Linux Gets An Open-Source VR Desktop, Built Off OpenHMD

[Maxjen]

Actually, some thing I've been wondering since I saw the screenshot on SimulaVR's GitHub is whether it would be possible to render two different viewpoints for 3D games/applications, so as to have a kind of virtual 3D multi-monitor setup. Just think about how awesome that would be.

Yep, that would be great. No more need to go to the cinema when you can just watch movies in 3D on a gigantic virtual screen. Might also be useful for 3D modelling software to get a better feel of the proportions. I think even 2D games could benefit from this by having the layers at different distances for some depth perception. Before I bought a VR HMD I tried this once with anaglyph 3D and thought it looked nice.

I would also like to be able to use the VR window manager as an overlay while playing VR games. Just imagine being able to e.g. go somewhere in the flying city of Bioshock Infinite, open your virtual displays and do your work there. This should already be possible since it is basically what the steam overlay does.

Though one thing that we need before we can replace regular monitors is a better resolution. Otherwise text will be hard to read.

[stex6109]

Why not, but with a headset on, hard to keep track of our fingers on the keyboard. Event if I almose never look my hands when I use my keyboard, sometimes, a single quick look to reset my hands, or find a special key (volume, calc, print, ...) is necessary.

I think this kind of interfaces will have better use on future AR headsets. VR is more usable with special peripherals (why not a virtual keyboard synced with the real one ? ).

You could just use this instead and have a fully tracked virtual keyboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=XVXvk1X1Gbs

[leech]

Yep, that would be great. No more need to go to the cinema when you can just watch movies in 3D on a gigantic virtual screen. Might also be useful for 3D modelling software to get a better feel of the proportions. I think even 2D games could benefit from this by having the layers at different distances for some depth perception. Before I bought a VR HMD I tried this once with anaglyph 3D and thought it looked nice.

I would also like to be able to use the VR window manager as an overlay while playing VR games. Just imagine being able to e.g. go somewhere in the flying city of Bioshock Infinite, open your virtual displays and do your work there. This should already be possible since it is basically what the steam overlay does.

Though one thing that we need before we can replace regular monitors is a better resolution. Otherwise text will be hard to read.

So, it's rant time.....

Assholes in the movie industry are basically trying to kill off 3D movies. From some corner, they want everyone to start moving to 4k, which to me is only logical if you're getting like 70" or greater screens.

Now 3D movies are absolutely PHENOMENAL in VR with a virtual theater. I recently had to order Thor: Ragnarok from the UK because in the USA, they no longer release 3D movies. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was bought on eBay because the 3D release was ONLY available in a steelbook that was sold out quick as hell at Best Buy.

I've basically made it a point that I will buy all Marvel movies in 3D if they are available. The first few were not. The really amazing one was Doctor Strange... just wow!

So the problem with 3D movies has always been perspective (Ironic, I know). Basically even with a 3D TV, which I have, you have to be in just the PERFECT spot or you get ghosting, no matter how good your glasses are (except maybe active ones? but they're overly expensive!) But the side effect of VR is that you get free perfect 3D in it.

So yeah, if you like 3D movies at all, VR headset is the way to go, I watch 'em on my Vive all the time.

On that note, I wish I could watch them in Linux!

[NateHubbard]

So, it's rant time.....

Assholes in the movie industry are basically trying to kill off 3D movies. From some corner, they want everyone to start moving to 4k, which to me is only logical if you're getting like 70" or greater screens.

I'm pretty sure the public largely rejected 3D movies. Hollywood would gladly charge us all extra to watch every single movie in 3D if people actually wanted to.

As for 4k, we're well beyond starting to move to it, and with higher resolution this is something the public can actually see the benefit of. You only need about a 40" screen before it becomes obviously better (at least to me anyway).

[leech]

Like I said, the issue with 3D is as I stated, unless you are perfectly positioned it causes weird eye strain.

It all depends on distance and vision, but for movies, 4k is mostly pointless. like national geographic.

Clearly 3D is popular enough that they still release them in the theater in 3D.

[coder]

As for 4k, we're well beyond starting to move to it, and with higher resolution this is something the public can actually see the benefit of. You only need about a 40" screen before it becomes obviously better (at least to me anyway).

From what distance? Is that a 40" screen on your desktop?

I sit with my eyeballs about 3 m away from the screen, and cannot see individual pixels in my 60" 1080p TV. I don't feel I'd gain much benefit from the additional resolution.

That said, I'm bothered by banding in regular blu-rays. So, I would welcome HDR and wider color gamut. If OLED TVs were cheap and had no burn-in problems, I'd likely upgrade to one.

[guildem]

You could just use this instead and have a fully tracked virtual keyboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=XVXvk1X1Gbs

Ohhhhhhh thanks ! didn't now this was real

[M@yeulC]

I would also like to be able to use the VR window manager as an overlay while playing VR games. Just imagine being able to e.g. go somewhere in the flying city of Bioshock Infinite, open your virtual displays and do your work there. This should already be possible since it is basically what the steam overlay does.

I hadn't really given a lot of thought to this, but you are right, being able to choose one's environment would be one of the added niceties. While going in-game sounds a bit impractical, one could recreate the environment and offer it as one of the available "office" settings

Now I want my own steampunk (infinite-styled) virtual office. With a manometer to keep an eye on CPU usage, and big glass tubes filled with coloured liquid to monitor other system resources... There's so much to do to reinvent the desktop metaphor!

I can imagine the downside of people not wanting to take their headsets off once they've mapped their room to the universe of their choices, though... The future is really coming at a faster pace than expected

stex6109 Wow, thanks for the video. There goes every one of my layout problems...

[crazyloglad]

Author here -
schmidtbag is right on target when it comes to the window management scheme and motion sickness - but also ergonomics, you don't want to move your head around too much. When writing this I strained my neck and my eyes several times from the weirdest things, like drift in the PSVR sensor data having me slowly twist my neck to keep things straight - or when the configured IPD (eye-eye distance) mismatch with HMD and 3d-in-3D content with a different IPD on the camera equipment. There's a lot of low level dragons to be slain here, even very basic things like a color scheme that reduces the 'glow' from foreground-background color combinations.

haagch et al. when it comes to the part of input - so I have a Vive (and waiting for you to finish that branch ;-)) but the controllers are absolutely useless for serious work and I find them barely tolerable for gaming, so decided the time was better spent to figure out a build for a glove - https://www.adafruit.com/product/2472 is a decent starting point :-). Eye-tracking + glove to replace the rodent. For 'how can I find my keys on the keyboard' it's much simpler. A bindable trigger (my test right now is when I tilt my head down below a certain angle) that shows either a HUD keyboard or overlay the video feed (v4l input has been implemented for many years). For the HUD keyboard, block input forwarding while in this state, and only visually highlight the key being pressed and you get a cheap 'resynch' reference.

But seriously, watching blade runner 2049 in VR like this is just great - even as a CPU intensive animated wallpaper

[TheOnlyJoey]

So yeah, if you like 3D movies at all, VR headset is the way to go, I watch 'em on my Vive all the time.

On that note, I wish I could watch them in Linux!

You can! VLC has been developing support for HMD's for a while now, also based on OpenHMD (just like Safespace).
Its still in development but you can find it on https://gitlab.com/magsoft/vlc/tree/HMD-2 (requires some tinkering for now)\
Make sure the video has the right tags, since it needs that to enter the VR mode.

Video running on Windows with OpenHMD and Rift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGqf0yb-Fs8