oculus-touch — Photo courtesy Oculus

Oculus Touch Will Support 360 and Room-scale Tracking With Extra Cameras

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Oct 14, 2016

Long a point of contention, Oculus last week announced a welcome new stance: the Rift will be officially supporting 360 degree tracking and room-scale as part of the forthcoming Touch launch.

At the company’s ‘Connect’ developer conference it was finally revealed that Oculus now plans to support four Rift and Touch camera configurations:

One camera in front: seated/standing gamepad experiences
Two cameras in front: standing front-facing Touch experiences
Two cameras opposite: standing 360 degree Touch experiences
Three cameras in triangle layout: ‘room-scale’ Touch experience

Prior to the announcement last week, Oculus had only officially committed to the first two configurations. Though they will officially support these other setups, Oculus says they believe the front-facing setup is the most practical and will be used by the majority of users. Questions remain as to what amount of fragmentation these varying configurations might cause among the Rift userbase.

Oculus: Touch is "Fully Capable" of Roomscale Tracking, But Skeptical It's "Absolutely Necessary for VR"

As the Touch launch approaches in December, support for four tracking cameras has already been baked into the Oculus Home platform (though the company’s recent announcements only made mention of configurations utilizing three cameras). While the $200 Touch price tag will include one additional tracking camera, that leaves users with just two (the first being included with the Rift); Oculus plans to sell individual cameras for $80 to achieve the three-camera room-scale setup.

oculus-touch-2 — Oculus’ front-facing camera setup gives you a little bit of space to move around, I like to call it ‘rug-scale’

Room-scale is, quite literally, a big deal. Much can be accomplished constrained to chairs and Oculus’ prolific demo mats, but VR frequently compels us to stand up, inspect details up close, flail our weapons in all directions, and duck & dodge in ways that demand a big space—something HTC’s Vive has been doing since its launch earlier this year. Officially unlocking these experiences on the Rift will make Home all the richer.

With the release of Touch on December 6th, the Rift platform will have three recommended setups. The fundamental reason for this is occlusion, the possibility that some crucial portion of the tracking markers on the Rift and Touch might be blocked from the camera’s view. Modern VR headsets use highly calibrated IMUs which are capable of determining an object’s rotations accurately at very low latencies, but which rapidly drift out of alignment when used to further judge the object’s movement through space. Both Rift and Touch use infrared LED markers to serve as a corrective frame of reference for positional tracking, but can’t do this when too many of these markers are blocked from view.

Introducing two Touch controllers complicates matters considerably further. Now a player can turn 180° from the camera, hold the controllers near their chest, and the controllers become completely occluded from the camera, eliminating their ability to be tracked through space. When it comes to Oculus’ tracking system, there’s only one solution to the occlusion problem: more cameras.

Two cameras placed in opposite corners of the room will provide a large playspace, but this risks placing them so far away from the headset that they have trouble seeing the markers clearly; this is ‘room-scale’ capable and a full 360° degree experience, but not terribly robust, according to Oculus.

Final Touch Battery Life Improved 40% Over Original Prototype, Up to 30 Hours of Use

With a third camera, robust room-scale interactions in full 360° become possible, Oculus says. Though it may have greater requirements for setup, room-scale tracking can significantly enhance immersion. Owlchemy CTO Devin Reimer has said, about the HTC Vive, that the addition of room-scale to a VR experience can “almost get [Presence] for free”, thanks to the added immersion that comes with being able to physically explore the space around you in a significant way.

Oculus’ newfound support for more tracking configurations means that a whole host of previously problematic content (designed for Vive’s room-scale capability) may find itself welcome both on Home and on the hard drives of VR enthusiasts everywhere.

Pistol Pete

Glad you cleared this up Ben. There has been so much bad information with people saying Rift Roomscale + Touch is perfectly fine with 2 cameras, which it’s not. It’s awesome Rift is getting official Roomscale, but definitely concerned that there is not a standard setup for the Rift. This will put a strain on developers in a market that is already small to begin with.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  There is no confusion here, Pete, Two cameras, placed opposite each other works well enough even for “room scale” in a smaller area like a 12’x12′ area with minor occlusion if you pull the controllers close or get at extreme angles (VIve has the same issue on this, but not as bad due to the controller design).
  
  Read the article again, it clearly says “Two cameras placed in opposite corners of the room will provide a large playspace, but this risks placing them so far away from the headset that they have trouble seeing the markets clearly; this is ‘room scale’ capable and a full 360 degree experience, but no terribly robust, according to Oculus”
  
  There is no confusion by anyone (especially if you watch RealityCheck videos) that two cameras can easily support around 12’x12′ area with minor occlusion issues if you do extreme movements like pulling the controllers close to the chest because they were designed for ergonomics and dont have the larger ring that Vive wands do. They are creating a standard here, designating three cameras for a more robust tracking referred to as ‘room-scale’. and four for uber-tracking. This is a mere matter of semantics used, don’t get hung up on the standards vs. reality.
  
  No reason to be concerned, this “fragmentation” argument is so overplayed.as everyone knows that people who want only the first two experiences (no question people will buy the Touch especially when it is packaged in bundles similar to the PSVR now, and formally later). Oculus has made it pretty clear its going to move to packaging the Touch in with the HMD and I suspect will drop the Xbox controller out and probably add the third camera for a new package cost of around $829 I suspect which will suffice for most folks for “room-scale” play. The optional fourth camera option will be for those who aren’t satisfied with the tracking level of room scale at that point and allows for them to add another if they see fit. As I recall HTC Vive is going to allow the same option for more Lighthouse units.
  
  Devs aren’t suffering, they just have to decide what they are developing for, basically either room-scale experiences, or a seated/standing 360 which is pretty much what they all do today. The same “fragmentation” boogeyman was run out with the pad controllers, and I notice games in Valve’s Steam for Vive that support them, and yet no one complains about “fragmentation” there. No disrespect to Ben, but he’s reporting a set of standards here, not a comparison of those standards vs. actual usage, lets make sure we understand that.
  - Matt R
    
    Damit Pete you woke the troll
    - Get Schwifty!
      
      It’s called “discussion” – if you disagree with the points, that’s cool, dismissing cogent discussion of different viewpoints on an article as “trolling” – not cool.
      
      I think I a have been more than fair in my analysis of things and consistent in my points. Unlike most folks I just dont come on and clap like a circus walrus anytime someone happens to throw a fish in a discussion that can be construed to support an emotional position they feel.
      - ummm…
        
        you are not a troll, but i think you are biased – or in the least not trying your best to be objective. you are not “fair” in your analysis – and this comes from somebody that has had the respect to engage you, up until my post above about 2 min ago.
      - DiGiCT Ltd
        
        He is the only one in my blocklist already. as you say he is not objective at all, has a solid fixed mind, dont realy understands deeply what people reply or write but rather wants to say what he want to say, no matter what you or others think about it.
        
        Rift eventually will be able to do roomscale and oculus anouncements are correct.
        It will take 4 camera’s to get roomscale with the best accuracy in tracking you can get with rift constellation.
        2 and 3 can also work, but the general rule is more camera’s better results !
        
        Draw 2 camera’s on paper and their coverage angles you can see what you can do maximal on vevered area.
        Add a 3rd do the same and last but leat add 4th and see how large you can go.
        
        Oculus is also right about what most people would play in roomscale.
        It will not be the very large areas as most will be more into a 2×2 meter area.
        Although i played in 5×5 meter which is amazingly better 2×2 will do fine too.
        
        Our current games in development are focussed on 2x2m roomscale as also we think that is easy for people to make although we keep it more on 1.5×1.5m and having the overlapping 50 cm around to have extra space when needed in certain situations and better safety, and preventing the boundaries showing up in VR.
      - ummm…
        
        my recent comments with him are actually quite friendly and i think ive gotten him to see another point of view. he has conceded some points. however, i can understand his bias. he just wants to justify his purchase. oculus is a strong platform, but very much flawed, in my opinion, when compared to the vive – at the moment.
        
        I have never used my vive with more than 3 x 2, but id imagine it would be super fun. too bad for me.
        
        Lastly, have you guys announced any upcoming games? i dont see any other than mobile games on your website. or can you at least tell me what genre it is in?
        
        thanks for developing for vr.
      - DiGiCT Ltd
        
        One game is a more advanced game based on Xotex and migh get COOP mode. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/062231d6fbe87a623c5ea29e9937e2f742207f4693994916e3b672ede473e6d8.jpg
        
        The other is a 4 player Tetris kind of battle game which will come later.
        I did not add them yet to our website as it is too early, but it will come in Q4 this year.
      - ummm…
        
        these are all going to be on steam?
      - DiGiCT Ltd
        
        Yes they will be 1st on steam if they get greenlit later on.
        My company dev account on Steam is “Digict”, it has no game history as its pure for developing and releasing games.
        I might consider adding those to the oculus home later on too.
        Priorities are Steam, not sure how many rift users also use additional steam but i see a lot of titles are there already.
        And of course the Vive Portal itself too.
        The pictures you see are early alpha, as both project already are in a further stage but those i could easy grab atm to give you a simple glimpse of the concept.
        Pictures dont say much for VR IMHO and our content is not ready yet to make a good video out of it, as on that time we would make it for Greenlit page.
        Both games however are arcade style games, as i like the old style 80’s kinda games a lot.
        The coolest thing now in VR is having the oppertunities to make a game feel and look better with real interactive interfaces instead of a GUI on a screen.
        As you might see on that picture the middle has a console and on it are buttons to press to start the game and other stuff, the screen itself will have steam ranking list on it and additional possibilties.
        We want it not to be only gameplay but also that the environment dynamicly changes as you go trough the game via animations.
        Similar as you go trough the vive demo things folding into the floor etc etc.
        This requires more work and thus more time but the results will be better imo.
      - ummm…
        
        well im excited about the project and will look for it. i find that ive yet to really appreciate puzzle/arcade games on the vive. but im waiting for one that wets my appetite. i hope this is the one! ill be following you guys.
      - DiGiCT Ltd
        
        Well it might be the teris game you gonna like haha.
        It is in a way puzzle like the original tetris game, however it comes with 4 players in a level with each their own frame and other players can shoot special weapons on your frame to make it harder.
        The game is altered however as the goal is not to get highest score but rather elimination mode instead.
        I will keep you posted, expect dev blogs to go being opened soon on http://www.digict,asia
        
        Hope we can convince you too to play it, and who knows maybe we even one day end up fighting each other :)
      - DiGiCT Ltd
        
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/59733151e3c67979aa6efa7f768124ef5a9008f2e69de6aa1661f623e0082f7e.jpg
        Early version of the tetris kinda game.
        
        Pictures are early dev but game will change more in it’s time.
        
        Reference only.
      - ummm…
        
        cool. looking forward to seeing the finished product!
      - Aaron Hillaker
        
        I’ve used both the Vive and Rift+Touch. With 2 cameras, tracking is nearly on par with the Vive. I have yet to use 3 cameras, but I can imagine it’s probably totally on par, given my experience. A 4th camera would probably put it past the Vive in terms of tracking.
      - TheVillasurfer
        
        Everything I’ve read from you makes perfect sense and I agree with your comments. Thanks for writing some sensible, truthful, non-argumentative, useful points.
      - DiGiCT Ltd
        
        You must be his dad or a troll.
        Did you seriously read all what he wrote as it will take you weeks of reading nonsense.
      - TheVillasurfer
        
        ‘All what he wrote’ is the only nonsense that I just read.
      - ummm…
        
        what exactly do you agree with?
  - ummm…
    
    another long post, and more obfuscation. i can’t keep this up with you. i didn’t even get past the first paragraph this time. dude, enjoy your rift. it is amazing. i happen to like my vive more.
  - ummm…
    
    he said “NOT TERRIBLY ROBUST”, not “robust. there was a qualifier.
  - Rogue_Transfer
    
    I think, there’s valid concerns about the amount of room coverage with controllers out-of-view, due to the lower sensor range of 100° horizontal by only 70° vertical (see diagram in my post above).
    
    In effect, it’s not so much the people who have large, spare room to offset this round the edges of the play area, but those who have confined play space(e.g. 2m x 2m) that will suffer more around the edges of it with their controllers facing outwards.
    Glitches and occlusion happens in various situations in different ways on each solution – we’ll find out more about the differences for Constellation with Touch in tracking in time. I wouldn’t put too much faith in Youtube media representatives who have been given early access to pre-release hardware. It’ll take time, just like with the Vive, for people to start actually saying about the specific niggles.
    
    There’s a lot of hype around anything new and fun – and Touch & room scale will certainly bring a lot of amazing fun to people. Some aspects better(e.g. joystick, extra state for non-touching gestures, smaller, better feel), some perhaps not.
GroovyMonster

Got news for you (that you probably won’t want to hear): 2 sensors actually work JUST FINE for CV1 roomscale in an average-sized play area. Anything bigger than say, 12×12 feet and yeah, you’d probably want to add a third one, but smaller than that…you’ll be fine.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  Dev after dev who has them with just two cameras says they work just fine for about a 12’x’12’ area if you just set them up with a little thought. It’s only in the case (as the article pointed out) that occlusion issues occur if you wrap them close to your chest, something you really don’t do very often. Watched a guy playing Job Simulator for about 10 minutes last night in his room with a two camera setup on YouTube with no apparent tracking issues at all. One point that is neglected is Touch is designed for very fine interactions, more-so than the current Vive wand design, and you can see that with just two front facing cameras it apparently works well enough for some fine virtual sculpting, etc. so even with two cameras it must work pretty well in say a 5′ x 5′ space.
  
  Part of the problem here is I think on a certain level Oculus is a little too paranoid and hung up with setting “standards”, a mindset they got into very early. People like choices, but not too many, it’s been shown they tap out around two or three then they get anxious and depressed because they worry they made the wrong decision. This is where I think HTC Vive has an edge because they are hardware sellers; they get the fact people want a simply choice that says “This is the right thing; yes its complicated, but we took care of that and here is your golden answer”. Oculus, being a bunch of tech wonks embarking on their first hardware venture seem to lack this understanding, coming from a world of IT standards and so forth, and are almost too preoccupied with “explaining” it to people. Not to mention they seem almost preternaturally terrified of someone having the least bit of discomfort. To their credit, they are trying to help establish things to bring the cost down for the PC down on the other hand for social and light VR seated/standing experiences and seem to have buy-in from players like Nvidia and AMD.
  
  They need to do what I think they will do, remove the Xbox controller, and put the cost of it plus a little more into a 3-camera setup with the Rift and Touch controllers for about $829 or so, and like Lighthouse, offer the 4th camera for even finer tracking and let it be done. I am fairly sure this is the route they are going to go down personally as it just makes the most sense.
  - ummm…
    
    you do bring them close to your chest, body when taking clips out in onward, lets say. although, im going to be really happy when rift people can play onward. your gonna love it.
    
    can you substantiate the claim you make about detailed movements. that is completely erroneous. i have had no issue. in fact the fine movements MUST WORK by definition or room scale isn’t accurate enough. you may be referring to the added bulk of the controls and a perceived difficulty when they get close to one another. ill solve it for you. no problem at all.
    
    i think your grasp of the vr landscape is limited or severely biased. im not here to knock oculus, but i take issue with your spin.
    - Get Schwifty!
      
      What I mean by that is it appears (my opinion here) that the controller design by being “tighter” allows for a bit finer interaction with virtual media. Your description about bulk is my point. I don’t think its a grasp of VR problem whatsoever, its clear the design that Touch uses and the revised Vive controllers are easier to make finer interactions with. You are free to take issue with my points, but they are not “spin”.
      
      I could make the counter argument that many people criticize the ability to do room scale with two cameras effectively and yet time after time devs using them post videos showing it does very well. By your definition that criticism in the face of demonstrable facts to the contrary would be considered “spin” to me.
      - ummm…
        
        well, im talking from experience not from youtube videos. addtionally, bulk is not a moot issue, but as far as that goes you do realize that the touch surrounds the hand with hardware and therefore there is a deadzone. the vive controllers have the hands surround the wand and the bulk is at the tip. this means that if there are deadzone for either, then they are of different natures and i believe in the end both dont impede enjoyment.
      - Get Schwifty!
        
        Fair enough – and I don’t hate the Vive design, but as someone who also has a background in design originally (Architecture many years ago though I work in IT now), the wands to me were a killer in my decision personally. Couple that with what I think most people expected, a Touch release in first half of 2016 it was an easy choice at the time. I’m irritated at the time its taken for the Touch release, but I do believe it will be worth it in the end, and its not as if there are loads and loads of quality content even now. I still do most of my gaming in 2-D, but I have had a recent blast playing the silly Gang Beasts of all things in VR…. along with all the animation, videos and Chronos, Edge of Nowhere, etc. so its not like there isn’t enjoyment to be had during the wait.
        
        The worst part is I have a 2-week consulting engagement onsite when the Touch controllers come out, and my laptop is not technically capable of VR support – almost with an external GPU setup, but not quite there CPU wise : /
      - ummm…
        
        id say we agree. oculus and lack of room scale pushed me to the vive, or was a big part of it. i have a bit of envy for the touch controls. given the option i would have chosen that, but at the same time the wands make more sense for swords and golf etc. having used them i dont feel ive lost anything, but i want more versatility.
        
        im happy that valve is creating a controller solution that moves towards the oculus touch, but even that design solution isn’t perfect. i think it has to be done by a experience by experience bases a la duck hunt in the nintendo age. therefore, more than one design solution for the controller is what ill buy. there is no 2 birds one stone here, although i think just one bird for me and you right now will suffice – until we are given more options.
        
        sorry to hear about your trip, but do tell us your experience when you have a chance!
      - Get Schwifty!
        
        Looking forward to it, and thanks :)
      - Kevin Kesler
        
        I have a vive and a rift and really look forward to the smaller touch controllers. Tracking with the vive controllers is awesome, but their size has resulted in many bangs into each other, the floor, and especially the headset when people are playing archery games.
  - Andrew Jakobs
    
    Even the lighthousetracking will have problems if you have the controllers close to your chest, ANY tracking mechanism which relies on light will have a problem when only two camera’s/laseremitters are used, there is ALWAYS a blindspot, even with 3.. the only way to do it, is OR through radio signals or something like that OR good inside out tracking (which is hard and at the moment pretty expensive).
    BUT I think the industry should go for ONE tracking system, and at the moment it seems the cheapest (in regard to price and compute power) is the lighthouse system.. Knowing there are already a lot of 3rd party companies building controllers etc with this system, I think Oculus should just throw in the towel and go with the lighthouse system for the second consumer generation (it’s even cheaper for them too)..
    - ummm…
      
      andrew?!?! what has happened to you. giving ground to the vive?
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Not really, I’m just pragmatic, if I see 300 hardware manufacturers already working on lighthouse controllers and hardware, and only one company using the constellation tracking of Oculus then it would benefit the consumer to only have one tracking system.. At the moment I still have my DK2 and I’m not planning on buying both the CV1 or the Vive at the moment (unless I really get serious with creating a commercial VR-game/experience)..
      - ummm…
        
        sounds right. i hear the dk1 is basically a cv1. if i was an oculus user id be so upset. at the same time id have some great proprietary games. anyhow, we are in agreement. lighthouse is more viable, if only because it is becoming an industry standard. i hope you do get serious about a vr experience. we need anybody with ability to do so.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        The DK1 or DK2 is NOTHING like the CV1, the difference is enourmous.. But you’re right, the industry needs people with the ability to create great content..
      - ummm…
        
        im sorry i mean dk2 is like cv1, but…..
- ummm…
  
  im guessing you mean feet not meters…….:)
  - Get Schwifty!
    
    That would be awesome ;)
    - ummm…
      
      wouldnt it?!?!?
    - ummm…
      
      i dont even use the 15×15 that the vive is capable of. id be so stoked if i had a room to do that in.
  - Andrew Jakobs
    
    Even 12×12 feet (which is almost 4×4 meters) is a large space which a lot of consumers don’t have (yes enthusiasts will always find the space)..
    - ummm…
      
      true. best ive been able to manage in my living room is 3X2 meters, roughly. i could clear more things out, but my girlfriend hasn’t taken a girls only trip since i got the vive.
- RipVoid
  
  Hey, I’ve got news for you, Oculus disagrees. Who should room scale devs rely on; you, Shifty, and some youtube videos or Oculus? You can’t spend millions of dollars on a project if the the OEM won’t support what you are trying to do. I’m pretty sure you and Shifty won’t be available to help fix their two camera room scale development when it sucks.
  
  I’m just glad they are finally willing to support room scale instead of marginalize it.
- d0x360
  
  I can confirm. I got the controllers yesterday and today I downloaded some games designed for vive and 360 degree tracking with movement.
  
  I have a sensor in front of me and one behind me. I have no issue with tracking.
  
  I’d like to test it with a 3rd sensor but really the 2 work because the second the first sensor in front begins to lose you the second starts to find you.
  
  I don’t see how 3 sensors would help any, the only thing better than 2 would be 4 so all sides are covered but I guess they could argue the fidelity is a bit better with a 3rd but…they also wanna sell $80 trackers and figure most people won’t actually buy 4 but I bet talking them into 3 is possible
Raphael

Oculus cams are wired yes? That means long usb cable. Vive lasers are wireless and even update firmware wirelessly.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  Maybe the wiring is not that big a deal to some folks. Not to mention the wired are intrinsically more resistant to outside interference, a potential problem (small likelihood, but possible) in some denser urban areas. If the wires really bother someone they can just get wireless USB adapters, etc.I admit its not ideal, but the wire issue is overplayed as a distinction.
  
  Then there is the whole long term reason why cameras make more sense, but in the short term the wireless Lighthouse is the easier setup so its an easy point to bring up. Lighthouse will never “bring you into the picture” which is why the camera option makes more sense in the long run, and why Oculus is sticking with it according to them.There positives and negatives to both approach, its important to point them all out.
  - ummm…
    
    if wiring isn’t so big then why are oculus and vive moving towards wireless?
    
    you can probably get cheap peripherals soon that “bring you into the picture” and with more accuracy. geezus.
    - Raphael
      
      good point… yes, integral hmd tracking would be great if it offers the same precision.
      - ummm…
        
        yesterdays article said that valve are looking at video streaming tech. could mean that they would take the load off of the hmd and possibly open up more computing power; or it is an entire worka round.
      - Raphael
        
        I guarantee they wont implement anything like oculus atw or asw.
        
        I think oculus have the best programmers and vr scientists now. Steamvr will still be a performance slug 12 months from now.
Get Schwifty!

Nice one – “rug scale” game me a chuckle ;)
Darth Garth

Also, he literally replies to every comment ever made. Like they were all directed at him…
- ummm…
  
  good for him. he is entitled to do so.
David Herrington

So lets talk about the elephant in the room…
1. Oculus officially goes against what they previously said about focusing on room-scale.
2. Oculus officially wants you to spend $880 for room-scale.
(ANNND Get Schwifty responds…. ;)
- Darth Garth
  
  Yeah, but we all knew they had the capability to do it and that they were going to go room scale, eventually. We just didn’t know what took sooo long!
  - ummm…
    
    we also didn’t know the solution would be so ham fisted. for a system that prides itself of aesthetic, and they do it well enough, the room scale solution is an after thought. kind of upsetting, and forboding. however, this does still mean that rift users can go roomscale soon, and that makes me happy for them. pretty soon rifters will be demanding to leave the confines of their seat and drink the kool aid
- Andrew Jakobs
  
  Real roomscale is still only for a few people, regular consumers don’t have the space for it, so it’ll be just a standing and very small ‘roomscale’ experience for most people.. Lucky you if you have at least 12×12 feet space available, but most consumers don’t)..
  - ummm…
    
    im a regular customer. i have space for 2X2. in fact i have more space than that. unless you live in a closet you can do it. stop spreading your ridiculous opinion.
    - Andrew Jakobs
      
      2×2 is NOT roomscale, 2x2m is about half of 12×12 feet..
      It’s not a ridiculous opinion, it reality.. You’re lucky to have 2x2m space (which as I said is NOT roomscale, but just a standing VR experience)..
      - ummm…
        
        what? ive done 2X2 / 3X2 – and i can do more if i really wanted to. its roomscale. i move around. i interact with the environment by moving side to side, forward back, diagonally, up down. when i walk 3 meters across a certain section of my living room, then im walking 3 meters!!!! your argument is a slippery slope, and undefined. define it more or leave it alone, please.
Pistol Pete

@ Shwifty

You are everyone else really need to listen to the truth about Rift’s Roomscale. Start at 19:30(talks about Room-scale at OC3. Listen to all of it when you get a chance. Maybe you will believe me for once. But for some reason I doubt it.

http://voicesofvr.com/459-oculus-connect-3-highlights-questions-about-new-min-spec-room-scale-claims-2/
- ummm…
  
  he commented on that article. not sure if he listened to the embedded podcast. dont think it informed him anymore. in the end we are trying to show him that he should be more skeptical, but he invested a significant amount of money and i think he will find it too painful to do so.
- Doctor Bambi
  
  As someone who went the Oculus route (just got mine yesterday), thanks for sharing that podcast. It’s very interesting to hear his thoughts on the event and the state Oculus is in.
  
  One quick note though, about 19:30, he doesn’t specifically state the camera setup of the demos he played, but it’s fairly safe to say he was using the front facing mode since that’s what Oculus is really designed for. If anybody at the event could chime in, was room-scale even demoed at OC3?
  
  Anyways, more than likely he was talking about tracking issues in the forward facing position, not Oculus’ room scale solution. His concerns still stand though.
  
  I’m pretty concerned with Oculus’ direction. I’m confident they can take the right steps to get back on track, but if not I’m looking at a Vive Gen 2. Still planning to get a lot of fun out of my Rift though, and I’ve loved using my Gear VR.
  - ummm…
    
    have fun with the rift!!! but, one question, and i dont mean to be salty . why buy the rift now after having the benefit of 5 months of reviews?
    - Doctor Bambi
      
      The Rift just fits me better as an overall experience. I’m a very console minded PC gamer. I love the Xbox One controller, and just everything from the design of the headset to the clean aesthetics and ease of use of Oculus Home, these things won me over. I choose the simplicity of Rift over the versatility of the Vive.
      - ummm…
        
        i see. fair enough. althought vive home, and the steam ui in the vive are super nice. but you have made a decision, and i think the rift is well designed at least aesthetically. although is it an oxymoron to say console minded pc gamer? anyhow, if thats what works for you then i hope you get your fix. i hope oculus sticks by their guns for good seated experiences so that you are fullfilled. i have my favorite seated experiences with my vive too, but most arent games. get it ?!!? har har har. if you can, and are interested too. pick up fsx, fly inside, actve sky, rex textures, and oculus touch, and fscaptain. pure glory. if you have a 1080, you can really push up those graphics and it is GREEEAAATTT as a seated experience.
      - Doctor Bambi
        
        It is an oxymoron, yes. :)
      - ummm…
        
        btw, and i hate to do this. the vive can be used with a gamepad – its just not bundled. the rift does have some great games tho
    - care package
      
      Those ‘5 months’ of reviews only put the Vive ahead because of motion controls (by those who don’t see the value of more complex seated experiences – just ask Sony for their opinion on seated). Oculus software and Touch controls spank anything for the Vive, so basically if you want the superior product, you just needed to wait longer instead of jumping into what is clearly a pre-consumer release device with very limited software available. When I say clearly, that is because Vive is already redesigning the whole package from the HMD, motion controls, and emitters. I can’t say anything to someone who insists they made the right choice with the Vive. If that is how you feel the mo powa too ya.
      - ummm…
        
        sony’s opinion is not relevant, especially because their seated hardware seems to be making people REALLY sick; their implementation of it fractures the user base and developers – much like the rifts new approach to vr.
        
        you are so biased, dense and uninformed that i didn’t bother to read past your claim that oculus has the superior product WITHOUT IT EVEN REACHING THE CONSUMER. if you think the less forward thinking, more expensive, less accurate, more wired version of room scale is better without ever testing it then you need to see a therapist, or get a refund. peace out.
      - care package
        
        Wow. Way to throw a tantrum. Sonys opinion is very relevant. Yours on the other hand is not
      - ummm…
        
        worthless comment.
      - sfmike
        
        I kind of agree with you but Sony has developed a HMD that is far superior to the other systems in regards to comfort. If we could mash the best of all three systems into one package we would be way ahead.
      - ummm…
        
        i hear it is comfortable. THats great. but that comfort is a trade for versatility and utility.
    - CazCore
      
      BECAUSE of all the reviews.
      Rift is lighter, more comfortable, slightly better image quality, and room scale is a niche in a niche, that doesn’t address pretty much all of the only kinds of games i play (properly, i don’t want to teleport). and OcTouch looks like better controllers in almost every way. altho the new HTC controllers have me quite intrigued.
      
      if Revive is %100 compatible with everything, i suppose Vive has an advantage with being able to run more things (i’m not aware of a reverse Revive for Rifters). but i would imagine it doesn’t work with a lot of games.
      - CazCore
        
        also asynchronous time warp (and now space warp) are really nice.
        
        btw, i DO have plenty of room for room scale. but i pretty much exclusively play exploratory action games. where avatar movement is an integral part of the gameplay.
Omar Ceja Salgado

So if 3 cameras are recommended for better room-scale then we’re looking at $600 for the Rift, $200 for the controllers and a camera and $80 for the additional camera which is pretty much on price-parity with Vive.
- Andrew Jakobs
  
  Yep.. So the rift isn’t cheaper, but at least you have a choice.. IMHO they should also just ditch the xbox controller from the package so the price of the headset can be even less (as a lot of people already own a gamepad)..
  - ummm…
    
    good point, but many rifters have bought into the “Seated experience” so they couldn’t do that. btw the rift is 160 american more expensive than the vive.
    - Andrew Jakobs
      
      uhh, if you get the third camera it’s $60 American more expensive than the vive, BUT you get an xbox controller and wireless adaptor, so in the end if you get about the same setup you’re even..
      - ummm…
        
        no. 600 base. 200 for controllers + 1 extra cam. 79 for the necessary extra camera. 79 for the 4th that oculus / devs are saying that you REALLY need for proper room scale. thats 160 bucks more. look it up.
      - Carlos markic
        
        Wow. Fanboyism at it’s best….
      - ummm…
        
        facts are facts. also, you are 2 months behind the news homeslice. lol. if you want to discuss the available vr headsets then there are plenty of articles written in the last 2 months; jokester.
      - ummm…
        
        oh dont forget the price for cable extensions for the cameras etc.
  - Omar Ceja Salgado
    
    True, now that the price is pretty much the same people might choose one or the other based on software rather than price.
  - Omar Ceja Salgado
    
    I’d ditch the controller too. They should not have included one in the first place, many PC gamers already own one. I read somewhere that the controller was pretty much subsidized by Microsoft so users were not paying for it which honestly I don’t buy.
    - Carlos markic
      
      Doesn’t matter if YOU buy it or not. Ot’s probably tue comsidering they are partnering with microsoft to get a vr experience with xbox…
- ummm…
  
  youll need four cams so thats 160 over the vive.
  - Omar Ceja Salgado
    
    Well according to the article 3 is enough for room-scale even though 4 cameras are supported. In any case the price is now the same and if someone wants to go for three or four camera setups, as you mention, their overall price would be $80-$160 higher than what Vive costs and it would not do anymore than what Vive already does.
    - ummm…
      
      take a look closer. it has been circulating that 4 is for proper roomscale on par with the vive. i wouldn’t make this stuff up. although 3 is prob good for the standing experience, whatever that means.
      - Nashoba Darkwolf
        
        When false information from vive fanboys circulates on differnt forums that doesn’t make it fact. Please stop spreading false information as fact when it is not.
      - ummm…
        
        http://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-rift-home-1-6-update-touch-four-sensors-roomscale/
        
        not fanboys. read it as you will.
      - Nashoba Darkwolf
        
        so an outdated article trumps an up to date article stating the otherwise…?
      - ummm…
        
        why give a press release and write software to utilize 4 cameras?
  - Carlos markic
    
    Hahah, sure next we’ll hear from you we need 10… get lost fan boy…
    - ummm…
      
      actually “Experimental modes” as defined by !oculus! is 3 and 4 cameras now. thats what happens when you read old news.
J.C.

So Oculus didn’t think room scale was where VR was going to go, but now that the Vive has proven its merit, they’re gonna add it. Unfortunately I don’t have a quick way to dig up those quotes but I swear they’ve publicly stated that room scale is for a “select few”, and it won’t take off.

They’re playing catch-up on the hardware side. On the software side, I think Oculus has things running a bit better than HTC. What I don’t like about Oculus is that they’ve locked their experience to their headset for no viable reason. I’d happily install and purchase games from their store IF I COULD, but there’s still no Vive support. They have a PILE of exclusives I want to play, but I’m not replacing my entire VR setup to do so.

“REVive”, you say? No. maybe for the free stuff they have, but I refuse to pay full price for a game that doesn’t actually support my hardware. Why would I encourage their current behavior? More VR manufacturers are coming out with headsets, and Oculus needs to realize that they’re going to lose market share pretty quickly if people can’t use their store without a janky workaround.

Their hardware-exclusive store, alone, is why I don’t l don’t like Oculus.
- DiGiCT Ltd
  
  Your right, the reason why their software is better deployed as their hardware is simply that they are supported by a software company “facebook”.
  They had nearly no hardware expierence causing huge delays on devlopment and even manufacturing issues at the end.
  HTC however has huge expierence in hardware, valve however has to do the software IMO as HTC is not that good at it, easy to see Steam vs Vive Portal.
  Although the vive protal i like more as steam in VR it is still bugged and not polished enough, letting me use steam more in VR instead.
  
  The exclusive part i dont agree with you being oculus to blame, i would as a developer blaming the developers which go into this just to get money funded for their product ahead.
  I did not go for funding to prevent this kind of policies but rather choose to launch early access on steam instead to get some more money in to develop the product further and faster.
  
  Hopefully there will be enough people later on Steam to support the game, but thats something we will see by giving it a try ;)
  - ummm…
    
    thanks for being a responsible corporate citizen.
    - DiGiCT Ltd
      
      Well I think nobody has the right to claim stuff for themselves and play like a “i own you” attitude.
      I see VR as something like internet, giving people freedom and fun.
      It is for sure harder to do without support of those big companies investing, but on the other hand it gives you true freedom to make what you want and not game the investors want.
      In history those kind of issues went big time by having EA as a distrubutor/investor.
      Devs were forced to keep scheduled release dates resulting in unfinished games and no good patching support after release.
      
      Companies with shareholders moslty focus on 1 thing and that is more revenue instead of making something that just feels good.
      
      I believe that making a game needs to be done with passion and if people share that passion you will get the money anyhow as you make people happy with your creations.
      
      Personally i went trough a long game history, like the original pong! and all those early gameconsoles, even the one from :philips” most people never seen.
      At the end it will always be a very small TOP rated games that exists.
      
      For VR a good game needs to be designed for VR and not a game from the past be ported.
      Concepts need to be new or even renewed to make it VR worthy.
      
      A good exmple is Minecarft , those guys came that time with a new concept and people loved it, still till todfay.
      However in VR this looks bad if you only would run sandbox version without mods.addons.
      This game should be renewed rather then currently being ported to VR imo, i think they missed the opportunity to let people feel VR MC being awesome, maybe it does not matter so much due to most players being still underaged kids not having the money for VR yet anyhow.
      But thats a realistic point of view ofcourse.
- Andrew Jakobs
  
  But actual roomscale IS for the select few. There aren’t many regular consumers who have the space for more than a standing VR experience.. Maybe YOU have a whole room available which is at least 12×12 feet (+/- 4×4 meters), but most people don’t..
  - ummm…
    
    OMG. life is for a select few. the ones that are still breathing. stop being such a nudge. if you have 2×2 meters you’ll be fine. if you can’t find 2 X 2 in your playspace then you need to move out of the closet.
    
    edit: and what is this most people dont. your points always seem to be unthoughtful. isn’t that embarassing?
    - Andrew Jakobs
      
      As I said 2x2m is merely a standing VR experience, doesn’t count as roomscale..
      - ummm…
        
        what is roomscale defined as?
- ummm…
  
  a little scary that oculus couldnt see this. on the forefront right?
  
  i too would like to try some oculus games, but much like with my abandonment of apple, i refuse to buy into closed systems.
- wheeler
  
  Well, there actually is a reason for them locking content to their HMD. But I guess whether or not that’s a “viable” reason depends on one’s integrity. Facebook/Oculus isn’t forgoing tens of thousands of content sales from Vive users (and hundreds of thousands in the future, hopefully from more HMD competitors) for no reason. By tying content to their HMD, they no longer have to compete on hardware alone and are forcing users to make a selection based on a manufactured constraint. You know, that nasty feeling unbiased console gamers get in their stomach when the next generation of consoles come around and they need to decide what exclusives they’re willing to miss out on … coming soon to PC. What Facebook/Oculus wants to do is dominate the PC VR market in the short term with the exclusives they’ve purchased and become not just another competitor but rather “The VR HMD”. It’s the coveted position of almost all large corporations spanning multiple verticals, consumers be damned.
  
  Imagine what a clusterfuck we’d be in if Valve hadn’t intervened. A fractured PC VR market consisting of completely isolated experiences (hardware, standards, markets/distribution mediums, and content). God knows HTC would have done the same as Oculus if they had gone into VR independently. Not that this couldn’t still happen–Facebook/Oculus obviously believe it’s still a possiblity.
  
  But yes, I agree with you. Not buying any content from the Oculus store and this is main reason I went with the Vive. I feel somewhat sorry for the devs as I expect many users without native-OVR compatible HMDs will just pirate these games as it’s (apparently) as easy as with any other PC game and ReVive is near perfect. But only somewhat sorry because they agreed to enter into these wretched exclusivity agreements in the first place.
- Hawk1290
  
  Oculus built an ecosystem specifically for their product. SteamVR was created to support as many headsets as well as possible. Oculus has ATW/ASW and a smoother software experience because that’s their entire focus. SteamVR has greater compatibility at the cost of poor reprojection. That’s the state of things in a nutshell.
  
  That known- it’s upsetting that people assume that everyone should take Valve’s approach and open the system for all. In a perfect world there’d be complete collaboration and businesses would cooperate to create the best product possible. In the real world- you pick the side and cut your losses when you miss out on competition’s features.
  
  I’m not saying I wouldn’t love that Utopia- I’m only trying to explain that you’ll see this behavior for a long while still because standards in VR are being developed.
- sfmike
  
  And the prices are to high for the depth of experience you get from most games at this point. Steam pricing is more based on reality.
DiGiCT Ltd

Finally I can say thank you ocolus for informing the people with correct information.
It is simply true you need 3 if you want reliable tracking in small area and 4 for optimal tracking and larger roomscale.
It is just as it is with camera tracking like the rift uses, its a tech restriction as the rift was not intended to be roomscale from the start.
It might be more cost and more wires but it will work with 4 with minimal issues as you will have 4 “eyes” watching you instead of 2.

Thank you Oculus making this clear, we will add our game to support rift too but recommend using minimal 3 camera’s for ours.

Those youtube videos are fine to see, but dont forget most of those youtubers are in there for the money and make videos that attracts hits for marketing revenues.
Don’t take those videos to seriously but rather look into the technical documentation from the hardware component manufacturers as they show what those components can do and what they cant do.

Again thank you oculus and thank you RTVR for explaing what is the “standard” for oculus rift to do roomscale.
RipVoid

This is good news. The market for room scale just got larger. Hopefully they sell a lot of those extra cameras.
Sponge Bob

He-He-He….

You only need one external device for precise room-scale tracking of HMD

…and hand-held controller should be tracked relative to corresponding HMD, not to some external device 5 m away

bunch of idiots to be slaughtered
Jono

BUT because the base install of the Rift does not have 3 cameras (and probably less than 50% of Rift owners will buy touch, 3 cameras, and find 7 free usb ports for cough cough Rift rug scale gaming) anyway devs will still err on the safe side to cover everyone and dumb down the VR experience to front facing gameplay for the majority of titles. Rift messed up on this one by not having touch and 360 degree roomscale as its base product. It has splintered the user base and meant many games are not at their full VR potential.
Ryun Patenaude

Was this an add on option with the touch pre-order that I missed or are they not available yet?
Albert Hartman

4 hi-res cameras and presumably their wired hookups to the computer running image processing. Why couldn’t they just license Vive’s Lighthouse?
sirlance

I’m glad oculus will finally add more players for me to shoot in Onward..we welcome all…that said it looks like the oculus will end up more expensive than the vive with the added camera, its a shame they rushed their product to the market simply to just be the first and then tried to have exclusives only to retract when the internet blew up in outrage,,,I dont mind games comming out first in the oculus as long as they dont try to shut out the vive, psvr or osvr…I want games for all…..let the consumer decide what headset they choose…so in the meantime I’m extremely happy with my Vive.