Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today, we’re curious what you think of HTC’s future in the VR industry.
Last week HTC canceled all of their CES appointments and pulled out of the show entirely. In an email a spokesperson said the “new vision for Vive” would be shared soon with Mobile World Congress (MWC) fast-approaching. Now that CES is in the books, it leads us to wonder what’s next for the Taiwan-based tech company.
Back in 2016, with help from Valve, HTC pioneered roomscale VR when the original HTC Vive launched. But after 2019, a year that saw a lackluster Vive Cosmos consumer launch and expanded efforts in the enterprise sector across their Vive Pro Eye and Vive Focus headsets, tides are clearly shifting.
What will happen next for HTC in the VR market? Will they continue to straddle the line between consumer-focused and enterprise-focused, or will they further back out of the consumer market, ceding it to Sony, Facebook, and Valve primarily, and focus mostly on enterprise consumers? Or perhaps they’ll announce a brand new consumer-focused effort for 2020 and surprise everyone instead.
What do you think? Let us know down in the comments below. And if you missed the news from CES you can get caught up in our roundup of the top headlines and watch us discuss the biggest topics on our weekly VR talk show, The VR Download, which airs every Thursday at 10:30AM PT on YouTube.
HTC today announced that it’s released support for 5Ghz WiFi streaming for Vive Focus Plus, as well as all 6DOF standalone headsets supporting the Vive Wave platform. Much like Oculus Quest’s Link functionality, Vive Focus Plus can now play PC VR titles through Viveport, albeit without the need of a cable.
Now released in beta, WiFi streaming is only being made available to subscribers of Viveport Infinity, the company’s Netflix-style subscription service for its digital distribution platform, which allows unlimited downloading of select content.
Outside of needing a Viveport Infinity subscription and Vive Focus Plus (or any other full-6DOF Vive Wave headset, which excludes the original Vive Focus) users will additionally need a VR-ready PC and a ‘standard’ 5Ghz WiFi router.
Vive Focus Plus, which is sold starting at $800, is couched as an enterprise-focused device in the US and Europe, however in China it was launched as a bona fide consumer device, which may explain why the only promotional information we’ve found so far is in Chinese, courtesy of VR publication Skarred Ghost.
As Skarred Ghost’s Antony Vitillo notes, there are currently 300 games and experiences on Viveport M, the mobile version of Viveport; with the inclusion of official WiFi streaming, this effectively opens that number up to over 2,000 titles.
HTC Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin announced the news via Twitter, making sure to mention there’s also “no need for special wires or cables,” an apparent swipe at Oculus Quest requiring a USB-C cable to play Oculus Rift platform games.
Before today’s release, Vive Focus Plus users typically streamed PC VR games via two popular unofficial software choices: Rift Catâs VRidge software and AMD ReLive.
We haven’t had a chance to compare those methods with the new Viveport streaming implementation, although we’ll be looking out for user reports in the meantime. Whatever the case, HTC’s native implementation will need to hit an acceptable latency and video quality to be considered a true competitor to Oculus Link for Quest, which thus far has worked pretty flawlessly. That’s outside the fact that Vive Focus Plus simply isn’t competing with the $400 Quest, as it’s been deliberately sold as an enterprise device in the West, and at double its price.
Today at the ChinaJoy 2019 event, HTC announced that the Vive Focus Plus standalone VR headset will support integrated content streaming from Viveport via a nearby VR-ready PC over standard 5Ghz Wi-Fi networks.
The feature is described as a “one click” solution to offer “seamless content streaming” from Viveport accounts. This has been a hot topic for standalone VR headsets for some time and even the Oculus Quest has a host of solutions for PC content streaming but none of them are official from Oculus.
On the flip side, this solution for Vive Focus Plus is directly from HTC:
â5G Cloud VR has been a hot topic in the press recently, and in one to two years, after the 5G network is more robust, it will provide a new way for users to experience high quality VR without the need for a high-end PC. Until then, the new VIVEPORT Streaming capability being announced today will enable VR users to enjoy countless premium PC VR experiences on their standalone VR devices without the need for a wire.â said Alvin Wang Graylin, China President, HTC in a prepared statement. âPC VR streaming as a concept is not new, but having the PC and the Vive Focus Plus complete the full complex network connection automatically and providing a seamless UI to starting any VR content on the linked PC from inside the VR device makes the experience a real breakthrough.â
The concept is great, but from what we’ve seen with our own two eyes the execution isn’t quite perfect. Jamie tried Viveport streaming over 5Ghz at Mobile World Congress (MWC) earlier this year and had the following to say:
“The idea of instantly jumping from one high-fidelity VR experience to another no matter where I am is exciting. Weâre just not there quite yet.”
PC VR streaming from Viveport is coming first to the Vive Focus Plus in Q4 2019, but will also support “other full 6DOF standalone VR devices built on Vive Wave VR open platform” after that. There is no timeframe on other devices besides “soon.”
In February, HTC unveiled its full 6DOF version of the company’s standalone VR headset targeted at enterprise users, Vive Focus Plus. Now, the company has officially announced pricing and availability for the headset and controller bundle.
Vive Focus Plus is slated to launch worldwide on April 15th on HTC’s Vive website for $800, which will be available in 25 markets with 19 supported languages. The company announced the news at the Vive Ecosystem Conference (VEC 2019) in Shenzhen, China this week.
Vive Focus Plus is touted for its inclusion of ultrasonic 6DOF controllersâsomething that was notably missing from the original Vive Focus, which first saw launch in China as a consumer device in January 2018, and then later in the rest of world as an enterprise-focused headset the following November.
As with its predecessor, Vive Focus Plus is launching in China as a consumer device too, and will be priced at „5,699 yuan (~$850) which includes local value-added tax.
In addition to the new 6DOF controllers, which puts it at input parity with the upcoming $400 Oculus Quest, Vive Focus Plus also boasts better comfort and better visuals over the old design thanks to a slightly updated headstrap and improved Fresnel lenses.
We went hands-on with Vive Focus Plus, and true to the company’s word the newly refreshed optics are remarkably clearer than those on the previous Vive Focus. We didn’t get a long enough stint with Vive Focus Plus to determine how much a step above it is over its predecessor in terms of comfort, although it did feel notably more comfortable than the previous generation.
Although marketed as enterprise device outside of China, HTC is boasting “nearly 250 Vive Wave applications at launch that run natively on the Vive Focus Plus.” How many of those have been built specifically for 6DOF controllers, we’re not sure at this time; all Vive Focus games are said to work on Vive Focus Plus.
The company additionally announced a ‘multi-mode’ capability which allows Vive Focus Plus to connect wirelessly with PCs to steam PCVR content via Rift Cat’s VRidge software, the ability to stream content from game consoles to a virtual screen, live 360 camera streaming, as well as upcoming Cloud VR services.
As for those promised Cloud VR services: the company’s recently announced 5G Hub is said to allow Vive Focus Plus users to stream cloud-rendered PC VR content, although it’s uncertain when this service will be live considering 5G is still in closed testing across very few cities worldwide.
Vive Focus Plus Specs
Display: 3K AMOLED (2,880 Ă 1,600)
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Audio: Built-in Speaker
HeadTracking: Optical inside-Out
FrameRate: 75Hz
Fieldof View: 110-degrees
Battery: 4000 mAh
Controller: ultrasonic 6DOF
Data Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Memory(RAM/ROM): 4/32 GB
Connector: USB Type-C
Power & Battery: Build-in rechargeable battery (up to 3 hours of active use time), QC3.0 fast charging
Vertigo Games hat einen neuen Trailer zum kommenden VR-Multiplayer-Titel Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl veröffentlicht und gibt damit erste Einblicke in das Gameplay des kommenden Spiels:
Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl soll am 2. April fĂŒr Oculus Rift, HTC Vive und Windows-VR-Brillen auf Steam fĂŒr 9,99 Euro sowie im Oculus Store erscheinen. Eine Version fĂŒr Vive Focus soll zu einem spĂ€teren Zeitpunkt folgen.
[Originalartikel vom 8. MĂ€rz 2019]:
Entwicklerstudio Vertigo Games (bekannt fĂŒr Arizona Sunshine und Skyworld) hat sich mit den Vive Studios zusammengetan, um ein neues VR-Multiplayer-Kartenspiel fĂŒr Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows-VR-Brillen und Vive Focus zu entwickeln. Im selben Universum wie der bereits veröffentlichte Echtzeitstrategietitel angesetzt, soll Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl Multiplayer-Duelle gegen anderen Kartenspielenthusiasten ermöglichen und dabei Cross-Plattform-Support gewĂ€hrleisten.
Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl – VR-Kartenspiel mit Multiplayer und Cross-Plattform-Support fĂŒr PC-Brillen
Bei der AnkĂŒndigung neuer Multiplayer-Kartenspielen rollen viele Gamer heutzutage eher mit den Augen, anstatt enthusiastisch von ihrem Stuhl aufzuspringen. Der Markt ist mit Spielen wie Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering oder Artifact durchaus gesĂ€ttigt. Mit Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl erhĂ€lt das Genre allerdings eine neue Dimension, denn dank VR werden die taktischen Matches gegen andere Spieler zu einem immersiven Erlebnis.
Der VR-Titel versetzt die Spieler in bis zu 20 verschiedene Kampfarenen, um gegen Kontrahenten in taktischen WettkĂ€mpfen anzutreten. DafĂŒr könnt ihr aus einer groĂen Anzahl von Karten euer eigenes Deck erstellen und dieses mit bekannten Truppen, Fabelwesen und Zaubern erweitern. Die verschiedenen Karten sollen innerhalb des Spiels freispielbar werden. Genauere Informationen ĂŒber die Spielmechaniken oder mögliche Bezahlinhalte wurden derzeit noch nicht veröffentlicht.
Per Cross-Plattform-Multiplayer dĂŒrft ihr jedoch jederzeit eure Freunde herausfordern und nebenbei Punkte fĂŒr das globale Leaderboard sammeln. Auch eSports-Enthusiasten sollen auf ihre Kosten kommen, denn die verantwortlichen Entwickler versprechen regulĂ€r stattfindende Turniere. Nebenbei gibt es ein Clan-System, was euch mit anderen Mitspielern verbindet und die Möglichkeit auf einzigartige Belohnungen eröffnet.
Skyworld: Kingdom Brawl soll offiziell am 2. April fĂŒr Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows-VR-Brillen und Vive Focus erscheinen. Eine Version fĂŒr die Vive Focus Plus soll zu einem spĂ€teren Zeitpunkt folgen. Ăber einen Release fĂŒr Oculus Quest und/oder PlayStation VR (PSVR) ist noch nichts bekannt.
Auf der GDC 2019 sollen weitere Informationen zum kommenden VR-Titel erscheinen.
Announced just last week, Vive Focus Plus is HTC’s next iteration of their standalone VR headset that adds a pretty big missing puzzle piece, namely a replacement for its predecessor’s single 3DOF controller (rotation only) for the new 6DOF controllers. But that’s not exactly all there is to Vive Focus Plus.
We’ve seen Vive Focus using 6DOF controllers a few times before the new version’s public debut at MWC 2019âit was only last month at CES that the company’s hardware partner Chirp Microsystems (now acquired by TDK) was still giving demos of the 6DOF controller dev kit in action, which included two controllers and an external snap-on faceplate studded with the little pinhole-size emitters and receivers for its ultrasonic controller tracking.
Vive 6DOF controller dev kit, Photo by Road to VR
A few thing have changed about Vive Focus Plus from its predecessorâthe new headset now boasts better comfort, a clearer image delivered by new lenses, and of course the 6DOF controllersâalthough not much else has changed from Focus to Focus Plus outside of that.
It still contains the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, the same dual 1,600 à 1,440 OLED displays, and the same optical headset tracking as before.
Vive Focus Plus, Photo by Road to VR
I’ll save you some time if you’ve been following along already by not rehashing the entire product; if not, check out our in-depth hands-on with the original Vive Focus from last year’s MWC to learn more about what fundamentally makes both of the headsets tick.
Now let’s dive into what’s new.
6DOF Controllers
Predictably the controllers handle nearly the same as Chirp’s, and we’ve written good and plenty about them over the past few months too. A quick refresher: it’s a pretty acceptable controller tracking implementation that offers ‘good enough’ latency and a wide enough tracking volume to keep the controllers spatially positioned even when they’re directly outside of the user’s field of view, meaning you won’t actually ever notice when your controllers go outside of their operational range (putting your hands behind your back, or behind your head).
Photo by Road to VR
The headset and controllers send and receive ultrasonic sound in a frequency that it’s well out of the range of what even a dog can hear, so there’s seems to be little that can throw them off in terms of interference. I found the controller tracking to work as advertised even on the noisy expo floor.
That said, the final production controller isn’t the best design out there, but certainly not the worst. This mostly comes down to button layout and its ambidextrous designâboth left and right controllers are interchangeable. While a bespoke left and right controller molded to each hand would invariably be a better fit, it’s decidedly much more natural-feeling than the wands that come with the other Vive varieties on offer.
Photo by Road to VR
On the controller you’ll find a touchpad, an index finger trigger and a secondary grip button on the under side, and two awkwardly placed menu and home buttons that require you to adjust your grip to press.
In contrast to the dev kit, the new controllers offer only one new real hardware feature I could tell just by handling them; button and trigger presses offer an improved analogue feel. In short, the controllers get the job done and appear to do so without taxing the Snapdragon 835 too much.
The new headset makes one obvious change from the original Vive Focus in the ergonomics department, a larger forehead piece that provides better weight distribution. And while it’s not an unsubstantial change, I’d really need a much longer session than an expo floor demo to figure out just how much of an effect it has. That said, it did feel more comfortable than Vive Focus, something I last tried at CES in January.
Now that the ultrasonic controller tracking system is embedded in the headset itself, the new Focus Plus boasts an obvious benefit over the dev kit by delivering better balance, as the front-heavy tracking tech is offset internally.
The one change that is pretty significant is the new optics, which are remarkably clearer than the previous Vive Focus. While I wasn’t able to get confirmation on what specifically changed from Focus to Focus Plus, thankfully it’s fairly easy to see with the naked eye.
Vive Focus Plus lenses, Photo by Road to VR
It appears the company has taken a few design cues from Samsung HMD Odyssey, which have a similar Fresnel ridge layout. All other Vive products, the original Vive Focus included, feature concentric Fresnel ridges that terminate at a much smaller circle in the middle of the lens. In Vive Focus Plus you can see the ridges dissipate much earlier before reaching the center.
The upside to the new lens design is a reduced perception of an optical artifact unique to Fresnels known as ‘god rays’, or streams of light that appear to emanate from the center of the lens and jut outwards like wispy beams of light. The only app on display with high enough contrast to test this was the company’s conceptual 5G Hub cloud-rendering setup that streamed PC VR shooter Superhot VR (2017) to Vive Focus Plus. The reduction in god rays was notable, and I’m hoping HTC moves more towards this lens style in future products.
Bereits vor dem MWC 2019 gibt HTC bekannt, dass es eine Neuauflage der HTC Vive Focus geben wird. Die HTC Vive Focus Plus soll mit trackbaren Controllern ausgestattet werden und komplett autark arbeiten. Es wird also kein PC und auch kein Smartphone benötigt. Somit bringt HTC tatsÀchlich einen Konkurrent zur Oculus Quest auf den Markt.
HTC Vive Focus Plus: Neue autarke VR-Brille mit 6DOF-Controller
Zwar HTC bereits Controller fĂŒr die Vive Focus vorgestellt, jedoch sollen die neuen Controller fĂŒr die Focus Plus nicht mit der alten Vive Focus kompatibel sein. Technisch hat sich jedoch wenig verĂ€ndert und auch die Focus Plus wird auf einen Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 setzen und ein 3K-Display beherbergen. DafĂŒr soll sich zumindest der Komfort beim Tragen erhöht haben.
Die neuen Controller der Vive Focus werden mit Ultrasonic-Technologie arbeiten. Beim Ultrasonic-Tracking wird ein GerÀusch in einer nicht hörbaren und sehr hohen Frequenz abgespielt. Durch eine Zeitmessung an den EmpfÀngern kann die Position dann berechnet werden. HTC sagt, dass das Tracking einen Bereich von 180 Grad horizontal und 140 Grad vertikal mit einer sehr hohen Genauigkeiten abdecken soll.
Die Vive Focus Plus soll in 25 LĂ€ndern im zweiten Quartal 2019 erscheinen. Einen Preis gibt HTC noch nicht bekannt, jedoch kostete die Vive Focus zum Start 599 US-Dollar und musste ohne Controller auskommen.
HTC today announced its planning to release a new version of Vive Focus targeted at enterprise users, this time including integrated hardware support for two ultrasonically-tracked 6DOF controllers. Enter Vive Focus Plus, a truly standalone 6DOF VR headset.
Update (12:35 PM ET): A previous version of this article stated that it appeared the Vive Focus Plus has the same Fresnel lenses as the Vive Focus. HTC reached out to us, telling us the lenses in Vive Focus Plus are indeed new, and result in “visibly better graphics.”
We’ve also obtained a copy of the specs list, which has been included at the bottom of the article.
Furthermore, HTC says that more information around pricing and launch date will come at the Vive Ecosystem Conference (VEC) in late March. We’ve included all of this in the body of the article.
The company’s original Vive Focus first launched to consumers in China early last year with a single 3DOF controller (rotation only). While the $600 standalone headset has since made its way westward, shifting away from consumers and emphasizing its use in the enterprise market, the controller remained a sticking point for users and developers who found its 6DOF optical head tracking and 3DOF controller tracking to be pretty strange bedfellows.
Unsurprisingly, Vive Focus Plus essentially incorporates the same technology found in the company’s Vive Focus 6DOF controller dev kit, which shipped out to developers a few months ago as a snap-on faceplate and two ultrasonically tracked controllers created by Chirp Microsystem’s (now owned by TDK).
Image courtesy HTC
Now that the tech is totally integrated, the only apparent differences from the original and Vive Focus Plus are the black and white color scheme and a few barely visible dimples embedded on the front a sides of the unit (seen below) where ultrasonic sounds are emitted and received by its controllers.
This presumably allows for the same ~180-degree controller tracking volume as the dev kit, although besides the addition of 6DOF controllers apparently not much else has changed about the headset itself from a hardware standpoint.
Image courtesy HTC
Like the original Vive Focus it has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, and the same single AMOLED display at 2,880Â Ă 1,600 (1,660Â Ă 1,600 per lens) resolution; it appears to have the same Fresnel lenses too(see update). HTC says however that the headset’s ergonomics have been refreshed to be more comfortable, and ‘rest easier’ on users’ heads and that the lenses are new too, resulting in a “visibly better graphics.”
Vive Focus Plus is slated to launch in Q2 2019 via the company’s website in 25 markets worldwide, supporting 19 languages. In most markets, the company says, Vive Focus Plus will include an enterprise license for use at no additional cost.
HTC hasn’t released pricing info yet, although the company says more information around pricing and launch date will come at the Vive Ecosystem Conference (VEC) in late March.
Image courtesy HTC
With the enterprise market in sight, Vive Focus Plus is said to ship with full enterprise support, as well as professional features including Kiosk Mode, Gaze Support, and device management tools to remotely enroll, monitor, and manage multiple headsets all at once. The company also highlights a few enterprise use cases already in the works including a full 6DOF medical training app by SimforHealth, and an occupational heath & safety app by Immersive Factory.
Just like the original Vive Focus though we suspect there won’t be any real barriers for stalwart ‘prosumers’ to plonk down the cash and get one too. To that end, HTC Vive Americas general manager Daniel OâBrien says Vive Focus Plus “furthers [their] commitment to rapidly iterate and refine the VR market for both businesses and consumers.â
Enterprise emphasis notwithstanding, Vive Focus Plus is powered by the company’s open source API, Vive Wave, and sources content from their digital distribution platform Viveport, making a more consumer-facing release not entirely out of the realm of possibility in the futureâprovided it gains a list of compatible games developed specifically for 6DOF controllers and has an attractive price tag to match the upcoming $400 Oculus Quest.
Moreover, HTC says that with Vive Wave and its SDK tools in hand that porting from PC-based VR apps to Vive Focus Plus “will be relatively easy for developers.”
HTC will be showcasing Vive Focus Plus alongside the new Vive Pro Eye at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, next week. We’ll have feet on the ground there, so make sure to check back soon for more info.
Vive Focus Plus Specs
Display: 3K AMOLED (2880×1600)
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Audio: Built-in Speaker
Tracking: Inside-out 6DoF
FrameRate: 75Hz
FieldofView: 110-degrees
Battery: 4000 mAh (up to 2.5 hours* of active use time)
Vive Wave is HTC’s open platform that offers interoperability between several classes of mobile VR headsets and accessories, something the company hopes will help unite a fragmented market. Although with greater choice in VR accessories comes the task of understanding the key differences between them. Enter FinchShift and Chirp, two different solutions to the same problem: bringing 6DOF controllers to Vive Focus.
As early entrants into the 6DOF standalone headset segment, both Lenovo Mirage Solo and HTC Vive Focus come with a single 3DOF controller in the box, making for a notable mismatch in how you move your head in room-scale space and how you move your controller (rotation only).
At CES last month, I got a chance to try out both of the officially supported 6DOF controllers for Vive Focus back-to-back, FinchShift from Finch Technologies and Chirp from TDK’s Chirp Microsystems.
Both controllers offer what you might call ‘casual-level’ inputâneither match the precision of what we’ve come to expect from the current bar set by Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Admittedly, it’s a very different playing field though, with power consumption at the top of the list, which is driving these companies to stay well away from Vive Focus’ optical tracking standard in pursuit of two approaches that are both basestation-free and light on computational & power requirements.
Chirp – Ultrasonics Showing Promise
The Chirp controllers are based on the company’s SonicTrack tech, which fuses ultrasonic and IMU sensor data to provide position and orientation tracking, giving the motion controllers a suitably wide tracking volume.
The company maintains its 180+ degree tracking volume extends to a maximum of 1.2 meters away (~4 feet), or well outside the average arm’s length of reach.
The system is essentially composed of two main parts, the faceplate receiver/emitter which plugs into Vive Focus’ USB port, and the controllers; both the controllers and faceplate house an array of the company’s CH-101 ultrasonic emitters.
Image captured by Road to VR
Calibration A pairing process was done beforehand by a TDK spokesperson, so I didn’t have a chance to find out what exactly needs to be done to get it ready (see update below). It was quick enough though, and was easily passed off to me for a hitch-free start that appeared to line up with my hands’ actual position.
The size of the tracking cone is difficult to substantiate in a single-player game where you can’t see what it looks like when you do inevitably lose positional tracking by putting your hands behind your back or covering up the emitters, although it’s clearly outside of the user’s in-game field of view by a large enough margin to not be noticeable.
Image captured by Road to VR
To that effect, I was actually able to shoot a gun from the hip when looking straight forward, showing that it’s large enough to accommodate holstering actions at the very least. The true test of the controller’s tracking volume invariably will come in social VR environments that use inverse kinematics (IK) to create full-bodied avatars so you can directly see when your controller leaves the positional tracking cone.
As noisy and chaotic as the show floor was, I was told there wasn’t really anything there that would throw off the controller’s tracking, as the company’s ultrasonic time-of-flight tech works well above even what even a dog can hear.
Image captured by Road to VR
It’s easy to see why HTC tapped Chirp as for its official HTC Vive 6DOF developer kit: it works reasonably well, is low enough latency for casual applications, and has pretty solid positional tracking, something I wasn’t able to break after spending a good amount of time in both a shooting and a sword fighting game. Jitter was more than what I’ve seen on Windows VR headsets, but much less than when I first saw Chirp when it was integrated into Pico Neo at CES a year ago.
That said, I was never thrown into something I play often like Beat Saber (2018)Â to really get a feel for the controller’s tracking latency, so just how it stands up to even PS Move or Windows VR headsets remains to be seen.
FinchShift – Full FOV, But Lacking Precision
FinchShift is slated to be sold by HTC soon as a part of an official 6DOF controller developer kit option, and has been certified by Qualcomm to work with their Snapdragon 845 VR Reference Design as well.
Like Chirp, FinchShift offers a basestation-less experience and 6DOF controller tracking, but that’s where the comparisons stop. As an IMU-based system that uses IK to approximate relative arm and hand position, FinchShift enjoys the ability to function with full 360 degree trackingâno faceplate required thanks to Bluetooth 4.2 wireless that sends data directly to the headset.
Image courtesy Finch Technologies
In fact, it’s such a low-power solution that Finch Technologies is promising upwards of 50+ hours of active operation time for the 100g (~3.5 oz) controllers.
The system includes two controllers and two armbands, the latter of which provides more tracking points so the IK system can do its job in estimating where your hands are in 3D space. Without the armbands, you’re left with a 3DOF controller which can be used for the same basic input as the one that comes stock with Vive Focus.
Image courtesy Finch Technologies
After a short chat about the company’s tech, I got a chance to try it for myself, strapping on the armbands and popping on the Vive Focus. Since calibration must be done on a person-to-person basis, I had to go through a brief set-up process which used Vive Focus’ on-board cameras to give me a visual guide so I could line my controllers up in the appropriate starting position. After trying several times to calibrate (more of the fault of the button mapping than the system itself), I was free to dive into my first VR app.
Note: FinchShift controllers feature white visual LED markers on the controllers, although these are only used to visually line up for initial calibration, and are not used for optical tracking on Vive Focus.
Image courtesy Finch Technologies
I was thrown into a drawing application similar to TiltBrush which gave me a good opportunity to see just how precise tracking was. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to draw so much as a straight line, as considerable jitter and drifting prevented the controllers from matching my hands’ physical position.
The simple action of moving one hand from left to right and drawing a horizontal line resulted in a bumpy, jagged line. I repeated this process several times from several different angles, tracing my own arm at its side as a stable point, and putting my hands by my sides and raising them in attempt to draw a straight vertical lineâsimple stuffâbut it always seemed the controllers were constantly doing their own thing.
After noticing this, I asked to re-calibrate, but after going through the process again, I was left with the same result as before.
Moving on to a sword-wielding game similar to Fruit Ninja VR, it became clear to me that 1:1 precision was the definite weak point of FinchShift, just as it is in practically all of the controllers or motion capture suits that use IMU-based tracking and IK to approximate absolute position. Slicing the jumping enemies was easy because I was making quick, broad strokes that required much less precision.
What’s Next?
To be clear, Vive Focus is in a pretty strange middle ground. In China it’s sold as a consumer headset. Everywhere else it’s sold for enterprise users, although HTC isn’t stopping regular consumers from buying the $600 headset.
Now that HTC and Google are offering additional 6DOF controller options for their respective standalone headsets, my sneaking suspicion is the companies are playing a game of catch-up with content developers in the face of Oculus Quest looming in the near future, which promises 6DOF headset tracking and 6DOF motion controllers that work extremely well in our various demos with the device.
Further speculation: both Google and HTC are likely developing full 6DOF standalone headsets. Following a less than impressive launch of Lenovo Mirage Solo and Vive Focus, they’re taking the Frankenstein approach with these developer kit add-ons and using them as defacto 6DOF developer platforms. If my assumption is right, both companies need developers to start either adapting older VR apps, or building full 6DOF VR applications from the ground-up soon, otherwise both platforms could miss out on a glut of content suited to full room-scale interactions.
Again, neither company has announced definite plans to create respective devices capable of competing with Oculus Quest, although you can bet we’ll right there when they do.
Update (12:40 PM ET): Antony Vitillo of VR/AR publication Skarred Ghost posted a helpful setup guide for the Chirp developer kit. According to Vitillo, what I saw at the booth was a simple pairing process, and not a bespoke calibration process. This has been corrected in the body of the article.
The fact that virtual reality (VR) technology can be used for so many other applications is one of its most salable features. HTC’s healthcare division DeepQ recently announced that Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital would be using its standalone headset, the Vive Focus, to create a dedicated multiuser patient education room.
Employing the Vive Focus system in conjunction with a VR human patient education application, both surgeons and families can enter a shared VR space where the surgeons can easily explain surgical procedures to help educate patients.
“Vive Focus can be used as a tool to break down barriers between doctors and their patients to improve care and drive education of patients to new levels,” said Edward Chang, President of HTC’s DeepQ division in a statement. “With Vive Focus, medical consultation can become mobile and more approachable to patients and doctors alike. We’re proud to work with Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital to explore how VR can begin to change medicine.”
While traditional patient consultations tend to involve human anatomy models, smaller structures such as nerves, vessels, and lymph nodes are much harder to portray. The patient application Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital will be using features over 4,000 detailed structural components and microstructures giving a greater understanding of what a particular procedure will entail. As the software is further improved new models and tools will be added.
“In the past, it has been difficult to educate patients on the impacts of a procedure or medical need. Through VR, physicians can now easily talk to patients about human organ structures and treatment plans in a shared environment,” said Kuan-Jen Bai, Dean of Taipei Municipal Wan Fang Hospital.
The hospital also plans to integrate the VR education platform with its Health Information System (HIS) system as part of the patient educational review system. After each VR patient consultation, the public, the family, and healthcare personnel’s review will be digitized.
As DeepQÂ continues to advance medical VR applications, VRFocus will keep you updated on the latest announcements.
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