Oculus Chief Scientist Predicts the Future of VR Platform Tech
by Rochelle Winters.
Starting with VR optics and displays, the technology that put Oculus on the map, Abrash said that in five years, panel resolution will be 4K x 4K per eye as compared to today’s 1200 x 1800 and field of view will expand from 90-degrees to 140-degrees. Because there is a trade-off between field of view and pixel density, and field of view is material to creating presence, pixels per degree will only double from 15 to 30. Abrash also predicted the introduction of flexible depth of focus. The image won’t be 20/20, but it will be clear enough “to pass the driver’s test,” he concluded.
“Foveated rendering will be a core VR technology,” continued Abrash, significantly reducing the number of pixels required to maintain a 90 fps frame rate and to produce quality graphics.
Nevertheless, eye-tracking “at the level you need for foveated rendering, is not a solved problem,” warned Abrash, who described the challenge of accurate and robust eye-tracking as the “single greatest risk factor for his predictions.”
Audio solutions “are more straight forward” and in 2021, users will be able to “quickly and easily generate a personalized head related transfer function — or HRTF,” which describes how sound bounces off and moves around the head and ears. In addition, Abrash believes that technologies that model how sounds reflects, diffracts and interferes in space will emerge and they will be applied to virtual worlds in a few limited scenarios.
Moving on to interfaces Abrash proclaimed, “It is quite likely touch will be the mouse of VR,” and remain the primary interaction technology for complex interactions in virtual space. While he sees the potential for direct hand manipulation, he said the necessary kinematic and haptic technologies are not “even on the direct horizon.”
He drew a picture of mixed reality that he dubbed “augmented virtual reality,” one that differs from current AR experiences supported by see-through glasses.
Augmented virtual reality brings the real world into VR and users will be able to manipulate both in anyway they want, at will. Abrash described an experience “where we can move around safely and confidently, pick up coffee mugs, see who just came into the room, be anywhere on earth where we want to be, and interact with anyone on the planet.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/oculus-chief-scientist-predicts-the-future-of-vr-platform-tech/