Finger "tracking". Is it really?

[VizionVR]

From what I've read in the reviews coming out of E3. the finger tracking is nothing more than a touch sensitive pad on a button. When a particular pad cannot detect touch, the in-game finger associated with that particular pad is displayed.

This explains how a thumbs up is done, even though the thumb is not inside the Touch sensor ring. You lift your thumb off the stick, the lack of touch is detected, and the in-game thumb goes up.

[Malkmus1979]

Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too. Still nice that it calculates gestures that way though. I think simply being able to point when you want to point, or make a fist when you want to will greatly enhance gameplay, and not something you'll be able to do on Morpheus or Vive.

[snappahead]

"Malkmus1979" wrote:
Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too. Still nice that it calculates gestures that way though. I think simply being able to point when you want to point, or make a fist when you want to will greatly enhance gameplay, and not something you'll be able to do on Morpheus or Vive.

Not necessarily. Button commands can do gestures and hand positions just as well as a tracker can. If they design a game to have hands in it, it would be easy to add those functions.

[Malkmus1979]

"Snappahead" wrote:

"Malkmus1979" wrote:
Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too. Still nice that it calculates gestures that way though. I think simply being able to point when you want to point, or make a fist when you want to will greatly enhance gameplay, and not something you'll be able to do on Morpheus or Vive.

Not necessarily. Button commands can do gestures and hand positions just as well as a tracker can. If they design a game to have hands in it, it would be easy to add those functions.

Yes, but pressing a button to point isn't the same as actually being able to point with your finger and see it point in VR. That's much more intuitive.

[VizionVR]

"Malkmus1979" wrote:

"Snappahead" wrote:

"Malkmus1979" wrote:
Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too. Still nice that it calculates gestures that way though. I think simply being able to point when you want to point, or make a fist when you want to will greatly enhance gameplay, and not something you'll be able to do on Morpheus or Vive.

Not necessarily. Button commands can do gestures and hand positions just as well as a tracker can. If they design a game to have hands in it, it would be easy to add those functions.

Yes, but pressing a button to point isn't the same as actually being able to point with your finger and see it point in VR. That's much more intuitive.

And cooler, if a laser pointer shoots out the tip of your finger. Or a bullet. 🙂
Point your finger and tap the touch pad on the thumb joystick for a genuine finger gun.

[snappahead]

"Malkmus1979" wrote:

"Snappahead" wrote:

"Malkmus1979" wrote:
Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me too. Still nice that it calculates gestures that way though. I think simply being able to point when you want to point, or make a fist when you want to will greatly enhance gameplay, and not something you'll be able to do on Morpheus or Vive.

Not necessarily. Button commands can do gestures and hand positions just as well as a tracker can. If they design a game to have hands in it, it would be easy to add those functions.

Yes, but pressing a button to point isn't the same as actually being able to point with your finger and see it point in VR. That's much more intuitive.

No, but if the sensor is just reading a basic movement and doing a canned animation, it might not be as big a difference as it might seem. Vive does have those grabby pads on the sides, so you can probably pick things up in a similar fashion and use buttons to make gestures. Not too bad.

[Malkmus1979]

I hear what you guys are saying, but Touch also is a year out from release so I think that's plenty of time work out the kinks of it feeling too "snappy" or other glitches reported. As far as it being a canned animation, there's only so many ways you can point your finger or give a thumbs up, so once the animation is fluid will anyone know the difference? I think the Vive wands are very capable, if not bulky in comparison (and I still plan on buying the Vive if preorders go up first), but I'll say this-- After using the Move controllers in the London Heist demo, being able to make hand gestures naturally (i.e. not pressing a button) is something that that would have made it feel much more realistic. It was great to hold up the wands and see my hands in front of me, and it was fun to grab the clips and reload the gun, but your hands do feel restricted like your using mannequin hands. I dunno, but pressing a button to point or give a thumbs up or make a fist doesn't sound quite as natural as actually executing those movements to see them performed in VR.

[snappahead]

I'm sure full hand tracking is a goal of vr, but for now, I think wands or good motion controllers like we're seeing now are good enough. Ideally, we'll see both eventually and you can have wands/controllers for haptics and functionality and hands for 1:1 hand presence and full gestural control without a controller in hand. Until then, I'm fine with buttons for gestures. One step at a time, man. It's funny how we always want more. Now that we've got this amazing hand tracking with haptics and solid hand representation, we're already talking about full hand tracking.

[VizionVR]

Touch seems more ergonomic for a natural hand gesture. Don't get me wrong, I really like what the Vive wands can do, but they don't look naturally comfortable and those tracking pucks just seem "weighty". Because of this, they're probably not as good at hand emulation as Touch. Touch just looks like a lot of thought went into natural movement.

[snappahead]

"vizionvr" wrote:
Touch seems more ergonomic for a natural hand gesture. Don't get me wrong, I really like what the Vive wands can do, but they don't look naturally comfortable and those tracking pucks just seem "weighty". Because of this, they're probably not as good at hand emulation as Touch. Touch just looks like a lot of thought went into natural movement.

Well, I don't think we should judge the Vive controllers too much yet. They're probably going to see some design changes before release and a lot of the public demoes were just 3d printed stuff that's hobbled together. I think Oculus said that the Touch design is going to be very close to what we're seeing now though. I'm happy with both of them, but of course I won't know which I prefer until trying them. I'm curious about the haptics. Not much has been said about the Touch.