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Ibex Virtual Reality Desktop Beta For Mac Released

Posted by timothy on from the love-is-all-around-you-no-just-code dept.

New submitter Hesh writes "Ibex, the first cross-platform VR desktop of its kind, was previously released for Linux, and has finally been updated to work on Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Running at a silky smooth 60fps, it is nearing final release and awaiting delivery of the developer Oculus Rift kits for final integration testing. A Windows version may be released in time. The source can be found on bitbucket for the Linux version and iPhone orientation sensor client while the Mac source is to follow soon at the same location."

52 comments

  1. Unix by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is Unix, I know this!

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    1. Re:Unix by chispito · · Score: 1

      Do you prefer to be called a hacker?

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    2. Re:Unix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but this makes FSN look Jurassic.

    3. Re:Unix by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      What are you, some kind of teenage girl!

  2. Where did I leave that document? by uranus65 · · Score: 1

    ...oh yeah, it's at the bottom of the lake.

    1. Re:Where did I leave that document? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'.

  3. ... Virtual reality on a Mac? by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 1

    Virtual reality on a Mac? As far as I understand, VR is really only going to be used for 2 things. Games, and, uh, Adult Games.

    I suppose that's a good fit - OSX is a small but rapidly expanding gaming ecosystem. Just like the "adult gaming experience".

    (Nevermind that this is really a window compositor - and until we get excellent haptic feedback working on a "gaming" platform, I'm disinclined to be interested).

    --
    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
    1. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Beardydog · · Score: 2

      It's not even a compositor. It's just a workspace switcher that let's you work with two workspaces from an in-between perspective. It looks like you can choose your own QTVR style background, but the windows are limited to full desktops. I wish OpenCroquet weren't both awful an abandoned, it had a lot more potential than this.

    2. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Hesh · · Score: 5, Interesting

      On Linux it is actually a compositor. On the Mac you use the built-in compositor to render the desktop to a virtual desktop then allow full interaction with it from the virtual world.

      It also adds the ability to work with the Oculus Rift (http://oculusvr.com) so that you actually look around and the companion iPhone app (and as it is open-source any other platform really) will let you navigate. The plan is also to add support for the Leap Motion (https://leapmotion.com) so that you can navigate the world using gestures, look around anywhere you want, and if you want, still get work done.

      Imagine you are on a plane, instead of using your puny laptop screen you can use a giant virtual one (or many giant virtual ones). This is just the beginning.

    3. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Hesh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Step one is to get a virtual environment that works, this works. Step two is to get a virtual reality headset, the Oculus will help with that. Step three is to write whatever programs you want that fit into that world rather than have every single VR program be its own separate entity requiring one to leave the experience just to even switch to another app. It is important that there be a beginning.

    4. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

      Yeah I looked at Croquet but just getting it to build seemed like a lot of work. In the end minecraft did just about everything I needed.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    5. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Hesh · · Score: 1

      I've looked at Open Croquet as well, but it is much more complex than what I need and isn't as cross-platform. One of the cool Open Croquet features is remote desktop sharing for example, I'm actually going for compositing your local desktop for as much speed as possible.

      Also, if you check out the pictures and descriptions on http://hwahba.com/ibex you'll notice that it supports 2 3D engines in addition to the simple one from the screenshot: Irrlicht and Ogore3D which means you will be able to load up more complex worlds (Quake 3 levels and levels made in Blender 3D) and walk around them. I haven't gotten around to posting videos of those nor have I gotten around to porting them from Linux to the Mac yet. In time though once more work is done and a plugin system is completed.

    6. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, what you're saying is that it isn't a compositor, rather it's a compositor?

    7. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is important that there be a beginning.

      Yes. That already exists for the major operating system (by market share or by business penetration).

    8. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it's not really a compositor, it's really a library that interfaces with the underlying system, and that can be hooked into itself by various applications. So the compositor is really quite composite.

    9. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by SQLGuru · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I watched the video (linked from the home page) and wondered why it was just a flat desktop in a 3D world. I would have expected being able to move windows around in 3D space or at least to be independent of the desktop "square" that was floating there.

    10. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Okay, two questions for you. I notice in the video you are editing some code on screen. It seems like if you move the viewing position back and start twisting it around small text is going to become very hard to read. Things like sub-pixel anti-aliasing will be broken as well. The only solution would be to make text a lot bigger. How do you plan to get around that?

      Secondly how is having to move your head around better than just pressing a key to switch desktops? It seems like it would be quite annoying if the guy next to me on the plane kept looking round at me with his Oculus glasses on when he could just tap a key and probably save a fair bit of time not having to re-align his view with each screen.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Microsoft Bob had a lot of potential! Imagine a real virtual 3D fake oak desktop where you can pull out real virtual drawers with files with stuff! And talking paperclips.

    12. Re: ... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what's a compositor?

    13. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Hesh · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I don't have a good answer as to how well this will work in practice. I think we'll need much higher resolution VR glasses for this to be of any use, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be slightly useable with the first iteration. This is more of a proof-of-concept in that it lets us even try out a virtual desktop and see what it looks like on consumer hardware, who knows what systems if any exist for research or military headsets? certainly not Linux and OSX. If this is found to be useful it should be trivial to add the right kinds of anti-aliasing and economies of scale should help bring high enough resolution displays to the market.

      For your second point, you're right, it would get exhausting moving one's head around all the time to switch desktops. There is a keyboard interface so you can switch desktops (currently only supports one, but you can walk around with this interface as well), an iPhone client that will be updated to act as a remote control for motion and probably have gestures to switch workspaces, and lastly, the Leap Motion (http://leapmotion.com), highly recommend you check it out. The leap will basically be a tiny kinect for your laptop, the plan is to integrate hand gestures with that for motion and app switching, etc... that's the main goal as of right now.

    14. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Hesh · · Score: 1

      It is a flat desktop because that is the most reasonable and quickest way to get up and running productively. I can scale it up and let users work as usual without inventing a new way for them to interact with their windows. Also, X windows and OSX don't give us the full tree of Windows so we can't accurately associate popups for example with their parent, so you'd have to have new windows and popups show up somewhere else. I did initially render the windows individually, so it is doable, but we'd still need a means of isolating input to each window, it's a definite possibility for Linux, and a weak one for OSX and Windows unless better support from the OS is released.

    15. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is a flat desktop because that is the most reasonable and quickest way to get up and running productively.

      Yeah, but it also gives you zero advantage over just running a regular desktop with the Ibex world in its own window!

    16. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by Hesh · · Score: 1

      You get the benefit of having multiple possibly giant workspaces. Imagine you're on a plane, you get the benefit of a 30" or cinema size monitor that you can look around without being limited to a tiny workspace.

    17. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      I think we'll need much higher resolution VR glasses for this to be of any use

      FTFY: We'll need a no-glasses 3D display and high quality haptic feedback for this to be of any use. All this is right now is eye candy that reduces system functionality and ease of use.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    18. Re:... Virtual reality on a Mac? by SQLGuru · · Score: 1

      That's fair in terms of technical hurdles, but then running it is no different than watching unscaled SD content on a 4k TV. You have a huge window but only take advantage of a small sliver of the capabilities.

      Interesting as a tech demo, but not something I would want or need in the near term.

  4. Idoru by MichaelSmith · · Score: 1

    I wonder if you can run this on the Sandbenders?

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
    1. Re:Idoru by shawnap · · Score: 1

      Sure; my understanding is you just need some iPhones...

  5. No support for the occularly challenged by xtal · · Score: 1

    Come on guys, put in the support for people glasses.

    Like.. there aren't a lot of nerds who wear glasses or anything.

    I'll even volunteer to test.

    --
    ..don't panic
  6. ibex for mac released.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and all 250 people who give a shit here all over themselves with much joy.

  7. Ya well that's more difficult by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Occulus VR really isn't very exciting because it doesn't seem to have solved any of the problems that have been present in past "VR glasses" solutions. I think some people forget this idea isn't new and it has been done before.

    One of the problems is glasses, that it is somewhat difficult to make the headset in such a way that it easily accommodates people's glasses.

    Another one is resolution. Right now the Occulus VR is 640x800 per eye, so quite low rez, just a little over standard definition. With the display being so visually big, that equals really large pixels. They say the final version is supposed to be higher resolution, but with no details, meaning they hope they can do it, not that they have a way to.

    Now I'm not saying these, or other, problems are insoluble, but if they aren't solved, it'll really make this less useful and appealing. It also makes it not so different from the stuff in the past, which means it is reasonable to assume it won't succeed.

    I like the idea, but so far it strikes me as people who think VR is cool, and don't have any solutions to the problems it faces.

    1. Re:Ya well that's more difficult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering the developer is nearsighted and uses it himself, I'm assuming glasses have been covered.

      And it does solve two major problems: narrow field of view and high latency, both causes of simulator sickness.

      And while it'd be nicer to have higher resolution, by splitting a panel instead of using two, it gives them automatic sync between eyes with no effort and I'd take that over higher resolution.

      But panels with higher resolutions already exist, it is solely a question of price and vendor cooperation to meet their latency goals on the LCD controller.

    2. Re:Ya well that's more difficult by Kplx138 · · Score: 2

      I started thinking about VR again and with occulus VR headset being hyped up at the moment I remembered one of the problems with VR headsets was the method of interaction was so clumsy then it occurred to me that maybe combining the headset with a device like a kinect could overcome the object interaction issues or at the very least make them a lot less cumbersome.

    3. Re:Ya well that's more difficult by gl4ss · · Score: 2

      the resolution is limited by what's available commercially cheaply. those exist already.. but are expensive.
      anyways, the display distortion makes it use more pixels for straight forward than for the edges.

      it solves some problems by that. and wide fov. also the display isn't as miniature as in sony hmz etc solutions. afaik oculus has just cellphone type of displays so they don't need to do their own research to advance availability of those displays even.

      I just got my eyes tinkered with so I'm good to go without glasses but I was thinking of hackjobs to do on one to make it more adjustable for not having quite normally focused eyes.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:Ya well that's more difficult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't consider anything this parent has said as interesting that the mods have modded this. He's basing all his assumptions on a piece of technology he has never tried out.

    5. Re:Ya well that's more difficult by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Right now the Occulus VR is 640x800 per eye

      That's true, but that's 800 vertical lines, so it's a good deal more than standard def. In fact, it's more than 720p. AFAIK, they're basing it on a 1280x800 7" LCD (probably some tablet unit), but the effective horizontal resolution will depend on the application. You could probably use it like a standard 2D monitor, utilising the full 1280 horizontal pixels.

    6. Re:Ya well that's more difficult by Sigg3.net · · Score: 1

      I like the idea, but so far it strikes me as people who think VR is cool, and don't have any solutions to the problems it faces.

      Never mind the problems it faces, I am still wondering what problem it solves..

      --
      Defining Statistics and Social Research
  8. Qt5 Wayland compositor looks much more impressive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Qt5 Wayland compositor looks much more impressive:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FjuPn7MXMs

  9. What is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Internets?

  10. Not many people even want 3D films or TV by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    So why on earth do these guys think people want/need it when they're trying to write a document or surf the web? If the in-window content was rendered in 3D then it might have some vague 5 minute novelty value but it isn't, its simply the desktop furniture. So what the hell is the point other than to waste CPU/GPU cycles?

    1. Re:Not many people even want 3D films or TV by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      My guess is it's the same idiotic idiom that produced windows systems or text interfaces. It was so much nicer when I could just flip some switches on the front then check the binary output on the front light display. Whey we need all these advanced interfaces is stupid.

      Honestly I seem to run two-three interfaces any more, web browser and command line then what ever game I may be playing.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    2. Re:Not many people even want 3D films or TV by Viol8 · · Score: 1

      Is the really the best counter argument you could come up with? You seem to be confusing flash features for their own sake with usability. Are you part of the Gnome team by any chance? They have the same blinkered approach to GUI design.

    3. Re:Not many people even want 3D films or TV by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      I don't understand what part of this was flash? It was no different than going from the one dimensional stream of text interface to a two dimensional windowing interface. Initially that was just used to provide multiple text consoles. This is just starting out by providing a 3d space initially to show two dimensional windowing systems until more can be developed.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  11. Re:Qt5 Wayland compositor looks much more impressi by Hesh · · Score: 1

    True, but Ibex also supports Quake3 levels on Linux and Ogre3D levels exported from Blender 3D on Linux so it doesn't seem that much more impressive visually honestly (eg: http://hwahba.com/ibex/files/page5-ibex-irrlicht-quake3-movement-done.png). The Wayland compositor is more impressive due to the Wayland support on the backend that lets one individually separate windows and manage them separately as a group, something that can only be done as a hack on Linux and OSX (possibly Windows, not sure yet). I'll add Wayland support to Ibex once it has proper 3D acceleration on non-Intel hardware, otherwise it would be a tad slow for most users. The Linux client lets you run full 3D programs like Blender and videos in realtime and that would be an issue without 3D accelerated surfaces from the underlying windowing system.

  12. hmm already slashdotted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    web site appears slashdotted, "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded"

  13. That's not how we see things by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    When you are presenting a separate image per eye, you have to consider the rez per eye. They like to talk about 1280x800 because it sounds better, but it is 640x800 per eye, quite low rez. If you want to see why, look at your screen, now close one eye. Does everything suddenly get blurry? No? There you go then.

    Rez is a major issue for this thing. They haven't addressed it because they do not have an answer at this time.

  14. Pain to use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks like crap, pain to use... what's the point?