A few days ago, waiting for the Oculus Rift finally arrive at the office, I came across this video on Macity (an italian mac news site) that explains how the VR viewer Google Cardboard can be safely used with smartphones from Apple , as well as with any Android smartphone. Of course I immediately thought of doing some testing with OctaneRender ™ 2.0 to see if this brilliant, simple and disarming cardboard box could really provide the magic of stereoscopic vision that promises. You can find online a tutorial for self-realize it, but out of laziness, I thought it best to order the kit directly from Amazon for just a few euros.
With great surprise, the VR viewer cardboard works fine, as well as to use the proper apps, as well as an excellent display of stereoscopic images and animations made with new options offered by OctaneRender ™ v2 which is no longer limited to anaglyph mode, but provides full support for 3D stereoscopic vision.
Unpacking and Assembly
You can order the Google Cardboard in two different sizes depending on the size of the screen of your smartphone you own, in 4/4.7 inch or 5/5.7 inch version. The viewer comes in a plastic bag and looks like a folded cardboard box packaging. Unlocked the packaging following the tear, the box is explained in all its parts, revealing the lenses and the various sectors that comprise it. On one side of the case, the instructions are printed with the assembly sequence and must be separated from the rest of the board that will make the viewer. Following the instructions and numbering printed directly on the cardboard, the VR viewer Cardbord takes shape in seconds.
Rendering a stereoscopic image or animation with OctaneRender ™ 2.0
From the earliest versions, OctaneRender ™ has always had the ability to create and display real-time stereoscopic images, but unfortunately only in anaglyph mode that, while offering a good feeling of perspective and depth, because of the false color, fails to return a full and engaging visual experience.
OctaneRender finally ™ 2.0 offers full support for stereoscopic 3D, in addition to Anaglyphic vision, offers the option Parallel and Off-axis plus the ability to toggle the image for the right eye, left eye, or both at the same time side by side. All of course in real-time as in the style of OctaneRender ™
Setting the Camera
To make a picture or animation to be viewed on the Google Cardboard is necessary to set the node Thin Lens Camera in the appropriate manner. First you need to set the Deformation to the maximum value of 1 to correct the opposite deformation given by the lenses of the viewer. Afterwards set the Stereo mode on parallel and Stereo output on Side-by-Side, so the images in the viewport are displayed side by side horizontally. The last setting is for the Eye distance, which should be adjusted to 0.065 corresponding to 6.5 cm.
As a final step before launch of the final calculation, you must set the Resolution to match with the size of your smartphone that will be used as a viewer inside the Google Cardboard, in the case of an iPhone 5 corresponds to 1136x640 pixels.
Visual experience
Once you download the stereoscopic content to the smartphone, and having placed it in the space provided, it is sufficient to close the viewer through the velcro, closer to the face and immerse themselves immediately into stereoscopic vision.
Considering that we are talking about a product of cardboard assembled in seconds, the visual experience is definitely more engaging and defined in comparison with the anaglyphic vision. I have not seen any strange feeling or visual fatigue when viewing stereo 3D images and animations. On the contrary, a slight feeling of nausea occurred after a few minutes using the free apps virtual navigation available on Appstore or GooglePlay. Probably because the first instinct was to get up and walk, the involvement is quite remarkable!
Below are some pictures and a sample animation created with OctaneRender ™ V2.0 to test the viewer
Happy rendered by the team of Octane.it
