(Note: the above video contains some bad language so if you’re not a fan, look away.)
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN living under a rock for the last few months, chances are you’ve heard of Oculus Rift and how it’s going to finally bring virtual reality to the masses.
For those who haven’t, it a headset which properly immerses you in a 3D world. Beginning life as a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, the company behind the technology was acquired by Facebook for $2 billion in March.
But how does it work?
When you put on the headset, it blocks out everything except what you’re viewing, but instead of using one screen, Oculus Rift places two images side by side – one for each eye – creating a stereoscopic 3D image for you to view.
There are two factors which causes this effect. The first is that both images have a wide view meaning it takes up your entire field of view. The second is the angle for each image is slightly different, meaning when you view them together, it creates the impression of depth.
This results in your brain treating this as if it’s a real situation. You know you’re not standing at a height or riding a roller-coaster, but it certainly feels like it.
To add to the experience, it tracks your head movement so you can look around your world you’re in. When you move your head, the device detects it and adjusts the image to match your movement.
The journalists and tech staff here at TheJournal.ie had the chance to try out the headset this week. In this clip provided by Redbull, we got to experience what it would be like to dive from a 90ft height. This is what we saw when we had the headset on.
And how did we react? Well, you’re going to have to watch the video above to find out.
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