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The Virtual Reality

Since starting at Capgemini, six weeks ago, I've been diving into Virtual Reality once again. I had experienced it at an employer before, working for Oculus Rift at the time. I also had my reservations because, being a designer, I thought the quality was too poor. Here's how Virtual Reality has been part of my life as a designer.

QuickTime


It all started somewhere in the 2000's when QuickTime started with 360 Panorama photo's leading to my first VR experience. It wasn't with goggles of any kind. It was a photo or maybe also a video that was created so you could drag your mouse and watch the surroundings. At the time that was pretty impessive and its a shame Apple has ended support for QuickTime for Windows. QuickTime has been a big part of my career in the past.



Oculus Rift


I moved over to the Oculus Rift. There were some technical guys who ordered it and experience with it. I created some models to be used on the Oculus. I haven't seen the Oculus Rift experience over the past two years but back then  I had to reduce the amount of polygons on models quite drastically. This meant poor quality visuals. Many people also experienced motion-sickness - which has been solved by Oculus if I read later reports. But the quality of the visuals didn't impress me too much. As it was expensive I couldn't see this going to the bigger audience.



Google Cardboard


Google jumped on board with Google Cardboard. Suddenly it became something for the masses. If you hadn't received a cardboard on an events - you can buy it really cheap. It uses your smartphone, so it kinda is available for everyone. You can install apps on your phone and watch them in virtual space. More recently Albert Heijn (a supermarket) has started to use it. The supermarket gives clients Dino-cards when you buy your groceries. Scan it with your phone and the dinosaurs come alive in virtual reality. My kids love it!



A year or two ago I was sitting at my front door with my VR glasses (ColorCross) and every neighbour came around to ask what the hell it was. Now, the kids in the neighbourhood all have the cardboard for sale at the Albert Heijn. I'm starting to believe Google Cardboard has made it!

HTC Vive


More recently I've been playing with the HTC Vive. It looks awesome! Although one can still see the pixels every now and then - I've never seen VR in higher quality. I've helped create some models for it and they looked spectacular on the HTC Vive and the speed of it all was great. I'm really impressed, yet I feel this isn't one for the masses. Its at this point still expensive and where its easy to give a cardboard to a friend next to you - this takes a bit more time with the Vive.



I'm not discarding the Vive yet. And at the moment I'm sketching concepts for it. Thats awesome. I'm not a big 3D artist, nor am I a programmer who can make it work. But I can see the potential and love to design for it. As I did for the Oculus or the Cardboard.

Conclusion


Things are going well for Virtual Reality. Google Cardboard often has the poorest quality visually, yet its there for the masses. And the audience is starting to use it too. Its an easy entry point into Virtual Reality. The Oculus in my opinion is mediocre. It was the first tool out there, but unless the visual power gets better I fear for the Oculus Rift. The Vive is the best thing out there, but it has the highest level of entering. It costs a lot and its not for the big audience at this moment in time.

If only the Vive quality could be transferred to the Google Cardboard...

An apology


I'll try to write on a more regular basis. I know I didn't really write much lately, for which I apologize. Thats mostly down to time. I have a young family and a new job, thats quite a change to the personal life and I had to get used to that. Expect me to write more in the near future.

All the best,
Corné
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