Oculus Connect 4 Event Brings a Range of Interesting Announcements

Image credit: Oculus

It’s the time of the year when every VR tech enthusiast is looking forward to hearing interesting developments in virtual reality. Yes, I am absolutely talking about the Oculus Connect 4 event where company CEO – Mark Zuckerberg announced a range of upcoming developments coming to the Oculus platform.

At the event, Mark announced the much awaited standalone VR headset ‘Oculus Go’, the details of which we have already discussed. In addition to this, the Oculus team also announced several improvements and upgrades to the existing platform. They also discussed some new features and provided deeper insight into the highly anticipated ‘Santa Cruz’ project.

Interesting New Features Coming to Facebook Spaces

Earlier this year, Oculus announced Facebook Spaces – a new social VR platform to meet and interact with friends in virtual reality. The new features will allow users to make their own customisable kits and lets users take cut-outs from Facebook pictures to make collages.

Moreover, Oculus is also bringing 360-degree live streaming to Facebook Spaces by moving into the real-world in real-time. By integrating Facebook Spaces and Quill, users will now be able to create entire animated stories, in addition to the static 3D art, and share it in VR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX850QIaJ94

A Complete Overhaul of the Rift Interface with the New ‘Oculus Dash’

The ‘Core 2.0’ update coming to the Oculus Rift is set to introduce a completely new look and interface to the store. The experience will allow users to use desktop PC apps on virtual monitors inside VR. This Core 2.0 beta update is set to arrive in December of this year and will cater to motion inputs. The Core 2.0 update will merge the functionality of Universal Menu and Oculus Home into a completely new interface named Oculus Dash that can be accessed from anywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=SvP_RI_S-bw

The great thing about the Core 2.0 update is that Oculus Dash can be called from anywhere at anytime. From the Oculus Dash interface, users can access their Oculus Store, friend-list, game library, and also launch several other traditional PC apps like Spotify, Chrome, and Netflix right inside VR.

PC Apps will be treated as true virtual monitors and will be represented in floating windows. Users can also pin the PC apps and keep them floating while they are engrossed in a VR game. Nate Mitchell, Head of Rift, said that the Dash interface will offer the “best in class performance and visual quality,” for VR PC Apps, and will set a platform “to replacing real monitors entirely.”

Oculus’ Project Santa Cruz to Get 6 DOF Controllers Next Year

At the Oculus Connect 4 event, Mark Zuckerberg said that the company’s VR headset Project, Santa Cruz, will be available to developers early next year and will come with 6 DOF controllers. Project Santa Cruz will be Oculus’ high-end standalone VR headset which will feature inside-out tracking capabilities and a head-mounted mobile processor to drive the graphic requirements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=7RlPZ_EGIv4

In the latest blog post, Oculus said that “[g]etting the infrared LEDs on our new Santa Cruz controllers to work with the sensors used for inside-out tracking on the headset was a significant computer vision, design, and engineering problem. This is a milestone we’re proud of. By using four ultra-wide sensors, we achieved a large controller tracking volume, allowing for natural and unrestricted movement.”

Watch Live Events, Sports, and Concerts in VR with ‘Oculus Venues’

In order to give a further boost to social VR, Mark Zuckerberg announced Oculus Venues as a way to watch live events like sports and concerts in VR. The venues allow you to gather with up to 1000 other people for simultaneous VR viewing.

Image credit: Oculus

While announcing this project, Zuckerberg said “Venues lets you watch live concerts and live sports, and premieres of movies and TV shows all around the world with your friends and with thousands of other people at the same time. It’s another example of how VR is going to bring us closer together in ways that might not be possible in the physical world.”

All these developments suggest that VR is about to get even better in the near future. While announcing ‘Oculus Go,’ Mark Zuckerberg said that he is aiming to get 1 billion people in VR. It seems that lovers of VR Porn and Adult VR Games are likely to have gala times ahead.