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Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#51
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Text needs to be really clearly defined and rapidly updated to accommodate head motion without being blurry. Slight offsets make it unreadable. Rendering people has a different set of challenges. Skin and hair and eyes have weird textures. Facial animations are difficult to capture. But its more of a solved problem than text.

I've looked around for images of Oculus rendering people, and perhaps I'm not looking in the right places, but so far I couldn't find anything that looks any better than the average window-dressing mannequin. Based on this, I wouldn't call it a solved problem.

It's not solved, but it's just not a particularly VR specific problem, and current tech is pretty good. The oculus doesn't have top of the line graphics capabilities and games tend not to go for photorealistic people. We can handcraft moments to jump outside the uncanny valley imo. We cannot do it dynamically at run time in a game. We can do a good enough job that I don't think it should matter and VR will catch up. It likely will not be good enough to mimic intimate facial movements. So... you know it's a goal setting problem mostly.

To a large extent we could make some photorealistic humans in VR, under some definitions, but we don't.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#53
post #39

I used a tool called Immersed[1] for a bit. It is neat and potentially useful, as from what I remember you can create more virtual monitors than you have actual monitors, but the novelty wore off and I stopped, since I wasn't particularly more productive. [1]: https://immersed.com/

>you can create more virtual monitors than you have actual monitors Only on Windows, but you can trick Immersed on Linux to create virtual monitors for you by using an HDMI dummy dongle

iirc this works on mac too

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#54

I am very interested in this use case since I travel frequently and would love a portable multi-monitor setup. The weight does not bother me and I have watched full movies before in comfort. 2 issues hold it back: 1. Typing and mousing require high res color passthrough cameras or high accuracy low latency hand and keyboard tracking. Neither is there yet. 2. The lenses have too much distortion and not a large enough…

I've tried numerous headsets and find the lens distortion / sweet spot to be very annoying. I returned my HP Reverb G2 because I was constantly moving the headset to get the center pin-sharp. If the headset even shifted slightly it was very noticeable. I wish all new headsets would come with a diopter dial so using glasses is a thing of the past.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#55

One headset I’ve heard of that is aimed at more office focused usage is the SimulaVR[1]. However, it’s still a work in progress and you’d have to preorder. [1]: https://simulavr.com/

It's hard to really see a significant value add here for work efficiency. The screen(s) and mouse/kb aren't the current productivity bottleneck for people.

I really would benefit from having a handful of dedicated workshops for specific types of development, and VR seems like a plausible way to fake this.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#56
The first thing I tried in VR when I got my Oculus DK1 was was to create a Javascript REPL in VR. I've experimented with many iterations since then and the biggest issue is the resolution of the headset in terms of pixels per degree. This is ~20 on modern headsets compared to the ~60ppd of human eyes. The low res means you need to constrain yourself to ~1024x1024px screens for text.

But if you're willing to use a low res programming environment, the easiest option is to use VNC or RDP for Android and connect to a PC. Alternatively, you can try setting up a Quest + termux + i3 + tmux + vim + ... environment on the Quest for a standalone experience. I haven't tried VSCode on the Quest, but I have notes on how to get a Linux workflow setup at https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberDeck/comments/fc5sfr/oculus_qu...

https://old.reddit.com/r/HMDprogramming/ also has more links on this topic.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#57
post #37

Why would you buy a display device that requires registration? As a consumer, you have to enforce limits and stop buying consumer goods that are against your best interest. You deserve what you tolerate, and if you buy a product that you don't own, and you get mistakenly locked out of your account and end up with a bricked product, then you deserve it. What's next? Food packaging that requires registration? If I am b…

Personal property must be protected. Private ownership of the means of production can go fuck itself.

That's marxism. A rebranded form of slavery where the entire population are slaves to to a totalitarian government.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#58

One headset I’ve heard of that is aimed at more office focused usage is the SimulaVR[1]. However, it’s still a work in progress and you’d have to preorder. [1]: https://simulavr.com/

It's hard to really see a significant value add here for work efficiency. The screen(s) and mouse/kb aren't the current productivity bottleneck for people.

Large monitors are expensive, they take space, not portable.
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