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Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

blog.vive.com

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Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#11

Post by arbie »

pmoriarty wrote: post #7
devdoomari wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why even assume you have to 'look at' the keyboard? the keyboard can follow the user's view... along with the silhouette of the user's hand...

This could be done, but I expect it to be usually pretty annoying. Most of the time when I type I don't want to be looking at my hands or the keyboard. Instead, I want to be looking at either the text I'm typing or something else (like some other text, or a video, etc). Having a silhouette of my hands and a keyboard superimposed over what I'm looking at will just be distracting. That said, I don't really have a bette…

With gaze tracking, you could have hot zones bound to different shortcuts, one of which can be "Toggle floating keyboard".

Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#12

Post by microcolonel »

giraffee wrote: post #9

Seems difficult to type only by touch in dark.

I honestly don't understand how this is difficult for people. I can touch type without looking, on a keyboard which is moving randomly. It's not a parlour trick, it's just what's supposed to happen if you type much at all. If you can't touch type in the dark, there's something wrong with your skill or your equipment.

Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#14

Post by swalsh »

Combine this with the new Pimax, and infinite workspaces start to become a practical reality. Which could help propgate the technology more which would lead seamlessly into more teleconferences, which have a feeling of personal interactions... which is important, even if we as programmers don't always appreciate it.

The other day I was playing a game of onward. It was the rare instance that a team wanted to work together on a shared goal. In the 15 seconds before the match, while planning some tactics... it occured to me how natural the meeting felt. It was like we were all in the same room. I felt engaged with EVERYONE. That doesn't happen on conference calls.

I work from home full time, I think the biggest downside are the missing meaningful interactions with other people. I think VR has huge potential to bridge that gap.

Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#16

Post by [deleted] »

pmoriarty wrote: post #10
shpx wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the same thing so I disabled the backlight on my laptop's keyboard. After accidentally turning it on in the dark a month later I will never go back to a non back-lit keyboard. It's hard to place your hands on the keyboard in pitch black or when you're in a weird position like lying on your back with the laptop on your chest. If you've ever partially closed your laptop so that the monitor would shine on your…

The way I know where to place my fingers on a dark keyboard is by feeling for some raised bumps which are on the f and j keys on my keyboard. As long as I've got those, I can always easily put my fingers in the default position on the home row, and from there it's easy. As long as I can use such markers to position my hands in the proper initial position, I really don't like to have a lit keyboard in the dark. It's d…

[deleted]

Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#17

Post by kirrent »

swalsh wrote: post #14

Combine this with the new Pimax, and infinite workspaces start to become a practical reality. Which could help propgate the technology more which would lead seamlessly into more teleconferences, which have a feeling of personal interactions... which is important, even if we as programmers don't always appreciate it. The other day I was playing a game of onward. It was the rare instance that a team wanted to work toge…

I love that natural feeling of interaction with other people in VR. When playing in Rec Room so often you take a break from games to just have a chat with some other people because the interaction is somehow so engaging despite the cartoony graphics.

Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#18

Post by pmoriarty »

swalsh wrote: post #14

Combine this with the new Pimax, and infinite workspaces start to become a practical reality. Which could help propgate the technology more which would lead seamlessly into more teleconferences, which have a feeling of personal interactions... which is important, even if we as programmers don't always appreciate it. The other day I was playing a game of onward. It was the rare instance that a team wanted to work toge…

"I work from home full time, I think the biggest downside are the missing meaningful interactions with other people. I think VR has huge potential to bridge that gap."

VR also has the potential to be way more addictive than current forms of online interaction and entertainment.

I'm reminded of I think it was a Larry Niven story (maybe Ringworld) in which the protagonist has an electrical wire put in to the pleasure center of his brain and he just sits home and pushes the button that activates it for weeks on end.

Technology is getting closer and closer to that.

Re: Logitech announces a development kit for using keyboards in virtual reality

#20

Post by klibertp »

mlevental wrote: post #2

does this just display a keyboard in the field of view of the vive perspective? why do i need to see my keyboard if i know how to touch type?

A lot of people can't touch-type. I can't, not really, I need to glance at the keyboard once in a while. My typing speed is comparable to touch-typists', which is why I never felt the need to learn to properly touch-type. The need of seeing the keyboard is problematic in very few situations in practice, and with a back-lit keyboard it's never a problem... as long as seeing my keyboard is possible at all, which was not the case in VR.

I could invest a lot of time to unlearn my current way of typing and learn proper touch-typing technique, but that's a lot of work and doing it just to be able to type in VR feels like a waste of time. With this tech I'd be able to work in VR without changing my way of typing. To me, this makes using VR for work practical for the first time. It's actually huge, and if it works well it's, to me and others in similar situation, potentially life-changing tech.

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