Second Life Viewer Compatible With Oculus Rift's DK2

Oculus Rift released its second generation dev kit (hence its name, DK2) a few months ago, and as it turns out, it looks pretty cool with the official (but still in Beta) Second Life viewer compatible with the Rift -- watch:

The video is by SLer Phobos Jamberoo, who's shot a lot of SL/DK2 test videos, and, he says, the results are pretty great:

Having never had the opportunity to use the DK1, I can't speak to the difference. However, as a long time SL resident, I can say that the level of immersion and presence is unprecedented. The sense of scale and realism is levels of magnitude above viewing SL on my 27" monitor. For the first time, my brain really believes I am in a virtual world.

Which isn't to say the experience is perfect:

"The head tracking is near perfect, although I still experience a slight judder. I am not able to yet use my flycam with my joystick, as the orientation is not yet right, however, I hope this to be fixed when the official release is ready."

I'm down to try it. I did explore Second Life with DK1 about 6 months ago, and the "screen door" effect was so bad, I came away pretty unimpressed. But I've heard from multiple sources DK2 just about solves that problem.

There's a third party SL viewer for Oculus Rift, by the way (from CtrlAlt Studio), and the latest version has some basic UI for DK2.

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Comments

[Tikor]

Hamlet, I have read that the DK2 screen door effect is still there but that the Crescent Bay prototype is the one that gets most of screen door out of the way (rumored mechanism is a combination of optics and higher resolution).

Whatever the details, I'm glad to hear that Oculus rift support is ongoing for Second Life.

[Adeon Writer]

Good to hear. My DK2 shluld come in before the end of October. Never tried DK1 myself, this will be my first impression.

[UCMO]

I would recommend that anyone really interested in an Oculus Rift/Second Life experience to use the CtrlAlt Studio viewer. It allows a lower graphics setting compared to the SL beta viewer, which means it performs at much better FPS. Unless you have a pretty good GPU of course. I would also recommend that you wait for the first Consumer Version of the Oculus Rift. I have the DK1, the DK2 is much better, and the CV1 will be even better yet. I would guess that the CV1 may be available as early as next April/May timeframe... so, not too much longer to wait!

[Estelle Pienaar]

@UCMO: Speculating about the release date of a consumer version of Oculus Rift is well, speculation. With $ 2 billion at their hands, Oculus will make sure that the result is perfect before going on the market. Nothing is easier but killing a good new concept by a faulty product. And DK2 was a warning experience as it is really hard to run until today! So if it takes Oculus one or two more years, then I am pretty sure that they will be patient and continue developing. And that is a good decision.

[UCMO]

@Estelle: Now that was rather redundant don't you think? I clearly stated that the timeframe was a 'guess'. Two separate publications (TechRadar and VRFocus) claim CV1 could ship by April next year with a limited public beta, with later summer a more realistic target for a general public release.

With the DK2, Oculus is closer to the CV1 release. They have publicly stated that there will NOT be a DK3 prior to CV1 shipping. That indicates that the CV1 feature set is complete.

Worse case scenario is that the Rift CV1 is available for the Christmas 2015 shopping season. ;-)

As for the recommendation to wait for the CV1 - that comes straight from Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey.

[UCMO]

@RULosingHair, RULosingYourMind?

[UCMO]

@RULosingHair: "This is the mainstream way of attracting investors"

You forget - Oculus is not in need of investors - they have a virtually (pun intended) bottomless wallet in ownership by FaceBook.

[RU Losing Hair]

Censoring continues... James Au Wagner aka Hamlet repeats and violates The Journalist Code of Ethics

We don't need the Un-Quality & the Dis-Service of Rogue & Scam Immersive World Journalists, and their Consumer Detriment for Immersive Worlds > Journalist Code of Ethics http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

@UCMO You are wrong...

What evidence makes you believe that Oculus Rift + Second Life are Cost Centers?

- Oculus Rift + SL are not Non-Profit or Cost Center projects for "Developers developing for Developers on their Sandboxes", both are Profit Center projects, one owned by Wall Street stakeholders, the other owned by risk capital investors... both wanting Return-on-Investment ROI.

- So explain the Use Cases, and how Cash Flow is generated to provide Return-on-Investment ROI.

You also seem to forget that Oculus Rift has a large sample size of Crowdfunding stakeholders, so simply ask them to explain what pains they see remedied.

@Hamlet should stop censoring valid and due-dilient arguments on his non-sustainable Flat Earth.

This other stuff was also censored...

Sequoia Capital
http://www.sequoiacap.com/grove/posts/6bzx/writing-a-business-plan

1. Problem
- Describe the pain of the customer (or the customer’s customer).
- Outline how the customer addresses the issue today.

2. Solution
- Demonstrate your company’s value proposition to make the customer’s life better.
- Show where your product physically sits.
- Provide USE CASES.

"No Use Case means No Use" This was also censored by @Hamlet

[UCMO]

@RULosingHair said: "You also seem to forget that Oculus Rift has a large sample size of Crowdfunding stakeholders, so simply ask them to explain what pains they see remedied."

Kickstarter contributors are NOT stakeholders. They pledge a certain amount of money and get some product or notoriety in exchange (NOT ownership in the company). At low $ values they get a nice 'Thank You'. Nothing more. No stake in the company. Zero. Zilch. OVR did have VCI along with second round funding, but that topped out around 100 million, which pales compared to the 2B Facebook used to ACQUIRE Oculus VR.

How can OVR make revenue? Licensing technology if desired, or take the Sony/Micro$oft model selling hardware at a loss, and making it up on 3rd party developer percentages. Or just sell each unit at a profit - simple really - especially considering new model cycles, and the "latest greatest" mentality of the average consumer (guilty, as charged).

Seriously, I'm beginning to think that RULosingHair took a business course at a community college, earned a C-, and now believes he is an expert in the field.

[R U Losing Hair]

@UCMO Thanks for admitting that Oculus Rift and Second Life are Profit Centers. and not Cost Centers or Non-Profits, thus putting the Use Case Approach on the frontline.

Else... Are you tryinging to make yourself riduculous?

Defining the term Stakeholder is not the core point, you missed the core message.

- Besides, this is the correct definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholder_(corporate)

That Crowdfunding Audience remains to be a Statistically Significant Sample Size with Use Case information. This is frontline evidence and hard raw data.

Crowdfunding has the same affect as a Primary Marketing Study. You have not harvested the valuable Use Case information from these people.

- Crowdfunding Is More Marketing Than Fundraising
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47551870/

You seem to be groping in fog if this is how you respond to mainstream risk capitalist questions:

"Licensing technology if desired, or take the Sony/Micro$oft model selling hardware at a loss, and making it up on 3rd party developer percentages. Or just sell each unit at a profit - simple really - especially considering new model cycles, and the "latest greatest" mentality of the average consumer (guilty, as charged)."

- Please provide evidence and hard raw data of the economic impact on a Profit Center. What is the Cash Flow and Profit Margin forecast behind your generalizations?

Again, the following is the valid Question Format of the successful risk capitalists Sequioa Capital. You may, of course, answer further-going questions from their website:

1. Problem
- Describe the pain of the customer (or the customer’s customer).
- Outline how the customer addresses the issue today.

2. Solution
- Demonstrate your company’s value proposition to make the customer’s life better.
- Show where your product physically sits.
- Provide USE CASES.

Why don't you connect the dots in this fashion, instead of resorting to your feeble and weak personal attack mode?

You seem intended on avoiding the Consumer, Client, Customer and Risk Management viewpoint of things.

- For you to get things clear, the Sandbox Playtoy Approach of Developers is not the main focus. In a Profit Center, you need to address three areas of interest in order to be complete:

a. Tool Development
b. Market Delivery
c. Client Procurement

I can only rank your response format on the un-quality scale of the Capability Immaturity Model as Level Minus 2: Contemptuous or even Level Minus 3: Undermining.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Immaturity_Model

Do you have trouble to comply with Transparency, Integrity, and Accountability Requirements in a Profit Center?

[UCMO]

You may continue to regurgitate via copy and paste if you so choose, however it will not further your point of contention as you do not have one. You are making statements that, in the grand scheme of VR do not matter one iota. You act as if Oculus Rift/FaceBook are a rudderless ship with no business plan - you continue as if, that I, merely a fan of the technology and an early adopter, somehow can influence said business plan or that I am a representative of said business plan. You continue to make assumptions that are at best hypothetical with no sound basis in fact. You blatantly ignore process validation in favor of the outmoded use case which is useless. Your attention to detail is lost on system qualification verification, as well as the process validation prerequisite approach. I can only grade your previous post as a D, and that is being generous. Please research further, and refrain from citing wiki, as it is not a valid research tool.

[Wagner James Au]

Also, the point of this post was not whether SL+Oculus is going to generate profit, the point was whether DK2 is compatible with SL's Oculus viewer. It's kinda uncivil to derail a conversation with a copy/paste barrage, especially when it's been done over and over (and over) again.

[R U Losing Hair]

@Wagner James Au You are wrong!

It is not "uncivil" to insert the Use Case approach, because Client Requirements Elicitation and Management is the starting point for Development...

Ask CEO Ebbe Altberg...

Check Capability Maturity Model Integration CMMI - Level Plus 2...

[Wagner James Au]

Dude, I'm not even sure what you're trying to say. But you have your very own post, feel free to copy/paste to it to your heart's content:

http://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2014/09/second-life-rulosinghair.html

[UCMO]

UCMO said (Optimistically) on Wednesday, October 01, 2014 at 07:40 AM:

"...I would guess that the CV1 may be available as early as next April/May timeframe... so, not too much longer to wait!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Estelle Pienaar replied (Accurately) on Wednesday, October 01, 2014 at 12:46 PM:

"...So if it takes Oculus one or two more years, then I am pretty sure that they will be patient and continue developing. And that is a good decision."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stand corrected! :-)