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Virtual Desktop Makes Windows OS Oculus Rift-Capable
An anonymous reader writes Virtual Desktop is a free program that makes the Windows operating system compatible with the Oculus Rift VR headset. To the surprise of some, plugging the Oculus Rift into a computer doesn't result in a native view of the OS, meaning that users have to put on and take off the headset as they move from one VR-specific app to the next. If you want to use typical Windows programs—like Photoshop, Firefox, or Microsoft Office—no dice! That's where Virtual Desktop comes in, enabling the entire Windows desktop, and any application that can run on it, to be seen through the Oculus Rift. It also works as a bridge between VR-specific applications, allowing you to move from one to the next without ever taking off the headset. The latest version released today includes voice commands for launching VR games, global monitor mirroring, performance improvements, and is built against the latest Oculus Rift SDK.
This is more than a year old.
For nerds, yeah. News?
You'll get there eventually. Keep tryin
Since in work I have a couple of 20" monitors. It looks like I could use this with the rift to simulate 50 or 60 inch 4k monitor. (Which would be kick ass for development.)
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Darrin, you appear a little lost... try the story submission link.
3D effects only have the screen you're working with... you need a 4K monitor to simulate a bigger 4K screen.
Well that's only true if you can see the entire screen at one time. If you were to simulate a 4k monitor but had the software display it closer then you'd have to turn your head to see the entire thing. (Admittedly maybe you'd have to simulate a 90" monitor at a couple of feet.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
gaming and porn.
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Back in the era of The Screen Savers, they showed a 3D DirectX desktop program... it used a lot of processor power and in general sucked. We're not ready for a new metaphor, can we just get the best 2D Windows possible again?
Light from different directions requires multiple screens.
This is UNIX!
I've had a rift DK2 for nearly a year now, and this has been around for quite a while. Text is a bit more readable than it typically is in most VR games because the windows are mapped on to a curved surface. Ultimately it's still too awkward and low resolution (due to the DK2 splitting a 1080 display to show an image for each eye) for serious use. it remains a neat novelty that will make your friends go "wow".
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Since in work I have a couple of 20" monitors. It looks like I could use this with the rift to simulate 50 or 60 inch 4k monitor. (Which would be kick ass for development.)
There is another beta app out there that will create the virtual desktop on a hemi-sphere... But the resolution of the dk2 is still too low to be a monitor replacement. Hopefully the consumer version has hi-def ...
Not quite yet. Text isn't very legible.
So you'd probably need at least an 8K display to get close to the quality of a monitor.
I'm doubtful that the first consumer version of the Rift (or the HTC headset that Valve's involved with) will have enough resolution to be useful for coding, but I've still got my finger's crossed that something like that will be possible a few years down the road.
With an HMD the internal screen is close enough to your eyes that the field of view can be 100+ degrees even with one screen, so it can certainly appear that light is hitting your eyes from multiple directions (and the lenses can also affect the field of view). I don't see any reason that you couldn't in theory simulate a (very large) 4K display even when the physical internal screen in the headset is a lower resolution than that. But the virtual screen would probably need to be too big to provide an ideal viewing experience unless you wanted to exercise your neck.
You are pants on head retarded. Upgrade your 2003 era monitors and move on.
Actually, you can get an HDMI emulator like https://www.headlessghost.com/ for way cheaper than an actual display and it'll work.
The real killer is the HMD doesn't have the resolution to display it unless you are inches away from the virtual screen.
The first-gen Rift headsets are bulky, heavy, and have a low enough resolution and flicker to make most people ill after a short period of use.
Even the second-gen ones aren't really good enough.
I'd say, two, three more solid generations before this is "ready for everyone", mostly meaning early adopter wannabes who can't handle the current paradigm.
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THANK GOD!!!
I think this is a bit misleading. I those numbers are based on linear pixel density divided by FOV (for the DK2, 1080 pixels/100 degrees). That is OK to a first approximation, but the LEEP optics in the rift do not evenly map the pixels. The pixels near the center of the screen are much less stretched than the pixels at the edges. This is appropriate because our eyes have better resolution near the center of our retina. If you are principally looking forward as you are when using your real monitor, the effective pixel density of the HMD is going to be much higher than stated above. If you are looking out of the corner of your eye, it will be much worse. Assuming HMD continue to use flat panels with LEEP optics, a proper 4k panel may be adequate to allow proper desktop representations. Of course, all of this math changes once we start using curved OLEDs, etc.
There is also probably some subpixel rendering improvements that can be done as well. I continue to be amazed at how much readability improves when using ClearType or similar subpixel font rendering even on high DPI monitors. Of course, the same subpixel ideas/antialiasing ideas may need to be applied to the entire windowing system allowing LEEP distortion/viewing angle compensation for borders, widgets, etc. There are lots of opportunities here to design a 3D windowing interface and get all of these things right. I'd love to have the 27" and 30" monitors on my desk to be the last I ever buy.
It's not misleading at all. Those figures are approximately right for when you look at the center of the display. It gets even worse at the edges, not only are the individual pixels even bigger, but you can't even see them because the picture is so blurry there.
I'm doubtful that the first consumer version of the Rift (or the HTC headset that Valve's involved with) will have enough resolution to be useful for coding
...unless you're coding in Scratch.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
I'm more responding to a lot of the comments on the Oculus's resolution not the article it self. It's a VR Headset... Think out side of the rectangle in front of you. Why does the "Screen" have to have anything to do with the resolution of the headset? Why cant I have a virtual 4K "display" or multiple virtual displays that I only see the VR headsets native resolution against? I don't need to see the whole monitor at one time when I can just look around? Remember, Windows is kinda crap at scaling so this is a good solution to giving more real estate from Windows perspective while maintaining scale.
How much resolution do you need? It's text.
With this software, you can keep the plastic box on your head forever.
Or at least until Mom says dinner is ready.
Us oldtimers know it was impossible to code on an Apple][ or any other computer from that era. The resolution was just too low (and node.js wasn't done).
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
This. I tried this app on my dk2 a few months back(NOTE I have NOT tried the latest version yet), but at the end of the day, the resolution(per eye) or the DK2 is just not enough, or probably more correctly the pixel density AND resolution are too low. This even affects watching movies, videos, etc. with e.g. maxvr, cineveo, etc. It is still nice to be able to watch video in what essentially amounts to a virtual theater but the low ppi/res IS VERY noticeable.
TBH since some point(hours? few days maybe?) after intially receiving my DK2 I started noticing each and every single pixel, and now can't use it without seeing them.
Also TBH my favorite VR app has really turned out to be: A BROWSER, janusVR. Go figure.
The above is likely, probably, as all extent input methods are shit with vr ATM. The closest thing to what might be good would be leap motion, but it sucks donkey balls. A kinect or Intel Realsense might work out but it would need monkeying. I did purchase a realsense camera but the dillweeds made it win8.1 only and also I haven't really had time to monkey with it yet. Heh at this rate win10 will be out by the time that I do and I won't have to monkey around seeing if it can be made to work under win7. Linux kinda works, but it's at GREATLY reduced functionality as surprisingly Intel seems to be ignoring linux support for this device.
So at the end of the day all the VR headsets need higher ppi AND res AND MUCH BETTER wireless/non-physical input methods. The input method MIGHT be fixed by the commercial release of rift as they are working on something like and purchased a company that I forget the name of that was making something like leap motion that actually works well plusother features. The commercial release should also have a higher res display, hopefully it's anough AND higher pixel density.
I continue to be amazed at how much readability improves when using ClearType or similar subpixel font rendering even on high DPI monitors.
Side story: Pray to God you never buy a BGR monitor. Almost nothing supports it because even though WINDOWS supports BGR, the programs are designed in a way that assumes RGB. So you'll get hodge podges of RGB and BGR all over the same program.
Chrome is abysmal--though they're finally fixing it soon. Steam has issues. The list goes on. My eyes have been bleeding ever since I got a BGR TV.
It's rendered in VR so it doesn't really matter what the resolution of the display is the HMD(head mounted device) can show it at any distance. the problem with the low res HMD (more a problem with ppi which is loosely tied to the resolution) is that it wont be rendered very clear and it'll have a lot of SDE (screen door effect, like you're looking at the display through a screen door). I use it to view my 5760x108 triple head display and it works pretty well. you can quickly and easily zoom in and out and I can wrap the display in a full 360 around my head.
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Ive done a small amount of coding in the current DK2 with this, mostly just to say I did. It is very possible but at the current res it is not as comfortable as it should be. That said it isn't like it needs an order of magnitude improvement. Double would make it good, triple would make it a replacement.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.