Virtual & Augmented Reality and 3D News - Page 18

Tundra Labs, the company behind the Tundra Tracker SteamVR tracking puck, must be floating on cloud nine right now. The company's Kickstarter campaign has exceeded all its expectations, including hitting hard limits on some hardware.

Tundra Labs launched the Kickstarter campaign for the Tundra Tracker, a lighter, more compact alternative to the Vive Tracker pucks for accessory and full-body tracking in SteamVR. Tundra Labs first gave a sneak peek of the Tundra Trackers in December to create some hype before the campaign launch.

The plan must have worked because Tundra Labs doubled its intended goal within hours of launching the fundraiser. That was at the end of March, and all through April and into May, the momentum has continued. Currently, Tundra Labs has nine days to go, and it has raised more than five times the initial $250,000 goal.

NVIDIA today announced that a handful of VR titles would soon add support for DLSS, providing a significant performance boost for anyone with a compatible GeForce GPU. No Mans Sky, Wrench, and Into The Radius will offer DLSS support in upcoming updates.

NVIDIA's DLSS, or Deep Learning Super Sampling, is a process to increase performance at high resolutions by rendering at a lower resolution and upscaling the image with a machine learning algorithm. DLSS gives impressive performance advantages when gaming at 4K and higher. In September, NVIDIA offered DLSS to VR developers to help them improve the performance and visual fidelity of their games. We're about to begin seeing the fruits of those efforts finally.

Hello Games, creators of No Mans Sky, is one of the first developers to implement DLSS in a VR-supported game. DLSS is coming to No Man's Sky in the next update, which can nearly double the framerate on a 4K monitor. The title also supports VR headsets, and the DLSS feature will extend to the fully immersive version of the game. NVIDIA said the DLSS doubles the game's performance in VR.

Oculus today revealed that Infinite Office, the company's VR productivity solution, would launch with the next Oculus Quest update. Quest Platform v29 will also introduce new casting features for content creators and add multi-user and app sharing support to the original Quest.

Oculus has been rapidly updating the Quest platform giving it new software features that makes the headset an even better value. The most recent update, v28, enabled 120Hz mode for some games and the ability to pair a Logitech keyboard. The next update doesn't have any significant firmware changes that alter the hardware operation, but Oculus still has a few cool features in the pipeline for Quest owners.

Infinite Office is one of the more significant changes with v29. Soon you'll be able to use your Quest 2 headset to get work done. It gives you a web browser, access to document editing and presentation tools, and gives you a real reason to connect a keyboard to the headset.

HTC announced the Vive Pro 2 this week with a much higher resolution and higher refresh rate than the previous model. The headset supports Display Stream Compression to enable that high-bandwidth signal to pass through a DisplayPort 1.2 cable and work with the Vive Wireless Adapter. Unfortunately, the wireless kit still can't handle the full specs of the new headset.

HTC's Vive Pro 2 has several features that set it apart from the competition. The headset includes dual 2448x2440 120Hz RGB LCDs to give you an ultra-high-resolution VR experience. The new Vive is also compatible with all the existing SteamVR-based Vive accessories, such as the Vive Trackers and the Valve Index controllers. The headset also retains the original Vive Pro's shape, making it compatible with the new Vive Facial Tracker.

Compatibility with the Vive Wireless Adaptor is one of the most significant factors that set the new headset apart from the competition. The Oculus Quest 2 can run PC VR content via a WIFI connection, but HTC has the market cornered if you want the freedom of a tether-free headset and high-precision tracking with accessories.

Orbbec and Microsoft have teamed up to develop a series of Time-of-Flight (ToF) 3D cameras built with Microsoft's 3D sensor technology and Orbbec's embedded computing technology. Orbbec's ToF cameras support multiple ToF Sensors, onboard depth computing, and motion tracking via a 6-axis IMU. The new cameras will also have the ability to run depth vision algorithms through the onboard computing hardware to convert raw data into depth images locally.

"Microsoft is a world leader in high-resolution ToF sensor technology and cloud-based service. Its knowledge and intellectual property allow Orbbec to offer a full range of ToF cameras for the widest possible spectrum of uses," noted David Chen, co-founder and director of engineering for Orbbec. "Orbbec is excited to join the Azure Depth Platform Program, to jointly develop solutions that will enhance the capabilities of both Orbbec and Microsoft's customer and partner ecosystems."

The new cameras, which Orbbec expects to launch in 2022, would have direct integration with Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to enable "device management, data streaming and AI analytics capabilities."

One of VR's most popular shooters just got better. Population: One Season 2 launched on Thursday, with a new Western-themed map, more weapons to blast your enemies with, and even bigger multiplayer matches for even more fun.

BigBig VR launched Population: One in October 2020, the game became one of the most popular titles around. In February, the developer launched Season 1: Uprising, the first update to the game, which introduced five new weapons and launched Battle Pass, a 10-week paid pass that gets you exclusive content and skins.

Season 1 has since concluded, and on Thursday, BigBox VR kicked off Season 2: The Frontier, another 10-week period with an optional paid subscription with extra content. Season 2: The Frontier introduces a new map based in a western town. In the spirit of the western theme, Season 2 also adds the ability to dual-wield the Matador shotguns. BigBox VR added flick reloading so you can add shells without dropping a weapon.

Bionik today announced two accessories for your VR headset. The company is preparing to release a hypoallergenic face cushion for the Oculus Quest 2 to keep your headset clean. It also announced an update to the Mantis VR headphones that work with almost any VR headset.

Bionik's Face Pad VR is a direct replacement for the factory face cushion. The company said the cushion is made of "soft, absorbent, hypoallergenic materials." Bionik's product designers also added vents to the frame to give the headset extra ventilation for extended use.

Bionik's Mantis VR headphones are an accessory for almost any VR headset. These clip-on headphones give you better audio for your VR experience without the need to mess with a separate pair of headphones. The Mantis VR has a universal clip that attaches to the side strap of your headset to give you high-fidelity over-the-ear audio.

Spatial today launched a new beta version of its virtual collaboration platform, which introduces a browser version of the application so you can access Spatial without installing anything. Along with the update, the company partnered with a handful of NFT artists to create art galleries to share digital artwork with the world.

Spatial just launched a new update to its virtual collaboration platform that brings the non-headset version of the app closer to parity with the headset version of the app. Spatial said that over the last year, only half of its users used AR or VR headsets. With strong numbers of non-headset users, the company invested in improving their experience, leading to the creation of the web app version of Spatial.

While Spatial was building the web version of its platform, the world of NFT digital artwork exploded. The Spatial team saw an opportunity to create something unique with its technology.

Pico Interactive this week revealed two new standalone VR headsets for the enterprise market. The company previously announced the Neo 3, a consumer-oriented device that's destined only for China. For the Western markets in both North America and Europe, Pico is focused on working with businesses.

The Pico Neo 3 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2-powered standalone headset, which bears a lot of resemblance to the Oculus Quest 2. It features four inside-out tracking cameras, which give the headset spatial awareness. The Neo 3 also includes a pair of optically-tracked motion controllers, which Pico said gives the controllers improved tracking compared to the electromagnetic solution in the Neo 2.

"Business needs are constantly evolving due to the changing landscape all industries are finding themselves in due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Henry Zhou, CEO of Pico Interactive. "For the Neo 3 line, we implemented the latest technologies to meet the ever-changing demands of the enterprise. For instance, as hybrid and remote work continues, more companies are seeking remote collaboration solutions, like Pico Interactive's VR headsets with tools and applications available through our software partners, to allow employees to increase productivity and sales to boost revenue. From training firefighters to decreasing the impact of social isolation on seniors to measuring brain health, Pico's headsets are now being used in a wide range of industries."

HP is now taking orders of the upcoming Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition. The Omnicept is a VR headset that includes a handful of biometric sensors that give it advanced features best suited for business uses, but it looks like anyone can order it from HP's website.

The Reverb G2 Omnicept comes equipped with a pair of pupil-tracking cameras to enable foveated rendering, which gives the headset image quality and performance benefits when paired with the right graphics card. The eye-tracking sensors also allow developers to infer information about the user's cognitive function during a training experience. The Reverb G2 Omnicept even has a heart rate sensor to track the user's level of excursion or anxiety while performing a training task.

The Omnicept Edition also includes a built-in face tracking sensor, which monitors your facial expressions and tracks your lips and tongue to help animate realistic avatars in collaborative VR experiences. When HP announced the Omnicept, face tracking was a novel idea. HTC recently beat HP to market with an attachment for the Vive Pro, but Omnicept has it built-in and integrated with the other sensors on the headset.