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Oculus' Michael Abrash Explains What It'll Take For VR To Feel Real

Posted by samzenpus on from the in-the-future dept.

redletterdave writes: At Oculus's annual developer conference on Thursday, Oculus' chief scientist Michael Abrash took the stage to offer a few anecdotes and a ton of information about the current state of virtual reality, and where it needs to go in order to be truly great. Getting to the next level of virtual reality, Abrash said, will require coordinated advances in several different technologies. Specifically, Abrash believes the future of virtual reality will be built on three pillars: driving the human perceptual system, sensing and reconstructing reality, and interaction.

90 comments

  1. VR is for Cows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    You are all Cows. Cows say mooo. MOOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOOOOO cows MOOOOOOOOOO! mooooooo say the cows. YOU REAL FEELING COWS!!!

  2. Smellovision by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    Smellovision

    1. Re:Smellovision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Electrically stimulating taste buds is a work in progress. I could imagine that electrically stimulating the olfactory would also be possible.

  3. Fufme by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Smellovision

    fufme

    The two together should cover most needs

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. To bad that wont happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know what would make VR more attractive to buy. No spyware.

  5. Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    "will be built on three pillars: driving the (1) human perceptual system, (2) sensing and (3) reconstructing reality, and (4) interaction."

    1. Perception
    2. Awareness
    3. Comprehension
    4. Interaction

    1. Re:Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot Fear and Surprise.

      ???

      Profit!

    2. Re:Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by VorpalRodent · · Score: 1

      "Five pillars"
      "Four, sir"
      "Four - four pillars"

      --
      Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
    3. Re:Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well played Picard

    4. Re:Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Human perceptual systems
      Sensing and reconstructing reality
      Interaction

      That's 3.

    5. Re:Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's 4. Are you a democrat because they can't count either? They constantly lose track of numbers like how much they're spending, and how much they owe.

    6. Re:Michael Abrash can't count to 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have 4 divisions: Marketing, Accounting, Research & Development.

  6. It never will feel real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    VR is a dead end. How would you create a VR environment that is real? How can you walk, climb? Your inner ear is telling you about the real world. Your eyes are showing you the virtual world. The disconnection between the two is what causes people to get motion sickness. You will never solve that problem. Augmented Reality is the future.

    1. Re:It never will feel real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, like I was promised over 20 years ago. I was shown a portable computer strapped to the hip feeding a head-mounted projector. The purpose was to allow technicians to have both hands free while tooling around large machines, while seeing the service manual.

      Never heard from it again. Even augmented reality has its limits.

    2. Re:It never will feel real by TuringTest · · Score: 1

      VR is a dead end. How would you create a VR environment that is real? How can you walk, climb? Your inner ear is telling you about the real world. Your eyes are showing you the virtual world. The disconnection between the two is what causes people to get motion sickness. You will never solve that problem.

      Are you absolutely 100% percent sure about that?

      --
      Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
    3. Re:It never will feel real by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      VR is a dead end. How would you create a VR environment that is real?

      You, um, plug it directly into your brain, dude.

      The 'VR' we have today is just a low-tech precursor of what we'll have in fifty years.

    4. Re:It never will feel real by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      Nonsense, didn't you read what the biggest VR CEO said? It just requires better input from the user, better output to the user and better processing in between.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    5. Re:It never will feel real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You will never solve that problem.

      Not with the current implementations, no. However, the inner-ear could be fooled or suppressed with electrical stimulation or drugs. Never is a rather long time.

    6. Re:It never will feel real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ford does this for their vehicle designers. I heard Konica Minolta has their printer designs in a format that can be viewed in VR. There are also numerous aerospace companies (MROs) around the world that uses VR for training aerospace engineers on certain processes.

    7. Re:It never will feel real by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can see your point, though it's too early to call VR a dead end. The body can adjust to its environment, otherwise the same effect would disallow us from travelling fast in cars.

      I do believe that there will be an "uncanny valley" effect with VR, where they reach a point where the more real it's made, the more unreal it will feel. The answer being, of course, that we need to dial back the "reality" level a bit to make it more comfortable. In which case, the desired VR setup would not be the ultra-realistic level that the article seems to be aiming for.

      All part and parcel of a developing technology. Nobody can ever reliably determine how new tech will affect the world. I mean, who would have thought this internet thing would take off so much, especially after seeing what gopher was like.

  7. To me, it's the same as with gaming by vikingpower · · Score: -1

    i.e., utterly non-interesting. Computers are there to be programmed, not to play games upon. (I do make an exception for chess, though.)

    Same thing for VR. Utterly boring and plain, compared to

    1) reality
    2) programming

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Admit it... you jerk off to battle chess.

    2. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by xenotransplant · · Score: 1

      Gosh I hope no one ever programs a computer to play a game.

    3. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Shall we play a game?

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    4. Re: To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You must be real fun at parties.

    5. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i.e., utterly non-interesting. Computers are there to be programmed, not to play games upon. (I do make an exception for chess, though.)

      Same thing for VR. Utterly boring and plain, compared to

      1) reality
      2) programming

      And if YOU don't like it, no one should!

    6. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct, nothing compares to strapping on the old plate mail and taking at few swings at a dragon.

      Except dominoes. God I fucking love dominoes.

    7. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 0

      I had a roommate who would only watch "realistic" movies and television shows. That ended up being Mexican soap operas where the husband gets shot in the stomach by the wife. One reason why I don't Latino women.

    8. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 0

      Shall we play a game?

      Lets play "Global Thermonuclear War".

    9. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      That's a bit like saying that a car is there to be tinkered with, not to drive it. Not saying that it isn't fun to tinker with cars (I do it from time to time), but in the end most people have them in order to use them for something else (i.e. getting around or just driving them for the hell of it)used. Same as with computers. Programming is fun, but that's not why I own a computer.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    10. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess? Or perhaps you'd like to write a Quick Sort routine instead?

    11. Re: To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed, I concur. I find computer gaming to be rather shallow and pedantic.

    12. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I program in games you insensitive clod!

    13. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Any other introverted wiffs of your brain you would like to share with the class?

    14. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      So ... when people spend all that time programming, is the assumption these programs sit like museum pieces in their pristine glory to be admired?

      Or do you acknowledge that at some point people will actually use the programs?

      Because, you know, not planning on how people actually used all this glorious programming would pretty much scream "totally pointless endeavor".

      You don't have to like VR, but it the sum total of your argument is "computers are for programming not using" ... well, welcome to your pointless existence. Please keep your existential malaise to yourself.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    15. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      One reason why I don't Latino women.

      I was unaware that was a verb.

      I may have to German some beers tonight.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    16. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The word "date" never made it to the keyboard. Then again, you don't want to "Latino" (i.e., pissed off) a women unless you want a gun shot to the gut.

    17. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you French them, you won't get Greeced.

    18. Re:To me, it's the same as with gaming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mr. Potato Head!! Backdoors are NOT secrets!

  8. First Requirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You have to release the bloody product!

    1. Re:First Requirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, the DK1 and DK2 were just figments of my imagination? Before, you could just go to the website and order a DK2 right there and then.

  9. I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by peter303 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In old days the delay in VR made me nauseous. However at the SIGGRAPH a couple months ago I sampled some of the newer VR setups and almost got sick because it felt so real. One Sony demo had you walk a tight rope between two skyscraper roofs. You could see the ground out of the edge of your eyes. Lots of people found it difficult to walk the rope because it felt so scary. Ditto another demo with Oculus riding a skateboard at 40 miles an hour.

    1. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course. That is why VR Is a waste of time. Your inner ear is telling you something different then your eyes are telling you. It isn't because it is so "real", but that there is a disconnect between information going to your inner ear and your eyes. That is why you are getting sick. This problem will never be solved.

    2. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Luckily its only a problem for a small percentage of humans, so evolution is apparently already working around your "unsolvable" problem.

    3. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, everyone has this issue if they stay in the VR environment long enough. I'm not sure what "evolution" has to do with a technology only a few decades old though. Dumb.

    4. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure what "evolution" has to do with a technology only a few decades old though. Dumb.

      Plus a century of flight, a couple of centuries of driving, and millennia of seafaring.

    5. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Junta · · Score: 2

      It seems like it's not a small percentage, but neither it is 'everyone'.

      I do not, and never have had this issue. Never motion sick, never had simulator sickness. Have subjected to all sorts of things that make other folks feel uneasy if not outright puking, not felt a pang of discomfort.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    6. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have the solution: don't move! :)

    7. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      No, everyone has this issue if they stay in the VR environment long enough.

      Challenge accepted.

    8. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You would have this issue eventually if you stayed in the environment enough. A 5 minute simulator ride doesn't affect me either. But try it for an hour. EVERYONE will have this issue. It is just biology, nothing personal.

    9. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      1 hour?! Ok, you're wrong and this is provably false. If you'd said something like 32 hours I'd have given you that I haven't personally tested for that long, but you're just either lying or completely naive.

    10. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure "evolution" doesn't have any effect in those minuscule time periods. And VR isn't the same as flight, driving or seafaring. Dumb.

    11. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Valve claims they already have solved it - which is to say, no motion sickness at all experienced by users so far.

      We'll see how well that scales...

    12. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go try it for an hour. Let me know. Even Steam claims they "solved" this problem and people were able to do it for only 20 MINUTES. Its just biology, not a knock on your manhood.

    13. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      No I'm just flat out telling you I already have and you're wrong. If you want to make these outrageous blanket statements give yourself a bit larger margin for error.

    14. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by PPalmgren · · Score: 1

      Oddly, the weirdest one for me is the sensation when you get off a treadmill, so its essentially the opposite of VR - no visual sensation of movement but physical sensation of movement. However, many people report that the sensation I experience gets less frequent and of lower duration the more often you do it, so maybe there is some truth in the idea that we'll adapt to VR if we do it a lot. I would imagine that any adaptation would result in dulling the senses associated with inner ear balance, which would be interesting to say the least. Society full of clumsy dolts.

    15. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, ur dumb!

    16. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have spent an hour in a VR? Pull the other one! I am sure you are a special flower like everyone else on Slashdot, but you cannot last an hour in a VR environment without feeling the effects.

    17. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Who is really paying you for this? I just want to know where I can get paid to shill for stupidity. I'm sure it pays well....

    18. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by avandesande · · Score: 1

      yeah those 'movie rides' at Disney/Epcot make me deathly ill after only a minute or two. I don't have any problem skiing or doing any other balance oriented things....

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    19. Re:I almost puked ar SIGGRAPH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      google 'galvanic vestibular stimulation', the inner ear thing is solvable as you can fool it along with the eyes

  10. Make it more real? by xenotransplant · · Score: 1

    We just need a giant metal spike that jams into the backs of our heads to feed our brains the proper electric signals a la the matrix.

  11. duh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been voted down for saying this a million times, but we are a century away from anything truly approaching virtual reality. All we have today is strapping a screen to our eyeballs. That's it. Even when we have haptic touch and response, smell replication, and so on... we will be a thousand miles off target from what actual "virtual reality" is.

    1. Re:duh by Junta · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The issue is 'who cares'. Just like we do gaming when we can't do photorealistic gaming today, we don't need absolute realism to have a compelling experience. The environment is immersive, even if not 'deceptively realistic', moreso than the status quo of rendering the same thing on a monitor/TV.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  12. lea or add? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that is the question.

  13. We hate our reality. by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

    We hate our reality so much, that we'll spend thousands of hours in make believe land. And people wonder why we are doomed.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    1. Re:We hate our reality. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Lighten up. It's recreation.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:We hate our reality. by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry, but have you seen TV before? Or movies? Or video games? Or the entire internet? Or books for that matter? Or plays?

      Humans have been giving themselves diversions from pressing reality for thousands of years.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:We hate our reality. by WrongMonkey · · Score: 1

      People have been spending thousands of hours in make believe land since we sat around the fire telling stories every night.

    4. Re:We hate our reality. by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      My reality is awesome! I'm excited for VR because I'm looking forward to putting a 360 degree 3D camera on my helmet and bringing VR users along on wingsuit jumps.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  14. Do we *need* it to feel 'real'? by Junta · · Score: 2

    Movies and games on TV do not look like we are looking through a window, yet it's still very nice.

    The reason I say that is that the requirements are pretty steep, and getting too much into the requirements might be 'perfect being the enemy of the good'.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:Do we *need* it to feel 'real'? by PJ6 · · Score: 1

      Movies and games on TV do not look like we are looking through a window, yet it's still very nice.

      The reason I say that is that the requirements are pretty steep, and getting too much into the requirements might be 'perfect being the enemy of the good'.

      The rather demanding VR requirements everyone's talking about are bare minimum, not perfection.

      90FPS, head tracking response in the thousandths of a second... if you care to dig deeper (or grab a friend with a DK2), you'll find that the spec is there for a reason.

    2. Re:Do we *need* it to feel 'real'? by Junta · · Score: 1

      I have a DK2. I have a GTX 660 and an midrange i5 (ivy bridge). It's ok by me for the most part, though I would appreciate a bump. That said, Wii level graphics are still pretty cool to me, and that doesn't need anything beefier than a midrange setup today (not laptop GPUs mind you, but still). 75 fps is what the DK2 does and I'm probably in the population that won't even notice the bump to 90 fps, but I welcome it nonethelist.

      The thing I was talking about was Abrash's wishlist specifications for the future of VR that some are taking to say 'oh, but until we have those currently impossible specs, VR isn't *really* going to happen, because our tech is still too poor'. People clamor for 'reality' but really entertainment comes well before perfect 'realism'.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    3. Re:Do we *need* it to feel 'real'? by PJ6 · · Score: 1

      I see the point. I agree with you, what I've seen so far just on the DK2 and just demo stuff, this will be huge as-is, even before improvements. No harm in mapping out where it will go though.

  15. he left out time by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    it's going to take more time.

  16. Life isn't fair. by Qzukk · · Score: 1

    When the game isn't fair, people quit playing.

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  17. THE Michael Abrash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait, does Oculus have the same Michael Abrash that worked on Doctor Dobb's Journal? And author of numerous graphics programming books? That guy's pretty awesome! I remember reading his stuff when I was just in high school. In fact it may have been one of his articles where I *really* started to understand derivatives (way back when I was in high school studying calculus).

    1. Re:THE Michael Abrash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yup, author of the Graphics Programming Black Book amongst others.

    2. Re:THE Michael Abrash? by SirJorgelOfBorgel · · Score: 1

      This guys is who got me hooked on programming. Too bad he works for Facebook now.

    3. Re:THE Michael Abrash? by Thud457 · · Score: 0

      No, this is the Micahel Abrash that worked on Quake when John Carmack couldn't make it work.

      Geeze, I always pictured the Dr Dobb's guy as an crufty old curmudgeon, and that was back in the 90's.

      --

      the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    4. Re:THE Michael Abrash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Geeze, I always pictured the Dr Dobb's guy as an crufty old curmudgeon, and that was back in the 90's.

      Dude, he WAS old then. He was, like 35!

    5. Re:THE Michael Abrash? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This guys is who got me hooked on programming. Too bad he works for Facebook now.

      Was he any worse when he worked on the NT kernel at Microsoft?

  18. THE Michael Abrash? by dannys42 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wait, does Oculus have the same Michael Abrash that worked on Doctor Dobb's Journal? And author of numerous graphics programming books? That guy's pretty awesome! I remember reading his stuff when I was just in high school. In fact it may have been one of his articles where I *really* started to understand derivatives (way back when I was in high school studying calculus).

  19. )you FAIL it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    it will be among I thougHt it was my exploited that. A come Here but now numbers continue it's going, theorists -

  20. *R* in VR not really needed... by Junta · · Score: 2

    The ambition to be absolutely real, allowing a full experience is in my mind overrated. I don't want to walk or climb, I have plenty of opportunities to do that in real life (and take advantage of them). I however do thoroughly enjoy my DK2 as it is, just letting me look around. The ability to have the 'oculus touch' type of controls is appealing, but I personally do not have a lot of excitement over things like treadmills, spheres, etc. I of course would love some wind and acceleration applied to aid in the experience of things like roller coasters, driving, and flying, but really don't need full locomotion on a grand scale..

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    1. Re:*R* in VR not really needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      I bet in your case the experience would gain a dimension of desirability if you could actually feel that junkie's dick up in your ass while another rubs his sac on your face.

    2. Re: *R* in VR not really needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I feel ashamed for laughing at this, but only just slightly

    3. Re: *R* in VR not really needed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But... What is real?

  21. You FAILp it?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Shower Don'7 6ust

  22. Waiting for the Holodeck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'll wait for the holodeck. That seems like it would be the ultimate VR.