castAR on kickstarter, this could be super

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tech...system/comments

Cool

I can't believe Valve fired her. She's brilliant!

But just like Oculus Rift, it's probably going to suck if you already have to wear prescription eyeglasses...

Looks cool and I'm definitely interested, but the eyeglasses thing...

Interesting concept.

No. This is, as far as I can tell, an augmented reality piece where the Oculus Rift is a 3d display piece. One augments what we see while the other replaces what we see. I might be reading this wrong.

I think you've got it right.

It's not exactly like that. Don't see it as an AR system, just a portable projection system with head tracking.

What this can do for flight sims is you can build a hemisphere using some retroreflective material, and have it suspended above your head. That can solve VRs (like the rift) problem of no way of seeing where your controls are.

Two things I will probably have problem with is the active 3d system they're using, and pico projectors aren't that good for gaming. The shutters they're using aren't meant for prolonged use, I and many other people get headaches after a while. The projectors isn't as big of a problem as technology wull get better (can't wait to see pico laser projectors with this).

Always remember, there's plenty of brilliant people that need to be fired

You never know.

Gene has been posting about it on here, since before the Kickstarter.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3842596/Disruptive_technology_is_putti#Post3842596

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3849854/The_castAR_Kickstarter_is_live

I suspect the micro projector performance will surprise you, due to how they work when combined with the retro-reflective material.

For anyone that is at all interested, I'd recommend getting on to Technical Illusion's forums. Jeri is very accessible on there.

And yes... I think this will be a better approach for most people interested in flight sims using hardware controls, such as HOTAS. Time will tell.

It's a refreshing take on what is obviously a needed step in display and control.

I see this device and those like it as integrating one or all of three discrete components: display, head tracking, and implement tracking. I have no strong opinion on the display aspect as the light wavefront at the eye is what's important not how it came to be there. Far, near, reflected, refracted, whatever produces the best wavefront with the minimum of ancillary costs (weight, cost, power requirement, discomfort, etc.).

When it comes to the head tracking aspect I haven't seen anyone quite hybridize accelerometers and optical methods properly. Accelerometers work without interference but have drift. Optical methods are temperamental but are absolute in space. The best system would hybrid the accelerometer and optical inputs to bridge optical gaps and prevent acceleration drifts. Discriminating between various tracking points via pulse coding or otherwise seems obvious and prevents performance problems. With unique tracking points one removes the limits of head motion quite easily.

Implement tracking isn't something I've given much thought but requires a camera most likely and possibly the hybrid optic/accel combo. A glove or other means of making the hand participate in the optical scene seem obvious. Cameras start to get expensive per number so multi purposing them saves on cost. A small array not on the person (static) could be calibrated by moving a point source in different locations and having each camera record that position.

Placing the implement tracker on the person means chaining the knowledge of the implement to the knowledge of the person. Lag and position problems are doubled as the uncertainty in each step is additive or even multiplicative.

The clever thing about retroreflective material is if it is suitably directional multiple users could share a surface provided they are far apart angularly without crossbleed of imagery.

not to get all off topic,

But that Camera Angle had just the right amount of Cleavage to keep my attention through out the looooong boring explanation of what they are building.

Awesome Planning in regards to filming.

mmmmilk.

The backstory on this (i.e. gossip) is interesting, in that:

- Valve owned the tech rights to CastAR, in that Jeri and the hardware team were employed by Valve. What you invent is owned (at the very least partially) by your own employer, especially in CS/IT/Gaming.

- Valve want to concentrate on Steambox\Steamcontroller\SteamOS first with the hardware people they have. They thought AR was not inline with what they wanted to do.

- Jeri really wanted to pursue CastAR, so (and this is the freaky bit when you think about it), Gabe and Valve decided to release the tech to her for free and say 'good luck, go for it'. They let about 25 people go.

I've not seen CastAR in action, but it looks great and I'm certainly interested in throwing in with the kickstarter.

What a relief... I thought it might just have been me!

Certainly not, I was verifiability in love by the 3 minute mark.

I still don't get why Valve would cast off something of such obvious value. They are pretty clever overall so they must have seen it.

The problem is it seems intended to do nothing more than create a kind of cube of 3d space. So you likely won't be able to use it in any currently existing game, and it'll require entirely different kinds of game design. Which I fear will tend to be gimmicky.

I have doubts that you could use it to create a kind of cave VR environment to use in flight simulators. It's designed to be projected onto a comparatively small area. The angular coverage won't be great enough, you'd find that you're looking at a kind of spotlight of view and around it in your peripheral view you'll see nothing. VR glasses also have a narrow field of view but they block out the periphery, with this you'd see beyond that, but there'd be nothing there.

It's an interesting idea, but it's currently an idea without an application. Maybe you could use it to visualize models in 3d modelling work, and other specialized applications, but for games it'll require completely new games. Made just for one expensive piece of hardware.

I'd love to play with it, but I'm not sure how much can be accomplished when you're limited to a kind of cube of space. Well, a cube and a bit of a narrow window in one direction, but the point of it is to create the impression of holograms on top of the surface, not depth into the screen.

Yes, I would have to agree with your concerns. It does really look "neat" but how practical will it be to actually use in current games, or as you say, will it require a whole new game process to go forward specifically written for the device?

Thats maybe why they let her go from Valve, which at the end of the day, is a buisness. If you are personally connected to a design you do become somewhat blinkered in your thoughts about it. I think Valve took a step back and thought "yeah thats neat, but we can't actually use it for what we do"

Something has just occurred to me. Really the kickstarter page already had this info but I didn't see it. They're suggesting it could be used for tabletop wargaming.

And suddenly I can imagine. I see the vision. I remain super skeptical that it'll happen, but I see it. Either a traditional turn based style wargame or maybe even an RTS, done in a VR tank style. Now it's limited, you can only really look at it from one side, so it's not like you can have people surrounding it on all sides. And more to the point, I'm not sure you could use it with more than one person at a time. Which is an issue because tabletop wargames have always been social games with multiple people playing together.

I know everyone's thinking Warhammer, but my only tabletop gaming experience has been Battletech. I'm imagining a three dimensional battlefield, with rendered units walking up and down the terrain.

Or with an RTS, I can see using the wand to tap on a unit to select it, or to draw a box to select multiple units or whatever.

Also I saw the part where they plan to have a clip on reflector thing so the glasses can be used as normal VR glasses. So that should provide compatibility with nearly anything, IF they have driver support for it. But I'm not sure they expect to. I'm talking about something like Nvidia's 3d solution, which generally works on any game running on Nvidia hardware except with the possibility of some flaws like some things being rendered at the wrong depth.

I actually am excited about the idea of this. I just worry that it'll be released and then fizzle because of a vicious cycle where not enough developers make games for it because not enough people are buying it because not enough developers are making games for it.

I'm not sure where you've got that from? It can be viewed from all sides, by multiple people simultaneously.

Here's another vid: