Hey there pioneers!
I’m backer n°998 and i’m very excited to see how things are shaping up lastly. Last goal is being reached with unexpected ease as I’m writing this, so PIMAX 8K will come with its eye-tracking module builded in ! YEAH, that’s SOOO COOL ! Cheers to that !
From the start of the campain we know that high resolution and wide FOV are conflicting somehow.
As a VR enthusiast, I’ve been always wondering how to get the sharpest image with a wide 200° FOV ? I’ve made some reseach about this and found out:
Projection method matters a lot for wide FOV as it can bring a significant boost to the sharpness in the center of the vision by “warping” the center part of the image onto more pixels and thus get the most out of the “8k” resolution with less distortions at edges.
With actual planar projection and wide FOV, peripheral vision gets a too large area displayed onto panels.
Here is what happens with standard planar projection:
That’s about 2/3 of the panel’s pixels beeing wasted because of distortions at sides.
Here is a comparaison beetween standard flat projection (planar) and curved projection (Panini) on 170° FOV :
You can see that curved projection renders better so there is no over-strech over the wide field of view.
Next: lens magnification. Once properly tailored for curved projection, such lenses will get the most effecient use of the angular resolution in the center of the vision.
In other words: with properly shaped lenses, curved projection’s rendering method will give a significant boost to perceived sharpness through them.
Q1: As far as this is a rendering thing first, is that under the reach of PIMAX’s software or even SteamVR or up to Unity, Unreal, Source2… to support it ?
If that’s in Pimax hands, here comes the next question:
Q2: @PimaxVR @deletedpimaxrep1 @Matthew.Xu : With next prototypes V3,V4 and V5 beeing announced, can we expect a boost in image’s sharpness using curved projection method (Panini, equirectangular, mercator, Pimax custom…) along with new appropriate lenses ?
In that matter, please find some interesting read here : a paper (with math) about Rectangling Stereographic Projection or the search for the best curved projection models with less content distortion.
I want to insist on this topic before the campain ends because i do really think it’s a “game changer” considering to what it brings:
- Get a VERY sharp image out of the 2x4k panels by maximizing sharpness in the center of vision where it counts really.
- Get the lowest ScreenDoorEffect possible
- Get rid of deformations at edges due to planar projection method limit
- Get a perfect 1:1 VR scale in the entire FOV
- less opical flaws, more GPU power driven to quality of content rather than compensating flaws.
- Now, couple that with integrated eye-tracking module and multi-res foveated rendering to lower the load on GPU(s) and we are good for very high-end graphics in VR. That will unleach possibilities for GREAT content and appeal more gamers and big studios in the game. Devs may get very interested with this.
That can boost VR market for sure. That’s all the ingredients we need to democratise VR and appeal the masses to it.
PIMAX 8k can be the best performance/price ratio of all VR HDM and hold the crown for a long time if they concentrate on what’s important:
- sharpest image over the 200° FOV
- solid tracking with low latency
- stable 90 Hz refresh rate
- quality eye tracking module with foveated multi-res rendering to enable QUALITY content sustainable with current GPU(s)
- appropriate ports for the best image quality input possible
Your comments are welcome. I would love to discuss with you about this. Cheers.
My 2 cents.
