Jeri Ellsworth "CastAR VR / AR System - The 18 Month Story"

[Ikagara]

Remember Jeri, the hardware hacker/engineer who valve hired, then later fired? She uploaded a video today giving us the story on her time at valve, the technology she developed and what shes doing now with it.

Thety have a kickstarter to help them with their project:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/technicalillusions/castar-the-most-versatile-ar-and-vr-system

 

[Pikminiman]

Cool stuff. Personally, I'm not interested in AR tech, but the new VR addition sounds interesting to me. I'm not saying it will match up to the experience of Oculus Rift, but I think I'll keep an eye on this CastAR thing. I still can't say I understand how it works, though. For example, how does it work when multiple people are projecting onto the same surface? Does the surface somehow only reflect each image to its originator?

 

[Ikagara]

I still can't say I understand how it works, though. For example, how does it work when multiple people are projecting onto the same surface? Does the surface somehow only reflect each image to its originator?

The lenses of the glasses are shutters that sync up to each persons projectors, and are only open when the image for the the target eye is being projected. so if you have 2 people, you will have 4 frames in a cycle. 2 per person for each of their eye. the downside to this is as you add more people, the longer each cycle takes, at some point you'll start seeing the image start to flash or blink rapidly.

 

[Ikagara]

I was incorrect about my assumption on how it works with multiple people. The reflective surface is directional, and reflects the projected image back to its source only and no where else so all you see is the image you project and not the other players. They explained it in this video here

I was thinking, what if you coat a windshield in this sort of reflective stuff, but still keep it transparent. you could have a sort of HUD displayed on your windshield while driving giving you information like speed, weather, navigation. navigation could advance where the system would actually point out a road you need to turn down or create a virtual road for night driving using low light sensors to see whats ahead.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

The AR aspect interests me, but I'd have to see how it measures up first.