I am one of the founders of Technical Illusions creating castAR. We recently launched a kickstarter for our AR/VR glasses: castAR: the most versatile AR VR system
All of the demos we have shown were made with Unity. It takes about 5 minutes to get an existing Unity project working with our system. We’ve also included a quick video demonstrating how to get AngryBots working under our system: castAR Unity Integration
We are also offering a 3d input device called the Magic Wand as well as an RFID Tracking Grid that allows you to track RFID tags across the surface and two way communication with microprocessors.
This seems rather intersting. However, does it require Unity Pro? (i.e. does it use Render Textures?)
I ask as on a current project (academic) my team was forced to use UDK instead of Unity in order to integrate the Rift. The budget for the project did not allow for the cost of Unity Pro licenses (student or otherwise).
I tried castAR at Maker Faire and IT IS ASTOUNDING.
This team have figured out 3d display as no one has done before. We’ve been dreaming of it for 30 years, but they actually did it.
It’s nearly impossible to describe it - just imagine what you always wanted; that’s what it is.
Full disclosure; I pledged the kickstarter. I would have paid more for what I’m getting, though. AR+VR, and no one ever thought of doing it the way they have…
That think looks fantastic. Strongly considering backing. I have two questions I’d really like to know the answer to, though they aren’t necessarily decision makers or breakers for me.
You’ve mentioned that the projectors have no screen door effect, but what resolution are they?
How dark does the room need to be to use this effectively?
Also interested to know…
Can these be used for non-3D things?
Can multiple people use them in the same space and/or on the same surface?
This tech came out of that Valve-Jeri ruckus, Which is to say that Valve had researchers working on this AR solution and they let them go. And in a crazy turn of events, Valve let the employees take the IP with them. Of course, instead of being grateful and blowing kisses to Valve for giving away their IP (what other company does that?), the former employees went on a rampage, bad-mouthing Valve at every turn.
While I wish them well and hope their AR pursuits succeed, I can’t support their kickstarter.
I originally posted here about this the day kickstarter launched, but no-one was interested ;(
Since then i’ve done a bit of research on it since as much as I like it there are questions that need to be answered. I can address most of your questions with what I’ve discovered, but I can’t give any guarantee this stuff is 100% accurate, just that its the best i’ve come with so far. However this information is about week old as i’ve been too busy in the last few days to follow it up.
I believe they are currently 1280x720, but that the released version should be full HD, at least they talk frequently about HD when referencing making the glasses/projectors smaller.
This is currently unanswered, but check out this video from Tested.
Its a combined interview/playtest, with one guy constantly using the device in the background in what I consider a well lit environment for filming. Though they don’t give any specific information on the brightness he doesn’t seem to have any problems, and from memory I think he says its better than he expected.
I also read what I think was an official post in the backers sections stating that they should work for up to 3 meters away from the surface. I.e. produce enough luminosity to still be seen that far away, maybe further.
Not sure what you mean, can you give an example?
Yep, thats one of their selling points. The reflective material bounces light almost exactly back along the same path, meaning that you should require very little separation between viewers to get individual/personal viewpoints without interference.
Some things to be aware of
Tracking is achieved purely through an IR camera mounted on the glasses looking at markers placed in the environment. It is meant to be highly accurate though and fast (120Hz I think), but these markers will be needed for tracking, even in VR mode.
My understanding is that the system uses shuttered glasses that alternate along with the projection output to provide the stereographic results, similarly to 3D glasses.
The use of projected system avoids issues such as motion sickness as you can see through the glasses, giving you eyes something to focus on in the distance (unlike say the Rift where you eyes must focus on something right in front of your face).
I do have a few concerns
The kickstarter rewards are often poorly worded. In nearly every Kickstarter i’ve backed or looked at , each reward tier builds on the previous, meaning you get everything in the tiers before as well as the one you pick. For CastAR this is NOT the case, so you have to be very vigilant when choosing a reward tier to back. Indeed I don’t think there is a tier where you can get everything and you have to remember to add P&P, which is (or was they were looking into it) quite expensive outside the US.
If you want to back it I strongly urge working out exactly what you want using their _Pledge Calculator _first.
Lack of technical details and answers, such as specifically addressing the questions you posted here and others. Really I feel they should have sorted this information out before doing the kickstarter as its highly important for many developers and uses.
My own questions are
How well do the VR glasses provide peripheral vision? Since they aren’t as snug or as wrapped as the Rift, is peripheral vision an issue?
What exactly is the recommended range of lighting that can be used?
What exactly is the degree of separation between multiple viewers for non-interference?
Can multiple glasses run off the same machine?
What are you plans for commercialisation and production beyond kickstarter?
Personally i’m very excited by the technology. Pretty sure I could use it in some of my client work, though would have to enforce some resitrctions on the environment. My concern here is whether they can provide manufacturing and production to enable for fast bulk purchases etc.
That is blowing it way out of proportion. They were asked what happened and told the story. They didn’t bad mouth Valve at all, but they did describe accurately the culture that has grown up within the company due to its unique structure.
Not true. VALVe did not “give it away”, it was “given” as a result of separation negotiations. You’re familiar with severance, yes? Rick has said nothing, and Jeri only described her feelings in a single interview 6 months later. They were fired for doing what the Valve handbook encourages employees to do, work on new things that will help VALVe. I think they were very gentle in their response to being abruptly fired.
Rick was one of the original 3 members of the Linux cabal - that’s a pretty significant contribution to the current path VALVE is taking. Jeri closed her business to move to Bellevue, and had to sell many of her pinball machines. She also set up the hardware division, equipped the lab, and recruited many world-class engineers for them.
How would you feel?
In any case, they have invented something that will make the doubters look like fools. Have you tried it?
Only the person wearing the glasses can see the image. Others have their own image.
See 12. Yes.
If there are four people looking at a Rubik’s cube on a table, they see different faces. This applies to real life and castAR both.
The fabric screen for the AR mode is retroreflective material like used on biking jackets. It bounces light back in a very narrow cone, 1-2 degrees. If you stand behind someone, you can make out a faint glow - anywhere else, and all you see is a crazy person entranced by a blank screen.
I cut out questions I don’t have an answer to. I’ve been following this closely, so I should be mostly right Anyway…
The design of the KS version handles 720x1280 at 120Hz per eye. The shutters run at a 50% duty cycle. The IR camera+asic report absolute positioning data via USB 120 times a second - the data packet is only 72 bytes - and 6DoF accuracy is .07mm. That is not a typo
No one has reported any discomfort at all using the AR mode. The precision head tracking will probably cure any VR sickness problem, at least according to Carmack and Abrash when discussing the Rift’s problems. FoV for VR depends on lens choice - probably they’ll have options for that when it hits the stores.
You can use it in a normally lit living room. If you don’t stand right behind someone you can’t see anything. 99.99something% of the light lands on your face.
The interface is HDMI - so that last question depends on how hardcore your gaming rig is.
Could I project, say, my OS desktop and whatever I may have running on it?
If yes then that implies some pretty awesome possibilities. For instance, instead of having two monitors on my desk I could have as many virtual desktops as I have space to put mats up.
Any news on the Unity free integration? Developing for Oculus Rift is possible with the free Unity version, so would be nice if I could do this for castAR, too, without buying Unity Pro.
Anyway…