What’s keeping VR video games from being graphically indistinguishable from real life?
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As an old guy with bad vision, it would be easier for VR to trick my visual system.
I do have good balance.
I do have good hearing.
Most people are commenting on only the visual experiencing and the difficulty doing all the processing in real time.
There is also the issue of other aspects of the experience.
If I move my head, I feel my balance shift. It is hard for VR to track my position in time and space in a way that feels right.
If there is a sound, and I turn my head (like real life to hear it better) towards it, the VR experience is not always good at replicating reality.
If the visual includes branches moving in the wind, but I don’t feel the wind on my face, it is less realistic.
When I walk in the woods, each step feels different based on what is underfoot. Not so in VR.
When I walk in the woods I feel the sun on my face, then shade. Not in VR.
When I walk past a pine tree I smell the spell of that type of tree. Then fir trees, then the small of the ferns in the undergrowth. VR has a long way to go, even once we get the visual processing down.
As an old guy with bad vision, it would be easier for VR to trick my visual system.
I do have good balance.
I do have good hearing.
Most people are commenting on only the visual experiencing and the difficulty doing all the processing in real time.
There is also the issue of other aspects of the experience.
If I move my head, I feel my balance shift. It is hard for VR to track my position in time and space in a way that feels right.
If there is a sound, and I turn my head (like real life to hear it better) towards it, the VR experience is not always good at replicating reality.
If the visual includes branches moving in the wind, but I don’t feel the wind on my face, it is less realistic.
When I walk in the woods, each step feels different based on what is underfoot. Not so in VR.
When I walk in the woods I feel the sun on my face, then shade. Not in VR.
When I walk past a pine tree I smell the spell of that type of tree. Then fir trees, then the small of the ferns in the undergrowth. VR has a long way to go, even once we get the visual processing down.
We are only now knocking on the door of photorealistic graphics for flat gaming. And even then we’re not there yet.
VR tech is graphically around a generation (7-10 years) behind. It’ll be another decade at least before VR looks even close to photorealism.
We are only now knocking on the door of photorealistic graphics for flat gaming. And even then we’re not there yet.
VR tech is graphically around a generation (7-10 years) behind. It’ll be another decade at least before VR looks even close to photorealism.
One major factor is artist time and ability.
A full fidelity game with many many assets that all have to reach the realism bar is technically and artistically difficult and extremely expensive. Even using photogrammetry and other irl capture techniques the cleanup and customization has a huge cost.
It can be much safer to pick a lower fidelity style early to save on artist hours, especially for a smaller studio.
One major factor is artist time and ability.
A full fidelity game with many many assets that all have to reach the realism bar is technically and artistically difficult and extremely expensive. Even using photogrammetry and other irl capture techniques the cleanup and customization has a huge cost.
It can be much safer to pick a lower fidelity style early to save on artist hours, especially for a smaller studio.
Performance and display/optics.
Non-VR games are still very far from being indistinguishable, though they’re getting there. Even if they got there, they’d need to pump out many times more frames they currently do.
Then you’d meet the limits of the displays and the optics. You’d need them to refresh much faster and be even denser and brighter. You’d need the optics to enable what’s called light field displays to come into existence, so that your eyes are not being coerced to a fixed focal point.
Performance and display/optics.
Non-VR games are still very far from being indistinguishable, though they’re getting there. Even if they got there, they’d need to pump out many times more frames they currently do.
Then you’d meet the limits of the displays and the optics. You’d need them to refresh much faster and be even denser and brighter. You’d need the optics to enable what’s called light field displays to come into existence, so that your eyes are not being coerced to a fixed focal point.
The same thing keeping normal video games from looking like real life: graphical limitations and our brain’s ability to sense anything that’s not real (even if close) to being “off”. That and how it still tends to make people sick after playing for more than 30 minutes at a time.
The same thing keeping normal video games from looking like real life: graphical limitations and our brain’s ability to sense anything that’s not real (even if close) to being “off”. That and how it still tends to make people sick after playing for more than 30 minutes at a time.
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