Wondrous as today's technology is, there remains no feasible way to put
ordinary people in space. Except, it seems, through virtual reality.
Australian multimedia company Opaque Multimedia has combined an Oculus Rift headset with Microsoft Kinect
2 motion tracking to make it possible for every Tom, Dick, and Sally on
the planet to get a first-hand (virtual) taste of life on – or rather
just outside – the International Space Station. The comapny's new tech
demo, Earthlight, lets players explore in first person around
the outside of the ISS as it orbits the Earth, safe in the comfort of
their living room.
Earthlight may not capture every element of the real
experience, but it was designed to get as close to it as possible. Move
your hands out in front of you and you'll see in your headset a
space-gloved hand exactly where you'd expect it to be. Similarly, reach
out to a handle or bit of scaffolding and give it a tug and your virtual
self will begin to float forwards. And as you explore you might just
see the Earth as it looks from 431 kilometers (268 miles) above.
It was difficult to make this work from a technical standpoint because even a millisecond delay or minor deviation between your movement and your avatar's movement can make the experience more horrifying than exhilarating. Project lead Norman Wang says that to keep it running smoothly they had to push both the software and hardware to their limit.
The project's main goal was to demonstrate how the two technologies
can be made to work together at the limits of their current
capabilities, and to show off the power of a Kinect 4 Unreal plugin
developed by Opaque Multimedia for use with Microsoft Kinect 2 and
Unreal 4 on Windows.
Earthlight will be available at the Opaque Multimedia booth at the 2015 Game Developers Conference this week, with a public release to follow soon after. Kinect 4 Unreal is available now from the Opaque Multimedia website and will be available from the Unreal Marketplace from March 18.
You can check out a trailer for Earthlight below.
Source: Opaque Multimedia
It was difficult to make this work from a technical standpoint because even a millisecond delay or minor deviation between your movement and your avatar's movement can make the experience more horrifying than exhilarating. Project lead Norman Wang says that to keep it running smoothly they had to push both the software and hardware to their limit.
Earthlight will be available at the Opaque Multimedia booth at the 2015 Game Developers Conference this week, with a public release to follow soon after. Kinect 4 Unreal is available now from the Opaque Multimedia website and will be available from the Unreal Marketplace from March 18.
You can check out a trailer for Earthlight below.
Source: Opaque Multimedia
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