Eyes Wide Open(VR Practicum)

Amir EbrahimiPrincipal Software Engineer, Labs

Pete MossVR Dude, Creative Content Studio

Why this talk?

Resources Downloadhttp://bit.ly/EyesWideOpenGDC

No, srsly. Why this talk?To save you time gathering info:• Business / market• Technical• Design• Marketing

2016 == Survive&&

2017++ == Thrive

John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity Technologiesfrom Vision Summit 2016 Keynote

“If you’re sitting here wondering, how am I going to make money with VR? Then I’d definitely suggest looking at

the business-to-business side of things”Julien Lynge, ArchVirtual

at Vision Summit 2016

…we expect 2016 will be a year of experimentationPaul Lee / Duncan Stewart, Deloitte

from TMT Predictions 2016

…2016 is going to be a modest introductory year instead of a bang from rags to riches

Neil Schneider, Executive Director of ITAfrom “Reality or Delusion?” Gamasutra article

Buzzkill…So then what?

Owlchemy Labs going ‘all in’ on VRKevin Joyce, VRFocus

DevicesMobileGoogle Cardboard

Premium MobileSamsung GearVR

Desktop-classOculus Rift

HTC Vive

Sony PlaystationVR

Tween-rangeOSVR Devices

Sulon Q

Release Date / Price / UnitsCategory Devices Release Date Price Units Shipped / Estimated

Mobile

Google Cardboard Available now on many mobile devices $14.99 - $119 5M (Actual)

Premium Mobile

Samsung GearVR Available now $99.99 <100K / 3M (2016)

Tween-

range

OSVR Devices Available now (many vendors) $299.99 ???

Sulon Q Spring 2016 ??? ???

Desktop-class

Oculus Rift March 28, 2016 $599 150K - 3M ???

HTC Vive April 5, 2016 $799 150K - 1M ???

Sony PlaystationVR

Nothing official (rumored to be in April) Nothing official 1.4 - 3.5M ???

FeaturesCategor

y Devices Head Tracking Room Scale Tracked

Controllers Unity 5 Integration Storefront

Mobile

Google Cardboard

SDK Download (Soon to be native) In-app + App Stores

Premium

Mobile

Samsung GearVR

Native + Optional Download In-app + App Stores

Tween-

range

OSVR Devices w/ some trackers

some support SDK Download

Sulon Q ??? ???

Deskto-class

Oculus Rift w/ multiple trackers

coming soon

Native + Optional Download Oculus Home

HTC Vive Native + Optional Download Steam

Sony PlaystationVR Native

Cardboard / GearVR – Gaze

Cardboard – Single Button

GearVR – Touchpad

GearVR / Oculus Rift – Gamepad

Vive / PlaystationVR - Tracked Controllers

Maintaining Framerate

• Baked Lighting / GI• Occlusion Culling• Batching – built-in or MeshBaker• Share materials to reduce draw calls• LOD - Simplygon• Full Screen image effects are expensive!!• VR Specific Optimizations

Render thread

Main thread

14.3

10.65.3

5.3

5.4 7.4

11.05.4

5.4+DW 4.0

7.35.4+DW

5.4+DW+RL 1.9

7.25.4+DW+RL

Time in MS

DW: Double wide

renderingRL: Render Loop Jobs

(Experimental)

Other Considerations• World Space UI• Camera Distance for best 3D is 2 to 3 meters from actionSound Spatializers (HRTF)• RealSpace3D from VisiSonics• Oculus Spatializer• Phonon from Impulsonic

How do I design VR apps?• VR augment or VR native?• Our opinion – VR First!• You must try it out to see what works• More resources in PDF

Design ConsiderationsDesign for:• Widest reach?• Potential Sales?• Studio Survival?Build for comfort / avoid motion-sickness

Best Practices• Frame Rate is KING!• Dropped frames are not worth better graphics• “Toon” graphics are accepted by the brain• Optimize early and often• Avoid CPU spikes on complex math or physics• Reduce poly count and texture size• Every optimization has a benefit, no matter how marginal!

Interface Design• Be close to the action and any UI• UI should fit in the players viewport• Pausing the game should allow user to look around still• Do sane things (i.e. fade the colors) if the user leaves tracking• Help them find their way back! Sound may help• Don’t rely on pure stereo parallax – add other cues• Keep your world self-contained – no gaps in geo

Marketing your VR app• Made With Unity! http://madewith.unity.com• VR forums (even one at forum.unity3d.com)• UploadVR, RoadToVR, reddit, other sites• Oculus Share, Steam• Have as many people try it as possible; conferences / expos• Join the community of VR developers. We love to share!

Future• Authoring VR in VR• HRTF still not ubiquitous – yet!• Apple and Google are worth watching, along with “little guys”• Impact of AR? (Hololens, Meta, Magic Leap)

Closing Remarks• Deloitte says VR in 2016 will be the year for experimentation• Few buyers of games at first• Enterprise adoption will start• No time to waste! Get to it!

Amir Ebrahimi / Pete MossDownload Resources at:

http://bit.ly/EyesWideOpenGDC

Questions?