Zoom in the Oculus Rift

[Deano87]

Firstly, Please don't move this to the big oculus thread. It will just get lost.:pilotfly:

 

Can we PLEASE get some kind of zoom feature while wearing the Oculus, I have personally used a couple of Oculus games that have zoom enabled and it seems to work fine. Titans of Space is one of them and it works very well for being able to see things in the distance.

 

Back before DCS natively supported the Rift you could get it to work with Vorpx and with that we also had the zoom function which worked very well for getting a close up look at an instrument or to scan the horizon. I know its not 'realistic' but then again everybody else who is using their monitors also has the ability to zoom in AND they have far sharper screens, so should we.

 

I know ED have added the enlarged models at long range as we saw in last nights stream (very cool) but I think zooming would help get over the limited resolution of the rift and make things much more enjoyable for us rifters. I have a rotary on my HOTAS that would be perfect for it! Being able to clearly read a HUD or RWR would make a nice change:thumbup:

 

I figure you set it up so fully zoomed out is the standard rift FOV and so you can zoom in from there and then when you want to get back to normal rift you just zoom out as far as you can.

 

Thanks

Deano

[King_Hrothgar]

Very sensible, +1.

[IAF_Phantom]

+1

[LuSi_6]

+1

[SharpeXB]

I'm trying to imagine what zooming looks like in VR :unsure:

I've heard this mentioned a lot though as needed to overcome the resolution. Hopefully the CV1 has enough to make this not needed.

[NineLine]

ED probably wont do anything new with Rift until CV1 comes out.

[King_Hrothgar]

It works exactly the same as it does on an ordinary monitor. The center of the viewing arc is enlarged while the margins disappear off screen.

[blksolo]

I dont think a zoom feature is a good idea because of motion sickness.I do think a binocular feature would be easier on the user.Difference being binocular is an istant zoom,not a slow motion sickness zoom if that makes sense.

[King_Hrothgar]

You can make the zoom as fast or slow as you like. I have it on a slider, it responds instantly to commands. But putting in 3 quick keys for 3 levels of zoom (in, default, out) would be helpful for those without a bunch of sliders/rotaries. What will be an issue is the view direction responsiveness when zoomed in. Just like with TIR, a precision or pause mode will be required when zoomed in to stabilize it if nothing else. It may already have this, I don't have one of the dev models so I don't know.

 

In any case, VR is definitely not for everyone. Motion sickness is a real problem with these devices and a lot of people simply can't cope with them physically. I've read people can be trained to handle simulation sickness with practice, so it will probably work with VR too. But I also don't see the average gamer going to the trouble to train themselves not puke on their keyboard every 5 minutes. More likely, they'll just use a normal monitor.

[TomOnSteam]

I'd rather a binocular button :)

[PiedDroit]

I don't have a rift but I tried the stereoscopic monitor setup (to see the impact on performances), so I had my screen split in half with the two images.

And I could zoom...

I don't know if it's specific to the rift but it's definitely possible with the current engine in stereoscopic mode.

[Deano87]

Ok let me chip in with my experiance.

 

Zoom doesn't currently work in rift mode in DCS, I can confirm that.

 

Zoom however does work in VR in general. Your field of view gets narrower and eventually you get to point where it feels like your looking through a pair of slightly distorty binoculars. Much better than not being able to see anything in the distance IMHO.

 

I don't want it to be a binoculars button because I might just want to zoom in slightly to get a better view of the HUD or an MFD and not fully zoomed in to see a spec on the horizon.

 

Regarding motion sickness. I have struggled with motion sickness a lot in my life. It has been the bane of my full size flying life and I was very worried the rift would be a big problem for me.

 

Initially the rift DID make me feel unwell. The first time I banked an aircraft I damn near fell out of my seat. But after a couple of weeks of using it 3-4 times a week I was much more used to it and gentle aerobatics didn't bother me much. Now a year or so down the line I can get into any kinda of ACM I like and it doesn't bother me at all. Now I say this honestly that the amazingness of the VR experience meant that the motion sickness wasn't a problem for me. I knew I would get used to it eventually.

 

Interestingly I still find FPS style rift experiences slightly nauseating because of the disconnect between my body and the walking movement in an FPS. In DCS in a seated static position inside a cockpit it feel completely natural to me.