Oculus Rift DK2 shipping, new SDK released

[Kojack]

The higher res Oculus Rift DK2 is now in the hands of some devs who ordered early.
(Based on current shipment rate, my second day order will probably be a month or more away).

This one is higher res (1920x1080 instead of 1280x800), faster (75Hz screen instead of 60Hz), better looking (low persistence oled instead of typical lcd) and includes a latency tester and 6dof head tracking (via a combination of an infrared webcam, tracking leds and an inertial sensor (accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer).

The new SDK is out too, version 0.40.

Something interesting is going on in there though. The new SDK hides the rift from windows so it's not exposed as a monitor. Instead you need to redirect the swap chain to the rift using a special SDK function. The docs are pretty vague on how this works, such as what happens to the window you previously had?
I can see the advantage to this (games will always go to the rift correctly, end users don't need to worry about duplicate and extended modes, etc), but how does this affect the way ogre renders? Something I'll need to test once I get custom mesh compositors working in ogre 2.0 (another SDK requirement).

[cybereality]

I'd love to see this working with Ogre.

I did do a sample integration a long time ago, but it was based on the old pixel shader based distortion. I've been too busy to update it to the new SDK mesh rendering style.

Seems like Ogre 2.0 might handle this better, good luck.

[Kojack]

Yep, 2.0 seems the best way to go. It's new compositor system looks like it will be easier to bend to my will than the previous one.

[madmarx]

That's a good news. The monitor stuff was cumbersome when we had several display mixed with the occulus. I ordered one few month ago (for this october), I am eager to see what it is like when I receive it.

[amartin]

Would anyone with a DK2 on order mind doing me a favour when they get theirs. Run up something with lots of text and let me know if the res is high enough to actually make it practical read and write on one. I'd give you a demo app but I think asking you to turn off UAC to test my app might be a bit much.

[cybereality]

@amartin: The resolution is a good improvement, but it's still not something meant for browsing the web or writing code (aside from the fact that you can't even use Windows or 2D apps with it).

[amartin]

@amartin: The resolution is a good improvement, but it's still not something meant for browsing the web or writing code (aside from the fact that you can't even use Windows or 2D apps with it).

Actually Incorrect Cyber. Other people can't use windows apps in with it. I can use windows apps with it. It took Alot of digging around in parts of the windows API you don't want to live in but I have a prototype app that allows me to run almost any windows app by reprojecting it into 3D space and forwarding input back through the system. Mulple 1080p videos playing through my app at 60 frames. Works just fine with IE and Firefox though I havn't done context menus yet.

[cybereality]

Well that's another story then. I guess it could work, but you still might have to bump the font size up a bit to be readable.

[Kojack]

This forum must feel like a vacation compared to the, umm, intense enthusiasm over on the other one.

[amartin]

I think I'll wait and see what the consensus on the DK2 is when they start landing on mass. My suspicion is that while it would sort of work you'd still get a crappy experience and it's a very frustrating bit of the windows API to work in so I really want to know the technology is there before I throw more frustration at it.

[cybereality]

@Kojack: Yeah, this forum is definitely a bit more mellow.

[Kojack]

Hopefully when Ogre 2.0 hits final release things will pick up a bit here (in a good way). It's getting a little barren here thanks to Unity and UE4.