We interview Tuncay Cakmak, founder of Cyberith and inventor of the virtual reality omnidirectional treadmill, the Virtualizer, to find out what he and the team have been up to. Plus, a new Skyrim demonstration video.
The Cyberith Virtualizer
Update: We erroneously attributed the Skyrim footage being made possible by vorpX when in fact it’s clearly Vireio Perception 2.0. vorpX is used in the 2nd ARMA III video on the page. Apologies to Neil and the Vireio team for the gaffe!
The Virtualiser is an omni-directional treadmill that allows you to use walking, crouching, turning and jumping as an input device for games. It’s specifically designed to enhance immersion with virtual reality games and software. It’s been quite a while since I last met up with Cyberith’s founder, Tuncay Cakmak, at Gamescom in August, 2013. On that occasion, he and the Cyberith team had barely managed to finish their latest prototype in time for the show and were busy coding elements of the software whilst demoing at the same time.
The latest gameplay video just released by Cyberith shows Tuncay rampaging around Skyrim in virtual reality; in this case made possible by using Vireio Perception 2.0 VR Drivers. Tuncay’s clearly having a blast griefing the residents of Skyrim and manages to demonstrate some fairly subtle manoeuvring made possible by the Virtualizer’s unique attributes.
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Road to VR: Happy New Year to you and the Cyberith team! What are your stand-out memories of 2013?
Tuncay: Thank you Paul, we wish you a happy new year too! 2013 was totally awesome, completion of the first prototype, completion of the second prototype, Gamescom in Germany, Game City in Austria, Huddle event in London and all the excited faces of our visitors after trying out the Virtualizer.
Road to VR: When we last met at GamesCom 2013 you had just completed your 2nd prototype. Where are you now with your hardware in terms of generations (v2, 3?) and what’s changed since GamesCom?
Tuncay: We made a lot of improvements on the Virtualizer since Gamescom like a new base plate material, that allows much more natural movements and the sitting function, which enhances the immersion in vehicles or aircrafts. Our software received some updates as well and we are also building the next prototype now, which is going to be very close to the final product.
We made a lot of improvements on the Virtualizer since Gamescom like a new base plate material, that allows much more natural movements and the sitting function
Road to VR: The new video highlights the Virtualiser’s unique user tracking features – can you highlight them for us and describe how the virtualiser detects and translates these movements into in-game actions?
Tuncay: The Virtualizer has an integrated tracking system with different sensors which detect quite a lot of movements with a high precision.
A micro-controller integrated in the Virtualizer computes the walking direction, speed and angle, and the jumping or crouching height. This data picked up by sensors is transmitted to the PC via USB. Our driver software allows the user to choose between Keyboard simulation and Controller simulation.
In Keyboard Simulation mode you can bind keys to different walking speeds and different height levels for crouching and jumping. So you can configure the system for your needs and save these profiles. In Controller Simulation mode, you can configure a velocity curve for analogue speed of movements. This means, that you can move in infinitely variable speeds like with the analogue stick on a game controller.
Furthermore it is possible to activate analogue crouching heights if its supported by the game. So you can use the Virtualizer for a lot of different games or programs with a very user friendly driver software.
Road to VR: There’s been much speculation on the nature of your low friction base. Are you able to give us more details about it? Do you use additional sensors in the base or are the tracking sensors found elsewhere?
Tuncay: We have made several tests to find a material which has a certain static and dynamic friction coefficient to usual socks, that allows natural walking and running movements. It was a matter of high interest for us to make the device usable without any need for special shoes. So everybody in the users’ family can operate the Virtualizer without additional costs for different shoe sizes. Furthermore, using socks guarantee a whisper quiet operation.
It was a matter of high interest for us to make the device usable without any need for special shoes
You are right, there are sensors in the base and there are also sensors in the ring system.
Road to VR: Is the user’s crouching / standing height recorded by the Virtualiser a set of pre-defined levels or is it reporting the precise height of the harness?
Tuncay: The Virtualizer records the precise height of the harness. This allows to crouch and jump in any height steplessly, if the game supports that. The games that are common now do not support analogue jumping and crouching heights. Because most of the games only have one crouching position it is also possible to bind keys to different heights.
Road to VR: How are you mapping Virtualizer actions to key bindings? Proprietary software or 3rd party?
Tuncay: We have written our own driver software which allows to configure different actions to different key bindings, so the user can customize the system for his needs. The software will also allow switching to controller simulation so that analogue movements are possible, but that’s still in development. The controller simulation will be the standard setting because the analogue transmission of movements is highly important for VR. With the Virtualizer you will be able to transmit your real speed of movement directly into the game so immersion will not be disrupted.
Road to VR: What’s the primary construction material of the Virtualizer? Can you give the current prototype’s vital stats (height, width, weight etc)?
Tuncay: The Virtualizer primarily consists out of Steel and Aluminium and will have some plastic covers. The Prototypes height is about 1 meter with a platform diameter of 1 meter. The distance between the outside of the 3 towers to the middle is about 80 cm. The Prototype weighs about 50 Kg but the final product will be even less heavy.
Road to VR: Clearly the Virtualiser has more moving parts than something like the Virtuix Omni, how are you endeavouring to keep maintenance costs low for the consumer.
Tuncay: For us immersion is the most important thing in VR, we want to trick the brain so that it decouples from reality. For that we want to offer a system which allows as much real movements as possible. Additional to that we want to offer high quality and stability. We are working hard to construct the Virtualizer in a way which keeps the costs down without losing quality, stability and ensuring the best possible immersion. Good immersion requires a high freedom of movement for your body and a low latency tracking system. Moving parts do not automatically mean that something is going to be expensive if you design it clever. The moving parts expands the degree of freedom of our VR system, which allows crouching, jumping, walking forwards as well as backwards, strafing, walking in a crouched position,…
The Virtualizer is a device without motors, servos or hydraulic systems and that fact keeps the costs down and guarantees a long maintenance-free operation.
Road to VR: Are you any closer to an estimated consumer cost for the Virtualiser?
Tuncay: We want to offer a fully functional VR system for an unforgettable experience and this needs some time to develop. We don’t want to hurry with the sales of an unfinished product and are still in development to deliver that experience for an affordable price level. Stating a number now would only lead to senseless speculations but I can guarantee that everyone who can afford a gaming PC, can buy a Virtualizer. We are going to publish the price level soon.
Road toVR: You told me at Gamescom that crowd funding was an avenue you were considering, is this still the case? If so, when roughly can we expect to be able to back your campaign?
Tuncay: Absolutely, we are still planning and organizing our campaign and want to offer a fully optimized product. We had a lot of new ideas and decided to start the campaign with these ideas soon. We want to change the world and that needs some time ;)
Road to VR: When last we spoke you hadn’t yet made contact with Virtuix, has this changed? Would you still like to meet and swap notes?
Tuncay: Well, like I said at Gamescom, I think it is interesting what they do, but the concept of the Virtualizer is very different and after careful consideration the differences are obvious. We go our own way, our main objective is definitely the immersion,which we achieve with a high quality product. Therefore I do not think that there is any reason for a meeting.
Road toVR: Finally, as an Aliens fan—what would you choose: M41A Pulse Rifle or M56 SmartGun? :)
Tuncay: Of course the M41A Pulse Rifle, it makes more fun with that gun but in real life i would prefer the M56 Smartgun if Aliens would exist, don’t want to risk something. ;)
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We’ll keep a close eye on Cyberith’s progress with the Virtualizer and when that Kickstarter might land so that you’re able to get your hands on this promising device. Visit Cyberith at their website here.