How can virtual 3D be used?
I read that there is a Sony game that features a head mounted display with a position sensor on the helmet that shifts the scene as the head is turned. I think the idea behind this is awesome.
Suppose this idea is extended so that not only will the scene change as the head is rotated, but also changes as you move. You could have an empty room filled with virtual objects. Now add sensors on the hand that provide a tactile sensation as virtual objects are touched. Provide the ability to lift and throw virtual objects. Finally, add a virtual jet pack that allows the person to move in 3 dimensions in the virtual world.
Is this doable? Might there be practical uses, like training surgeons on virtual patients? There are unlimited entertainment possibilities. Imagine a virtual jungle where what you see is determined by the path you take. We can take this a step further by allowing for group experiences by providing each person with an image of the others in the virtual worlds.
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Would be great for flight sims, FPSes, RPGs and with a motioncapturing suit, for fighting games.
It’s good for training.
A lot of game technology including 3-D was pioneered and refined for aircraft simulators and for military combat simulators. Being exposed to potentially dangerous situations in simulations and training through the correct response can be a life saver in the moment if it occurs and your nervous system has to serve up the correct response instantly before you can think about it.
It is very doable. We’ve been able to do it for years, actually, but not with any real graphics resolution or speed due to limits on chip technology. Now that CPUs measure their speed in gigahertz instead of megahertz, they can handle more calculations faster and actually allow for a real-time experience that looks good.
Do you remember the video for Money for Nothing from 1987? It used virtual 3D and moved the perspective point around quite a bit. The catch? It was blocky and a little sluggish because the computers of the day couldn’t really manage better. Well, the average 2011 console is far more powerful than even many 1987 mainframes, so that should tell you how possible it is. When you add something like the Kinect to the mix, you also have to add in processing power to interpret the control movement as motion-sensing is a lot harder (and more computationally intensive) than a joystick or mouse… though not only possible, but doable in a way that most homes can afford the technology in their living room.
There is a game I have been playing for years (BattleTech) that, like many other games has had the 3D modelling thing going and had you able to look and move in different directions. The Controls are a bit beyond any home system with it’s 59 buttons, 7 screens, two joysticks, foot pedals, and a complete surround sound system in it’s pods but those pods are also over a decade old. I think I the Tesla pods came out in 1996…
I even played something similar in the mid-‘90s that, instead of using a joystick to aim, you just looked at them; it was a visor-based VR game that took the motion of your head to figure out what to display and where your weapon fire would go. And yes, the scenery changed with movement as well as rotation.
This link seems apropos to your question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw
Note that this was posted to YouTube 3 years ago! This is something that is in active development.
Now here’s a more recent video of the “Head Tracking” plugin for Compiz, which plugin uses an ordinary webcam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTNG1GN4VV8
I would dearly love to see this combined with a working anaglyph separation (and pushed up into Xorg so that it will work inside application windows instead of just being desktop eyecandy).
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