Pimax 8K & 5K VR Headsets Coming to Kickstarter Later This Month
Pimax, the China-based VR headset manufacturer, just released a preview of their Kickstarter page for its new 8K and 5K VR headsets.
To be frank, the Pimax headsets aren’t actually 8K or 5K resolution, instead integrating dual 3840×2160 LCD panels and dual 2560×1440 OLED panels respectively. Both are still higher resolution than consumer VR headsets today though, and have a much higher field of view (FOV) at 200 degrees horizontal, almost the entire 220 degree natural range of human eyes.
Road to VR’s Frank He, who tried the headset, said its 200 degree FOV was “impressive,” and that resolution-wise, he couldn’t discern sub-pixels “no matter how hard [he] looked.” To He, the screen door effect (SDE) was also diminished to the amount of “looking at a slightly textured surface or film.”
Chinese video site offers virtual escape from ‘boring’ reality
Feeling trapped in her "boring" life as a member of China's modern workforce, "Yaorenmao" escapes online, where she prances and preens in cosplay outfits for her 1.3 million fans.
Her alternative world is bilibili.com, a Shanghai-based video-sharing platform that has attracted more than 150 million Chinese users with its eclectic mix of user-generated videos and animation largely inspired by the Japanese world of ACG (animation, comics and games).
You can never leave
"I worked like a normal person after graduation (from university), but normal life and work are just too boring," she said, withholding her real name and occupation to keep her two lives separate.
Fans accumulated, often sending gifts or money, which she ploughs back into increasingly elaborate costumes and settings, including a 10,000 yuan ($1,500) trip to Japan to shoot videos during the picturesque cherry blossom season.
Her fans approach her amateurish work "with a generous heart and encourage me because they want to see me getting better and better. It's as if they are getting better and better themselves," she told AFP.
Spurred in part by a shortage of engaging youth-oriented content in China where Facebook and YouTube are blocked, and media and entertainment outlets are heavily censored, Chinese ACG is developing into a multi-billion-dollar industry, analysts say, drawing investment from tech titans such as Tencent and Alibaba.
Bilibili chairman Chen Rui told AFP Chinese millennials born in the internet age are increasingly inhabiting the virtual world.
Analysts estimate China's ACG world has more than doubled in the past four years to around 300 million fans whose spending within the subculture averages more than 1,700 yuan ($255) per year, and some predict the industry could one day rival its Japanese forebears.
Bilibili offers a bewildering array of material—70 percent of it user-generated—including role-playing, quirky personal videos like Yaorenmao's, amateur commentary on lifestyle, tech, beauty, fashion and entertainment, games, and of course Japanese anime series.
Bilibili launched an annual Shanghai convention in 2013 that drew just 800 people. This year's event in July attracted more than 100,000 uploaders like Yaorenmao and fans, most in their teens or early 20s, and many dressed flamboyantly in comic-character costumes.
See the original story here: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-chinese-video-site-virtual-reality.html
Apple and Microsoft’s Upcoming Events Will Push AR and VR Further Ahead
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will hold its annual iPhone event next week, where the company is expected to launch the all-new iPhone 8 (along with incremental updates for a new iPhone 7s and 7s Plus), a new version of its Apple Watch, and perhaps even a new 4K Apple TV. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will have its own event in mid-October, in which the company will debut the latest update to its Windows 10 platform, called the Fall Creators Update.
There's plenty of things going on at both of these events to talk about, but what I want to focus on specifically here is how the companies will likely spur on augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) adoption through the software updates at these events.
Microsoft is tweaking its software to make it easier for users to use plug-and-play virtual reality headsets with Windows 10.
Right now, high-end VR systems typically have separate sensors that have to be set up with desktops in order to track movement, but the new third-party devices that will debut alongside the Windows 10 update have integrated sensors that were developed by Microsoft for its Hololens augmented reality headsets.
Microsoft said in a recent blog post that third-party hardware makers will debut new, relatively inexpensive virtual reality headsets at the event and that they'll range from $299 for just the headset device to $499 for a headset with controllers.
Microsoft also says it will adjust how the software processes VR content based on how powerful a PC is. Essentially, there will be two tiers of Windows computers in the coming months: Windows Mixed Reality PCs and Windows Mixed Reality Ultra PCs. The former will consist of desktops and laptops with an integrated graphics card and will process VR content at 60 frames per second. The latter are desktops and laptops with their own discrete graphics processor that will be able to send 90 frames per second to the VR headsets.
Adding augmented reality to iOS 11 means that millions of Apple's customers, and potentially hundreds of millions of Apple devices, will soon have access to some of the most sophisticated AR apps on the market.
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek back in June Apple CEO Tim Cook said of AR that, "The first step in making it a mainstream kind of experience is to put it in the operating system. We're building it into iOS 11, opening it to developers -- and unleashing the creativity of millions of people."
See the full story here: https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/09/apple-and-microsofts-upcoming-events-will-push-ar.aspx
VR’s biggest question — How real is too real?
1) Immersion
VR is known for its immersive quality, engaging the viewer fully in the film, game or experience. This immersion means that senses and emotions are heightened for the viewer in ways that are not typical to any other medium. A specific example is, when content becomes violent or scary in VR, the viewer can’t simply look away or leave the room. VR content creators can leverage this to engage viewers, immersing them in other worlds, concepts, storylines or, as in advertising and marketing, taking brand awareness to entirely new levels.
2) Cognitive attention
As I mentioned above, VR is the only medium that commands 100 percent of its audience’s attention and requires active watching. This new level of viewer engagement is what really appeals to brands and original content creators. Where ethics fit into this particular aspect is in examining the duration and level of stressful events occurring in any VR experience and the potential psychological implications of such content.
I foresee VR content creators and distributors eventually taking similar precautions that amusement parks do, where a waiver is signed or included in your ticket purchase, relinquishing responsibility for the inherent risks.
3) Ratings
A rating system has been adopted by most VR App stores, led by Oculus. The International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), which assigns age ratings to games and mobile apps, was applied to all VR experiences in March 2017. The implementation of a global rating system across all VR experiences will put the responsibility on consumers to decide what type of content they want to consume or allow others to consume. The standardization takes the pressure off of content creators and leaves it in the hands of consumers.
See the full story here: https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/09/09/vrs-biggest-question-real-real/#.tnw_PhReG00l
The Challenges of Producing A High-End VR Series
One of the most important elements we wanted to integrate into the series was the ability for viewers to move through the story. At UNLTD, we believe the era of “fixed” or stationary VR experiences is over – where the viewer is pretty much stuck in one place and the action moves past us.
However, when you add movement to a live 360 image, the complexity of the post-production process rises exponentially (like really, really exponentially). This happens both in terms of both stitching the images together and then creating visual FX.
To further enhance the viewer’s ability to move through the story, we decided to “double-shoot” everything, using our own Sputnik Motion-VRcam for all the live action shots, as well as an array of volumetric cameras capturing depth and RGB information on the actors and close-range set. We then scanned the entire location architecture for 3D mapping. Combining all these different assets, we’ve built fully interactive environments where we can match and then switch back and forth seamlessly between the live action-action and volumetric environments.
Although volumetric camera technology is really in its infancy, we’re convinced that all camera capture technology will be volumetric within the next few years.
We believe that true blockbuster “must see” style experiences will drive the mainstream adoption of VR. If we’re to succeed, VR production studios need to push the creative and budget limits and release content at the highest level, competing with anything that film, television or games have to offer.
See the full story here: https://uploadvr.com/challenges-producing-high-end-vr-series/
VR company Upload settles sexual harassment lawsuit
San Francisco-based virtual reality startup UploadVR, which is now going by Upload, settled a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit yesterday with its former employee. Anonymous sources told TechCrunch that the lawsuit ended, which Upload later confirmed in a statement. No further details about the settlement were provided.
Upload responded to a request for comment by linking back to a letter from their COO, Anne Ward, in which she says, “Above all else I want to make it clear that Upload is a place where everyone is welcome. Everyone. We will not tolerate discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, disability or sexual orientation.”
See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/7/16269282/virtual-reality-uploadvr-hostile-wrongful-termination-unfair-pay