For those not following, Oculus Rift is a VR headset developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Facebook Inc. It was released on the 28th of March last year, after a Kickstarter campaign was initiated to fund the gadget’s development. It was previously founded as a private company two months earlier.
The goggles on the Oculus Rift have sensors that can pick up the motions of the wearer’s head, and adjust the external image appropriately. The most recent version of the device has been bolstered by an external sensor which can track positions, tracking the movements of the wearer’s head more truly.
Using the Oculus Rift Headset
While players who enjoy real money slots are champing at the bit as they wait for the world of online casinos to catch up, VR players are having all the fun. After players launch SteamVR, wireless motion tracked controllers, a VR icon appears at the top of the new window, nearby the buttons which allow players to minimise and maximise the screen. The Oculus Rift is then detected, and you can not only customise the Home Space, but totally replace your computer’s monitor with almost limitless VR screenspace as you like.
Get into the Minority Report
The whole experience is evocative of the film Minority Report: windows hang in the air, which can be moved around by the simple wave of the hand. These days, emerging mobile trends make this type of tech more of a reality, and it’s interesting to see how VR is used to great effect here. Dash lets you code inside VR, but also allows you to bring your favourite desktop apps with you: Messenger, Facebook, Spotify, YouTube and Google Chrome are all available. You will be able to make use of your desktop computer applications, code, and communicate with your friends simultaneously.
Great News for Developers
Developers are going to be especially pleased with the chance to debug VR applications whilst running them by means of Unity, Unreal, and Visual Studio. The screens will appear inside Dash in full-fidelity, and you will be able to access the rest of your PC above and beyond the core applications.
A Totally Customisable Home
The overhauled Oculus Home will allow you to make your start-up screen for Rift into a palatial fantasy. You will be able to choose all kinds of furnishing, art, toys, and seating. You can display your in-game achievements and enjoy retro-styled video games by inserting cartridges into old-fashioned game machines. Oculus plans to let you hang out with your friends inside Home in the future!
Creating an everyday, customisable space inside VR may well draw more people in, enticing them to give Oculus a try. The Sims has proven very popular, and, with the new Oculus Home, you could build a virtual home around you, rather than constructing one beneath you.
Dash may also be the answer for developers who rig multiple monitors together to enjoy additional screenspace. It makes the screen come up all around you, so you could push your music application behind you, and leave chat applications near at hand while you focus on work, waiting for the next message. Spending an entire work day inside VR still sounds exhausting, but may suit hardcore multi-taskers, and this may well be Zuckerberg’s final vision become reality.