Topico Geral sobre Realidade Virtual (RV)

[Jorge-Vieira]

VR in the clouds: Merging two of today's hottest computing trends

Two of the hottest technologies in tech today are virtual reality/augmented reality (AR/VR) and cloud computing. Together the two have garnered a good percentage of the attention in both consumer and industry publications, blogs and websites. They both also share the appeal of being intriguing new opportunities that each create new kinds of applications and usage models.
But while they’ve been covered at length separately, there hasn’t been much discussion about combining the two. Of course, the primary reason for this is that there aren’t very many companies trying to actively bring these two technologies directly together. Virtually all current VR/AR headset designs demand strong local computing and graphics power, and most all cloud computing models are intentionally independent of the display capabilities of a connected client device.
Setting these and other technical challenges aside for the moment—I’ll address them in a bit—the potential possibilities of creating just such a technological mashup are appealing at many levels. First, one of the core challenges facing the adoption of VR and AR in the near term isn’t just the cost of the headset, but the cost, processing and graphics requirements of the connected PC. In theory, a cloud-based computing model with access to the kinds of multi-core CPU horsepower now available in today’s cloud-based datacenters should be able to easily address the raw computing requirements for demanding VR/AR applications.
More importantly, hyperscale data centers are finally getting access to the kinds of GPU power they need to start doing the task. Between AMD’s Radeon Pro Duo and their new FirePro S9300 X2 graphics engines as well as the extensive range of Tesla datacenter GPU products from nVidia (as well some of their forthcoming Pascal-based offerings), the graphics horsepower necessary to do the kind of GPU compute applications that VR demands is also now here.
The potential possibilities of creating a technological mashup between virtual reality and cloud computing are appealing at many levels.
Second, it’s already clear that truly compelling VR/AR applications are going to demand yet more digital engine speed than even what the best of today’s computing “supercars” have to offer. Rather than forcing rapid and costly upgrades to the base computing devices used for VR/AR, a cloud-based service can more easily enhance the speed of its core infrastructure and pass those benefits along to users of the service.
Third, given the early days of VR/AR applications, we’re also likely to see rapid developments and major changes in the nature, function, UI and virtually all aspects of this software. Once again, cloud-based delivery of these quickly evolving applications would likely create a much better and easier experience for end users, whether it’s for consumer or business purposes.
Finally, VR and AR are the types of applications that won’t be used by most people on a regular basis. Instead, they’re the types of things that are likely to be used more occasionally, making them potentially well-suited to pay-as-you go, service-based business models.
Despite these benefits, there are some clear hurdles to overcome before this conceptual mashup can be made real. The reason most VR/AR headsets use a wired connection to a host computing is that the speed necessary to update the displays is extremely important. Any slowdowns or latency can not only impede the overall experience, they can literally be sickness-inducing. Thankfully, wired technologies such as Thunderbolt 3 and new wireless 60 GHz-based 802.11ad WiFi (and, eventually 802.11ay) should be able to allay most of these concerns in the not-to-distant future.
For certain applications, particularly gaming, network latency can also be an issue, but for most other applications, clever caching algorithms and fast local storage can overcome any connectivity-induced delays.
Potentially more challenging is the current lack of a single standard for delivering the AR/VR content to different headsets. At the moment, each headset vendor tends to use their own methods, making the cloud-based delivery of a single optimized video stream more difficult.
Nevertheless, the overall benefits of a cloud-based VR solution seem to outweigh these potential concerns. As a result, I expect we’ll see several efforts that essentially allow VR/AR capabilities to be delivered in a thin computing-style application delivery model over the next 12-18 months.
Of course, thinking of VR/AR headsets as the great savior of the thin-client computing model seems rather ironic. But given the lack of legacy client hardware and the wide open green field opportunities for VR/AR that lie ahead, this could just be the perfect application for making an older idea look very fresh and new.

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64344-v...ng-trends.html

[Jorge-Vieira]

See what a tattoo will look like on your skin before you get inked with this AR app

Like a lot of people, I’ve got a couple of tattoos that didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, and that’s putting it generously. But a new app could save folks from seeking out cover-ups or painful laser surgery by showing them what a design will look like after it’s complete.
InkHunter uses augmented reality to overlay a tattoo onto a body’s surface area. You can select from a series of designs by different artists that are included in the app, or you can upload your own sketches to see how they’ll look on your skin.
The process works by asking the user to draw three straight lines to form a face (called a square smile) on the part of their body where they’re considering getting a tattoo. When viewed through a smartphone’s screen, these three marks will appear as the selected tattoo, and can be viewed from all angles. You can also take photos of the AR tattoo and show friends to get their opinions.
"Under the hood we developed three algorithms to make it possible," explained InkHunter CEO Oleksandra Rohachova to the Daily Dot. These create a transparent image from the black and white one, recognize the smile on the skin, and overlay the tattoo in the mark’s location.
The app is the product of a 48-hour hackathon that took place in July 2014. Originally built by a team of software engineers from Karazina University in Ukraine, a beta version of the fully-fledged app launched last year, but this new release improves the algorithms and overall user experience.
The free app is only available for iOS right now, but the company is working on bringing it to Android and Windows Phones. It’s being improved all the time to take into account factors such as lighting and veins. Future updates will also support color tattoos and add designs from more artists.

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64374-s...efore-you.html

[Jorge-Vieira]

GoPro’s New Omni Virtual Reality Rig Cradles Six HERO 4 Black Cameras

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages...t/omni_pro.jpg

As you can see by the steady stream of virtual reality (VR) headsets that have hit the market (Samsung Gear VR, Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive) and those that are incoming (PlayStation VR), consumers are in for a real treat when it comes to experiencing media and gaming content. The folks at GoPro are looking to make it easier to produce VR content at a somewhat reasonable price with its new Omni camera rig. The Omni is capable of housing six GoPro HERO Black cameras and uses proprietary hardware to enable “pixel-level synchronization” between the cameras to provide high-quality 360-degree video footage. While Omni will not shoot in 3D, it is also fully integrated with GoPro’s Kolor VR-video software
Although GoPro hasn’t yet to give us a price tag for this setup, six HERO 4 Black cameras alone will set you back $3,000 and you’ll have to figure in more than a few hundred bucks for the Omni rig itself. Regardless of what the final cost to videographers will be, Omni will no doubt be far less expensive than the $15,000 16-camera Odyssey VR rig that GoPro developed in conjunction with Google.

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages...l_omni_pro.jpg

It’s been reported that you will be able to purchase a fully decked out Omni with all the cameras and cables necessary to get up and running. Likewise, if you already have a number of GoPro cameras in your arsenal, you will also be able to purchase the Omni rig by itself.
GoPro will reveal more details about Omni at NAB 2016, which is being held April 18^th through April 21^st in Las Vegas. Now if only GoPro would reveal some more details on its Karma drone…

Noticia:
http://hothardware.com/news/gopros-n...rRQ53h8x2L3.99

[Jorge-Vieira]

PC & Console VR Will Barely Exceed 1.7 Million Sales in 2016 Due to Prohibitively High Pricing

The VR season has officially kicked off, with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive now available to those who have been among the first to pre-order the devices while PlayStation VR will release in October 2016.
We’ve previously reported on early forecasts for the VR market. However, not everyone shares the same confidence: according to analyst firm Strategy Analytics, PC (Oculus Rift & HTC Vive) and console (PSVR) virtual reality devices will barely exceed 1.7 million devices shipped globally in 2016 due to prohibitively high pricing.
David Watkins, Director of Strategy Analytics’ Connected Home Devices service, said:
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Adoption of the more expensive, high-end PC and Game Console based devices will be limited to a subset of early adopter enthusiasts and hard core gamers. The high price of these devices will act as a significant barrier to more widespread uptake. The PC and Console powered virtual reality market is entering the classic chicken and egg phase whereby the major games publishers are waiting on the side-lines until there are enough VR headsets and users in the market for it to make financial sense for them to build a VR library of content. This is providing independent and niche developers the chance to make a name for themselves before the big boys arrive.

As a result, Strategy Analytics believes that lower priced smartphone based devices will dominate the VR market, leaving only 13% of the volumes in 2016 to PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
When you consider that the respective prices are $599 for the Oculus Rift, $799 for the HTC Vive and $399 for PlayStation VR (though you’ll actually need to spend more for this one, as thoroughly explained here), it’s hard not to see their point.
Step Into Virtual Reality With Homido VR Headset ($69.95)




Are you an early adopter of the Oculus RIft or HTC Vive and if so, what are your first impressions? Let us know in the comments.

Noticia:
http://wccftech.com/pc-console-vr-wi...#ixzz45RKTTYm3

[Jorge-Vieira]

Analysts Expect VR to hit $895 Million for 2016

Virtual reality has been hailed as the next ‘thing’ that will catch consumer attention and drive innovation and growth in the technology industry. While it’s easy to see why VR might play out stronger than say 3D, the size of the burgeoning market appears to be massive. According to market analysts, Strategy Analytics, the virtual reality headset market will top $895 million. For an industry that is just really getting started, this is great news.
As expected, much of the value comes from the expensive Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Sony PlayStation VR which are all going to release this year. With prices of $600, $800 and $400 respectively, it’s easy to see why the market is so big. The expectation is that these high-end headsets will account for 77% of the total revenue but only 13% of shipped units. After all, around 2.2 million Sony units would be enough to match the entire market value. Cheaper headsets like those based on smartphones will continue to see more though and be the VR most likely experienced by consumers.Furthermore, Strategy Analytics expects that VR will help drive a race in display resolution, storage and GPUs. This is due to the stringent and hefty requirements necessary to run VR games. Going forward it will be interesting to see what kind of hold VR will take and whether or not it will supplant traditional forms of content interaction.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/analysts-expe...lion-for-2016/

[Jorge-Vieira]

LucidVR Takes LucidVR Camera To Mass Production With Wistron Partnership

It wasn’t too long ago that the LucidCam’s crowdfunding campaign ended, but it seems that LucidVR, the creators of the LucidCam, have been busy since. We covered the LucidCam, a 180-degree 3D virtual reality camera, back while the campaign was still in full swing. Eventually, the camera generated enough support that it blew past its $100,000 goal by nearly $15,000. In the grand scheme of things, however, crowdfunding money only takes developers so far. It might be enough to create a few prototypes, but it’s never quite enough to bring the product to mass production.However, LucidVR has successfully solved that issue, it would seem, thanks to its partnership with Wistron Corporation, an ODM (original design manufacturer) based in Taiwan. Although companies who source ODMs must sometimes sacrifice part of their original vision or performance of their intended products to bring them to market, we were told that LucidVR's and Wistron's partnership has been entirely beneficial. Not only has this partnership granted LucidVR access to the funds needed to bring the LucidCam to consumers, but according to Han Jin, LucidVR’s CEO, it has also allowed them to essentially double the LucidCam’s specifications. For example, storage has increased from 16GB to 32GB, RAM has increased from 2GB to 4GB, framerate has increased from 30 frames per second to 60 frames per second, and so on.
In addition to the Wistron agreement, LucidVR drummed up another $2.1 million in seed funding from investors.
Virtual reality consumption has experienced steady increase in consumer interest over the past few years, and we the consumers are witnessing just the tip of the iceberg in terms of VR applications. The LucidCam is just another example of VR’s many uses--namely, user-generated content--and LucidVR’s partnership with Wistron illustrates just how close the consumer VR is.

There is no scheduled release date for the LucidCam, but LucidVR is aiming for December of this year.
Update, 4/13/16, 7:35am PT: Added information about additional seed funding.

Noticia:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/luc...ion,31594.html

[Jorge-Vieira]

Facebook’s Jaw-Dropping Social VR Demo Really Is The Future

I don't know if this Oculus social VR demo is "the future" but it is pretty damn cool. The demo started out like any other cheesy presentation until they got to the part where they were interacting with the pictures. Watch the video below and you'll know what I mean.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/04/...e#.Vw--mnr0Pug

[Jorge-Vieira]

Adobe Premier Pro Getting VR Video Editing Tools

Adobe revealed a host of new features that will soon be added to the Creative Cloud suite of applications that should make the lives of content creators a little bit easier, including new color enhancement tools and audio production tools. The feature that caught our eye, though is the virtual reality preview pane.
The new version of Creative Cloud will include an updated version of Premiere CC that features tools for working with VR (spherical) video files. You’ll be able to preview videos the way they would appear in a VR HMD right from your desktop monitor using “field of view” mode.

Creative Cloud

In terms of other features, you’ll have even easier access to the Adobe Stock asset library. Creative Cloud applications will have integrated access to not only use the content found in Adobe Stock, but you’ll have easier access to share your own assets in the market place. Adobe said that Lightroom and Adobe Bridge users will be able to contribute to the asset library directly from within the applications.
The upcoming version of Creative Cloud will also include the ability to start editing while importing video and audio files in the background. Adobe added enhanced Lumetri color tools that let you enhance the color setting of your video files. You can easily adjust the color of specific features in the video frames. The company demonstrated changing the color of a jacket in the following video.
Audition CC will soon include the Essential Sound panel that will let you adjust audio levels, including easily normalizing your volume levels across clips. Adobe said this will help you mix audio properly without the need for an audio engineer.
Adobe built a new video and audio preview engine for the next update of Creative Cloud. Adobe said the result is “superior playback of cached frames,” which should allow for smoother previews of your content. The company also redesigned the Character Animator to simplify puppet animation.
The upcoming release will also include new proxy workflows that will make it easier to work with high bandwidth content such as 8K, HDR and HFR media files. Adobe said you’ll be able to switch between proxy and native workflows on the fly.

“There’s rapid change happening in the digital landscape with video now the fastest growing media type across social media platforms and OTT (over-the-top content) shaking up broadcast and film,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Media at Adobe.

Adobe released a series of videos, which you can find here, that have more information on the features that it will be adding to the Creative Cloud suite this summer.
Creative Cloud is available through a monthly subscription of $49.99. The updates will automatically be released to active subscribers.

Noticia:
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/ado...ity,31610.html

[dcruz]

Bem ainda a pouco vi este video, simplesmente genial

[Enzo]

Bem ainda a pouco vi este video, simplesmente genial

Acho que vai ser onde se vai tirar mais proveito do factor humano e da realidade virtual. Tá excelente.

[Winjer]

HTC Vive sells 140.000 units

[LPC]

HTC Vive sells 140.000 units

Boas!
Ainda não percebi quem está a ganhar a corrida no VR se a Oculos se a HTC...

Verdade seja dita que parece ver mais cenas nos VIVE que nos Rift....

Para mim só irá render quando tiverem o dobro da resolução e frequencia...

Cumprimentos,

LPC

[Enzo]

Algo diferente desta vez. Não vou falar de ética.
Atenção: pode ser muito pesado para os mais sensiveis.

Link da noticia
https://br.ign.com/realidade-virtual...reu-aos-7-anos

PS:Ativem as legendas

[LPC]

Algo diferente desta vez. Não vou falar de ética.
Atenção: pode ser muito pesado para os mais sensiveis.

Link da noticia
https://br.ign.com/realidade-virtual...reu-aos-7-anos

PS:Ativem as legendas

Boas!
Conceito perigoso que abre um precedente... também ele perigoso...

Isto porque:

Primeiro: aquilo não é a filha dela, é um simulacro. Mas é perfeitamente cabível pra um psicodrama mais imersivo.
Caso não saibam o que é, é um método terapêutico, que serve justamente para lidar com traumas.
Mas a maior e mais perigosa implicação disso está por vir: imaginem todas as pessoas com acesso a essa tecnologia, incapazes de aceitar a morte do ente querido e que vão preferir ficar presos nessa simulação com esse "fantasma virtual" (e que pode acabar se tornando muito real, dependendo do quanto a tecnologia avançar).
O que não faltam são histórias de ficção científica abordando essa ideia.

Cumprimentos,

LPC

[Enzo]

Sim. Concordo. Os sentimentos são armas demasiado perigosas. Dai ter dito que não ia abordar o lado ético da coisa.