Forum Discussion
Demos for DK release
Hey Fellow Rifters.
I've now had the preview unit for two days and was wondering if there will be additional demos made available when the developer kit is released?
For my project I just asked for the C++ SDK. This SDK download only includes the Oculus World Demo, which is a good technical demo with source code. However, this may not be the best first experience with the Rift. I found that the overall brightness and large blocks of uniform colour emphasized the low resolution of the display (screen door effect). Also, the hard edges and straight lines of everything within the room made the aliasing really stand out (even with AA turned on). The edges appear to swim, especially with high contrast transitions.
I found that those two issues were jarring enough to take me out of the experience. And as that was all I had access to, I had nothing else to compare against (I've never seen the Rift demoed in person before now). Of course, we're in the preview stage so I'm not expecting this to be the final experience.
Looking for more eye candy, I asked if there were any more examples to look at, and was given access to the Unity SDK. This is a much better example as the more organic and textured environment appears to minimize the above issues. I only assume that work will continue with the Unity demo as there were some missing textures and geometry errors.
Are other official demos being worked on that everyone, regardless of project settings, will have access to? Will the CES demo content that had so many people excited be released? When the developer kit is released people are going to want to show off their Rift to anyone that will wear it. It would be great to have a strong showing right from the beginning.
- Dave
I've now had the preview unit for two days and was wondering if there will be additional demos made available when the developer kit is released?
For my project I just asked for the C++ SDK. This SDK download only includes the Oculus World Demo, which is a good technical demo with source code. However, this may not be the best first experience with the Rift. I found that the overall brightness and large blocks of uniform colour emphasized the low resolution of the display (screen door effect). Also, the hard edges and straight lines of everything within the room made the aliasing really stand out (even with AA turned on). The edges appear to swim, especially with high contrast transitions.
I found that those two issues were jarring enough to take me out of the experience. And as that was all I had access to, I had nothing else to compare against (I've never seen the Rift demoed in person before now). Of course, we're in the preview stage so I'm not expecting this to be the final experience.
Looking for more eye candy, I asked if there were any more examples to look at, and was given access to the Unity SDK. This is a much better example as the more organic and textured environment appears to minimize the above issues. I only assume that work will continue with the Unity demo as there were some missing textures and geometry errors.
Are other official demos being worked on that everyone, regardless of project settings, will have access to? Will the CES demo content that had so many people excited be released? When the developer kit is released people are going to want to show off their Rift to anyone that will wear it. It would be great to have a strong showing right from the beginning.
- Dave
7 Replies
- Hey Dave,
I think you're criticisms are pretty fair, and while I'm far from an expert on any of this, I suspect that's actually the point of the world demo. The vertical geometry/checker patterns etc are challenge cases when designing for vr maybe?
That said, I'm glad I'm not the only one that was a little "uh, this is the demo?" when I fired it up. The promise is there, but these demos, including the Unity one, are really relying on our imagination. The unity one, while functional was actually more underwhelming for me - the world demo is perfunctory, but that's OK, that's the point (I think).
Where is the demo from this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJo12Hz_BVI - I assume this is the Unreal integration example? I want to see some particles! I wanted see some actual 3D stuff, not a few candlesticks and chairs pushed up against the walls!
Also, the fact that Unity integration requires Unity 4.0 was a bit of an unpleasant surprise for us. I haven't tried digging around the project files yet to see if we can get it working with Unity 3.5 - maybe next week :)
But, despite my criticisms, I'm super enthusiastic, excited and inspired. The promise for the Rift is massive!
- Richard - I think one solid game demo would be very beneficial. Obviously the goal is for developers to get their own games running with the hardware and that is something we are currently working on. It seems something like ioquake3 (http://ioquake3.org) could be easily ported over and would make a great recognizable demo. Overwhelmingly the first impression from everyone that has put the headset on has been the head tracking is amazing, but the display resolution is a disappointing. I think part of the reason that the resolution is so noticable is that there is nothing pretty to look at or do. We are eager to see what this feels like with a real game, with some dynamic environments and lighting.
- Hey everyone,
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, there will be additional/improved demos available when the developer kit is released. Just to clarify, the CES demos were Unreal Engine 3 and Unity, but we don't have rights to distribute those assets.
We're improving everything that you're using now before the official developer launch including the core SDK, demos, documentation, and the Developer Center. We had to draw a line somewhere for the first version of the partner preview or you guys wouldn't have anything to work with!
We'd love to see more demos of the developer kit integrated with fully featured games. Maybe a few of you could help us with that?
Thanks,
-- Nate - Yeah, I think it's a great idea to beef up some of the demos before a public release. While there is obviously huge potential for the Rift, some people may need a little more than just their imagination. Of course the press demos were great but, as Nate mentioned, we don't have the rights to those. I will see what I can do to get some better assets for the demos.
- Andres - You might need to edit your post i think your referring to the "RoomTIney" demo? not the Oculus World Demo which is basicaly the same as the Unity demo?
I am glad we get that one demo, I think with the docs and plugin for using Unity Pro 4 (which will have 4 months free for Unity Devs hopefully in April) they want us to come up with the cool demos, thats the point, they figure once we have the SDK and the Unity Plugins we can go ahead and make some awesome cool demos as Unity has a nice asset store you can just find a few items there and make your own little demos. Im really looking foward to what people come up with in the next few weeks and months and hope to download a few to have a bunch of cool demos ready to try out when i get mine! - Things were different when I posted this thread over a month ago. Back then the 0.1.2 SDK only had the one demo, which is the sparse cube room with two chairs and tables. This was called the Oculus World Demo, and was all us C++ SDK people were able to look at -- we didn't have access to the early Unity demo. You put on the Rift and that was it.
Since that time, the world demo has turned into the Tuscany scene, and the simple room is now called the Oculus Tiny Room. Not all of us are using Unity and not everyone will be trying to create a cool demo. It is nice that we now have some eye candy to go along with the hardware, which was all I was really asking about. :D
- Dave - glad you were only talking about the "Room demo" as i was a bit worried there for a second, yeah i imagine the test patterns on the wall and all will do that, but perhaps they did that on purpose to see how progress was/will come on any new screens etc. :-) Cant wait to try out the tuskany (new) oculus world demo when i get my Rift!
