Yipeee! Samsung Gear VR!

Started by otakar, March 14, 2016, 07:05:05 PM

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otakar

So I convinced myself to spring for the new Samsung Galaxy S7 phone. Very expensive toy, but they threw in enough early buyer incentives to make me upgrade. One of those is the Samsung Gear VR set (http://www.samsung.com/us/explore/gear-vr/). Have not unboxed it yet, but hope that I can use it for some of these TG scenes from the competition as well as the "Evolution of Verse" film. Anyone else getting one?

archonforest

My friend bought this package last Christmas. He said it is cool but without a controller is not very useful.
I want to get a vr set for my pc when it will be stable and the price goes down :D
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

TheBadger

Cool otakar! try to get to the gear pages of the oculus forum, to download some great demos, including lots of info and links to 360 movie projects.

...

I thought that there was a controller for the gear. There isn't?
I really want to get to a store to try a demo of it. I don't know too much about the quality. Just saw a few demos but could not try them because you can't run the gear stuff on oculus. At least you could not when I looked a wile ago.
It has been eaten.

archonforest

Quote from: TheBadger on March 15, 2016, 12:00:05 PM
Cool otakar! try to get to the gear pages of the oculus forum, to download some great demos, including lots of info and links to 360 movie projects.

...

I thought that there was a controller for the gear. There isn't?
I really want to get to a store to try a demo of it. I don't know too much about the quality. Just saw a few demos but could not try them because you can't run the gear stuff on oculus. At least you could not when I looked a wile ago.

My friend got no controller. Just the phone and the vr stuff...
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

otakar

Thanks guys. From what I gather there is a built-in touchpad but for games you want an external controller, which is not that expensive (some tips: http://www.gizmag.com/gear-vr-tips-2015/40908/). Not sure about gaming, I spend enough time as it is on mobile device games, I am more interested in exploring environments.

I'll report back when I have had a chance to try it.

TheBadger

if you have not already, get unity or UDK. Then with vector output from TG, you *should* be able to really see your TG work in the way you have been imagining in your minds eye. Both are free, and both are VR ready.

Don't know if it is more or less complex to build for GEAR though. Please let us know if and when you find out.
It has been eaten.

otakar

Will keep all that in mind. For now I have installed VRSE and downloaded the Evolution of Verse - it would not work on my old phone or newer tablet. Even without the Gear VR, just watching it on the phone, it is stunning! Can't wait until I see this on the headset!

TheBadger

I still can't view that because it will not work on my version of iPhone.

Looks like they invented a whole new industry that will not be compatible, and which they plan on making very expensive, and that needs to be paid upgraded every year or two. So nothing new really.  ;D  >:(

It has been eaten.

yossam

Saw Matts' name in the closing credits..............watched on youtube, quality sucked.  :'(

archonforest

Quote from: otakar on March 15, 2016, 02:55:16 PM
Will keep all that in mind. For now I have installed VRSE and downloaded the Evolution of Verse - it would not work on my old phone or newer tablet. Even without the Gear VR, just watching it on the phone, it is stunning! Can't wait until I see this on the headset!

So how it is?
For some reason my friend is pretty disappointed with the gear. He says the resolution of the screen is not enough and that the gear should be adjustable in the middle so it can be adjusted to the eye of the individual. Well...I will ask him to see this now...
Dell T5500 with Dual Hexa Xeon CPU 3Ghz, 32Gb ram, GTX 1080
Amiga 1200 8Mb ram, 8Gb ssd

otakar

Hoping for the weekend. Too much going on now like pesky work every day :) ...


I share TheBager's frustration. New stuff just won't run on devices barely a year old. Crazy. And prices on the top end are only increasing because they keep making them more powerful and capable negating any savings from cheaper (production of) individual components.

Yossam, youtube won't do it. As you move the device you are looking in a different different direction 'in the movie's world'. It is truly something...

Hannes

I bought this one (German site):
http://www.pearl.de/a-ZX1554-1059.shtml;jsessionid=gF9F10D37CF1AB9BA990BE9C8D7536E4E
It's a better quality version of Google's cardboard. It has adjustable glass lenses and does what it's supposed to do. The quality depends on the resolution of your smartphone's display of course.
I think it's just a toy, but to get a grip of VR it's quite nice, and 40 Euros is OK. I have a Samsung S3 mini, so of course the image quality is quite crappy, but it's fun.

otakar

So I had my test run. First I was a bit disappointed at the resolution, definitely a difference from watching the Evolution of Verse on the phone display - you can see individual pixels and it gets a bit blurry around the edges, kind of like a 3D movie. But I had nothing to compare to and apparently short of the Oculus Rift the Gear VR has the best resolution of the lot. Soon I found myself completely immersed and disoriented. You just want to keep turning your head to explore the world. Then I tried the Oculus app Star Chart. Visually stunning. It just takes a while to get used to the navigation. Then I tried Dead Secret, a murder mystery game. Again, less than completely real, but it does not take long and you start looking past that and keep moving around physically.

I wear glasses and I could keep them on and not be uncomfortable. Still, I don't think you'd be fin with more than 30 minutes per session, the Gear fits well and is not heavy, but it's a bit exhausting :)