Tomáš ‘Frooxius’ Mariančík, the developer behind the outstanding Sightline: The Chair and World of Comenius projects has devised a new locomotion system for VR, and he needs your help to make it better.
The prolific and irritatingly talented VR developer Tomáš Mariančík, the mind behind VR experience Sightline and educational initiative World of Comenius, has directed his attention to a hot topic amongst the VR development community: How do you move around virtual spaces without causing nausea?
His solution is called ‘Holosphere‘ and it’s based on the theory that, should your brain have a consistent frame of reference whilst in the world during VR transit, it should aid in easing the disconnect between sensations of movement perceived by the brain not matching the information coming from you body. To this end, Holosphere draws a geodesic sphere around your virtual viewpoint, and blurs everything else in the world – again, giving you that fixed viewpoint.
In the video above, Mariančík demonstrates some different forms of the new locomotion technique. The most interesting is the utilisation of Leap Motion as a input capture device, reaching into the virtual world and ‘pulling’ yourself through it by clenching your fist. However, Mariančík is hopeful this technical will be adaptable to most input forms, so you can also witness Holosphere in use with a standard Xbox 360 gamepad. Mariančík also speculates that the Leap Motion could be adapted for use with other motion controllers, like Oculus Touch and SteamVR controllers.
Mariančík has a problem. In order to gauge the effectiveness of Holosphere as a widely effective technique, he needs guinea pigs. He’s calling out to fellow developers and VR enthusiasts to join him in an open beta experiment involving Holosphere.
Mariančík has produced a special build of the now famous Tuscany demo which incorporates Holosphere locomotion. He’d like as many people as possible to download the new demo, try it and then send him valuable feedback.
Interested in helping Tomáš push the boundaries of VR locomotion? Then follow these simple steps:
1) Download the demo here:
2) Play the demo using an Oculus Rift DK2 and headset mounted Leap Motion controller or Xbox 360 controller.
3) Fill in the short Google Form below, detailing your experience with Holosphere.
We’ll report back with Mariančík’s findings once he’s had time to make sense of it all and in the mean time, feel free to drop your thoughts about the demo in the comments section below.