So an idea that occurred to me about AR/VR and simpits

[HiFlyer 9,343]

So, here in the VR forum we've had many singing the praises of Vr's sense of "presence" while others find thats sense of presence isn't enough to overcome other issues including resolution.

Yet others believe that VR can never replace a good simpit, with its tactile "presence" of actually touching the controls, etc. This rejects leap motion, and other forms of "VR hands" because the lack of actual physical objects to solidify the sense of reality.

It occurs to me that sufficiently advanced AR, (augmented reality) coming on the scene from some of the latest headsets, notably from Microsoft and partners, might be a way to bridge this gap, and it gives me some interesting ideas for the business training space as well.

Suppose that a simpit builder with an AR headset could continue to happily manipulate his/her beloved physical controls, while having AR, through its marriage of Computer graphics,  real objects, and accurate tracking of both in 3D space provide the out-of -the-cockpit windshield views?

I envision a user sitting happily in his cockpit, able to see all of his instruments clearly, but whenever he looks out the windscreen, he/she will see the augmented reality.

A user could stand up (if there's room!) and look through the glass to see things below the aircraft, and could in fact see anything a real life pilot would see, while not sacrificing the tactile feel of real instrumentation at all.........

I can think of several ways it might work (while being a monster to program) and think it could be very cool!

Or not....... 

[ESzczesniak 128]

I think AR and home cockpits is the ultimate.  Basically a pass through camera and a green screen outside the windows.  Would let you see and manipulate all your controls and just project the outside view on to a green screen.

My one reservation at the moment is that I don't feel as much depth perception outside the cockpit as I do inside.  The surround view is great, but a good 180 degree display and home cockpit may not be so far off the AR/VR...of course VR is improving a lot too.  

[Murmur 3,941]

Nice post HiFlyer, I have been thinking exactly the same for months.

It will certainly be doable with the advances in AR/VR, and actually a VR headset is also a lot cheaper than a professional projector (and gives a lot more dynamic field of view).

Although, my personal opinion is that it will have some limitations compared to a full VR setup. A couple that come to my mind: the shadow and lighting in the simpit will not correspond to the ones of the virtual world; and also, maybe the brain will sense a disconnect between the real simpit and the virtual images. I think these issues (especially the first?) would limit the immersion when compared to a full VR setup.

Probably the most immersive possible setup in a few years from now, will be a full VR headset, coupled with a "dummy" simpit, where just the walls and the switches (functional) are placed where they are supposed to be, while the user only sees the virtual reality (with a virtual body).

A bonus would be, that a dummy simpit (with only switches) requires a lot less money and time to be built than a fully functional one.

 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

1 hour ago, Murmur said:

Probably the most immersive possible setup in a few years from now, will be a full VR headset, coupled with a "dummy" simpit, where just the walls and the switches (functional) are placed where they are supposed to be, while the user only sees the virtual reality (with a virtual body).

A bonus would be, that a dummy simpit (with only switches) requires a lot less money and time to be built than a fully functional one.

Yup, and I can think of many applications beyond flight simulation.....

[hs118 707]

We agree on this, augmented reality is actually the best endgame for me. Microsoft HoloLens technology is a step in this direction.

My business sense is that military and commercial simulation will drive this market. They cannot do VR in its current form to do proper training.

Good post and, again, we agree.

 

[Slayer 190]

CastAR would have been the best solution but haven't heard of their progress in quite some time. Why not something like Occulus with a transparent front lense or an adaptable front lense like they have in high end car rear view mirrors where it could darken or lighten to block out or mix VR and reality. 

My guess is it's a great idea but there is a low demand for AR compared to VR. I would estimate this to be along the lines of comparing general gaming where millions of copies sold to 100k for simmers. Not enough demand for AR yet but I suspect it will be a big thing in the future. Hopefully we are around when AR takes off finally :/ 

[Jimmy RFR 406]

I had posted a line of thought similar to this a long ways back when the Hololens was announced. Ideally, it'd be the perfect marriage - I've seen amazing 1:1 simpits for fighter jets that go to great lengths to replicate all hardware & switches; now imagine if everything above the canopy line was projected via AR.

I was subscribed to the Hololens news updates for awhile, and even entertained thoughts of experimenting on my own via a dev kit. This thought went out the window when the price of the dev kits was announced...

However, after having used VR for awhile now, I do believe it's at it's finest when it's completely projecting a world that you can feel immersed in. I'm not sure how a partial projection, such as AR, would lend itself to the same sensory experience. It may simply feel more like a replacement for expensive screen or projection solutions.

I'm not saying that it could never happen, but I'm much more excited about where the state of VR may be in 3 or 4 years, with (hopefully) much higher resolution screens and (hopefully) much more powerful PC components to drive them.

On a side note (but tangentially related)... I find that my Rift has a small gap between the bridge of my nose and my cheeks. At first I found it annoying, but then I realized that it's a bit of a Good Thing, since it lets me 'peek' to see where my touch controllers are to pick them up, or look at the controls if I'm flying or driving, etc.

I wonder if there wouldn't be a use for a different facepad that used a see-through component on the lower part, to widen that area you can peek through?

[Murmur 3,941]

4 hours ago, Jimmy RFR said:

However, after having used VR for awhile now, I do believe it's at it's finest when it's completely projecting a world that you can feel immersed in. I'm not sure how a partial projection, such as AR, would lend itself to the same sensory experience. It may simply feel more like a replacement for expensive screen or projection solutions.

Exactly my thought!