Skip to main content
Grobm
Up and Coming
January 22, 2014

Monoscopic (Sounds non-initiative but)

Hey Guys,

I know you guys are going to grown when you read this post BUT :oops: , I have a few dev clients that want monoscopic instead of Stereoscopic experience... aka they do not want to fiddle with the headset to make the experience comfortable for numerous clients.

In the past I have built them solutions that they can take to trade shows and simply hand to someone to experience a product solution in one channel of vision instead of two. This has been smart because my clients do not want clients getting sick when experiencing a product solution. They also do not want the client to have to spend 1 minute or 2 configuring the device to their individual visual requirements. I have shown some of my clients the configuration tools for the oculus, but they argue it just takes time from getting the client to the point of why they are there.... selling them on a product solution.

I have had some clients get dizzy and some stop doing the VR simulation after 1-2 minutes. This is frustrating because they are not keen on continuing the development. :!:

So a few of my clients have requested to go back to older HMD z800 for their product solutions. Is there a way to make the Oculus Rift monoscopic? (Not Stereoscopic 3D), everything else about the device they like, but the Stereoscopic.

Suggestions? Or can it simply not be done due to core assumptions in the framework Oculus Rift? :geek:

    7 replies

    drash
    Inspiring
    January 22, 2014
    I don't think anyone will groan at this suggestion. It seems like a great way to widen the audience. In Oculus' new best practices guide, it states that VR apps should have the option for monoscopic display mode.

    It's easy to do as a dev (in Unity at least), just need to set the inter-camera distance to 0 by calling SetIPD(0) on the appropriate OVRCameraController. If making it a runtime option, care should be taken with the transition between stereoscopic and monoscopic and vice versa.
    Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com
    brantlew
    Participant
    January 22, 2014
    The Sony is comfortable not because its mono, but because the low FOV is not immersive. Mono in the Rift can be just as disorienting as stereo - possibly more-so because it is very different from the motions that your eyes move through in real life. It is possible that the large eye-position disparity in mono would be worse than incorrect IPD in stereo. We are not accustomed to being a cyclops. That said, one thing you should consider is disabling head modeled yaw translation while in mono. Even though it feels wrong to rotate the scene without any translation, in my experience it looks and feels less bizarre than a simulated cyclopsian head model.
    antigravity
    Up and Coming
    January 22, 2014
    "brantlew" wrote:
    The Sony is comfortable not because its mono, but because the low FOV is not immersive.


    That got me thinking, maybe an option to lower your Oculus FOV would help?

    In unity that could just be sliding in two unlit black planes that are linked to the camera.. or a black unlit frame to keep the ratio.

    If it works better than the monoscopic for sickness-prevention, as a bonus you get to keep the stereo.

    Gonna try that.
    cybereality
    Inspiring
    January 23, 2014
    While we do recommend users configure the settings on the Rift, this is not strictly required just to use the device.

    If you set the IPD to the average value (63.5mm) the experience should be acceptable for most users.

    However, I can see the value in having a mono mode, and this is a totally valid concern.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    budwheizzah
    Up and Coming
    February 10, 2014
    I personally disagree with this recommendation. Monoscopic content, as it would be displayed right now in the dev Rift, is about three times harder to handle than anything stereoscopic. Mono will just give you a headache because your brain is freaking out trying to "imagine" the depth of what's around you. First mistake if making a Rift app is no tracking and second mistake is not using stereo.

    I recently made an app to show live-input monoscopic video on a virtual 9 foot screen. I had to model an environment; a virtual room in which the user watches this screen - which renders stereoscopic, within which the mono live input video is shown on the virtual screen.

    brantlew is right the Sony HMZ is only more comfortable because of its super small FOV - never compare that thing to the Rift. Sony's product is not a virtual reality headset. To get an idea of this zone of comfort just run any game that supports Tridef's Rift implementation, and have it run with a tiny 55 degree FOV. You can play anything in the Rift with that setting - for several hours.

    The recommendation that SHOULD be added in best practices - something that could be tossed in the libraries, is the ability to change the field of view at runtime. NOW you're widening the audience. I find the mono idea completely counterproductive as it will narrow the audience - to me VR in mono is inherently broken.
    raidho36
    Up and Coming
    February 10, 2014
    I actually tried using mono mode following the guide and if anything it CAUSES headaches and nausea rather than decreases it. It is also unspeakably awkward to view objects without seeing the depth, let alone navigating the environment.

    In spite of that I momentairly felt terribly sorry for stereoblind people.
    drash
    Inspiring
    February 10, 2014
    "budwheizzah" wrote:
    The recommendation that SHOULD be added in best practices - something that could be tossed in the libraries, is the ability to change the field of view at runtime. NOW you're widening the audience. I find the mono idea completely counterproductive as it will narrow the audience - to me VR in mono is inherently broken.


    To me monoscopic display just makes everything look infinitely large and you can go right up to things to see them clearly without crossing your eyes. Still pretty weird though.

    Anyway, I think the best practices guide *does* mention that simsick management options should also include the option to change the breadth of the FOV, which I take to mean shrinking the hole through which you see the world without actually changing the technical FOV rendered. A little bit like the modified Tuscany demo in this thread.
    Titans of Space PLUS for Quest is now available on DrashVR.com
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement