Glasses-free 3D using webcam head tracking

Post by il_nets » Fri, Oct 24, 2025, 4:37 PM UTC

arnarbi wrote: post #72

il_nets wrote: post #2

Hi HN, I'm Sten, one of the creators. We built this because we wanted 3D experiences without needing a VR headset. The approach: use your webcam to track where you're looking, and adjust the 3D perspective to match. Demo: https://portality.io/dragoncourtyard/ (Allow camera, move your head left/right) It creates motion parallax - the same depth cue your brain uses when you look around a real object. Feels like looking…

Back in college (~2008) we implemented this with a 7 foot tall back-projected screen and a couple of Wii remotes after seeing Johnny Lee’s video. The nice thing with that screen was that you could stand so close to it you couldn’t really see the edges. We had as many people come test as we could, and we found that 90% of them didn’t get a sense of depth, likely because it lacked stereo-vision cues. It only worked for…

Post by il_nets » Fri, Oct 24, 2025, 4:45 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #26

il_nets wrote: post #2

Hi HN, I'm Sten, one of the creators. We built this because we wanted 3D experiences without needing a VR headset. The approach: use your webcam to track where you're looking, and adjust the 3D perspective to match. Demo: https://portality.io/dragoncourtyard/ (Allow camera, move your head left/right) It creates motion parallax - the same depth cue your brain uses when you look around a real object. Feels like looking…

I can confirm that is works decently well with a sunny roof window in the background, which is normally enough for people to complain that my face is too dark. 8yo me, who instinctively tried to look behind the display's field of view during intense gaming sessions, would appreciate this feature very much. My belief is that if it shifted the pov to a lesser degree than in the demo, people generally wouldn't notice, b…

Post by il_nets » Fri, Oct 24, 2025, 4:48 PM UTC

marcodiego wrote: post #54

il_nets wrote: post #2

Hi HN, I'm Sten, one of the creators. We built this because we wanted 3D experiences without needing a VR headset. The approach: use your webcam to track where you're looking, and adjust the 3D perspective to match. Demo: https://portality.io/dragoncourtyard/ (Allow camera, move your head left/right) It creates motion parallax - the same depth cue your brain uses when you look around a real object. Feels like looking…

How about contributing that to Godot?

Post by il_nets » Fri, Oct 24, 2025, 5:00 PM UTC

asadm wrote: post #64

brenschluss wrote: post #9

BTW, the OG demo from Johnny Lee is from 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw

this (and several of his ideas) were the reason I value simple solutions so much in my work along with optimising for low cost. "If Johnny Lee can do this crazy thing in cheap, I can think something creative too"

Post by il_nets » Fri, Oct 24, 2025, 5:05 PM UTC

jeffhuys wrote: post #59

nine_k wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there is no window. There is a box with a dragon in it. When I bring my eyes closer to the box, I expect to see more of the box, and more of the dragon. You can try it with any real box; substitute any appropriate object for the dragon. Pick your favorite 3D environment that features walls and dragons; notice how both grow, covering more of your FOV. This is what I expect to see as I draw closer to the screen.

The screen is the window.