inch screen size. It will not include headphones.

The dev kit has a dial on each side that can be turned with a screwdriver and goes from −5 to 5. Purpose of those dials is to allow for a display to move closer or further away from the eyes. Rift development kit includes interchangeable lenses that will allow for simple Dioptric correction. Adjustment for the Interpupillary distance, which varies from person to person, is done in software. It is less of an issue for the Rift, which has a large exit pupil, but still desired.

Team Fortressing in VR

Soon you’ll be cruising around in Team Fortress 2, wearing your dapper, limited edition dev kit hat, stealing intel, capping points, and fragging fellow Oculus developers.
“…it’s really impressive and easily the best use of 3D technology I’ve ever seen… At one point I shotgun a demoman in the motor pool of Badwater, then switch to my pistol whip a volley of shots over my left shoulder (yes, it really felt that way) to drop a soldier coming down the ramp. Watching him fall, I start to feel like VR is something I could get used to.”- PCGamerN
Valve has done an incredible job bringing TF2 to virtual reality. That said, it’s a fast paced, intense experience. TF2 wasn’t originally designed for virtual reality and skirting around the map at super-speed in VR isn’t for everyone. You’re going to want to ease yourself in and acclimate over time.

Valve is also planning on sharing what they learned bringing TF2 to VR in two GDC talks:Why Virtual Reality is Hard (And Where it Might be Going) presented by Michael Abrash.What We Learned Porting Team Fortress 2 to Virtual Reality presented by Joe Ludwig.

We’d like to thank everyone at Valve for their hard work and generosity. We appreciate it!

so stay tuned...........