Company is also working on embeddable "mega sensor" for future VR headsets
Palmer Luckey, the creator of the Oculus Rift virtual reality head-mounted display (HMD), recently told GamesIndustry International that VR may not become mainstream for quite some time to come. One of the things currently holding VR back, per Luckey, is the use of traditional controllers, which he feels are far from ideal for VR. However, as we wait for the ideal VR input to materialize, the list of controller alternatives for VR aficionados to experiment with keeps on growing. The latest addition to it is the Leap Motion Controller.
Leap Motion, Inc. has introduced a Leap Motion controller mount for the Oculus Rift. Called the VR Developer Mount, this $20 contraption allows the company's eponymous motion-sensing camera to snap onto the Oculus Rift.
"If virtual reality is to be anything like actual reality, we believe that fast, accurate, and robust hand tracking will be absolutely essential," the company's CTO David Holz said in a blog post Thursday. "We believe in the concept of other specialized controllers as well, but our hands themselves are the fundamental and universal human input device."
The VR Developer Mount will help developers make the most of a new API that for the first time gives them access to raw infrared from the Leap Motion Controller: "When mounted directly onto a head-worn display, these [infrared] images become stereoscopic windows into the world around you. What it sees, you see."
"This expands the tracking space to be in any direction you're facing. You can reach forward, turn around, look up and down, and the tracking follows you wherever you go. Because our device's field of view exceeds that of existing VR displays, you'll find it can start to track your hands before you even see them."
Holz also revealed that the company is working on a next-generation "mega sensor" that will be offered directly to VR OEMs for embedding in their HMDs. Codenamed "Dragonfly", the new sensor will come with "greater-than-HD image resolution, color and infrared imagery, and a significantly larger field of view."
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