Forum Discussion
Filmmaking for the Rift
First some background: I love the rift. In doing my own due diligence to figure out how the next form of vr would take hold in the marketplace and doing my own prototyping until the rft came along and...
A sphere of outward pointing plenoptic cameras was the conclusion that I came to last night after some self-reflection following my post. I once read as a child that in a hologram, each point in the image contains data to completely replicate a 2-dimensional version of the object. In a similar vein, if we can capture enough data, and using the techniques involved in plenoptic rendering, we should be able to calculate a 2-dimensional image at each point (or at least, a large number of points, with interpolation in-between) around the sphere. Thus, calculate a 2-dimensional image for each eye separately, based on the head position and voila!
HOWEVER, since our heads pitch and yaw about different vertebrae (not to mention roll... or tilting your head, if we abandon the flight dynamic metaphor), our eyes can't always be placed neatly on a sphere. So there are still kinks to be worked out... Then again, when I go to the movie theater and watch a 3D movie, I don't even think about the fact that I can't tilt my head and still see the 3D effect, so maybe this isn't that big of a deal.
HOWEVER, since our heads pitch and yaw about different vertebrae (not to mention roll... or tilting your head, if we abandon the flight dynamic metaphor), our eyes can't always be placed neatly on a sphere. So there are still kinks to be worked out... Then again, when I go to the movie theater and watch a 3D movie, I don't even think about the fact that I can't tilt my head and still see the 3D effect, so maybe this isn't that big of a deal.