MN VR and HCI group 3/28 (and social 4/2)

This should be fun.

The #1 meeting was fun. #2 should be fun too. :D

Thanks to everyone that made our kickoff meeting a great success. In hindsight, it was kind of silly to ask folks to "tell us your coolest project that you're passionite about... and stop after a couple minutes." The projects and discussions were amazing - way more than I hoped for a first meeting. I promise folks that are game will get 30 min or more to present. In fact, I think informal project updates / presentations will be the bread and butter of the group. I won't go for 20+ in one meeting :D

But first...

June meeting #2 is Rift Demos, since we got so much excitement from the one Rift last month. I'd love to get even more Rift owners (and soon to be owners) together. I expect to get 6-10 Rifts based on folks I already know. We'll probably "sell out" of "non Rift bringing tickets", so grab one soon if interested. And, please cancel if your plans change.

Rift owners: I've demoed to ~20 folks, and have a good collection of tips and demos/experiences/apps we can go over during set-up. PM with questions, if you don't have a laptop, etc.

Sign-up and other events here, June is crazy busy.
http://igdatc.eventbrite.com/

Also, if anybody is going to eyeo, drop me a line.

-Zach

The IGDATC talk was big - about 60 people, and a lot of enthusiasm. So we instantly "sold out" of free spots for the 6/26 demo event. I've secured some more space at the Nedery, and am now looking for a few more Minnesota Rifters willing to demo. I'll only increase the "tourist" spots in proportion to the Rifts that will be there. I've set the expectation that they will see a small # of 5 minute demos (and probably get some nausea.

I've demoed to about 30 people now, and have a pretty good methedology. I can provide apps, tips, printed instructions, and even some spare laptops (AMD A6 and A8s) for the less pixel-shader heavy demos.

It really is a ton of fun to see people try VR for the first time. And our audience is mostly game dev amateurs and pros, so the conversations can be pretty fruitful.

Sign-up is here:
http://igdatc.eventbrite.com/

PM me, and I'd be happy to send my phone # and email for logistics. We can also coordinate some demo details in the thread here. I think they could be of benefit to others.

Try to arrive by 6 Wed for setup.

Bring an extension cord, a lens cloth for cleaning, and a penny for adjusting. It's easier to have the screen slightly farther than optimal vs constant adjustments.

We did get space in the auditorium starting 6:15. It has couches and bean bags, so a lying-down guillotine simulator should work great.

Bring a Hydra if you have one. It will be interesting to see how close the emitters can get. But we have a lot of space to spread out.

I'll bring these demos on a thumb drive. Let me know if there are any other sort/sweet demos for first-time users that I missed. I've been prefixing these as I demo to people:
letter = experience (immersion, fun)
number = likelihood to cause nausea in the average vr noob.

a1 BlueMarble_Windows_v101
a2 RiftRacerV0.5-Win
a3 AloneInTheRift_0.21 (hydra helps)
a3 rift coaster UDK.exe - Shortcut.lnk
a4 heli island oculusdemo-hydra
a4 minecrift (only minecraft players appreciate it)
a5 guillotine disunion__build_0.8 (rough ending, but it's short)

A steering wheel would be amazing for immersion. I'm assuming that it will work with RiftRacer, and that is why joystick config is so odd. Test before you haul.

I don't have a solid cockpit/flight game that demos well. The front-runner is probably FirstLaw, but it's not intuitive as a game.

If anybody can get gear there that runs boxplorer rift scenes at a decent framerate, I'd personally love to see that.

Palmer said the emitters need to be about 5 feet apart or more, as I recall. Should not be a problem. I have four Hydras, if we need more... Only one Rift though. And still no transportable computer. My main rig is a "two man lift" according to the manual, and my back agrees.
:o

Would love to make it, but still stuck in processing(damn customs). If it comes in by Wed can I still get a entrance ticket since I will have a Rift and Hydra?

"SMOKEEY69" wrote:
Would love to make it, but still stuck in processing(damn customs). If it comes in by Wed can I still get a entrance ticket since I will have a Rift and Hydra?

I have only been to two meetings, but nobody even checks tickets at the door. Whether or not you have your Hydra, there would probably be no problem if you come (especially when there may be a "no show" or two). The tickets are mostly to get an idea of how many people will attend so appropriate arrangements can be made.

"geekmaster" wrote:

"SMOKEEY69" wrote:
Would love to make it, but still stuck in processing(damn customs). If it comes in by Wed can I still get a entrance ticket since I will have a Rift and Hydra?

I have only been to two meetings, but nobody even checks tickets at the door. Whether or not you have your Hydra, there would probably be no problem if you come (especially when there may be a "no show" or two). The tickets are mostly to get an idea of how many people will attend so appropriate arrangements can be made.

Sweet, I will see if I can reschedule a meeting that night to make it. I am not a dev, but am working on integrating a CAD program we use at work.

Haven't been able to keep up on demos much here lately. What are good demos to test out with the wii balance input?