Alternative VR HMD's (Head mounted Displays)

    Has anyone tried any headsets other than the Vive and Oculus. I currently use the Pimax 4k, the only 4k headset so far. Software is iffy, But with a little elbow grease works like a champ. Anyone tried mobile VR on enscape either. P.S. The experience is far more immersive without the Screen door effect.


    http://forum.pimaxvr.com/t/com…c-vive-vs-oculus-cv1/1989




    Check it out, if anyone is interested. And no I have no affiliation with PIMAX just want to get a feel for what other persons experiences have been like.


    Pierre

    Of course, other HMDs would be nice and interesting. But we're trying to focus our development into things that help the majority of Enscape users. Therefore, supporting an HMD that nobody owns is not an option. And both Oculus and HTC are planning new releases with higher resolutions too, so that problem will vanish.

    Hi Thomas,


    I was wondering - with the imminent release of a number of Windows 10 based HMDs (Dell/HP/Asus/Acer/Lenovo) will you still be focusing your support on Oculus/HTC?


    From what I understand of early reviews, the Windows based HMDs could be easier and more portable friendly to setup and run content on - not to mention more cost effective where multiple users are required. Something that I can see being an advantage for the construction and architectural industry over Oculus/HTC current HMDs.


    Karam

    Hi Pierre,


    thank you for bring the PImax in focus here. I have seen it for a while and the 4K displays catch my interest too. Since I'm not sure the software works well I'm waiting to see 4k versions of Oculus/HTC. But maybe I'm wrong. Do you use Enscape together with PImax? If yes, could you post a little step-by-step tutorial how you got it working?


    Maybe the Enscape team could support this VR device since the 4K display is a great feature and the price is low. There is no 4k alternative, if I understand right.

    Micha The displays of the Pimax have been tested as not suitable for HMDs as they are too slow. If you're turning your head or walk through a model, there seems to be a lot of motion blur. And the higher resolution requires an even better workstation to avoid motion sickness due low FPS and blurry images

    I was just about to ask the same question. Our office is looking at buying a second headset and debating whether to try one of the new Windows 10 headsets (most likely the Samsung Odyssey since it has the best specs) or potentially dabble with the upcoming Pimax 8k headset (kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/pr…orlds-first-8k-vr-headset).


    While it's true there will be newer versions of the Oculus and Vive eventually, they're still a long ways off (Oculus has said it will be at least another two years before they release the CV2, which is a long time to wait!) No doubt they'll be incredible when they come out, but in the meantime there are a number of alternatives starting to crop up, some of which offer significant upgrades to resolution. For instance the Samsung Odssey coming out in November has close to double the resolution of the Rift/Vive, and eliminates the need for external camera sensors.


    And the new Pimax headset has been tested and shown to perform quite well - I think you might be referring to older versions of the headset Jonathan. The kickstarter has passed a million dollars, so there's clearly a lot of interest out there in pushing the boundaries (almost 4 times the resolution of the Rift/Vive and double the field of view!)


    Now part of the issue with these higher spec headsets is that you obviously need to drive more pixels, not to mention cover a wider field of view in the case of the Pimax, which can really tax performance. As far as I know, none of them are supporting foveated rendering either, which is really necessary to improve performance. That would be the big question - it's one thing to have beautiful high resolution displays, but if Enscape and other applications can't drive enough pixels, you won't get the full benefit of the display.


    That said, given the number of Windows 10 headset coming up, it would seem reasonable for Enscape to support the Windows 10 mixed reality platform.

    I would like to second the request to support the Windows 10 mixed reality platform. Looking at the variety of headsets out there and most importantly no need for external tracking sensors this would just make sense to me. We just pre-ordered a samsung odyssey headset and I'm curious to see how it performs. Can the Enscape folks shed any light if any development is in progress to support the Win10 MRP?


    Danke schoen!


    Marc

    Couldn't help myself and ordered the Pimax 8k at the last minute on Kickstarter today. It sounds pretty incredible from everything I've seen and read, and will work with the existing Vive controllers and base stations.


    This video does a good job of covering all the differences between the Pimax and the Vive/Rift. Skip to 4:30 to hear where he starts talking about his experience with it



    The big improvements are to the resolution and field of view, making it much more immersive.


    It's supposed to work with SteamVR as well Oculus (through a third party app), so I'm hoping that means Enscape will recognize it as a headset. Guess I'll find out in a few months. They're supposed to start shipping in January but we'll see how that pans out. Kickstarter's often tend to be delayed.

    marckleinmann wrote:

    I would like to second the request to support the Windows 10 mixed reality platform.

    This x100. If anything is likely to set an accessible VR standard in the medium if not long term it is this, providing affordable, capable headsets from a variety of manufacturers, working to a common set of standards backed by Microsoft. Seems like a no brainer to me.

    I am also very curious about the Samsung Odyssey!


    Right now we use octane orbx player to display stereoscopic 360 deg. panos on the gear VR, and the client response is just great. Enscape in combination with the odyssey might be the perfect match for interactive realtime environments for us...


    best


    Andreas

    New user to Enscape here and we're loving it! We recently purchased a Samsung Odyssey HMD and it doesn't appear to work with Enscape out of the box. I'd also like to add my vote to request support for Windows Mixed Reality devices.


    Thanks for the great tool!

    I had the Samsung HMD Odyssey working with Enscape through the Windows MR Steam integration for a moment just a bit ago, worth a shot if you haven't tried it yet. I wasn't able to get too far as I do not have a bluetooth receiver on the desktop I was testing with, but until the proximity sensor picked up and tried auto-launching the SteamVR setup it seemed to be working.

    I hadn't considered using SteamVR but I was able to get it working as well. Clearly it's not the most optimal yet. Not only was the frame rate low enough to induce nausea (for me anyway) but there were a number of glitches when looking around from a fixed location. Parts of the building and the 3d people we had placed would flicker in and out of existence or distort. Anxiously anticipating native support!

    zebrand HTC Vive and the mixed reality headsets use SteamVR and Oculus its own software to provide the VR services for other applications.

    As we already support the HTC Vive via the services of SteamVR the new mixed reality headset already receives some information from us. But it is not really usable currently.

    We're on it.

    zebrand Here's how I was able to get it to work for now.


    1. Install Steam from steampowered.com and create an account (or use your own...)

    2. Search the store for SteamVR for Windows Mixed Reality. It should show up as being Early Access.

    3. Install that and run it. You'll probably need to go through the SteamVR setup process after doing so.

    4. When you get through the setup and make it to the SteamVR UI, leave it running, & switch over to Revit, SketchUp, or Rhino.

    5. Load your model and start Enscape.

    6. Enable VR headset from the Enscape menu.


    At this point you should see the model in the headset and can proceed from there. As I noted above, performance varies a lot depending on the model size and complexity, hardware, etc. Happy to see they're on the case about supporting WMR!