MAbrash GDC2013 (40)

Since that’s not a feasible option, judder can also be eliminated with zero persistence, as shown in this diagram, where there’s no sliding or jumping at all.

We’ve done the experiment of using a zero-persistence scanning laser display with really good tracking.

The result looks amazingly real; doing an A/B comparison with a full-persistence display is night and day.

So it would seem that zero persistence is the magic solution for judder – but it turns out to be just another layer of the perceptual onion.

Zero persistence works perfectly for whatever image the eyes are tracking, because that image lands in exactly the same place on the retina from frame to frame.

MAbrash GDC2013 (41)

However, as shown in this diagram, anything that is moving rapidly relative to the eyes now strobes, because successive frames of such images fall too far apart on the retina to fuse, and there’s no smear to hide that.

This is a great example of how deep the issues associated with head mounted displays go.

So at this point, judder in head mounted displays is not a solved problem.

MAbrash GDC2013 (42)

Judder isn’t that bad; it does reduce visual quality and makes text all but unreadable, and is worse with higher pixel density, but the resulting virtual images are certainly good enough for gaming.

However, it’s not great, either, and the point here is that, much as was the case with 3D graphics, great VR visual quality is going to require a considerable amount of time and R&D.

And believe me, there’s a lot more than just color fringing and judder to figure out.

See All GDC 2013 News
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • WormSlayer

    My brain hurts! Still I’m excited that guys like him are excited :D

  • Patrick Hogenboom

    Thanks a bundle for transcribing the whole thing :)

  • shole

    If you want to view the two videos in the presentation and don’t have ms powerpoint, you can rename the .pptx file to .zip and the files are in there as .wmv under \ppt\media\

    • Michael Abrash

      Shole,

      Thank you very much for posting this!

      –Michael

  • Andrés

    Thanks so much for transcribing this!

  • Andreas Aronsson

    I thought I would not get to read/hear the actual talk in some time :D Very interesting, somewhat alarming, but at the end uplifting and inspiring! Thanks for this! Also, you could if you wanted to rename the .pptx to .zip and extract the videos (media folder) and upload them unlisted to Youtube and embed them on this page :) Just a thought!

  • Andreas Aronsson

    Ah, in the time it took me to read this (left the article half-read over night) shole already pointed this out :x oops.

  • Esse

    “That means that if you fixate on something while you turn your head, your eyes remain fixed with respect to the real world, but move very quickly relative to the display”

    Hum, no. If your eyes are fixed (in the head referential), they are fixed in the display referential. Because the display & the head are fixed one to the other.

    This is over complicating the subject. Only matters the head movement. Not the eyes movements.

    • Ben

      I think that, in this context, “fixate on something” means a visual fixation on an object in the external world rather than having the eyes be “fixed” relative to the head. If the head is turning while you fixate an external object, the eyes must counter-rotate in order to maintain a stable fixation (eg: via the VOR). Since the VR display is attached to your head frame, this means that your eyes are rotating relative to the display, and that’s the source of the large relative motion that causes issues.

      • Michael Abrash

        Ben,

        You’re correct – that’s what I meant. If you look at a key on the keyboard and keep doing that while you turn your head, you can easily get your eyes moving at several hundred degrees per second relative to the display.

        –Michael

  • Esse

    “The human perceptual system has evolved to be very effective at detecting such anomalies, because anomalies might be thinking about eating you, or might be tasty.”

    It is not some specific “anomalies detection system”, rather that the human brain has in-depth “routines” to analyse the space & movement, and when you broke the rules the routines fail.

    Like when you are sick in a car.

    So I guess the reaction will not be fear or drooling, more puking.

  • Ben Humberston

    Thanks for the transcript for those of us who couldn’t be there!

  • Mattso

    Yeah, just echoing the sentiments above that having it all transcribed meant I actually got to digest it really quickly. Many thanks!

    Very informative stuff – and here was me thinking it was gonna be easy. :)