Los Angeles, 5 August 2016 – Today at VRLA, the world’s largest virtual reality expo, the team at Vive announced VIVEPORT, the destination for VR content and experiences. The Viveport store will be available to customers later this fall and will launch a developer beta soon.
Building on the fast growth and success of great VR games, the Viveport store features immersive experiences across additional categories and introduces an update to Vive Home, a personal and customisable virtual environment. Viveport will soon invite both the creator community and customers to discover, create, connect, watch, and shop for the things they love and need in life.
“Our mission is to unleash human imagination from the limitations of reality, and Viveport will be an important cornerstone in democratising access to the world’s most diverse selection of immersive experiences,” said Cher Wang, CEO of HTC.
The Viveport store will feature a wide range of VR experiences across education, design, art, social, video, music, sports, health, fashion, travel, news, shopping, creativity tools, and more. The Viveport store will be available in HTC Vive headsets, web browsers, and as a PC and mobile app. Together with the global community of content creators and developers, Viveport will provide all customers with a unique and fast-growing selection of apps and experiences.
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“We believe equal access to virtual reality experiences will make the world a better place; enhancing our daily lives and the way we connect with everything. An important goal for the Viveport team is to enable developers to reach a global audience and grow their business,” said Rikard Steiber, Senior Vice President of Viveport.
The Viveport store is built to be responsive to content creators and developers, empowering them to drive long-term engagement and monetisation. Viveport will feature pay-to-download, in-app-purchases, subscriptions, and more revenue generating opportunities. In addition, Viveport will continue to roll out new platform features supporting content creation, distribution, and customer engagement.
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As part of their aggressive push to promote both the Radeon RX 480, and 7th Generation AMD APUs; David Nalasco and Peter Amos flew all the way from AMD Markham in Canada to give a thorough tech briefing on the new AMD technologies in those products.
Ryan Sim, Channel Sales Director of AMD ASEAN & India, started the event with a short welcome speech. He pointed out how the new AMD Radeon RX 480 offers unrivalled power efficiency, and brings virtual reality to the mainstream with a shockingly affordable price.
Then AMD officially launched the AMD Radeon RX 480 here in Malaysia, with this launch gambit. Check it out!
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AMD Polaris GPU Tech Briefing
In this video, David Nalasco, Senior Technology Manager for Graphics in the Radeon Technology Group, gives a thorough tech briefing on the new AMD Polaris architecture, and the first three graphics cards based on the Polaris 10 and Polaris 11 GPUs.
AMD 7th Generation APU Tech Briefing
Then Peter Amos, APU Product Marketing Manager, AMD Client Business Unit, gave a tech briefing on the new 7th Generation AMD APUs, as well as upcoming desktop processors based on the new AMD Zen architecture. Check it out!
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14 July 2016 — Today’s release of NVIDIA VR Funhouse extends our role in the gaming ecosystem to that of a game creator.
NVIDIA VR Funhouse
Our first game, NVIDIA VR Funhouse is built on Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, and is the brainchild of NVIDIA’s LightSpeed Studios. It was created with a dual-purpose.
First, we wanted it to be fun. To be enjoyed by people of all ages, whether or not they’ve tried VR, whether or not they’re an early adopter.
Second, it was created to show how immersive VR can be when physics simulation is fully integrated into an experience.
Why Physics Is Fundamental to VR
For nearly a decade, NVIDIA has been developing PhysX, an SDK that allows physically accurate simulation of a 3D environment. It’s provided advanced visual effects for more than 500 PC and console games.
When we first saw some of the early VR games and experiences, we quickly realized that something was missing: there was little to no physics simulation. Because VR places you inside of the experience with the ability to touch and interact with virtual objects, it is critical that those objects behave and react in realistic ways. Unlike traditional PC games, physics in VR games is not just visual effects.
It’s fundamental to immersion.
So, with VR Funhouse, we set out to integrate physical simulation into every aspect of the game and combine it with amazing graphics and precise haptics that make you feel like you are at the
carnival.
Physics effects in VR Funhouse created with NVIDIA GameWorks SDK include:
NVIDIA PhysX Destruction to make shooting game targets that realistically chip and explode when hit.
NVIDIA FleX to make the realistic cloth on the curtains, streamers and basketball nets. It’s also used to create realistic fluids for in the clown balloon race game.
NVIDIA Flow to make particles realistically respond to moving solid objects and turbulent fluid motion. You see it when players pop the confetti filled balloons and use their swords to cut through and interact with the confetti. Flow is showcased when you use the bow & arrow to light your arrow on fire, shoot it and watch the targets burn.
NVIDIA HairWorks to make the lifelike hair in the Whack-A-Mole and Punch-A-Mole level.
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Simulating physics takes incredible processing power, and we found it by applying NVIDIA VRWorks technologies, including Multi-Res Shading and VR SLI, to increase rendering performance.
To encourage developers to experiment with our SDK, we’re going to be open sourcing VR Funhouse later this summer. We fully expect that developers, enthusiasts and artists from both the VR industry and game industry will build their own mini-games.
To achieve our goals, we created VR Funhouse as an enthusiast’s experience, not a ‘min-spec’ experience. We recommend that you experience it on a GeForce GTX 980 Ti, or GeForce 10 Series GPUS. The best, most immersive experience will use dual GeForce GTX 1080s.
To experience the fusion of state of the art graphics and realistic physics modeling in a VR game, download NVIDIA VR Funhouse on Steam today.
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NVIDIA invited us to an exclusive media conference call recently. We recorded it for you and compiled it into a video presentation so you can better understand what the new GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card offers gamers. You will also get updates on NVIDIA VR Funhouse and NVIDIA Ansel. Check it out!
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Key Takeaways
The GeForce GTX 1060 is based on the new GP106 GPU manufactured on the 16 nm FinFET process.
The GeForce GTX 1060 has 1280 CUDA cores and with a boost clock of 1.7 GHz.
NVIDIA claims the GeForce GTX 1060 can be overclocked to 2.0 GHz.
The GeForce GTX 1060 has 6 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 2.0 GHz.
The GeForce GTX 1060 will be faster than the GeForce GTX 980.
The GeForce GTX 1060 will only consume 120 watts of power.
The GeForce GTX 1060 will have a 6-pin PCI Express power connector but no SLI connector.
GeForce GTX 1060 custom boards will be available starting July 19, priced at US$249 and above.
NVIDIA will offer the GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition board on July 19 as well, priced at US$299.
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Presentation Slides
For those who prefer to check out the slides, there are 18 of them. So we have to divide them into 3 pages for your convenience. Enjoy!
This presentation will not only cover the new GeForce GTX 1060 graphics card, but also updates on NVIDIA VR Fun House and NVIDIA Ansel. But first, a quick trip down memory lane to when the GeForce GTX 980 was launched two years ago.
The new GeForce GTX 1060 promises to change all that, thanks to the new NVIDIA Pascal architecture, which is optimised for both speed and performance per watt.
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Remember how fast the GeForce GTX 980 was two years ago? Well, the new GeForce GTX 1060 promises to deliver GTX 980-level performance with twice the energy efficiency in VR.
The GeForce GTX 1060 supports the NVIDIA Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology, which allows it to seamlessly project a single image simultaneously to both eyes, yielding a 3X VR graphics performance improvement over previous generation GPUs.
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This allows GeForce GTX 1060 users to play VR games with higher levels of detail, without sacrificing performance or quality, for a more realistic, immersive experience.
Simultaneous Multi-Projection is being integrated into the world’s biggest game engines, Unreal Engine and Unity. More than 30 games are already in development, including Unreal Tournament, Poolnation VR, Everest VR, Obduction, Adr1ft and Raw Data.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 also supports NVIDIA VRWorks, a software developer kit that allows developers to intertwine what users see, hear and touch with the physical behaviour of the environment –convincing them that their virtual experience is real.
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NVIDIA VR Funhouse will be available for free later this month from Valve’s Steam digital distribution service. Developed on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4, VR Funhouse will work on the GeForce GTX 1080, 1070 and 1060 GPUs and HTC Vive VR headsets. It will also be open sourced to developers and artists so they can create their own VR Funhouse attractions.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 also supports the NVIDIA Ansel technology, a powerful game-capture tool that allows gamers to explore, capture and share the artistry of gaming in ways never before possible. With Ansel, users can compose the gameplay shots they want, pointing the camera in any direction, from any vantage point within a gaming world, and then capture 360-degree stereo photospheres for viewing with a VR headset or Google Cardboard.
Gamers will be able to experience Ansel for themselves with Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst next week, and Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, later this month. Many more Ansel-enabled games are in development, including Epic Games’ Fortnite, Paragon and Unreal Tournament; Cyan Worlds’ Obduction; Thekla’s The Witness; Boss Key Productions’ Lawbreakers; Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s The Division; and the highly anticipated No Man’s Sky from Hello Games.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 features 1,280 CUDA cores, 6 GB of GDDR5 memory running at 8 Gbps and a boost clock of 1.7 GHz, which NVIDIA claims can be easily overclocked to 2 GHz for additional performance.
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Across the top gaming titles, GeForce GTX 1060 is on average 15% faster and over 75 percent more power efficient than the closest competitive product (the Radeon RX 480?) at stock speeds.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 custom boards will be available starting July 19 from NVIDIA GeForce partners, including ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY and Zotac. The MSRP will start at US$249.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition board – designed and built by NVIDIA – will be available starting July 19 for US$299. The GeForce GTX 1060 Founder’s Edition is crafted with premium materials and components, including a faceted die-cast aluminum body machine finished for strength and rigidity and a thermal solution designed to run cool and quiet.
Like the GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 Founder’s Edition boards, a dual-FETs power supply is used to improve power efficiency, along with a low impedance power delivery network and custom voltage regulators.
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During Computex 2016, AMD revealed the AMD Radeon RX 480 – the first graphics card powered by the new AMD Polaris 10 GPU. Today, AMD officially reveals the full details and specifications of the new AMD Radeon RX 400 series of graphics processors, including the Radeon RX 470 and the Radeon RX 460.
AMD also revealed the Radeon R5, R7 and R9 nomenclature will be replaced by the Radeon RX nomenclature for cards that are designed for gaming, while those not targeted at gamers will just use the Radeon moniker.
AMD Radeon RX 400 Series Video Presentation
AMD invited us to an exclusive media conference call yesterday. We recorded it for you and compiled it into a video presentation so you can better understand what the new AMD Radeon RX 400 series brings to the gaming and VR scene. Check it out!
AMD Radeon RX 400 Series Presentation Slides
For those who prefer to check out the slides, there are 25 of them. So we have to divide them into 3 pages for your convenience. Enjoy!
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If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Support Tech ARP!
If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participate in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donate to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
On the second day of Computex 2016, AMD unveiled the AMD Radeon RX 480, the first salvo of their “Water Drop” strategy for the upcoming AMD Polaris architecture. Their “Water Drop” strategy is focused at releasing new graphics architectures in high volume segments first to maintain market share growth for Radeon GPUs.
Set for launch and availability on June 29, 2016, the new AMD Radeon RX 480 will deliver more than 5 TFLOPS of performance at just US$199! The Radeon RX 480 is both HTC Vive-Ready and Oculus Rift compatible. AMD expects the Radeon RX 480 to jumpstart the growth of VR adoption by offering premium VR experience at less than half the current cost.
We were present at the Westin Taipei, when Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Radeon Technologies Group, revealed the AMD Radeon RX 480. Check it out!
“VR is the most eagerly anticipated development in immersive computing ever, and is the realization of AMD’s Cinema 2.0 vision that predicted the convergence of immersive experiences and interactivity back in 2008,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “As we look to fully connect and immerse humanity through VR, cost remains the daylight between VR being only for the select few, and universal access for everyone. The Radeon RX Series is a disruptive technology that adds rocket fuel to the VR inflection point, turning it into a technology with transformational relevance to consumers.”
Odd Radeon RX 480 Results
In the final minutes of his presentation, Raja Koduri showed how two Radeon RX 480 graphics cards can beat the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card for far less money. Based on the sub-$500 price, the results are based on the 8 GB variant of the Radeon RX 480.
What’s really odd is that Raja Koduri explicitly pointed out that the two Radeon RX 480 graphics cards were only utilised to 51% to slightly best the GeForce GTX 1080. Those are frankly, really odd numbers.
If it’s true that the two Radeon RX 480 graphics cards have a 49% headroom after beating the GeForce GTX 1080, then a single Radeon RX 480 would actually beat the GeForce GTX 1080! In fact, if we extrapolate the results so that both cards have the same 98.7% GPU utilisation, the Radeon RX 480 would deliver a frame rate of 60.5 fps. That would make the Radeon RX 480 about 3% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080, which we know is just not possible…
We now know how AMD derived those results. Check out our 2-page explanation of what those odd results mean, and what the REAL results are!
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Juicy Radeon RX Series Tidbits
We left right after the announcement, and missed the Q&A, but we managed to glean some additional tidbits after that :
The AMD Radeon RX 480 will come in two variants – one with 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, and one with 8 GB of GDDR5 memory.
The Radeon RX 480 with 4 GB of GDDR5 will sell for US$199, while the 8 GB variant will sell for US$229.
AMD will also announce the Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 460 graphics cards, based on the same AMD Polaris architecture and 14 nm FinFET fabrication process.
The AMD Radeon RX 470 (codenamed Polaris 10 Pro, formerly Ellesmere Pro) could have a TDP of 120 W.
More details on the Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 460 should be revealed during the official June 29 launch.
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TAIPEI, 1 June 2016 — Wednesday at Computex 2016, Microsoft Corp. invited its Windows 10 hardware partners to create virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality devices and everything in between with Windows Holographic, the platform that powers Microsoft HoloLens. In opening up Windows Holographic to partners, Microsoft shared its vision for mixed reality — a world where devices interact with each other to change the way people work, communicate, learn and play.
“With Windows 10, we’ve been on an incredible journey with our partners, and today we usher in the next frontier of computing — mixed reality,” said Terry Myerson, executive vice president, Windows and Devices.
Windows: The only holographic platform
With over 80 million virtual reality devices expected on the market, per year, by 2020, the business opportunity for virtual reality is vast. Yet, today’s devices are built with related but differing technologies — ranging from virtual to augmented reality. These devices and experiences do not work together today, because of different user interfaces, interaction models, input methods, peripherals and applications. Most virtual reality experiences can’t mix real people, objects and environments into the virtual world, making creation and collaboration difficult.
Windows Holographic
Windows Holographic unites these worlds and enables innovation across a range of devices. Windows Holographic offers a holographic shell and user interface, perception APIs, and Xbox Live services, enabling a familiar experience across apps and content. All Universal Windows apps can run on the Windows Holographic platform. Today there are nearly a thousand Universal Windows Apps that run on Windows Holographic.
In a mixed reality world, devices can offer experiences that extend beyond the virtual world. Imagine wearing a VR device and seeing your physical hands as you manipulate an object, working on the scanned 3-D image of a real object, or bringing a real-life holographic representation of another person into your virtual world so you can collaborate. In this world, devices can spatially map your environment wherever you are; manipulating digital content is as easy and natural as it is in the real world.
In addition to opening up Windows Holographic to its partner ecosystem for the future, Microsoft is working with Intel Corporation, AMD Inc., Qualcomm Inc., HTC Corp., Acer Inc., ASUS, Dell Inc., Falcon Northwest, HP, Lenovo Group Ltd., MSI and many others to build a hardware ecosystem supporting great virtual reality experiences on Windows 10.
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TAIPEI, May 31, 2016 — NVIDIA won big at the Computex 2016 Best Choice Awards, with the NVIDIA Tesla M40 GPU and NVIDIA Jetson TX1 module hauling in Gold Awards and the NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV clinching a Category Award.
Garnering these three prestigious awards extends the company’s winning streak — the longest of any international Computex exhibitor — to eight consecutive years. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen will hand out the awards.
Nearly 375 technology products from more than 140 vendors vied for the Best Choice Awards at Computex 2016, the largest technology tradeshow in Asia and second largest in the world. The Best Choice Awards, established in 2002, honour innovation, functionality and market potential.
The Gold Award-winning NVIDIA Tesla M40 GPU is the world’s fastest deep learning training accelerator. Purpose-built to dramatically reduce training time, the Tesla M40 can crank through deep learning models within hours versus days on CPU-based compute systems.
The NVIDIA Jetson TX1, the other Gold Award winner, is the world’s most advanced system for embedded visual computing. A supercomputer on a module that’s the size of a credit card, it offers embedded computing developers the highest performance, latest technology and the best development platform.
Winner of the Digital Entertainment & AR/VR Application Category Award, NVIDIA SHIELD transforms the living room entertainment experience with 4K streaming, advanced gaming and Android TV. It also comes with GeForce NOW, the only game-streaming service that delivers GeForce GTX gaming to the TV instantly.
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After Dell launched the world’s largest 2-in-1 laptop, the Dell Inspiron 17 7000, we had the opportunity to check out some of their latest Alienware products. Some of them, we have seen earlier. Some of them are brand new. We didn’t have much time, but we recorded three videos for you to check out.
Alienware 13 OLED
The Alienware 13 OLED is the world’s first gaming notebook to feature an OLED display panel. This not only gives you a much higher contrast ratio of 100,000:1, it also gives you a wider colour gamut – 104% of sRGB. But gamers will probably be more interested in its much faster response time of just 1-2 ms.
Despite its petite size, the Alienware 13 OLED is powered by the 6th Generation Intel Core i7 processor with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M graphics processor. The OLED display has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, lower than the non-OLED resolution of 3200 x 1800 in the previous Alienware 13.
Alienware X51 R3
This is the third revision of the Alienware X51. Reengineered with the 6th Generation Intel Core processors and a new selection of AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards, the Alienware X51 R3 comes with a liquid cooling option, and Oculus Rift-ready configurations.
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Alienware Area 51 R2 With HTC Vive
There is nothing new with the Alienware Area 51 at Computex 2016. In fact, this is the second revision from 2015, running on the 5th Generation Intel Core K processors. However, it was being used to power a HTC Vive headset, and since they opened it up for viewing, we thought – what the heck, let’s just record a video!
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On May 6, NVIDIA revealed the first gaming GPU based on their new Pascal architecture – the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080. The GeForce GTX 1080 not only boasts the latest Pascal architecture, it is also fabricated on the new 16 nm FinFET process technology and uses the new GDDR5X memory.
Although we were not in Austin, Texas for the official launch, NVIDIA invited us to an exclusive tech briefing in Bangkok on May 20th. While these hardware specifications are well-known by now, this was a technical briefing that would give us greater insights into the other new technologies that are being introduced with the GeForce GTX 1080.
NVIDIA brought in the big guns for the tech briefing and demonstration – Nick Stam (NVIDIA Senior Technical Marketing Director), Jeff Yen (NVIDIA Senior Technical Marketing Manager) and John Gillooly (NVIDIA Technical Marketing Manager). We will be posting a series of videos of their presentations, divided into topic-specific chunks. Today, we are going to look at the new NVIDIA Simultaneous Multi-Projection Technology works.
NVIDIA Simultaneous Multi-Projection Explained
In this 19 minute-long video, Nick and Jeff explains how the new NVIDIA Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology will make a huge difference for gamers with multi-monitor setups, or virtual reality headsets. Both multi-monitor and virtual reality gamers will enjoy a much wider, and more realistic field of view.
On top of that, Simultaneous Multi-Projection can deliver up to 1.5X better pixel throughput, and 2X better geometry throughput for virtual reality displays! To find out how they do it, watch this video, or read the explainer below.
How Simultaneous Multi-Projection Delivers Better Performance
The new Simultaneous Multi-Projection architecture of the NVIDIA Pascal-based GPUs will be able to tackle two unique performance challenges that virtual reality creates – Lens Matched Shading and Single Pass Stereo.
Lens Matched Shading improves pixel shading performance by rendering closely to the warped dimensions of VR display output. This avoids rendering many pixels that would otherwise be discarded before the image is output to the VR headset.
Single Pass Stereo turbocharges geometry performance by drawing geometry only once, and then simultaneously projecting both right-eye and left-eye views of the geometry. This effectively halves the workload of traditional VR rendering, which requires the GPU to draw geometry twice — once for the left eye and once for the right eye.
Both techniques allow developers to increase performance and visual detail of their VR applications. Combined with the performance of GTX 1080 GPUs, Simultaneous Multi-Projection delivers a dramatic 2x VR performance improvement over the GeForce GTX TITAN X.
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On May 6, NVIDIA revealed the first gaming GPU based on their new Pascal architecture – the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080. The GeForce GTX 1080 not only boasts the latest Pascal architecture, it is also fabricated on the new 16 nm FinFET process technology and uses the new GDDR5X memory.
Although we were not in Austin, Texas for the official launch, NVIDIA invited us to an exclusive tech briefing in Bangkok on May 20th. While these hardware specifications are well-known by now, this was a technical briefing that would give us greater insights into the other new technologies that are being introduced with the GeForce GTX 1080.
NVIDIA brought in the big guns for the tech briefing and demonstration – Nick Stam (NVIDIA Senior Technical Marketing Director), Jeff Yen (NVIDIA Senior Technical Marketing Manager) and John Gillooly (NVIDIA Technical Marketing Manager). We will be posting a series of videos of their presentations, divided into topic-specific chunks. Today, we are going to look at the new NVIDIA VRWorks 2016 technology updates.
NVIDIA VRWorks 2016 Explained
In this 11 minute video, Nick Stam talks about the higher requirements for VR gaming and the new path-traced audio capabilities being introduced as NVIDIA VRWorks Audio. Then Jeff Yen steps in with the NVIDIA VR Funhouse demo. Check it out!
NVIDIA Pascal-Specific VRWorks Features
The new Simultaneous Multi-Projection architecture of the NVIDIA Pascal-based GPUs will be able to tackle two unique performance challenges that virtual reality creates – Lens Matched Shading and Single Pass Stereo.
Lens Matched Shading improves pixel shading performance by rendering more natively to the unique dimensions of VR display output. This avoids rendering many pixels that would otherwise be discarded before the image is output to the VR headset.
Single Pass Stereo turbocharges geometry performance by allowing the head-mounted display’s left and right displays to share a single geometry pass. We’re effectively halving the workload of traditional VR rendering, which requires the GPU to draw geometry twice — once for the left eye and once for the right eye.
Both techniques allow developers to increase performance and visual detail of their VR applications. Combined with the performance of GTX 1080 GPUs, Simultaneous Multi-Projection delivers a dramatic 2x VR performance improvement over the GeForce GTX TITAN X.
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On May 6, NVIDIA revealed the first gaming GPU based on their new Pascal architecture – the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080. The GeForce GTX 1080 not only boasts the latest Pascal architecture, it is also fabricated on the new 16 nm FinFET process technology and uses the new GDDR5X memory.
Although we were not in Austin, Texas for the official launch, NVIDIA invited us to an exclusive tech briefing in Bangkok on May 20th. While these hardware specifications are well-known by now, this was a technical briefing that would give us greater insights into the other new technologies that are being introduced with the GeForce GTX 1080.
NVIDIA brought in the big guns for the tech briefing and demonstration – Nick Stam (NVIDIA Senior Technical Marketing Director), Jeff Yen (NVIDIA Senior Technical Marketing Manager) and John Gillooly (NVIDIA Technical Marketing Manager). We will be posting a series of videos of their presentations, divided into topic-specific chunks. Today, we are going to look at the new NVIDIA Ansel in-game screenshot technology.
NVIDIA Ansel Explained
NVIDIA Ansel not just an in-game screenshot utility. It actually detaches you, the player, from the in-game limitations so you can capture your in-game shots in ways not possible before. You can also adjust the screenshots with a variety of post-process filters, or capture HDR images in super high resolution. You can even create 360-degree screenshots to display on your VR headset!
Here is a summary of NVIDIA Ansel’s key features :
Free Camera – Activating NVIDIA Ansel pauses the game and enables the Free Camera capability. This allows you to escape the first- or third-person perspective and compose your scene in any position, alignment or range, before taking unlimited high-resolution screenshots.
Super Resolution – Selecting the High Resolution option allows you to capture screenshots that are tens of thousands of pixels in size. This allows you to downsample the screenshot later, or zoom in to capture detail cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Post-Process Filters – NVIDIA Ansel comes with brightness, vignette, sketch, colour enhancer and special FX filters for added creativity. Users can even create and share their own special FX filters.
OpenEXR Capture – You can export Ansel screenshots in Industrial Light & Magic’s OpenEXR format so you can adjust the exposure, colour and levels in post-processing without creating artifacts.
360 Capture – This option allows you to create and share 360 degree screenshots for VR headsets.
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5th May 2016 — ASUS today announced ASUS Beyond VR Ready, a distinctive mark of compatibility and confidence for consumers keen to gear up for the virtual-reality (VR) gaming revolution. ASUS has worked closely with leading industry partners, to ensure a wide range of ASUS motherboards, graphics cards and systems work seamlessly with the new generation of fully-immersive VR headsets and accessories.
The testing and configuration program involved ASUS and partner engineers cooperating on the optimization of firmware and drivers for superior VR compatibility and performance — and the creation of the ASUS Beyond VR Ready logo indicates products tested to deliver a reliable and immersive VR experience.
The Beyond VR Ready badge will be applied to ASUS products already tested for compatibility with the Oculus Rift virtual-reality (VR) headset and will include other VR headsets like the HTC Vive once they arrive to market. The ASUS VR Ready website is live today, at www.asus.com/microsite/beyond-vr-ready and will be continually updated with the introduction of new products.
ASUS Beyond VR Ready
[adrotate banner=”4″]While it is easy for consumers to discover the minimum specifications necessary for building or buying a PC that could be capable of running the latest VR headsets and programs, confirming component compatibility and interoperability is a difficult job. ASUS Beyond VR starts with tested components or systems and the assurance that when everything is connected, powered on and the game or application is launched that a seamless, deep immersion into virtual reality is the consistent result.
With the Beyond VR Ready initiative, ASUS is publishing a list of components tested for compatibility with Oculus Rift and expanding to include VR products like the HTC Vive in the near future. The VR Ready model list will be updated regularly to account for the introduction of new ASUS products and VR gear and accessories from leading industry partners.
Consumers interested in building or buying a VR-compatible PC should visit the Beyond VR Ready website. A selection of recommended components for casual to the ultimate VR experien ce is included. Beyond VR Ready website also includes a list of ASUS PCs that are ready-made for an immersive VR experience.
Starting now, VR-capable ASUS products will carry a Beyond VR Ready logo — an at-a-glance recommendation that the product is suitable for VR based systems.
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Today AMD introduce to the market the Radeon Pro Duo featuring LiquidVR, the world’s first platform for VR content creation and consumption.
The Radeon Pro Duo graphics card is aimed at all aspects of VR content creation; including, entertainment, education, journalism, medicine and cinema. With 16 teraflops of compute performance, the Radeon Pro Duo offers a complete solution for the VR developer by helping to bring tomorrow’s VR content to market in record time.
Virtual Reality demands ever higher compute performance with rock solid consistency. Leveraging our graphics IP across FirePro and Radeon product lines, our new Radeon Pro Duo with the LiquidVR SDK is the world’s fastest platform to enable a world class graphics and VR experience.
With the Radeon Pro Duo (Price Check), it’s AMD’s objective to solve major problems developers face, by reducing latency and accelerating the VR pipeline through close collaboration with the content development community and with AMD LiquidVR technology.
The Radeon Pro Duo (Price Check) is an incredibly advanced and powerful dual-GPU board that delivers the horsepower needed by VR designers, content creators and VR content consumers. We believe products like this will lead to greater immersive experiences.
The AMD Radeon Pro Duo (Price Check) is the initial product of the AMD VR Ready Creator line, and more importantly, it is also the platform of choice for Crytek’s VR First initiative. This program is aimed at nurturing new talent in the field of virtual reality development by powering virtual reality labs in colleges and universities worldwide.
As a graphics card that bridges the needs of both VR content creators and content consumers, it’s extremely fitting hardware to supply to the brightest up-and-coming developers. We believe these developers will surely shape the future of virtual reality and immersive computing.
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Radeon Pro Duo Availability & Pricing
The AMD Radeon Pro Duo is available globally on April 26 from select AIBs and system integrators. Its launch SEP is USD$ 1,499 (Price Check).
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April 5th 2016 – For the last couple of years IKEA has explored new technology as a way to improve the offer and empower customers. In this context, IKEA has tried different digital tools and identified virtual reality as one of the ways to move forward. The launch of IKEA VR Experience is one of the steps taken within this field. It is a virtual kitchen made to appear to the user in real world size.
“Virtual reality is developing fast and in five to ten years it will be an integrated part of people’s lives. We see that virtual reality will play a major role in the future of our customers, for instance it could be used to enable customers to try out a variety of home furnishing solutions before buying them,” says Jesper Brodin, managing director at IKEA of Sweden and Range & Supply Manager at IKEA Group.
One of the features of IKEA VR Experience is the possibility to change the color of cabinets and drawers with a click. Another feature is the ability to shrink yourself and move around the kitchen in the size of a 3.3 foot (100 cm) tall child. You can also enlarge yourself and experience it as 6.4 feet (195 cm) tall. These features will be useful from a safety perspective, since walking around the room in someone else’s shoes enables you to discover hidden dangers.
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“We also see IKEA VR Experience as an opportunity to co-create with people all around the world. We hope that users will contribute to our virtual reality development, by submitting ideas on how to use virtual reality and how to improve the virtual kitchen,” says Martin Enthed, IT Manager for IKEA Communications, the in-house communication agency at IKEA of Sweden.
The app has been made in collaboration with developers at the French company Allegorithmic, using Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games, and has been developed for HTC Vive – a first of its kind, award winning, virtual reality system created by HTC and Valve.
IKEA VR Experience will be continuously updated until August when this particular pilot test ends.
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London, April 5th 2016 – HTC Corporation today announced that its virtual reality system, HTC Vive is heading to world-renowned department store, Harrods. From today, there will be hands-on Vive demonstration and pre-orders in the Harrods Technology department, on the Third Floor of the prestigious department store on Brompton Road.
The 20,000 sqft space offers a premium selection of consumer technology categories including home computing, audio-visual, photographic and mobile communication and strives to deliver the most innovative technologies. Vive will be the first complete VR system on offer for such purposes in-store.
The HTC pop-up will spotlight a Vive demonstration area, open to Harrods’ customers for individual sessions to experience a host of virtual reality content supported by the platform. Customers will be able to pre-order Vive directly from the store following an in-store demonstration.
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Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO, HTC:
“Since the announcement of Vive in March last year, we’ve seen unprecedented levels of interest and excitement across the globe. Vive offers a level of immersion and presence that is so different to anything else out there, giving you the ability to move around a virtual world you can truly see, breathe and feel.”
“Harrods is known for only selling the best of the best, so we’re delighted to be working with them to give its customers the chance to try Vive at a globally recognised luxury retailer.”
“Vive will change the way you look at entertainment experiences forever. However as the saying goes, seeing is believing, and there is no real way to convey the incredible experience of Vive without trying it yourself – which is why giving customers the opportunity for a hands-on experience at Harrods is so important.”
Stewart Mancey, Head of Technology, Harrods:
“At Harrods, our discerning customers are looking for pieces which create a unique experience. Whether that’s in the sound and vision department with speaker systems
or smart furniture which moulds itself around modern technology, or creating a full virtual reality experience as with Vive.”
“We are committed to offering our customers the most exciting and innovative technology currently available, and Vive fits perfectly with this.”
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April 6, 2016—Bringing to life the first steps of visiting our neighbouring planet, Mars 2030, an interactive virtual reality experience, debuted today at the GPU Technology Conference. Created by NVIDIA and FUSION Media, Mars 2030 transports people in VR to the Red Planet, where they are immersed in the simulated life of one of the first arriving NASA astronauts. They can explore deep space, live in a realistic Martian habitat, drive across the planet’s surface and drill into the surface of its ancient lake beds.
Speaking at the GTC opening keynote, NVIDIA CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang introduced the experience to personal computing pioneer Steve “Woz” Wozniak over a video link powered by Cisco TelePresence. Wearing a VR headset, Woz, an advocate of Mars travel, said, “Oh my gosh, this is going to be incredible for whoever actually gets to travel to Mars!”
Mars 2030 was developed using scientifically accurate satellite imagery and data gathered in years of exploration missions. It boasts a level of graphics fidelity that is only possible with NVIDIA VRWorks technologies.
“One in a billion people alive today will get to visit Mars, so this is for the rest of us,” said Zvi Greenstein, general manager of the GeForce business unit at NVIDIA. “Mars 2030 is being created as a true to life experience, while aiming for the highest visual fidelity possible in VR today, something only NVIDIA technology can deliver.”
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NASA is providing technical expertise to FUSION through a Space Act Agreement to make the first Mars surface VR experience based on actual operational and hardware concepts that the Journey to the Red Planet: ‘Mars 2030’ VR Experience Debuts at GTC agency is currently studying. Mars 2030 incorporates VRWorks’ Multi-Res Shading, which renders each part of an image to best suit the pixel density required by a headset. It also includes VR SLI, which can assign multiple GPUs to a specific eye to accelerate stereo rendering.
“As a part of FUSION’s commitment to innovative storytelling, we are always looking for unique ways to take our audience to interesting places,” said Julian Reyes, lead VR producer at FUSION. “We are thrilled that NVIDIA’s latest technologies, combined with what NASA has planned for the next frontier of space exploration, will allow us to push visual boundaries, convincing users that they are 141 million miles away from home on the surface of Mars.” GTC attendees can experience the first mission in Mars 2030, an exploration of an enormous Martian lava tube, from April 4-7 in the San Jose Convention Center.
Expected to be commercially available in the fall, Mars 2030 is optimised for NVIDIA GeForce and Quadro GPUs to give the environment an unparalleled level of authenticity.
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NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang on Tuesday showed how our Iray technology can create interactive virtual worlds with unparalleled fidelity.
Imagine being able to see any combination of options for a car interior you’re thinking of buying — in photorealistic detail — and from any angle. Or being able to experience the feeling of a new building’s interior — from any corner of a room — before it’s built.
Iray VR capabilities will allow us to create environments that let users strap on a headset and peer around photorealistic virtual environments. With Iray VR, you’ll be able to look around the inside of a virtual car, a modern loft, or the interior of our still unfinished Silicon Valley campus with uncanny accuracy.
“It’s utterly beautiful,” said Huang during a keynote address at our GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, Calif., as he showed attendees still-to-be constructed interiors of the campus. “Iray VR is going to be unbelievable for people designing cars, for people architecting buildings and many other areas.”
Yet despite their realism, none of these environments exist outside of our computer models.
It’s the next step with our Iray technology, which taps into the power of our GPUs to let users quickly generate immersive experiences of their designs with amazing accuracy.
Iray Brings Reality to Virtual Reality
[adrotate banner=”4″]Iray lets users refine their designs faster thanks to its host of rendering capabilities, such as interactive ray tracing, the ability to accurately represent materials, and scaling from desktop to datacenter. These capabilities have made Iray an indispensable tool for designers and will become essential for realistic virtual experiences.
In particular, Iray has proven itself to architects and lighting designers, who are using its capabilities to model how light interacts with their designs at any time of day, and any day of the year.
Attendees at our GTC conference, taking place now at the San Jose Convention Center, can experience the full Iray VR experience in our booth in the VR Village. Look for more details on the availability of Iray VR capabilities later this spring.
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Kuala Lumpur, March 25, 2015 – Samsung Malaysia Electronics displayed a whole new level of innovation through their latest state-of-the-art technology, the Gear VR, at the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge consumer launch roadshow recently. Galaxy fans and members of the public were invited to experience the boundary-breaking Samsung Gear VR theatre in 4D which was paired with the brand’s latest and newly-introduced flagship model, the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.
“At Samsung, we are proud to showcase the latest technology of mobile ecosystem to our fans and supporters. This includes our newly launched Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and the complementary consumer edition Gear VR. This remarkable line-up of device together creates a seamless ecosystem that promises to enhance consumers’ everyday lives,” said Mr Lee Jui Siang, Vice President, IT & Mobile Business Unit, Samsung Malaysia Electronics.
Inviting viewers to explore the most exciting places on earth virtually, the theatre received hundreds of participants throughout the four-day roadshow in Suria KLCC shopping mall. The positive feedback received from the public showed increasing popularity of virtual reality and its role for the future of mobile entertainment in Malaysia and globally.
“I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to try the Samsung Gear VR together with the new Galaxy S7 edge. Wearing the Gear VR makes everything in front of your eyes looks so real, especially during the 360° immersive rollercoaster ride! The experience is nothing short of amazing!” shared Malaysian actress Adeline Tsen, who was one of the guests at the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge consumer launch roadshow.
Celebrity Nabil Mahir was also impressed with Samsung’s virtual reality device and posted on his Instagram: “Ever said to yourself, “Ey boring la, nothing to do.”? Well then you need to get yourself this super awesome Samsung Gear VR that takes you to an ultimate 360 virtual reality experience.”
Echoing Nabil Mahir, Samsung made the imaginable a reality for 2,000 fans to experience virtual reality, anytime, anywhere. As part of the brand’s initiative to redefine what a phone can do and how users can experience an enhanced and connected ecosystem, Samsung Malaysia Electronics offered a complimentary Gear VR to the first 2,000 buyers who purchased the brand’s all new Galaxy S7 edge.
The advanced consumer version of the Gear VR is an improved and more ergonomic version of the Innovator Edition for S6 that was launched last year. Leveraging on the super AMOLED display of its complementing devices, the new Gear VR gives a whole new meaning to immersive video experience and virtual gaming reality – providing sharp colours, supreme clarity and unrivalled performance for an amazing virtual reality experience.
The new Samsung Gear VR is 19 percent lighter than the previous Innovator Edition, has new foam cushioning for added comfort, and is fitted with an improved touchpad that provides greater control while enjoying the robust selection of film, gaming, and 360 degree video. The Gear VR is also compatible with Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and the Note5, making it the best mobile entertainment device with family and friends. Offered in Frost White, the Gear VR retails at an affordable recommended retail price of RM459 (including 6% GST) at 28 selected Samsung Electronics Stores (SES) nationwide.
For those who did not get a chance to experience virtual reality with the Gear VR and the new Galaxy S7 edge during the consumer launch roadshow in KLCC, don’t fret as Samsung is bringing its Galaxy S7 edge roadshow to Mid Valley Megamall (East Atrium). From 28 March to 4 April 2016, members of the public will get the opportunity to have a go at the roadshow’s Gear VR 4D Theatre and experience virtual reality at its best!
There is also good news for members of the public who are interested in purchasing the new Galaxy S7 edge. Samsung is giving out a free 32GB microSD card for every purchase of the Galaxy S7 edge throughout the week-long roadshow, so do stop by to get yours today!
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SAN FRANCISCO, California — March 14, 2016 — AMD today introduced the world’s most powerful platform for virtual reality (VR), capable of both creating and consuming VR content. AMD’s Radeon Pro Duo with its LiquidVR SDK is a platform aimed at most aspects of VR content creation: from entertainment to education, journalism, medicine and cinema.
With an astonishing 16 teraflops of compute performance, AMD offers a complete solution aimed at all aspects of the VR developer lifestyle: developing content more rapidly for tomorrow’s killer VR experiences while at work, and playing the latest DirectX 12 experiences at maximum fidelity while off work.
AMD continues to solve major problems developers face by reducing latency and accelerating the VR pipeline through close collaboration with the content development community and with AMD LiquidVR technology. AMD’s next step in advancing VR is with the new AMD Radeon Pro Duo, an incredibly advanced and powerful dual-GPU board that delivers the horsepower needed by VR designers, content creators, and for VR content consumers.
“More powerful computing platforms are rapidly leading to greater immersive experiences, said Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “This is most evident with VR which demands ever higher compute performance with rock solid consistency. Our new AMD Radeon Pro Duo with our LiquidVR SDK is the world’s fastest platform for both content creation and consumption1, enabling a world class graphics and VR experience.”
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AMD Radeon Pro Duo is the initial product of the AMD VR Ready Creator line. The AMD Radeon Pro Duo with the LiquidVR SDK is also the platform of choice for Crytek’s VR First initiative for nurturing new talent in the field of virtual reality development by powering virtual reality labs in colleges and universities worldwide.
“As a state of the art platform, the AMD Radeon Pro Duo with the LiquidVR SDK is the perfect choice as the graphics standard for Crytek’s VR First initiative,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO, Crytek. “As a graphics card that bridges the needs of both VR content creators and content consumers, it’s extremely fitting hardware to supply to the brightest up-and-coming developers, who will surely shape the future of virtual reality and immersive computing.”
AMD Radeon Pro Duo with VR Availability
The AMD Radeon Pro Duo is planned for availability in early Q2 2016 at an anticipated SEP of US$ 1,499.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California — March 14, 2016 — AMD announced today at the 2016 Game Developer Conference that the company will underscore its dominance of the global VR system market. It revealed new advances in hardware and software to further the reach of VR, and unveiled its new GPU certified program that simplifies adoption of VR technology for consumers and content creators.
“AMD continues to be a driving force in virtual reality,” said Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “We’re bringing the technology to more people around the world through our efforts to expand the VR ecosystem with VR i-Cafés in China, new Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, and a wide variety of content partners in gaming, entertainment, education, science, medicine, journalism and several other exciting fields.”
AMD is also making VR more easily accessible to consumers and content creators with its GPU certified program featuring the new “Radeon VR Ready Premium” and “Radeon VR Ready Creator” tiers. Its forthcoming Polaris GPUs and award-winning AMD LiquidVR technology will simultaneously advance groundbreaking VR-optimized graphics.
Expanding the VR ecosystem
Leading market share – AMD is powering the overwhelming majority of home entertainment VR systems around the world, with an estimated 83 percent market share.1 This share is driven in part by AMD technology powering VR-capable game consoles installed in millions of homes globally.
Powering the premium VR headsets of 2016 – AMD is partnering with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive Pre headset manufacturers to ensure the Radeon ecosystem is ready to take advantage of their hugely anticipated launches this year.
Collaborating to develop new form factors – AMD is working with Sulon Technologies Inc. on the Sulon Q headset, the world’s first and only all-in-one, tether-free, “wear and play” headset for virtual reality, augmented reality, and spatial computing. Powered by Radeon graphics and leveraging AMD’s LiquidVR technology for smooth and responsive AR and VR experiences, the Sulon Q headset allows users to effortlessly enhance the real world through augmented reality applications, and seamlessly transitions from the real world to virtual worlds.
Powering premium VR experiences beyond gaming – AMD is collaborating with leading organizations to illustrate the power of VR outside of gaming, working with companies in healthcare, entertainment, education, media, training and simulation, among others. AMD is already seeing fruits of the efforts in projects including General Electric’s “The Neuro VR Experience” experience simulating brain activity, The Smithsonian Museum’s “First: The Story of Orville and Wilbur” experience, and incredible storytelling in VR through a recently announced collaboration with the Associated Press.
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Advancing technology to power premium VR experiences
Showcasing next-generation VR-optimized GPU hardware – AMD today demonstrated for the first time ever the company’s forthcoming Polaris 10 GPU running Valve’s Aperture Science Robot Repair demo powered by the HTC Vive Pre. The sample GPU features the recently announced Polaris GPU architecture designed for 14nm FinFET, optimized for DirectX 12 and VR, and boasts significant architectural improvements over previous AMD architectures including HDR monitor support, industry-leading performance-per-watt 2, and AMD’s 4th generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture.
Growing adoption of GPUOpen’s LiquidVR technology – AMD LiquidVR technology helps address obstacles in content, comfort and compatibility that together take the industry a step closer to true, life-like presence in VR games, applications and experiences. Today AMD LiquidVR technology is being used across the VR software stack by headset manufacturers, including Oculus, HTC, game engine developers and content creators.
Simplifying VR adoption for consumers and content creators
AMD will today announce its new GPU certified program for VR, allowing OEMs, system builders, and AIB partners to instantly communicate to consumers which certified Radeon products can be used to deliver exceptional VR experiences with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets.
“Radeon VR Ready Premium” solutions for exceptional VR experiences –Certified Radeon R9 290-class graphics cards and higher, and systems built using those cards, are now eligible for the “Radeon VR Ready Premium” seal.
“VR-optimized systems like the HP ENVY Phoenix is specifically configured with the quality, performance and computing power to enable amazing virtual experiences,” said Kevin Frost, vice president and general manager, consumer personal systems, HP Inc. “HP is working with AMD to deliver the VR-ready HP ENVY Phoenix tower for a seamless out-of-the-box experience. With the Radeon VR Ready Premium program, it will help customers to take the guess work out of selecting the right VR capable graphics.”
“Radeon VR Ready Creator” solutions for VR professionals, experience designers, and developers –The “Radeon™ VR Ready Creator” seal signifies unprecedented performance and industry-leading innovation that empowers VR content creators and experience designers with incredibly powerful and capable development tools. Featuring an upcoming graphics card with AMD’s LiquidVR SDK (software developer kit), the “Radeon VR Ready Creator” designation signifies the ultimate performance for both content creation and consumption for VR professionals.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California — March 14, 2016 — AMD today announced it is helping colleges and universities create dedicated VR labs as Crytek’s exclusive technology partner in their VR First initiative. The VR First initiative provides colleges and universities a ready-made VR solution for developers, students and researchers.
AMD will equip the labs with its new Radeon Pro Duo graphics cards featuring LiquidVR SDK, the world’s fastest and most powerful VR creator platform , capable of both creating and consuming VR content. AMD will provide its LiquidVR Software Developer Kit (SDK) as part of the GPUOpen initiative.
Virtual reality has the potential to revolutionize how people experience the digital world with implications for gaming, entertainment, education, medicine, journalism and numerous other fields. The ultimate goal is to equip a new generation of developers who will create amazing and compelling experiences for users worldwide. AMD and Crytek share a commitment to seeding grassroots VR development.
“We’re on the cusp of an immersive computing era enabled by GPUs and game engines” said Raja Koduri, Senior Vice President and Chief Architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD. “We need a new generation of developers whose educational foundation includes mastery of game engines and GPU programming. We’re dedicated to nurturing that future, and see the collaboration with Crytek and the VR First initiative as a key step in realizing the goal of expanding immersive experiences outlined in our VR Ready Programs.”
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The new labs will be equipped with AMD Radeon Pro Duo graphics cards with LiquidVR SDK, the world’s fastest VR content creator platform bridging content creation and consumption and offering an astonishing 16 teraflops of compute power. Designed to be compatible with multiple head mounted displays, including the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, AMD Radeon Pro Duo cards will encourage grassroots VR development around the world. The initial VR First Lab at Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul is already up and running in January of this year.
“VR First labs will become key incubators for nurturing new talent in VR development and creating a global community well-prepared to innovate in this exciting and emerging field,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO, Crytek. “VR experiences, harnessing the power of the CRYENGINE and developed using world-class Radeon hardware and software, will have the potential to fundamentally transform how we interact with technology.”
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At the sneak peek of the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge smartphone yesterday, we were also given the opportunity to try out the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge with the Gear VR Consumer Edition virtual reality headset. In fact, Samsung took us (virtually) to the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, through seven 3D videos.
If you are wondering, this is exactly the same Samsung Gear VR Consumer Edition (SM-R322) that was launched on the 20th of November 2015. Although it was officially designed for the Samsung Galaxy S6 / S6 edge / S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5, it appears that they had already planned to make it compatible with the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge smartphones as well.
The Samsung Gear VR Consumer Edition (Amazon) is the improved version of the Gear VR Innovator Edition (Amazon). It not only supports more devices, it also comes with an improved touchpad on the right side of the headset. Another improvement is the addition of a cutout in the Gear VR frame to allow the insertion of a headphone jack. This allows for a more immersive experience.
If you look closely at the lower left corner of Gear VR’s front, you will see the labels next to the adjustment locks that this is the Gear VR Consumer Edition (Amazon) originally released for the Samsung Galaxy S6 / S6 edge / S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5.
Incidentally, the Consumer Edition of the Samsung Gear VR is 19 percent lighter than the original Innovator Edition, and features better foam cushioning.
Performance
[adrotate banner=”4″]The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge unit you see paired with the Gear VR Consumer Edition (Amazon) in this article is an engineering sample. So there were some glitches in getting Oculus VR to start up. For some reason, it loaded Google search with the keyboard instead.
But once we “fixed” the problem, it performed exactly like the Note5 did with the Gear VR Consumer Edition. That’s no surprise since both devices have similar sized screens (5.5″ vs. 5.7″) with the same resolution – 1440 x 2560.
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The weekend’s tech news has been all about the HTC Vive : we have heard about its $799 price tag, and that pre-orders will start on 2/29. Valve has released the very first VR Performance Test that gives end users a way to figure out: is my system ready for SteamVR?
SteamVR Performance Tool
This app features high quality VR content from the Aperture Science Robot Repair demo, designed specifically for the HTC Vive, though it can be run on any PC and does not require a headset to be connected to the system. It’s available for anyone to download and test their system.
In short: the test employs a technique called dynamic fidelity, which automatically adjusts image quality as required to avoid dropped frames that can break the sense of presence critical to VR experiences. CPU and GPU hardware is then assigned one of three categories (VR Recommended, VR Capable, or VR Not Ready) based on the average fidelity level attained.
Recommended For VR
We’re very pleased to let you know that all our Radeon R9 390 series and Fury series products, including the R9 Nano can achieve the highest attainable status: ‘Recommended for VR’. This performance is a validation of the work AMD has done with Valve and other technology partners to deliver the best VR experiences with our products through the LiquidVR initiative.
Below is a small chart summarizing the results by GPUs with system configuration details, should you need a reference point in running the benchmark yourself.
As you can see and verify for yourself, Radeon R9 products are perfectly positioned to deliver superior VR experiences for the HTC Vive headset– whether you choose the R9 390 or opt for a true enthusiast product like the R9 Fury, AMD Radeons are in a position to deliver a better VR experience than their direct competitors for this headset
[adrotate banner=”4″]We’re especially proud of the Radeon R9 Nano’s performance in this VR test that is unmatched at its mini-ITX form factor. There’s also a wider selection of Radeons currently available that are capable of attaining the ‘Recommended for VR’ status than the competition’s offerings.
What’s more, we’ve worked very closely with Valve to implement one of AMD LiquidVR’s premier features called Affinity multi-GPU into the Aperture Science Robot Repair demo, which this tool is based on . Think of this as CrossFire technology for VR, where the application lets one GPU render for the left eye, and the other for the right eye. Though the work implementing Affinity mGPU into this application is not finished, it’s already showing significant performance uplift over a single GPU.
We’re very excited about the HTC Vive and SteamVR experience. We’re also thrilled to bring exceptional VR capability not only to millions of Radeon users who can rest assured that their GPUs are ready to drive the HTC Vive headset, but also to those thinking about buying one of the above-mentioned cards to power a premium VR-Ready experience.
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Barcelona, Mobile World Congress, February 21, 2016 – HTC, in partnership with Valve, today unveiled the consumer edition of its Vive virtual reality system. Continuing to build upon the Vive’s exhaustive list of features, this complete Vive system, powered by SteamVR, introduces yet another new technological innovation – Vive Phone Services – once again setting a new standard in virtual reality.
Enabling you to stay connected to the real world, without exiting the virtual world, Vive Phone Services demonstrates the ability to combine both realities without losing touch of either. By allowing you to receive and respond to both incoming and missed calls, get text messages and send quick replies and check upcoming calendar invites directly through the headset, it creates a hybrid reality opening up a whole new world of possibilities for both consumers and businesses.
Taking Vive one step further, with refreshed branding and an updated headstrap, the HTC Vive Consumer Edition builds upon the innovative features that were introduced into the Vive Pre. These include updated wireless controllers with haptic feedback and dual stage triggers, a front facing camera that blends physical elements into the virtual world, a redesigned headstrap that offers greater stability and balance and an improved visual system with brighter displays to give a deeper sense of immersion.
Priced at US$799, for a limited time the consumer edition will also ship with two fully-fledged VR experiences to get you started in the VR world:
[adrotate banner=”4″]Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives, by Owlchemy Labs: In a firmly tongue-in-cheek world where robots have replaced all human jobs, step into the ‘Job Simulator’ to learn what it was like ‘to job’.
Fantastic Contraption, by Northway Games in collaboration with Radial Games: Imagine walking around a grassy island floating in the sky, building a machine the size of a horse with your own hands, and then watching it roll out into the world.
But it’s not just about gaming. In addition to these launch titles, HTC is working with developers to foster the creation of content that spans multiple sectors including entertainment, retail, education, design, healthcare and automotive.
“From the beginning, Vive has been at the forefront of virtual reality, with HTC pioneering several ground breaking technologies,” comments Cher Wang, chairwoman and CEO, HTC. “Since announcing Vive this time last year, we have worked tirelessly with Valve to deliver the best VR experience on the market, winning multiple awards and receiving critical acclaim from media, consumers and the industry. With the Vive consumer edition we are now able to realize our ultimate vision; bringing Vive into homes around the globe so that people can experience immersive virtual reality in a away that fires the imagination and truly changes the world.”
Vive Consumer Edition Pricing and Availability
The HTC Vive Consumer Edition will be available to pre-order from 29th February, with pre-order fulfilment and full commercial availability starting in early April.
Priced at US$799, the Vive Consumer Edition is the first complete VR solution, including two wireless VR controllers, room scale movement sensors, and an HMD featuring a built in camera and phone, plus the two VR titles. The integration of SteamVR into the bundle ensures that all Vive equipment is kept up-to-date with the latest features.
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The main hurdles that we spend a lot of time thinking about are inspiring mass adoption, creating great content, and continuing the discovery of what virtual reality is capable of.
Widening the consumer base is a top priority. Virtual reality can (and will) be a revolutionary platform for gaming and entertainment, but we’ve been seeing firsthand just how far the medium can reach. We now have the power to traverse great distances in no time at all and walk a mile in another man’s shoes. VR has the power to transform how people feel about one another.
How can virtual reality continue to reshape journalism and news? How can virtual reality affect education and learning? Every new revolutionary technology, be it the cell phone or the laptop, is pushed to the limits by humanity. How do we use this thing in a way where our lives are greatly improved? Virtual reality is no different.
2016 will see the continued push to explore how virtual reality can transform existing modes of communication, bring people closer together, and make our lives more streamlined.
Next, creating great content. I think we’re entering a period of rapid experimentation and exploration. I think over the course of the next year we’ll see a lot more narrative exploration in virtual reality. Storytellers are already retraining their brains to think in 360º, and so many great VR experiences already exist. I believe that great storytellers can tell a great story using anything.
As more and more companies and studios invest in virtual reality, we’re going to see some really great narrative experiments. We’re still at the infancy of this new art form. It took cinema decades to invent the close-up. Even longer to invent the match-cut. So on and so forth. As technology grows more widespread and the creation of virtual reality experiences becomes democratized, we’re going to hear from new voices.
The simplest way we arrive at compelling content in virtual reality is to imagine what would be compelling to experience in real life. In a lot of ways, virtual reality is the closest we’ve come to inventing a teleportation device. You can take anyone from anywhere and transport them into moments, experiences, and stories. Virtual reality can eliminate the proximity between people, places, and things in a way that I haven’t seen done before.
It’s helpful to think about what kinds of characters you want your audience to interact with, and how you’ll want the audience to remember them. That’s really what the storytelling goal should be: to create memories. Once you’ve got that in mind, you can reverse engineer everything else. We’re going to start seeing stories that take us to faraway and impossible locations, and stories that blur the lines between our world and the virtual one.
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January 6, 2016 – HTC, a pioneer in innovative smart technologies, today announced new developments to the Vive VR system that represent the next step in bringing virtual reality to a mass-market. With Vive Pre, HTC is fulfilling the promise of creating fully immersive experiences that change how we communicate, how we are entertained, and how we learn and train.
Each and every component has been redesigned from the ground up to provide better comfort, ergonomics, and performance. With milestone improvements in both visuals and versatility, Vive Pre creates a world without limits.
“When we first announced Vive ten months ago we had an ambitious goal of fundamentally changing the way people communicate and interact with the world – forever” comments Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO, HTC. “Since then Vive has received a phenomenally positive reception from media, industry commentators, consumers, and the hundreds of partners and brands we’ve been working with to deliver inspiring and dynamic VR content. For too long, the promise of virtual reality has been little more than a promise. Today we stand on the precipice of a new era. Vive is creating a world where the only limit is human imagination.”
Become immersed with the new Vive Headset
The refreshed design of the Vive headset has been refined to offer greater comfort to the wearer, increasing the sense of immersion in the virtual worlds it creates. The headset is now more compact and features an updated strap design that provides greater stability and balance. An improved visual system with brighter displays and image refinements leads to increased clarity, and an even deeper sense of presence.
On the inside, interchangeable foam inserts and nose gaskets mean the Vive Pre fits comfortably and securely to the user. Vive Pre can also be easily adjusted to suit a variety of facial shapes while remaining compatible with a variety of eyeglasses.
Integrated front facing camera merges the physical and virtual
Vive Pre brings elements of the real world into the VR realm. A newly developed front facing camera allows you to do more both inside and outside your Virtual world by blending physical elements into the virtual space. Being able to take a seat, find your drink, and carry on conversations without removing your headset is only the beginning of what’s possible.
Greater Control
[adrotate banner=”4″]Completing the VR experience, the Vive’s controllers have been overhauled and enhanced with updated ergonomics and softer edges, greater balance, new textured buttons, and grip pads for a more comfortable feel in the hand.
The new dual stage trigger makes interaction with objects smoother, and haptic feedback delivers vital feedback about your interactions with the virtual world. For power, the controllers now feature integrated rechargeable lithium polymer batteries with micro-USB charging that provides over 4 hours of runtime on a single charge.
The Vive base stations have also been redesigned to be more compact, quieter, and provide improved tracking.
Complete Solution
The HTC Vive will be the first VR hardware to support SteamVR. Created by Valve, Steam VR tracking and the Chaperone system are optimized for use with Steam, one of the largest online platforms for PC, Linux and Mac games and software.
Shaping the Virtual Reality Industry
Since announcing Vive, HTC and Valve have worked with thousands of developers and partners to create VR content across a wide spectrum of sectors; from gaming and entertainment to health, automotive, retail and education. HTC and over 15 Vive partners will be showcasing VR applications at CES 2016, demonstrating the potential of a world without limits on imagination. Leading automotive manufacturer Audi has created a luxury retail experience where consumers can explore virtual car models, including the Audi R8, and Dassault will showcase how the company is developing the future of 3D product design in VR. HTC is also showcasing a new brand for Vive at CES 2016.
HTC Vive Pre Availability
While Vive is scheduled for commercial launch in April 2016, HTC and Valve will be starting the new year by making an additional 7,000 units available to developers.
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Jan. 5, 2015—NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today unveiled the GeForce GTX VR Ready programme to help gamers navigate their way to great virtual reality experiences.
The company has partnered with PC and notebook makers and add-in card providers to deliver “GeForce® GTX® VR Ready” systems and graphics cards that deliver an immersive VR gaming experience. The programme minimises confusion regarding which equipment is necessary to play the range of VR games and applications increasingly coming to market.
Delivering a great VR experience demands seven times the graphics processing power of traditional 3D games and applications – driving framerates above 90 frames per second (fps) for two simultaneous images (one for each eye).
“For customers, navigating an emerging technology like VR can be daunting,” said Jason Paul, general manager of emerging technologies at NVIDIA. “We’re working with trusted partners worldwide to simplify the buying process with a GeForce GTX VR Ready badge that will let customers quickly identify PCs or add-in cards that are capable of handling the demands of VR.”
NVIDIA® GPUs are at the heart of the VR ecosystem and are powered by the award-winning NVIDIA Maxwell™ graphics architecture, which was created with VR in mind. In addition to powering fast framerates, it includes unique VR features, such as support for NVIDIA Multi-Res Shading, which boosts performance by up to 50 percent while maintaining image quality and reducing latency.
NVIDIA provides the fastest performance and lowest latency for VR experiences through a combination of its Maxwell-class GTX GPUs, NVIDIA Game Ready Drivers and its software tools for developers, NVIDIA GameWorks™ VR and NVIDIA DesignWorks™ VR.
VR Ready Support From PC Builders
The world’s leading PC vendors are participating in the GeForce GTX VR Ready programme.
“As trailblazers in gaming and graphics, Alienware and NVIDIA are committed to providing great turnkey VR experiences. The programme will guide customers to the products that will delight them. Maxwell-based GPUs are a great match for VR experiences, and cards like the GeForce GTX 970 help Alienware PCs set the industry standard.” — Frank Azor, general manager, Alienware
“NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX VR Ready programme makes VR easy and enjoyable. NVIDIA is helping to lead the industry forward. Its Maxwell-powered graphics cards provide the horsepower and low latency needed for VR. And its GameWorks VR platform provides developers the necessary tools to create the next bestselling VR game of the future.” — Wallace Santos, CEO and founder, MAINGEAR
“VR has traditionally been reserved for desktops, but NVIDIA has given notebooks such as the MSI GT72 Dominator and GT80 Titan with GeForce GTX 980 the necessary punch to bring virtual experiences to life while on the go. NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX VR Ready badge makes identifying VR capable machines easy and guarantees a fantastic and immersive gaming experience.” — Andy Tung, president of MSI Pan America, MSI
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Kuala Lumpur, December 31, 2015 – Samsung Malaysia Electronics proudly announces the arrival of its latest and more advanced consumer version of the Gear VR in Malaysia, an improved and more ergonomic version of the Innovator Edition for S6 that was launched earlier this year.
Boasting a ground-breaking virtual reality (VR) technology packed in a lightweight wireless headset, Samsung has now extended the Gear VR’s compatibility to include the Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S6, S6 edge and S6 edge+ with an affordable retail price of RM459 (including 6% GST) / ~US$109.
“Samsung has been at the forefront of delivering mobile experiences and the new Gear VR is no exception. We see virtual reality as the next computing platform, and this time we are making immersive VR entertainment more accessible and affordable for customers with the introduction of our improved Gear VR,” said Mr Lee Jui Siang, Vice President, IT & Mobile Business Unit, Samsung Malaysia Electronics.
Leveraging on the super AMOLED display of its complementing devices, the new Gear VR gives a whole new meaning to immersive video experience and virtual gaming reality – providing sharp colours, supreme clarity and unrivalled performance for an amazing virtual reality experience.
The Samsung Gear VR is 19 percent lighter than the previous Gear VR Innovator Edition for S6, and includes new foam cushioning for added comfort. In addition, the new Gear VR’s improved touchpad provides greater control while enjoying the robust selection of film, gaming, 360 degree video and experiential content available for Gear VR.
The Samsung Gear VR is offered in Frost White and is available in 28 selected Samsung Electronics Stores (SES) nationwide.
As a bonus, we were also given the opportunity to try out not only the Oculus CV1, but also the HTC Vive, virtual reality headsets. As the software being demonstrated was still under embargo, we could not take any pictures of the display. But we still managed to take videos and pictures of the experience. Check them out!
The Oculus CV1
This is likely the same Oculus CV1 + Xbox 360 controller setup they used at E3. We had a few minutes to try out some of the titles they prepared – Edge of Nowhere, EVE Valkyrie, AirMech VR, etc.
5 / 7
The experience was amazing although we can see that virtual reality is still not ready for prime time. The Oculus CV1 still did not have sufficiently high resolution to be really immersive. The headset itself, while reasonably light, was still cumbersome and it can get a little steamy inside. Although the cable was not noticeable once you start playing, we like the freedom that a wireless solution like the Samsung Gear VR offers.
The biggest problem was the controller. The Xbox 360 controller was, perhaps, not the best controller for these games. Or maybe I’m just too used to PC gaming. During the test drive, we needed “outside” help to realign our orientation. Perhaps a dedicated button on the headset to realign orientation would be useful.
The HTC Vive
NVIDIA set up two rather large HTC Vive booths, each with a HTC Vive headset and a lighthouse system inside. We got to experience a slew of virtual reality experiences and apps over 20 minutes. We also got to try out the Chaperone safety system, which warned us whenever we come close to the wall.
The HTC Vive was amazing. Although it looks heavy, the headset was quite comfortable. It was immersive and fun to use. The controllers were quite intuitive to use although they obviously do not allow for precise control. The Chaperone system also worked very well, warning us when we approached a wall.
However, we were a little frustrated by the cumbersome cabling. Even if you don’t actually trip over the cables, you “feel” them get in the way when you walk all over the room. That kind of disrupted the experience.
