Oculus VR @ GDC 2013: Q&A with Palmer Luckey

After his talk, "Virtual Reality: The Holy Grail of Gaming", Palmer fields questions from the audience covering everything from societal impacts to GVS to overacting.
P.S. - Sorry for the sound quality, we lost our audio feed at the end of the talk and had to work off of the camera microphones during the Q&A.

[@Skabinflaff]

Palmer is a fish in water talking about this stuff - it's fascinating to listen to! Great to hear how knowledgeable and passionate the guy behind this revolution is.

[@AetherSummers]

I missed this revolution at the time so watching all of these videos whilst I’m listening to The History of the Future by Blake Harris is incredible.

[@AllNamesAreTakenO]

I think I enjoyed this Q&A more than the actual talk itself, as Palmer was more relaxed, and it was focused more on the practicalities of VR than the possibilities that VR will bring. Now if you don't mind, I'm off to hibernate for a month until my Rift arrives!

[@markifi]

I've missed this talk. it's totally amazing! he's obsessed with vr.

[@MentalParadox]

Oculus VR is making me rethink my life. I've never felt so enthousiastically about anything before. Maybe I should go back to school and work on VR eventually.

[@upsyndrome]

can't get enough of this stuff.

[@scoinva]

I've never been more interesting Q&A session! Palmer is great speaker! Love the product. It ignites the imagination.

[@JeanCarlosRomanReyes]

Great Job Palmer keep up the great work. We definitely got your back.

[@Suuuperelaxed]

I know exactly how you feel. Living today is hitting the jackpot of human history.

[@BritishConcept]

Super interesting, would have liked to see Nate's talk.

[@birkfs]

I recommend waiting for the consumer version, it will be so much better!

[@DrussNL]

Palmer is an expert when it comes to VR, he actually acknowledged that these things exist. But the weight and especially the price are in the way. Oculus mission statement is to make a large FOV HMD that is as good as possible while still being cheap enough to be mainstream with low latency as THE most important aspect. People who want to can easily buy wireless HDMI/USB boxes and hook them up to a large battery in a fanny-pack/backpack. What VR really needs is to first become widespread.

[@SANTARII]

The blurring effect /is/ something noticeable though, it's not only really far off in your peripheral vision. If I focus on my hand I can tell that the thing behind it are blurred. Anything from a quarter to half of my field of view, I perceive the blurring pretty frequently. It's especially apparent for things such as if I were focused on something translucent, things behind would be blurred, or focusing on a grating, or something moving about in front of my vision when I am looking (cont)

[@florianmaslofski]

dont forget, ive youre tracking eyes in such a speed, blinking will totaly set it off since it would be a pretty noticed action in such a tracking speed

[@smegskull]

FOV doesn't quite compensate fully for eye roaming as focal points move with your eye however will not move on the screen. you can simulate this on a 3D TV by looking at the side of the screen or a corner instead of center screen it makes the 3D seem more artificial as the focal point of the film remains static relative to the screen while the screen moves relative to the viewing angle of your eyes.

[@maphazar7549]

palmer's the boss! I use to dream of vr and imagined many a game ever since i can remember. I cant wait until e sports like halo are played for real in set environments were the simulation matches that of the physical environment. I'm so excited for the future.

[@Beautifulifesonata]

great talk, Palmer! you are really a genius.

[@beautifulsmall]

I thought wrongly the cpu's were in the headset, but its still 2yrs away ! Inversense, TI combo would be great,9-axis single chip mems from Inv and TI's beagle board chipset ? camera can do 90fps "640x480. I love this.

[@SANTARII]

Eye tracking is also kind of important if we want pseudo-focus-blurring.

[@mhe0815]

Focus is not only a matter of distance, but also of direction. If you focus in one direction, you only see sharp in that direction. It's only a very small spot in the center of your eye's fov where you see sharp. Things not in the center are not sharp, even if they are at the same distance. Eye tracking for blurring the periphery is not needed. Eye tracking is only interesting as a input for e.g. NPC interactions. But you don't need eyetracking to simulate realistic vision in stereoscopic HMDs.

[@lockstocknl]

This guy really is an awesome speaker!

[@BakaZoraWasTaken]

"Where are you looking? My eyes are up here!"

[@AdamSkubel]

Eye tracking does advantages, though they are a bit subtle. Look up "foveal insets". Basically, spend the most time rendering where the eye sees the most detail.

[@mhe0815]

If I have a large enough FOV so I can move my eyes around without ever seeing a screen border, what good would a blurring effect on the borders to me if my eyes do that by nature? No need to apply blur in software to areas of vision my eyes blur all by themselves.

[@jessejones1102]

His knowledge, wisdom and maturity at his age makes me feel like Homer Simpson.

[@Freezer777]

Wow He answered questions VERY, VERY, surprisingly, well.

[@21EC]

oh yea that would rock but i wonder why no one yet tried this mix i mean the leap motion and OR

[@Armaros]

Fun and informative!

[@OttoMotos]

'Full 1080p' is not awesome when we talking full field of view coverage. Go check IMAX to make sure. It should be in 8k at least to not seem blurry. Small UHD OLED display. Your $1k+ budget will not handle it. This Rift device is a cheap introduction (and i like that approach) and nobody should think otherwise. Check their kickstarter video, Palmer says he wanted affordable version of VR helmet. Your interest will not gonna change it any soon :(

[@mhe0815]

The depth focus is not what I meant. Although the base distance for the Rift is focused at almost infinitiy, you have to increase convergence for the objects that "pop" off the screen. So your first basic truism actually isn't one. You perceive depth as the amount of cross-eying you have to do in order to focus on something. The more, the nearer. That's why you have eyestrain and headaches if you crank up the 3D settings too much. What I actually meant is, that the human eye can (tbc)

[@SANTARII]

With just 2 images, one to each eye, your eyes will not blur things. With the Oculus Rift you will not be able to focus on an object and have objects in front and behind blurred. With the Oculus Rift, your eyes are always focused at the same distance (far away). You COULD blur your eyes intentionally but that would happen uniformly across everything because it is 2 flat images. Eye tracking would be necessary to emulate the blurring effect based on where you look, but ven then that's (cont)

[@dickchappo]

should i buy it now or wait for like a new version ??

[@lucth16]

@AllNamesAreTakenO: A month? I'm waiting for the customer version so it's a year for me (I can get my wife to accept me buying a 300$ HMD but not two.) BTW: I agree with you about the Q&A being more enjoyable. +1 to you!

[@brody5895]

it would be awesome for menus. look at an option and click or something

[@XxNickD30xX]

what do u mean by "Are the problems with VR and it's effects on the brain permanent or can they be fixed"

[@smegskull]

would like to see leap motion and virtuix omni with oculus rift

[@SRCmandan]

It will probably work with the Xbox or Playstation 4. Will need an update though :)

[@Killadog1980]

what are they talking about at 1:40? Is oasis a book? can anyone give me a full title?

[@bryantperezsantos]

is there gonna be a VR console or just and accessory. is there is to be and accessory is there gonna be for pc only or are gonna share it with the game consoles Xbox Playstation

[@isnalla]

yeah he really seemed prepared

[@DaaavidKiim]

Can you have virtual eye exams through this? that would be cool

[@Cheesed2meetu778]

i personally think a good controller for the oculus would be gloves that have that magnetic technology in like in the palm area and the fingertips. .-.

[@OttoMotos]

Eye-tracking SHOULD be implemented at some point. Because it allows you to control virtual cameras (stereo) as you do control your eyes in real life. You use it to blur stuff that is not in focus, reduce the quality of stuff that is not in focus, and overall optimize the rendering pipeline for VR specifically. Not to mention that is more life-like experience. Oculus guys want a cheap introduction-to-VR device that's why we will not see this thing in nearest future.

[@MentalParadox]

"There goes my weekend!"

[@mhe0815]

(cont'd) only perceive sharp detail at the center of its FOV. Assuming you have excellent vision, your visual acuity will degrade regardless of that the more you distance an object from the focal axis of the eye. Try focusing on the crosseye in a shooter and then try to read something from the HUD in the corner of the screen without taking your eyes off the crosshair. You can't. You only see sharp in the center of your vision, which makes blurring the peripheral vision in software pointless.

[@blue5teel]

What "Oasis" were the talking about?

[@21EC]

well theres allready a tech which would be pretty incredible that will be even more incredible and awesome when and if itll get combined with the rift... it is called pixeltone and its basically a voice command controlled image editing software...now its used in a 2d software but im sure it can be implemented into the rift in 3d somehow think about how trippy this will get..to actually be able to create worlds using voice commands...

[@Mrfunkysheep]

What is this ''oasis'' that they were talking about in question 2?

[@ethanma1722]

It's from the book Ready Player One. It's a very interesting description of a world where VR is dominant. The book itself is a pretty cheesy YA novel though

[@iron1215]

this dude is going to be a household name.

[@JZGreenline]

Does anyone know what the Oasis is?

[@PsychoticCpu]

Why can we hear typing over the video?

[@jonesmith809]

can i use Oculus on my pc and normal games

[@nigelmay6870]

yes to some extent there is a growing list of games supporting Oculus Rift and they are totally unbelievable good. Games like Assetto Corsa / iracing and war thunder are good examples. War thunder is quite breath taking imo. DK2 in around 60 to 90 days and the world will be igniting...

[@SANTARII]

(cont) far ahead. Yes, anything at the edges of my vision is pretty negligible, but not all focus blurring is at the edges of my vision.

[@rhubarbcheese]

yeh hes quite bright

[@ji3200]

i dont care eye tracking or head tracking i just want to watch regular 2d bluray movies with oculus rift. field of view is much bigger than imax theater screen.

[@SANTARII]

(cont) not the same as real life, because you're not physically changing the focus level of your eyes.

[@nna7yk]

I think there is a professional solution for wireless HMD-tech with very low latency mentioned in the first question, ( here is a video about this: watch?v=BVZyl6v21TA ) I hope this will be integrated into the O-Rift soon, but the price...

[@ArtfrontNews100]

Ready Player One: A Novel by Ernest Cline

[@MentalParadox]

Derp.

[@tholaalw8647]

Eye-tracking can solve nausea problem!

[@Xerkrosis]

Got to post it again: Sword Art Online :)

[@epicfacesmiley]

Power glove, anyone? Some type of glove and then small props could really aid to immersion, such as a game with sword combat making you hold some type of controller like those Razer one. FPS would be something like a Nintendo Zapper. And also, who wouldn't want to play Bioshock Infinite in VR? Just throwing that out there.

[@adfadfewfrewafawefaw]

fuck yeah

[@epicfacesmiley]

And... am I the only one who thinks of Portal when I think about these guys? :o

[@m333pm333p]

He is saying it can and will be done. I would pay more for it. But additional hardware and cost that will only work in a handful of games off the bat is not worth it yet. His point holds true and if they don't release it until the eye tracking is included then it stops innovation. They, and we, want it to be out yesterday. Yes I would like to see a premium version with full 1080p. Yes I would pay $1000+ for it. Affordable equals more adoption equals more funds and more interest.

[@MooseheadStudios]

This guy in a visonary

[@carlosb8130]

Hello from the future (2024)

[@DrussNL]

Click? What about blink? :P (maybe *blink twice with your right eye* so you don't accidentally exit by blinking involuntarily)

[@tomabin]

So girls can't use it?

[@NiccoZ]

Just imagine, future game developers may go into the rift and create their games just by using their hands to create whole worlds with their fingertips, wow. They would be "god" in a sense, it's going to happen. 10-20 years from now. Search "The world in 2030" by michi kaku on youtube.

[@djlins2]

Slartibartfast meets Minecraft :)

[@AwesomeBladeSoftware]

Questions about eye-tracking from people that mistakes it from FOV is getting so irritating. When do people realize that you can look around with your eyes all you wan't without turning your head when you have big FOV. However, eye-tracking could be very cool for interacting with NPC's.

[@shellite]

The typing noise in the background is very annoying

[@spikeymike07]

well if it can train cops it can train terrorizers

[@ji3200]

if ps4 and xbox one dont suport oculus then i will be a pc gamer!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@VegetoStevieD]

Colonel Testosterone