Forget waiting! Here’s all the CES 2022 tech you can buy right now
As a tip of our hat to the tech companies that give us instant gratification, we've rounded up all the best CES 2022 gear that you can buy right now
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Pre-orders for the 180° FOV XTAL 3 go Live Starting From $9K
This year’s CES in Las Vegas has seen virtual reality (VR) hardware announcements from the likes of Shiftall (a Panasonic subsidiary) and Sony (officially naming PlayStation VR2). One headset that’s gone under the radar is the XTAL 3, the latest high-end incarnation from VRgineers. Aiming squarely at enterprise and military clients, the XTAL 3 comes in two editions starting from just under $9K USD.
VRgineers’ XTAL has always focused its efforts towards wide field of view (FoV) applications, flight simulators in particular. That’s why the company boasts clients including the U.S. Air Force, NASA and BAE Systems among others. Designed in cooperation with Air Force pilots, the XTAL 3 will come in VR and mixed reality (MR) configurations – similar to Varjo’s latest devices – with both offering two 4K resolution displays (3840×2160 per eye), a 75Hz refresh rate at 4K (120Hz at QHD), eye tracking, inside-out tracking, and an Auto IPD adjustment range of 60-76 mm.
After that, the specifications do start to differ due to the XTAL 3 MR’s capabilities. For example, the XTAL 3 VR offers a 180° horizontal and 90° vertical FoV, whilst the MR edition is slightly less at 170° horizontal. With a pair of 4K cameras, the XTAL 3 MR headset does weigh in at 700g, 100g heavier than its VR sibling.
“The central cover of the headset is removable and reconfigurable, making it possible to change the headset from purely virtual to mixed reality, or replace inside-out tracking with ULTRALEAP hand tracking,” says CEO and co-founder Marek Polcak in a statement. “We can assure all our clients that the XTAL 3 will be compatible with all existing and future technologies they might need while maintaining the highest levels of comfort and convenience.”
“Our new one-dot calibration removes the biggest obstacle to the wide adoption of foveated rendering technology. The major bottleneck has always been the time-consuming calibration process necessary before every use of the foveated rendering feature,” Polcak explains. “The XTAL 3 calibration process uses unique one-dot calibration that creates a virtual mathematical model of the user’s face allowing us to calculate precise calibration formulas for eye tracking.”
So how much does all this cost? Well, the XTAL 3 VR starts from $8,900 USD excluding taxes whilst the XTAL 3 MR comes in at a rather more substantial $11,500. Making it quite the purchase if you want the ultimate Microsoft Flight Simulator experience.
VRgineers hasn’t solely been working on the new XTAL 3 either. In December, social VR platform Somnium Space released new details regarding its own standalone headset that’s being built in collaboration with VRgineers. This consumer-grade headset is expected to arrive in Q4 2022.
The XTAL 3 VR and XTAL 3 MR headsets are expected to ship to pre-order customers this April. For further updates from the VRgineers team, keep reading VRFocus.
NVIDIA Omniverse is now Freely Available to Creators
In its bid to help creators and businesses connect NVIDIA launched the beta version of its Omniverse platform last year, offering early access to those interested in signing up. As part of CES 2022 this week, the company has announced that the platform is now freely accessible to creators with no sign ups required. Additionally, several new features are also available.
These new additions include Omniverse Nucleus Cloud, a feature that enables sharing of large Omniverse 3D scenes without transferring massive datasets so that clients can see changes made by creators in real-time. Then there’s Omniverse Machinima where users can remix and recreate their own videogame cinematics using free characters, objects and environments from titles such as Mechwarrior 5 and Shadow Warrior 3.
For those who require facial animations, there’s Omniverse Audio2Face. This is an: “AI-enabled app that instantly animates a 3D face with just an audio track,” states NVIDIA. Creators can then directly export to Epic Game’s MetaHuman Creator app.
“We are at the dawn of the next digital frontier. Interconnected 3D virtual worlds … with shops, homes, people, robots, factories, museums … will be built by an expanding number of creators, collaborating across the globe,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of NVIDIA’s GeForce business at CES 2022. “This is the future of 3D content creation and how virtual worlds will be built.”
To help creators even further, 3D asset libraries like TurboSquid by Shutterstock, CGTrader, Sketchfab and Twinbru have all added support for the Omniverse ecosystem, all based on Universal Scene Description (USD) format.
“With this technology, content creators get more than just a fast renderer,” said Zhelong Xu, a digital artist and Omniverse Creator based in Shanghai. “NVIDIA Omniverse and RTX give artists a powerful platform with infinite possibilities.”
NVIDIA Omniverse is free to download for individual users and works with GeForce RTX graphics cards to enhance existing 3D workflows. For businesses, there’s Omniverse Enterprise, a subscription service with a 30-day free trial. For continued updates from NVIDIA, keep reading VRFocus.
CES 2022: The biggest news and announcements so far
We're now officially at the halfway point of CES 2022, so we rounded up all the biggest announcements and news that have surfaced so far. Enjoy!
HTC Vive Unveils new Hardware Solutions at CES 2022, Including a Wrist Tracker & Charging Case
HTC Vive had quite the 2021 releasing not one or two but three virtual reality (VR) headsets, the Vive Pro 2, Vive Focus 3 and Vive Flow. As part of CES 2022 today, the company has just unveiled a bunch of accessories specifically for the standalone Vive Focus 3, a wrist tracker, charging case and multi-battery charger.
The Vive Focus 3 is HTC Vive’s all-in-one (AIO) solution for businesses, whether that’s companies looking to conduct training sessions and meetings in VR, or location-based entertainment (LBE) venues after the latest cord-free technology. And it’s the latter that could benefit the most from these latest gadgets. The Vive Wrist Tracker provides a tracking solution specifically for the headset, 85% smaller and 50% lighter (63g) than the Vive Focus 3 controllers.
Worn either on the wrist or attached to objects so they can be tracked in VR, the Vive Wrist Tracker has LEDs that are picked up by the headset tracking cameras. Whilst the Wrist Tracker can aid hand tracking, HTC Vive says it can also improve tracking from your fingertips to your elbow, even when out of sight of the cameras. It does this by: “using high-frequency IMU data and an advanced kinematic model,” predicting a users hand position.
Offering four hours of continual use out of a single charge (charged via a USB-C connection), the Vive Wrist Tracker has a one-button pairing feature to the Vive Focus 3 as well as a removable strap for cleaning. It’ll arrive early in 2022 for US customers first, priced at $129 USD, €129 EUR, £119 GBP. HTC Vive has confirmed it’ll release the CAD files so that owners can build their own docking solutions for attaching the tracker to guns, sports equipment or other objects.
Then there’s the Vive Focus 3 Charging Case, ideal for when you want to take the headset out and about whilst keeping it fully charged. With an outer splash-proof rigid shell design, the charging case features lockable zips for security and an in-built storage area for chargers and cables. As for that charging capability, the original Vive Focus 3 charger plugs into the corner of the case to juice up the headset and both controllers.
There’s an additional feature that businesses and other organisations may find useful if they have multiple devices, auto-pairing. When placing the headset and controllers inside the case, all devices will pair instantly, ensuring no awkward mismatching of components if sets get muddled together.
Finally, there’s the Multi Battery Charger. The Vive Focus 3 features the ability to hot-swap batteries for continual use but in a busy setting like a classroom, operators will need to continually charge batteries. The Vive Focus 3 Multi Battery Charger can charge up to four batteries at once, all at full speed with LED indicators showing the charge status.
Currently, HTC Vive hasn’t said when the Charging Case or Multi Battery Charger will be available or how much they’ll cost. When those details are available VRFocus will let you know.
HTC Announces Wrist Tracker for Vive Focus 3, Releasing in Early 2022 for $129
HTC unveiled a new VR tracker device at CES 2022 today, this time targeting its $1,300 enterprise-focused standalone headset, Vive Focus 3. It’s slated to go on sale sometime early this year, starting at $129.
Unlike its SteamVR-compatible Vive Tracker, the new Vive Wrist Tracker is a wrist-worn device which hooks into Vive Focus 3’s inside-out tracking system. It does this essentially the same way the headset’s controllers are tracked in room-scale space, i.e. through infrared LEDs that are tracked optically through the headset’s onboard camera sensors.
HTC says in the announcement that the tracker allows users to either strap it to their wrist for what the company calls “advanced hand tracking” in addition to using controllers, or to objects like gun controllers, Ping-Pong paddles, or tools.
Below you can see a Nerf gun has been rigged up with Vive Wrist Tracker, making for a 6DOF-tracked virtual weapon:
The company says Vive Wrist Tracker is 85% smaller than Vive Focus 3’s controller, and 50% lighter at 63g. It boasts up to four hours of constant use, charged via USB-C. HTC says it includes a simple one-button pairing feature for wireless connection, and also features a removable strap for easy cleaning.
As for its more accurate hand tracking, this is what the company says in Vive Wrist Tracker’s announcement:
“When user wears the tracker on the wrist, we can predict the tracker’s motion trajectories even when the tracker is out of camera’s view in a while by using high-frequency IMU data and an advanced kinematic model. With this technology, we can predict their hand position when the hands leave the tracking camera view.”
Road to VR skipped the physical bit of CES 2022 this year, however we’re very interested to see the wrist tracker in action to see if it makes a material difference in terms of hand tracking.
Likely its biggest appeal is the ability to track objects, giving location-based entertainment venues and enterprise users the ability to avoid the typical mixing and matching of hardware ecosystems, such as OptiTrack or SteamVR base stations. To boot, HTC says its releasing CAD files so prospective owners can build custom docking solutions or harnesses around the tracker.
HTC is initially launching Vive Wrist Tracker in the US starting early 2022, priced at $129/€129/£119. Although they haven’t said as much, that pricing means it will very likely roll out Vive Wrist Tracker to the UK and EU at a later date.
In addition to Vive Wrist Tracker, HTC unveiled a few other Vive Focus 3 accessories, including a new charging travel case and a multi-battery charging dock. It’s not clear when either of those will go on sale, or for what price. We’ll be keeping an eye on the Vive accessories product page in the meantime.
The post HTC Announces Wrist Tracker for Vive Focus 3, Releasing in Early 2022 for $129 appeared first on Road to VR.
Ubisoft+ is coming to Xbox, while Rainbow Six goes to Game Pass
Rainbow Six Extraction and Rainbow Six Siege are also coming to Xbox Game Pass.