Virtual and Augmented Reality

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rstrong
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Virtual and Augmented Reality

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Last night I picked the high-end gaming system I've been saving up for.  Intel Core i7-7700/3TB HDD/128GB SSD/16GB RAM/NVIDIA GTX 1060/Win 10.  The Oculus Rift and touch controllers arrive in five business days.

It's not no much for gaming, as for the other stuff. Google Earth now has a VR interface that's apparently awesome. There are "tours" set up where you can fly around cities, the Grand Canyon etc.. Or you can go down to street level and walk around like a tourist, complete with ambient sounds.

And check out the 360-degree video section on YouTube.  You can pan around with a mouse as the videos play, but with the Oculus Rift you look around by moving your head.  People have stuck 360-degree / spherical video cameras on trucks chasing tornados, surf boards, hang gliders, etc..

=====
Me: Oh wow, how much is the rent for this amazing apartment?
“Sir, this is Best Buy.”

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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I may be a bit scarce for the next month or two.

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bannination
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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rstrong wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:36 pm
I may be a bit scarce for the next month or two.
I would be too!

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GoCubsGo
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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rstrong wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:33 pm
Last night I picked the high-end gaming system I've been saving up for.  Intel Core i7-7700/3TB HDD/128GB SSD/16GB RAM/NVIDIA GTX 1060/Win 10.  The Oculus Rift and touch controllers arrive in five business days.

It's not no much for gaming, as for the other stuff. Google Earth now has a VR interface that's apparently awesome. There are "tours" set up where you can fly around cities, the Grand Canyon etc.. Or you can go down to street level and walk around like a tourist, complete with ambient sounds.

And check out the 360-degree video section on YouTube.  You can pan around with a mouse as the videos play, but with the Oculus Rift you look around by moving your head.  People have stuck 360-degree / spherical video cameras on trucks chasing tornados, surf boards, hang gliders, etc..

=====
Me: Oh wow, how much is the rent for this amazing apartment?
“Sir, this is Best Buy.”
PARTY AT RSTRONG's!!!
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000 000101 010202 020303 010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.

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bannination
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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rstrong wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:36 pm
I may be a bit scarce for the next month or two.
Try not to pay any attention to the woman in the red dress.

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Vrede too
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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rstrong wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:36 pm
I may be a bit scarce for the next month or two.
Let us know what you find at Area 51.

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k9nanny
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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This popped into mind- Take a trip and never leave the farm.
Se Non Ora, Quando?

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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An initial system backup on a brand new system used to take a 100K floppy disk. Really just for the Apple ][ OS. Then a couple 360K floppy disks for DOS. Then it took a 640MB CD. Then a 4.5GB DVD. Now it takes a 16GB flash drive. And then another flash drive for the device drivers.

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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k9nanny wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:24 pm
This popped into mind- Take a trip and never leave the farm.
I've visited places, been familiar with them, and had to remember that I'd never actually been there before. I'd only checked them out on Streetview.

People are using Google Earth and Streetview to make "tours" of everything from New York to Machu Picchu. Eventually I'll be a shut-in. Hopefully I can spend my time playing tourist.

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O Really
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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Lady O and I regularly use satellite view to preview travel routes, parking for the winter residence, fuel stops, parks and campgrounds. We've also viewed vids of trails as well as entire drives in tricky areas.

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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The computer is set up and I'm tracking the shipment with the Oculus Rift coming from Toronto. Some discoveries:

- The new video player in Windows 10 plays spherical videos. You can pan around with your mouse as the video plays.

- There are tiny Go-Pro sized spherical video recorders.

- Attaching them to the backs of falcons is a thing.

- In addition to spherical videos, the Oculus is good for 3D videos. But you'll probably want to rip your Blu-Ray 3D movies to MP4 files first.

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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First impressions:

- The Rift with Touch Controllers is much better than expected. As in absolutely awesome.

- Google Earth on the Rift is much better than expected. As in absolutely awesome.

- Much, much MUCH better than Samsung Gear VR. Samsung tracks head rotation but not position; it doesn't know if you lean forward. And it has no hand/controller tracking. And the field of view is smaller. And you see all the individual pixels.

- The personal space at my desk isn't enough. You need 6ft x 6ft, and you should have 7ft x 7ft.

- Even with too little space, because you map out your "safe not to bump into anything space" ahead of time, it does an excellent job of showing you when you or your hands are leaving that space.

- The missing bits on my left hand are a major problem with the touch controllers. They've been no problem with an X-Box controller.

- Being far sighted and now unable to focus close in without glasses... isn't a problem. I haven't even needed to try my glasses within the headset. Apparently the Oculus lenses are set up so that you focus into the distance.

- Apps are rated from 'comfortable' to 'intense' regarding possible motion sickness. I didn't feel anything, but then Google Earth is rated 'comfortable.'

- Every seniors home or anywhere with shut-ins should have these. Given that the technology will improve over the next couple decades, I'll probably spend my much of my retirement in VR. I won't need as big a place.

- There's a learning curve though, mostly dealing with the touch controllers. You won't be handing even Google Earth to a new users without some instruction. And putting them into the built-in tutorial.

Up next: Virtual Desktop. For using my PC within VR, as well as playing spherical and 3D videos and more.

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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Typing this on a browser within my virtual desktop. Which is not something I would want to do except for short text fields.

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Vrede too
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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rstrong wrote:
Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:36 pm
I may be a bit scarce for the next month or two.
What other planets have you visited, and have you made it to Area 51 yet?

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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I've played around in the ISS Mission simulator. It's amazing. The Touch Controllers let you propel yourself around the station using the (real-life) grab bars placed around the interior. You can use the CanadArm to reach out to a Dragon capsule and berth it to the station. Oddly, they don't have the interior of the Russian segment.

The Apollo and Mercury mission "experiences" - essentially interactive documentaries are amazing too.

For all the playing tourist with Google Earth VR, I haven't visited Groom Lake/Area 51 yet. I should, just out of curiosity about whether they have the usual high-resolution imagery with LIDAR data and aerial imagery from multiple directions making everything 3D. For some reason some of the more important bits of the Kennedy Space Center are limited to sat view and terrain data. No 3D modelling, despite other launch sites around the Cape being wonderfully detailed in 3D.

I'll have a look tonight. Somehow I'm not holding my breath for StreetView imagery at Groom Lake either.

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rstrong
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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So...

- Decent resolution aerial view taken from one direction only.
- Mapped onto 3D terrain.
- No LIDAR or hand-generated 3D buildings or other objects.
- No StreetView.

As expected.

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Vrede too
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Re: Virtual and Augmented Reality

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Bastards.

The Truth Is Out There.

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