{"id":9457,"date":"2014-07-01T15:56:43","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T23:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.perivision.net\/wordpress\/?p=9457"},"modified":"2014-07-01T15:57:38","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T23:57:38","slug":"virtual-reality-hackathon-coming-to-sf-why-its-different-this-time-so-get-your-helmets-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.perivision.net\/wordpress\/2014\/07\/virtual-reality-hackathon-coming-to-sf-why-its-different-this-time-so-get-your-helmets-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Reality Hackathon coming to SF. Why its different this time so get your Helmets ready"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"google<\/a>Did anyone watch the Google IO conference broadcast, or better yet, was there?\u00a0 Hope you are enjoying your watches.\u00a0 But more importantly, are you enjoying your cardboard HMD?\u00a0 I have to admit, that caught me by surprise, but very cool!\u00a0 But the point of the VR glasses is to demonstrate Google’s VR Build Kit<\/a>. I have not tried it myself yet, but I will check it out when I have time.\u00a0 The point here is that VR is suddenly coming back into vogue.\u00a0 A LOOONG time ago, VR was hot, I’m talking back in the 90’s.\u00a0 Now we simply called it 3D, but when VRML <\/a>and other 3D world applications first hit the market, people went nuts referring to VR and world changing.\u00a0 Remember Second Life?\u00a0 Perfect example. Everyone and every company was suppose to have a virtual storefront… which did not happen.\u00a0\u00a0 I spent most of my Collage education around spatial perception in virtual environments<\/a> so I was drinking the cool-aid (at least in the beginning) as well.\u00a0 However, as I started doing more research, I realized this was all a false promise and hinted to as much in my PhD thesis. And then just like that, it was over.<\/p>\n

Well seems the pendulum has swung back to the VR\/AR hotness again.\u00a0 Beginning with the kickstarter project, Oculus, later purchased by Facebook (still not sure why), t<\/a>hen a number of copy cat VR headsets, Motorcycle helmets with HUD displays<\/a> (my favorite) and now Google has a VR dev platform<\/a> with aforementioned sweet ass cardboard VR glasses mounts. So what is different this time?<\/p>\n

Plenty.\u00a0 When I was first playing in the VR\/AR world, we had AOL dial up, Pentium I PC’s running windows 95 or 98.\u00a0 Limited content and Headsets that cost in the thousands.\u00a0 The most common way to experience a 3D world was through games or VRML.\u00a0 Now a high-speed internet connection is pretty common.\u00a0 Most desktop computers have more then enough power to display a reasonably detailed 3D world out of the box, and high power graphic cards are almost a 1\/10th of the price from the 90’s. There is more content out there and its more connected.\u00a0 Google 3D maps just itself has more 3D content then anyone would have time to completely consume. And of course, 3D games are constantly pushing the limits of an immersive environment with 60fps soon to become the new high standard for realistic gaming.<\/p>\n

Finally, we have a plethora of new display devices.\u00a0 Not just cheaper and better HMD’s for full immersive VR, but mobile phones, google glass (kinda) that provide AR (Augmented Reality) experiences, and yes, or new friend the Google Cardboard 3D viewer.\u00a0 That does not mean suddenly everything is going to be VR\/AR, we already learned that lesson, but as wearables become more common, I think we will see a smart phone that can fit into a simple glasses container that gives us pretty good VR\/AR.\u00a0 That is saying something. So with so many people who can now experience a VR\/AR environment at little to no extra cost, what kind of apps will take advantage of this opportunity and bust out?<\/p>\n

Well, lets find out.\u00a0 Coming soon is a VR hackathon<\/a> where like minded people can explore that question. Of course games will always be at the forefront, but what else? Perhaps someone can come up with a cool little app that runs on the cardboard headset google made.\u00a0 And Perhaps someone will model this head mount in 3D and print a whole bunch of them.\u00a0 Perhaps someone will grab a Leap motion detected, Like I did in a hackathon awhile back and allow a full VR experience with complex navigation.<\/p>\n

Who knows, but what I do know is we have the confluence of check hardware, cheap\/free software and wide pipes.\u00a0 Its time to see what VR\/AR can really do.<\/p>\n

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