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WebVR Experiments

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51–57 of 57 posts

Re: WebVR Experiments

#51
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Next step: Browser becomes full screen and always-on. People don't know difference between OS and browser. Rich websites become icons on your new tab screen. People call them apps. Tabs become known as virtual desktops or spaces. Somebody invents an app that can show websites and calls it a browser. The cycle repeats.

Have you already seen the on-point "The Birth & Death of JavaScript" talk by Gary Bernhardt? It points out how despite being ridiculous, there are good reasons why an approach like that has performance benefits.

This idea resonates a lot with me

Re: WebVR Experiments

#52
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much easier to do VR with a smartphone than AR, and given that for most people in the world their only computing device is their phone, this seems to be the fastest way to introduce VR to the widest audience possible. That's why browser-based VR also makes a lot of sense, because all those phones have browsers and writing a VR app just means targeting the widest and most mature platforms out there. A Cardboard experi…

>Much easier to do VR with a smartphone than AR Why? Processing? I cut out a hole for my phone's camera in my cardboard, was hoping to have the ability to "minimize" VR like minimizing a window and seeing your desktop background except it would be the camera so you could see someone without taking off your headset.

The "minimizing" VR world to show real-world is one that I want as well.

With AR in general, one would want to place virtual objects onto particular real-world locations. This requires depth-vision and mapping this into a (simplified) 3d-world. For interactive use it needs to be done real-time, requiring quite a lot of compute. The single camera available on standard smartphones is not enough hardware for this.

Maybe we will get stereo-cameras by standard. The megapixel race is over, the high-FPS/slowmo fight is happening now, maybe stereo/depth/3d will be next.

Re: WebVR Experiments

#53
post #12

Awesome. I remember last year going through all of the chrome experiments [1] on my smart mirror and being absolutely stunned. Regardless on your views of VR, platform, form factor, etc.. these are just cool. Does anyone know what controllers are used with android phones (for the ping pong game)? https://www.chromeexperiments.com/

[deleted]

Re: WebVR Experiments

#54
post #12

Awesome. I remember last year going through all of the chrome experiments [1] on my smart mirror and being absolutely stunned. Regardless on your views of VR, platform, form factor, etc.. these are just cool. Does anyone know what controllers are used with android phones (for the ping pong game)? https://www.chromeexperiments.com/

I assume it supports the Daydream VR controller.

I have the daydream, and it looks like it doesn't use the controller for anything other than "clicking". Your head movements are still used for all of the controls.

Re: WebVR Experiments

#55

I'm excited for the day that I can put on VR through my phone or computer and shop Amazon with hand gestures and voice. Or look through all the pictures and videos I have stored and fly through memories. I know we're still a far way away, but this is definitely a step in the right direction - great job Google!

So this prompted me to pickup my daydream that I got for free with my phone again after a few months, and I looked back through some old "photosphere" photos I made.

It's one thing to look at old pictures, it's another to be able to stand in your old house the day after you moved in, to be able to go back to the beach where you went on vacation a few years ago, to be able to stand outside your old house in the woods in the dead middle of fall.

It instantly brought me back to those times in a way that normal photos or videos ever could, and when I made those photospheres I had no idea that I would be able to one day view them in a VR headset!

Re: WebVR Experiments

#56
post #52
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Much easier to do VR with a smartphone than AR Why? Processing? I cut out a hole for my phone's camera in my cardboard, was hoping to have the ability to "minimize" VR like minimizing a window and seeing your desktop background except it would be the camera so you could see someone without taking off your headset.

The "minimizing" VR world to show real-world is one that I want as well. With AR in general, one would want to place virtual objects onto particular real-world locations. This requires depth-vision and mapping this into a (simplified) 3d-world. For interactive use it needs to be done real-time, requiring quite a lot of compute. The single camera available on standard smartphones is not enough hardware for this. Maybe…

I'm not sure if lytro (can't quite recall the name) but the technology that captures a photo at various depths of field, if you had that for 360, and captured sound, you could travel around a spot/zoom/focus on things. I want that.

I get your point about one camera versus 2. It's probably cost maybe? Why they use spinning LiDAR's versus phased array (non-spinning). Though even if it phased you'd still need something that was like 360 anyway to get around.

Re: WebVR Experiments

#57

I'm excited for the day that I can put on VR through my phone or computer and shop Amazon with hand gestures and voice. Or look through all the pictures and videos I have stored and fly through memories. I know we're still a far way away, but this is definitely a step in the right direction - great job Google!

So this prompted me to pickup my daydream that I got for free with my phone again after a few months, and I looked back through some old "photosphere" photos I made. It's one thing to look at old pictures, it's another to be able to stand in your old house the day after you moved in, to be able to go back to the beach where you went on vacation a few years ago, to be able to stand outside your old house in the woods…

thanks for painting that scenario - that would be really cool.
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