Now that it’s September the kids are back in school, students are about to start or return to university and Autumn is upon us. Change is in the air so why not flip things around this season and look for a new job. Here at the VR Job Hub there are plenty on offer, located all around the world.
Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hubto check as well.
If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).
We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.
VRgineers, the Prague-based VR startup behind the enterprise-focused headset XTAL, have announced they’re planning on building a version of their wide field of view (FOV) headset for the consumer market.
The company revealed its plans to produce the consumer-facing XTAL headset last weekend at meeting with YouTubers MRTV, SweViver, and VooDooDE where the three tested out the latest version of the headset.
The recently updated enterprise XTAL headset is touted for its pair of 2,560 × 1,440 OLED displays, delivering what the company now claims is a 180 degree diagonal field of view thanks to new non-Fresnel lenses—10 more degrees than the penultimate version.
Image courtesy VRgineers
The three YouTube channels have been stalwart proponents of Pimax’s “8K” and “5K” headsets, participating in a program to provide feedback to Pimax in an effort to refine it for the consumer market. Here, it appears MRTV, SweViver, and VooDooDE have been tapped to fill same role with XTAL in a beta testing program, or as Sebastian Ang of MRTVwrites “to be involved in the development process of the new device and to provide suggestions and experience.”
Ang maintains the headset “should be much more affordable than the current XTAL headset that comes in at $5800.” Work on the headset is said to begin sometime in 2019.
VooDooDE, a German language channel, says in the description of his latest video (German) that the “whole process is under NDA, so I’m not allowed to publish anything from the tests, including any release dates or prices.”
Continuing:
“It was already clear that the collaboration with the VRgineers is worlds more professional than with Pimax. Marek, the CEO of VRgineers, is very knowledgeable and knows what he’s talking about. He already has a very detailed vision and I am in good spirits that it will be reasonable. I will keep you updated on my channel as far as the NDA allows me! Work on perhaps the best virtual reality headset for gamers will start in 2019.”
VRgineers are staying tightlipped on the details for now, so there’s no telling when the device will be available to consumers, or at what price. More importantly, it isn’t clear what features the company will decided to either add or sacrifice to hit a lower price-point.
VRgineers stellte im Juni dieses Jahres seine XTAL-Brille vor, die sich zielgruppenspezifisch an Business-Kunden richtet. Nun gibt es Neuigkeiten, denn das tschechische Entwicklerstudio arbeitet an einer neuen Gaming-Version seiner High-End-Brille, die in Zusammenarbeit mit VoodooDE, MRTV und Sweviver entsteht.
XTAL-Brille – High-End-Gamer-Version in Entwicklung
Die Business-Variante der XTAL-Brille ist die weiterentwickelte Variante der VRHero 5K. Mit zwei OLED-Displays und einer Auflösung von 2560 x 1440 Pixeln pro Auge sowie einem Sichtfeld von 170 Grad bleibt die Hardware ihren Spezifikationen treu, ist jedoch um satte 770 Gramm leichter als der recht schwere Vorgänger.
Image courtesy: VRgineers
Der VR-YouTuber VoodooDE berichtete uns gestern über seinen Besuch bei den Prager Entwicklern, um vor Ort die neuste Version der XTAL-Brille auszuprobieren. Doch anstatt einer kleinen Testsession konnte er spannende Informationen sammeln: Das Entwicklerstudio VRgineers arbeitet an einer speziellen High-End-Gaming-Version der hauseigenen VR-Brille.
Die XTAL-Gamer-Variante soll sich preislich von der Business-Version unterscheiden und speziell an die Bedürfnisse der Spieler angepasst werden. So könnten beispielsweiße für das Gaming irrelevante Komponenten, wie der OptiTrack-Support aus den Spezifikationen entfernt werden.
Der genaue Name sowie der Preis der kommenden VR-Brille sind bisher noch unbekannt. VoodooDE musste für den Entwicklungsprozess natürlich eine Schweigeerklärung unterschreiben, sobald diese aufgehoben ist, erfahrt ihr genaue Details auf seinem YouTube-Kanal. Auch wir werden euch über die interessante VR-Brille auf dem Laufenden halten.
VRgineers, a Czech Republic-based startup building enterprise VR headsets, today announced a more advanced version of their wide field of view (FOV) professional headset XTAL. The new version, which features a wider FOV thanks to a new pair of non-Fresnel lenses, will be making its debut at CES 2019.
The upcoming version is said to incorporate proprietary non-Fresnel lenses that the company says will deliver “the clearest, most immersive VR experience to date.” With the new lenses come a reduction in distortion, improved FOV, a picture increased by 50 percent, and an eye box size expanded by 20 percent.
The headset is touted for its pair of 2,560 × 1,440 OLED displays, delivering what the company now claims is a 180 degree diagonal field of view—10 more degrees than the penultimate version.
The most recent hardware revisions brought automatic IPD adjustment, an embedded Leap Motion sensor for wide FOV hand-tracking, and reduced weight and size.
“XTAL’s new non-fresnel lenses will deliver a wider field of view and binocular overlap, a bigger sweet spot, and much less distortion compared to the existing model,” explained Marek Polcak, CEO & Co-Founder of VRgineers. “This is critically important to our customers. When prototyping a new automobile design, for instance, they’ll be able to see more of the vehicle at once, and come closer than ever to a true-to-life image. We’ve getting ever closer to our goal – which is to make virtual reality indistinguishable from reality itself.”
VRgineers are showing XTAL at the Showstoppers press event at CES 2019, taking place in Las Vegas on January 8th, 2019.
The company is specially targeting the professional and enterprise sectors with XTAL—at $5,800 so much is clear. The company is taking orders for XTAL as of today; XTAL professional support package customers that purchased the previous version can upgrade their device free of charge via a lens-swap program.
The upgrades have to do with XTAL’s lenses, with VRgineers creating an even more advanced version of its proprietary non-fresnel lenses, providing a wider FoV and less distortion.
The current 170º FoV lenses have been improved to offer a 180º FoV, with image quality fine-tuned to look even better. There is an Enlarged Super-focused Area which VRgineers claims to offer a 50 percent larger picture area, which is entirely focused. Lastly, the actual eye box has been increased by 20 percent, reducing the need for additional adjustment between different users.
“XTAL’s new non-fresnel lenses will deliver a wider field of view and binocular overlap, a bigger sweet spot, and much less distortion compared to the existing model,” explained Marek Polcak, CEO & Co-Founder of VRgineers in a statement. “This is critically important to our customers. When prototyping a new automobile design, for instance, they’ll be able to see more of the vehicle at once, and come closer than ever to a true-to-life image. We’re getting ever closer to our goal – which is to make virtual reality indistinguishable from reality itself.”
The first public demonstration will take place at CES 2019, in Las Vegas, Nevada next month. Customers may purchase the new XTAL today, while those who have purchased the previous XTAL model can upgrade their device free of charge via a lens-swap if they participate in XTAL’s professional support package.
It looks like the XTAL headset is staying the same price, with it listed on the website for €4,900 EUR. As VRgineers reveal further upgrade plans for the headset, VRFocus will let you know.
A new partnership between Neurable and VRgineers adds the former’s “brain sensors” to the ultra high-end XTAL VR headset.
We tried out Neurable last year, a system which places EEG (Electroencephalography) sensors along the interior of a VR headset’s strap to gather data from contact with the skin around the brain. Combining that information in real-time with eye-tracking could allow the system to identify, measure and analyze the emotion and intent of the person wearing the headset. The XTAL VR headset from VRgineers includes eye tracking, so adding the EEG sensors and using Neurable’s analysis software might offer customers with very large budgets more capable analysis and training tools than consumer grade systems like Rift and Vive.
“We anticipate that this will be an enterprise-grade device, built for professional designers and engineers who require superior visual quality and highly accurate, reliable analytics,” Neurable CEO Ramses Alcaide explained in an email. “We’ve seen a lot of traction in three main areas: high-consequence simulation training for industrial applications, design feedback in AEC [Architecture, Engineering and Construction] use cases, customer research for retail.”
VRgineers claim,”Neurable’s unique ability to overcome the signal-to-noise issues of traditional non-invasive” brain-computer interfaces “enable them to deliver on the promise of truly useful BCI technology for enterprise and consumer applications.”
The expected use cases for the system make sense for the XTAL headset, which starts around $5,500 for its ultra-high end features which include a higher resolution panel, expanded field of view and integrated Leap Motion hand tracking. There’s no word yet on when the headset with Neurable integration will be available, or how much it will cost.
The military is investing nearly half a billion dollars in Microsoft-built HoloLens AR headsets to help soldiers become more effective while Walmart purchased 17,000 Oculus Go VR headsets this year to train the workforce at every store. If businesses are able to realize savings (or increased profits) by implementing VR training, then the high up-front cost of a headset like XTAL is likely still worth the investment. While we tried XTAL earlier this year and Neurable last year, and came away impressed by aspects of both demos, we haven’t tried a demo with both of these technologies implemented together.
“VR is a medium that relishes in data. Making sense of all of that data both from an input/output perspective is very important,” Alcaide explained. “Eye-tracking allows systems to parse a user’s virtual reality experience (i.e. when and where they are looking) while BCI provides data on the internal experience of the user (e.g. change in cognitive state state). With both data streams, we can extract powerful behavioral insights from virtual reality not available otherwise. It’s not enough to just see where a user is looking. We need to know what kind of changes are going on while they do so. Similarity, it’s not enough to just know general changes in state. Being able to programmatically associate the two data streams is how we bring value to these new types of applications.”
Industry specialist Kevin Williams of KWP, concludes his report on the latest developments shaping the digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) sector and all things to do with Commercial virtual reality (VR) deployment seen internationally. In this final part we see the drive for new investment and the realities and speculation on the market’s true worth.
With this final part of our coverage and we rush from Germany, to the Czech-Republic, and a major event in the country’s capital, underlined the influence that this new commercial entertainment utopia is having on the investment community. Held at the beginning of September, Future Port Prague was a two-day gathering of innovative technology trends and influential speakers on the subject. Along with dedicated conference events there was a showcase arena that comprised demonstrations of the latest tech-trends, ranging from Drone racing, electric-automobiles, smart home appliances and 3D printing to just name some of the exhibits. As part of this, local Czech developers were also promoting their influence on the scene, and VR made a big showing.
Future Port Prague 2018 – A packed outdoor festival conference stage. (Credit: KWP)
We have already mentioned in part one of this feature Beat Games; the Czech-based company had a version of the Beat Saber VR arcade setup demonstrating to attendees in the VR Zone of the event. It was interesting to see that unlike normal VR arcade deployments of the game, this enclosure used the latest technology from new industry start-up LIV. The green-screen enclosure and specially tracked virtual camera, placed the player in the centre of the action, superimposing them into the virtual environment – but not only creating a great audience element, the LIV system has been developed to offer a unique takeaway, with the player able to download a video of their ‘performance’, with appropriate social media hooks. The company looking to deploy this platform at several VR arcades.
LIV offers an added element to the Beat Saber experience. (Credit: KWP)
Another local Czech-based developer is DIVR Labs – the company famous for a local Prague tourist attraction that is seeing phenomenal business. Golem VR (not to be confused with the otherGolem), the attraction is one of the largest free-roaming virtual experiences operating. The basement of the local Prague Hamleys toy store transformed to accommodate a backpack-based VR experience using Oculus CV1’s. Groups of up to four guests traverse the virtual environment – in an experience that sees them transported through time to the 16th century, to discover the mythical Golem and its creator in an interpretation of the story. DIVR has partnered with Hamleys to develop this first free-roaming VR adventure that has no weapons or shooting (one of the first of its kind). The company in negotiations to open additional venues.
A view of the Golem VR experience at Hamleys in the city centre. (Credit: KWP)(Credit: KWP)
Returning to Future Port Prague, and another Czech-based developer, VRgineers took an exhibition space to offer the first public demonstrations of their XTAL head-mounted display (HMD). This system offers what the company calls an Enterprise-ready solution with a world’s first AutoEye system, offering automatically aligned lenses to the user’s eyes as well as an incredible wide field of view. The system has already been taken up by the local automotive industry, and the company is now in the process of receiving additional investment towards offering the platform too interested location-based VR developers. The company running at the event the ability to fly in a networked aerial combat using the visual fidelity achieved with the XTAL.
The XTAL headset in action. (Credit: KWP)
The next phase of high-end VR headsets has seen a shift in focus towards Enterprise opportunities (a sector prepared to pay for a technological lead). Most recently Kickstarter-funded Pimax demonstrated in Europe the production version of the Pimax 8K wide-field of view system, but also at the same time revealed a cost-reduced version. We saw at the Chinese Amusement trade conference in March one of the first Chinese attraction developers experimenting with the Pimax dev-kit on their robotic arm motion platform, and there are reports of at least one major VR park developer looking to deploy this at their site.
VR Enlightenment – Up in the air in a Pimax back at the Asia Amusement & Attractions (AAA) Expo 2018. (Credit: KWP)
The consideration to a wholly focused Enterprise initiative was also seen from StarVR, the company’s Vice Chairman Jerry Kao reported as saying the company was shifting its operational focus to high-end enterprise applications, with the location-based entertainment market to aerospace and automotive. This was reported following the companies unveiling of the StarVR One HMD during SIGGRAPH in Canada. The new headset offering what the company calls a “100% human viewing angle” is clearly packaged to address a DOE centric business model; building on previous associations with IMAX, SEGA and the VRPark in Dubai, as well as through VR attraction projects with Starbreeze
This year’s SIGGRAPH saw a major push towards location-based VR application of the latest high-end graphics and computer power – many exhibitors showing a shift towards this new business dimension. Leading tracking specialists OptiTrack, introduced their new Active Puck Mini at the event, offering a cost effective and 40% reduced option. The company confirmed that along with conventional motion capture business the system had Location-Based entertainment offerings squarely in their sites. The company has been deployed in many of the leading free-roaming VR installations, and OptiTrak has partnered with Dreamscape Immersive, offering their tracking solution, as well as working in conjunction with several other developers.
Dreamscape Immersive, have been in the news for the tests of their own free-roaming Alien Zoo concept – and the company partnered with movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment late last year, the deal coming after closing some $20 million (USD) of their Series B funding. It is this drive by the movie theatre business to embrace the opportunities of LBE VR that has seen momentous developments in recent weeks. One of the biggest was the announcement that Canadian cinema giants Cineplex had signed a strategic partnership with VRstudios (famous for their VRcade platform and VR experiences). The deal saw Cineplex strategically invest in their VR business, with at least 40 multiplex and location-based entertainment centres planned in the Canada territory by 2021.
Group of players start their progress through VRcade’s Terminal 17 at IAAPA 2017. (Credit: KWP)
This undertaking is mirrored by other cinema chains taking the plunge. The VOID’s “hyper-reality” location-based entertainment (LBE) operation, announced the first “In-Theatre” VR installation in the States – following the signing of an exclusive expansion agreement with leading entertainment and media company Cinemark. This development also saw The VOID LBE VR venues opening across Canada. This news follows on from continuing developments in the movie-theatre sector to embrace the opportunity of VR attractions tailored for their unique audience mix. With the expansion of the operation The VOID was also linked to brand new game content building on influential Intellectual Properties (IPs) – a joint venture of ILMxLAB, a division of Lucasfilm, and The VOID, will see a “one-of-a-kind, original adventure” based in the Wreck-it Ralph films’ unique world (tentatively called Ralph Breaks VR). This is the first of several immersive virtual reality properties from the developer, based on film licenses, building on previous Ghostbusters and Star Wars experiences.
Investing into the cinema scene has gained momentum as the theatre business has seen in the US a 16% decline in ticket sales, attributed to a need for a more diverse offering for the “millennially-minded” audience hoping to be attracted to their locations. Following a spate of mergers and acquisitions in this sector the market has fixated on finding an entertainment-mix to incorporate as a “in-theatre” offering. As we reported in our coverage from the LBE VR summit, manufacturers such as D-BOX Technologies had invested in their own D-BOX Cinematic VR Experience which launched earlier in the year at an Ottawa theatre.
D-BOX’s cinema seat put through its paces with the latest VR experiences created for this sector. (Credit: KWP)
This also brings us to developer Nomadic, who have been developing their own location-based adventure-based, tactile VR experiences – the company has promoted heavily in the cinema industry (presenting at the 2017 CinemaCon, and reportedly raising some $6 million in seed funding). Focused initially on a in-theatre approach, the company recently announced they had partnered with Vertigo Games to deploy a turn-key, modular-based VR platform based on Arizona Sunshine LB Elite. The first installations schedule to open fall this year. How much this space will mirror the wireless VR experience seen at Gamescom, in Germany recently has yet to be revealed. But this nicely takes us full circle from where this coverage began.
Arizona Sunshine LBE at Gamescom 2018. (Via HTC)
In just a matter of months and we have seen a level of investment in immersive entertainment focusing on developing virtual reality – far surpassing the previously wild speculation of the consumer VR sector. We have seen colourful analysis on the worth of the Commercial Entertainment or LBE VR market – most notably the SuperData chart that looked at a $995 million valuation of Location-Based entertainment by 2021. And we have seen other charts rise the gambit as high as $12 Billion by 2023 (Greenlight Insights), hopeful speculation to be sure – but based on a growing hunger to maximise the aspirations of the audience, to the abilities of this sectors technology, where the consumer equivalent has failed to deliver (for whatever reasons).
LBE Market Forecast via SuperData
It is important to understand that the VR arcades scene is still at a very early stage of development and has by no means established itself as a dependable business model. One such example of this is the IMAX pilot scheme to establish their concept of IMAX VR LBE operations. News recently broke that two of the seven opened sites had been closed (one in New York and one in Shanghai). The IMAX board had already revealed at the beginning of the year in an investor call that the sites were not all operating at the expected financial level, and there was no real surprise that the roll out was being reversed.
On a recent visit to the only European IMAX VR location in Manchester, the site was seen to be closed off for a private party – and while claimed to still be popular, it was revealed that the adjacent Odeon cinema had been giving away vouchers for free VR experiences, with the purchase of movie tickets; in a hope to drive some business. We have also heard reports of major reshufflings of executive teams and complete management replacements at some of the early LBE VR manufacturers and operators, The VOID saw the departure of their CTO and CEO, while other operations in pivoting towards a commercial entertainment business model have had to drastically restructure their executive team, unable to fathom the realities of the DOE business.
But we have not seen anything yet, and one of Europe’s largest amusement and attraction conventions is about to take place in a matter of weeks – already sources have revealed a record number of new VR attractions about to be launched. While the UK amusement trade will hold their Autumn Coin-Op Show (ACOS), taking place at Olympia London during October, and will include the first London Future of Immersive Leisure (FOIL) seminar run alongside ACOS, focusing on the business opportunities presented by immersive technology to the UK’s out-of-home entertainment industry (this event hosted by our consultancy KWP) – look out on VRFocus for the latest developments from these events in the days and weeks to come.
Last week I got the chance to go hands-on with the new enterprise-focused 5K VR headset (that’s 2560 x 1440 per eye, or 5120 x 1440 total,) XTAL, from VRgineers, the same company behind the VRHero 5K headset. For all intents and purposes, the XTAL is taking the place of the VRHero in the company’s repertoire.
What sets the XTAL apart from the VRHero and other high-end headsets is that it comes fully-loaded with other features — not just an increased resolution. The field-of-view (FOV) inside the device is a staggering 170-degrees, Leap Motion hand-tracking is built directly into the front cameras on the device, it has VoiceMacro-powered voice recognition included as well, and can even automatically adjust the IPD based on included eye-tracking hardware. The display type is an OLED with patented, custom-designed aspherical, non-Fresnel, lenses. You can read more about the technical specs here.
Soon they plan to upgrade the internal software to also enable general eye-tracking, foveated rendering, as well as inside-out tracking using the front cameras, similar to how the Windows VR headsets work. Other than being wireless, it packs pretty much every feature modern VR technology has up its sleeve into a single device.
That helps explain the $5,800 price tag, doesn’t it?
If you’re appalled at that price, then chances are this isn’t a product for you. It’s not designed as an “order online and start playing VR games when it arrives” type of headset like the Rift, Vive, or Windows VR devices. In fact, even the Vive Pro is more of a consumer-caliber unit than this one. The XTAL is very specifically engineered for the big-budget production, industrial, and enterprise-level crowd.
Part of the package when a company buys the XTAL is that they’re also paying for ongoing support from VRgineers, eventual upgrades like inside-out tracking, and more. And even though it includes a ton more features than the VRHero did, XTAL is actually coming in cheaper than VRHero when it first debuted — plus existing clients will get it at a discount.
During my demo with XTAL I got to see four types of experiences. First I walked around a showroom with a high-quality 3D model of a car. I didn’t need any controllers like Touch or Vive wands to interact with it because of the embedded Leap Motion sensors, so all I did was reach out.
You know how when someone new to VR always reaches their hands out to touch things even though every other modern VR headset doesn’t hand-tracking included? Well, that actually works in the XTAL. I could open and close car doors, grip the steering wheel, and start the engine. I was missing out on the haptic feedback aspect, but it was still pretty immersive to see my hands inside of a 5K, 170-degree FOV device.
Seeing a 3D model of a car inside an environment that high quality was extremely impressive. While sitting upright in the seat I could clearly read the speedometer and see intricate stitching details on the interior. The applications for enterprise level customers are very clear and obvious here in terms of product visualization.
I also got to walk around a virtual apartment via teleportation, watch an assortment of 360 videos rendered at extremely high-resolution with incredible detail, and then I played a flight simulator using a joystick just so I could appreciate the cockpit detail in a real-time moving demo.
My embedded video above showing my try the headset out doesn’t really do the visuals justice. It’s hard to capture the feeling of being in VR with a 2D video, but it’s even harder to capture when that headset is 5K resolution (much higher than the video output, recorded off-screen) and features an enormous 170-degree FOV. For reference, the Rift, Vive, and PSVR are all just around 100-degrees.
In the video you’ll also notice the headset has a Vive tracker attached to the top of it, but that’s because the custom Vive-tracked detachable faceplate wasn’t available at my demo. You won’t need one of those with the final version.
Since the XTAL is so large the fit was still a little wonky compared to other headsets I’ve worn. It feels heavier, although it’s much lighter than the VRHero, and it just looks downright silly — but I guess you don’t care much when you’re in VR. That cable is also extremely bulky as well and feels like a step backwards.
What do you think of the headset? How long do you think it will be before all of these features, and more, are included in a consumer device? Let us know down in the comments below!
Das tschechische VR-Start-up VRgineersstellte im Juni die XTAL-VR-Brille vor, welche mit zwei OLED-Panels mit einer Auflösung von 2560 x 1440 Pixel, Hand-Tracking und einem Field of View von 170 Grad punkten sollte. Mit einem Preis von 4900 Euro ist die XTAL zwar bis heute noch keine Brille für Konsumenten, für professionelle Anwender/innen und Virtual-Reality-Arcades könnte das Produkt allerdings durchaus interessant sein. Nun präsentiert das Unternehmen sogar für diesen Markt optionale Upgrades für seine XTAL-Brille, um den Wünschen der Betreiber/innen und Besitzer/innen zu entsprechen.
Drei Upgrades für XTAL geplant
XTAL – Mit 5800 US-Dollar kein Schnäppchen
Insgesamt drei unterschiedliche Erweiterungen möchte VRgineers in den kommenden Monaten anbieten. Zwei dieser Upgrades werden von Haus aus für alle Nutzer/innen bereitstehen, da sie softwareseitig aktivierbar sind. Dazu zählt eine Technik für das Inside-Out-Tracking und zudem bohren die Verantwortlichen das integrierte Eye-Tracking auf, damit Entwickler/innen in Zukunft auch Verfahren wie das Foveated Rendering nutzen können.
XTAL nun mit offenem Eye-Tracking für Foveated Rendering
Das dritte Upgrade benötigt dagegen ein neues Kameramodul. Ziel dessen ist es, die XTAL-Brille zu einer Mixed-Reality-Brille umzugestalten. Die hochauflösenden Kameras sollen in der Lage sein, das komplette Field of View von 170 Grad abzudecken.
Wer Interesse an einer XTAL hat, der kann über die Webseite mit dem Unternehmen in Kontakt treten. Ein automatisierter Prozess für die Bestellung ist aktuell noch nicht vorhanden. Weitere Informationen zur Brille und den Entwickler/innen findet ihr auf der Webseite von VRgineers.
Czech-based virtual reality (VR) startup VRgineers specialises in producing high-end head-mounted displays (HMDs) for enterprise, having started with the VRHero 5K Plus. Now the company has unveiled a successor, XTAL, a pro headset with unique features.
The XTAL headset has been built around the needs of professional designers and engineers – so don’t expect to see on in Best Buy or PC World – boasting a 5K resolution, 170º field-of-view (FoV), and patented non-Fresnel lenses.
“Over the last year, we’ve invested hundreds of hours talking to our enterprise users across industries, gathering feedback and learning what makes VR usage in professional applications difficult,” says Marek Polcak, VRgineers CEO in a statement. “Then we put all our passion into creating the next generation VR headset that addresses these issues. We firmly believe XTAL will become an indispensable component of engineering, manufacturing, designing, and training processes, and enable you to do more while saving resources, money and time.”
Two built-in features VRgineers is heavily promoting are AutoEye and Leap Motion. AutoEye is the company’s proprietary interpupillary distance (IPD) technology that automatically aligns lens positions with the user’s eyes. This is especially useful when the headset is swapped between users. While Leap Motion integration means customers can use their bare hands to interact with virtual worlds.
During development VRgineers focused on providing a full hardware-software stack for users by cooperating with specialised software companies such as Autodesk, Dassault Systemes, and ESI. For professionals using the latest PC hardware, XTAL has been optimised for NVIDIA Quadro professional GPUs.
“VR for professional use is broadly gaining traction,” says David Weinstein, Director of Enterprise VR at NVIDIA. “When creating a product prototype or architectural plan you really need to see the details in your design, and that precision and clarity really comes through in the VRgineers headset’s high- resolution display combined with NVIDIA Quadro professional GPUs.”
So how much does pro gear cost? Well the VRgineers XTAL headset is available now for purchase in the US for $5,800 USD with shipments beginning in September 2018. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.
