AMD working on Virtual Reality too

[Gregster]

Cooperation, not VR headsets

We became aware of a few VR-related things back in mid-2014, and one of them was that both AMD and Nvidia were investing a lot of resources in Virtual Reality.

Nvidia officially mentioned VR Direct back in September 2014 and we saw an Unreal Engine demo powered by Nvidia VR, on the Oculus DK2 VR headset. There are some indications that Nvidia might talk about VR at its Shield event next week.

They are not alone, as some big guys including Oculus by Facebook are working hard on Virtual Reality solutions. Online game distribution pioneer Valve is about to presentt its take on the VR problem, Samsung is using Oculus technology for its Note 4 VR device.

This is not all, as both Sony and Microsoft have their own version of hologlasses, which are going after the Augmented Reality (AR) side of things.

AMD is also working on Virtual Reality, but from what we know AMD is working with Oculus and doesn’t want to make its own devices. This is interesting, since the Crescent by Oculus demo was demoed on Nvidia-powered machines.

We are sure that AMD will talk Virtual Reality at the Games Developers Conference, at least behind closed doors, but as we said before we expect GPU companies will be all over the Virtual Reality space.

Some technologies such as 3D stereoscopic gaming never became mainstream, and we believe that VR will have to go through quite a struggle before it does.

We are certain about one thing - you will need a lot of GPU power to run and render a nice virtual reality environment in high resolution, and 100W – 200W TDP GPUs are going to be way better choice than graphics inside of mobiles or tablet SoC, there is simply no doubt about that.

http://fudzilla.com/news/graphics/37105-amd-works-on-virtual-reality-too

So, with nVidia and AMD (albeit working with Oculus and not making their own devices), who here is interested in VR? This is something that I want and quite surprised I never grabbed a OR dev kit to try out, as I am a big proponent of 3D.

New news in.

Liquid VR' is AMD's push into virtual reality with software

The latest Silicon Valley company to hop on the virtual reality bandwagon is AMD, this morning unveiling what it's calling "Liquid VR": a software development kit aimed at making VR easier for everyone. The announcement comes from a presentation at GDC 2015 in San Francisco, where virtual reality is dominating the news. What does Liquid VR do for developers and users? It essentially makes everything much easier. As one AMD rep put it during this morning's presentation, "You can plug an Oculus Rift into a computer and start 3D rendering directly to the headset, even without Oculus' SDK." In so many words, Liquid VR is yet another solution for making various VR headsets work easily on various devices; it also optimizes the use of that headset for that particular computer (no doubt powered by AMD's chips).



Liquid VR is AMD's first public step toward VR support, company reps said, with partnerships and more planned for the future. Oculus VR director of engineering Anuj Gosalia says his company is "very excited" about the things AMD is doing in VR, and that Oculus is working on leveraging AMD's work in its own work. For instance, the ability to simply plug in a Rift headset and have it recognized as a VR headset rather than a new monitor.



There are many more, far more complicated ways that the companies are working together, but this is the kind of stuff that will be invisible to most of us -- the kind of stuff that makes VR seamless. The first version of the SDK is available to "select" developers starting today; AMD is looking at this as the Alpha.

When asked about whether or not AMD is also working with HTC and Valve on the HTC Vive headset, AMD reps hilariously clammed up and asked whether or not they could talk about that yet. Sounds like the answer is yes!

Liquid VR' is AMD's push into virtual reality with software

 

[Ayahuasca]

VR without doubt will become one of those things everyone has/wants but for the moment I'm waiting till it's at a really, really good level before buying into it.

 

[Gregster]

VR without doubt will become one of those things everyone has/wants but for the moment I'm waiting till it's at a really, really good level before buying into it.

I picture games like BF4 and ED (crap in 3D in fairness) being proper Bo in VR. I am biased mind as I love 3D.

 

[bru]

We are certain about one thing - you will need a lot of GPU power to run and render a nice virtual reality environment in high resolution, and 100W – 200W TDP GPUs are going to be way better choice than graphics inside of mobiles or tablet SoC, there is simply no doubt about that.

oh god, don't let Pottsey see that.

As for VR, It will be a fad, just as 3D is/was. Until these technologies can be done without the need for a helmet type system. If it could be done by just putting on a pair of glasses then it might have a chance, but until the tech can be that small and work well it will just be a tiny niche market. One day they will get there but not for a good long while yet.

 

[tommybhoy]

Is it good that AMD are not bothering with making their own VR headset? Have they missed an opportunity or will this be a fad?

Yes, much like Nvidia using partner ip for their VR too.

 

[VincentHanna]

VR has a lot of potential, it's really exciting for games.

However, I used an Oculus DK2 and found the image quality really underwhelming.

Testing Alien: Isolation it quickly became apparent the DK2 kit wasn't up to the task of playing a game all the way through.

I think they really will need 1440p-4k screens to make it look decent so close to your eyes.

However, I tried the catapult demo and it really did trick my brain to make it feel like it was moving, so in terms of immersion they are great.

Excited by the possibility. Just hoping there aren't loads of different options and that some sort of standardisation is reached.

Guess we'll find out more soon, but I can't see why Nvidia would launch their own rather than help to support Oculus (As they have the financial might of Facebook behind them)

Valve....well they aren't exactly strapped for cash, and might be more 'gamer' centric than Oculus, so it's interesting to see what they might announce soon.

 

[eyetrip]

Am looking forward to when this becomes more mainstream, but I just don't want to see a lot of proprietary stuff.

We can have OR, a Valve VR headset, MS, whatever, so long as I am not tied to any one gpu vendor.

Will nvidias be proprietary?

 

[Gregster]

Yes, much like Nvidia using partner ip for their VR too.

Do tell more? The site I read an hour ago stated that nVidia are working on their own headset but no details, so if you know more, please share it with us. I am very interested.

 

[TheRealDeal]

VR has a lot of potential, it's really exciting for games.

However, I used an Oculus DK2 and found the image quality really underwhelming.

Testing Alien: Isolation it quickly became apparent the DK2 kit wasn't up to the task of playing a game all the way through.

I think they really will need 1440p-4k screens to make it look decent so close to your eyes.

However, I tried the catapult demo and it really did trick my brain to make it feel like it was moving, so in terms of immersion they are great.

Excited by the possibility. Just hoping there aren't loads of different options and that some sort of standardisation is reached.

Guess we'll find out more soon, but I can't see why Nvidia would launch their own rather than help to support Oculus (As they have the financial might of Facebook behind them)

Valve....well they aren't exactly strapped for cash, and might be more 'gamer' centric than Oculus, so it's interesting to see what they might announce soon.

+1 having had a shot of the DK2 myself i am in agreement about the need for a much higher resolution.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Not something else now they will bang on about for a bit, and then nothing.

 

[Mei]

im a lazy gamer, moving my head around to look id get bored of fast i can do that in real life!! lol
view glasses i like tho, thats just space saving and pretty awesome, can game when travelling or just laying back being lazy like me!

 

[Pottsey]

oh god, don't let Pottsey see that.

There are actually some really good arguments and advantages to using a Mobile SoC in VR. It wouldn’t surprise me if NVidia do bring out a VR unit that it has Tegra chip in it. It makes sense for a lot of reasons.

 

[tommybhoy]

Do tell more? The site I read an hour ago stated that nVidia are working on their own headset but no details, so if you know more, please share it with us. I am very interested.

Vuzix Wrap/Tracker/Shield combo.

Anything will do as long as they get the specs right!

Dug out pics I saved over the last couple of months, you'll need to use google but it's out there.




First ones obviously a mock up but search and you will find.

P.S Nvidia didn't invent 3D vision 2 glasses btw, the glasses were bought ip too, Samsung iirc.

and

Nvidia released an article to partner press a couple of years ago with some very crude VR specs they were working on if you want to go on the look out for that too, so it's possible they are actually manufacturing their own VR from the ground up, until anything is confirmed, everything is speculation.

 

[D.P.]

I hear that AMD VR is coming soon.

 

[Gregster]

The info I read (how true it is I don't know) said that it was the same guys who made the Shield Tablet.

http://vrfocus.com/archives/11915/nvidia-reveal-new-vr-hmd-gdc-2015/

Today our friendly neighbors at VRFocus reported that “multiple sources” had confirmed that Nvidia would be revealing their own VR headset, which may be named ‘Titan VR’. Further, the blog says “The product is being created by the team behind Nvidia’s SHIELD tablet,”

All speculation at prsent but that doesn't sound like they are working alongside an IP.

 

[elmuzzy66.]

I hear that AMD VR is coming soon.

Is this normal 'soon' or freesync 'soon'?

 

[Geeman1979]

Or new driver soon? ^^^

 

[Mei]

finishing touches!

 

[tommybhoy]

All speculation at prsent but that doesn't sound like they are working alongside an IP.

As an example, AMD True Audio is licensed ip with AMD branding, implementing it is different from making it from the ground up.

To make it abundantly clear to avoid any future confusion, I'm NOT stating Nvidia aren't making their own VR headset from scratch, I'm speculating too.

 

[Orangey]

I have been thinking about picking up a devkit for a long time, but I know I'd just be lazy and it'd end up being a waste of money. When there are real commercial apps I'll definitely try it out.