Author Topic: New Oculus Prototype: Crescent Bay (Read 4100 times)

Tbone · « **on:** September 20, 2014, 01:18:18 pm »

Oculus has unveiled their newest prototype, Crescent Bay, at their Conference, Oculus Connect. It is said to be another giant step forward, boasting a higher resolution, higher refresh rate, 360 degrees of positional tracking, large tracking space, and included audio. While Oculus has said the DK2 falls short of creating and maintaining presence, the Crescent Bay prototype is said to make people feel it even more than Valve's VR Room from earlier this year.

Oculus isn't revealing the exact specs on their newest prototype, but we do know a few things. It's reported that the resolution is at least 1080p. This is not newsworthy except that Oculus is using specialized optics to increase the "perceived" resolution. As a result, the screen door effect that plagued previous iterations practically doesn't exist. The screen is also running at 90hz, which allows Oculus to achieve an effective and consistent low persistence that is said to really anchor the virtual world in place.

The new positional tracking camera was built from the ground up by Oculus and impressively tracks a much larger area than the camera for the DK2. 360 degree positional tracking is achieved by the LED lights found on the back part of the headset. This version fits over the head more like a helmet, which allows room on the back for the lights.

Also new to the headset are headphones. They look pretty basic â€“ like ones you might find with your old Walkman, but Oculus says they are essentially placeholders for what will come with the consumer version. This is the beginning of Oculus' commitment to VR audio. Oculus Audio will license the University of Maryland's RealSpace3Dâ€™s audio technology, which brings audio virtualized in space.

Oculus was quick to say that the Rift is still a "seated experience" (one can almost see the lawyers looming in the background) and that the Crescent Bay is just a prototype and is not the final product. At the very least, we know that Oculus plans on designing the headset to be as comfortable and consumer-friendly as possible, and while this newest prototype is the lightest yet, there's still room for improvement!

Maglorius · « **Reply #1 on:** September 28, 2014, 04:07:23 pm »

This is interesting.

http://youtu.be/wZXjoMMigJU

Zero · « **Reply #2 on:** September 30, 2014, 03:33:22 pm »

Where have you been Mag? I guess not everyone has been obsessively refreshing r/Oculus all year like I have...

Maglorius · « **Reply #3 on:** September 30, 2014, 03:55:56 pm »

I am at work in North Dakota.

I have been refreshing everything because I lack the proper media entertainment on the rig.

Zero · « **Reply #4 on:** September 30, 2014, 04:31:40 pm »

I just meant the Google Cardboard is old news. Google I/O was back in June. But you probably weren't refreshing it as much then. I knew you were in North Dakota though! Otherwise you'd be on Destiny with me. Right?? Right?