Hi,
i received yesterday the Pimax Artisan in order to test what Pimax is offering today and the big FOV of course.
I had in the past a Pimax 4K, an Oculus CV1, a Samsung Odyssey and a HP Reverb G1.
So i’m back to Pimax.
I’m using an RTX2080 + I7 7700K with 8GO.
I will not talk about the unboxing but i like the fact that the box/package was small.
I plugged the Pimax and all went fine except that my USB3 port did not work correctly and produced an error in Steam VR. It’s not the first time that it happens so i just plugged the Pimax in an USB2 and it worked.
Pitool worked fine except that i can’t change the color of the front light of the Pimax, it does not work. I had an automatic update performed yesterday for Pitool that went fine too.
So about the headset :
_ the comfort kit is really comfortable and it makes the Artisan the most comfortable headset that i ever had. It’s perfect if you wear glasses, you will feel zero point of contact.
_ the tracking, i decided not to use base station because it was for simracing. I’m impressed by the gyro tracking. It’s fast, there is no drift, i can take the headset with my hand turn it on my back, see the back of the car then put it back on my face and it is still aligned correctly. Very impressive. I don’t like base station tracking i remember with the oculus that i always felt a kind of latency. I prefer camera tracking or the gyro tracking of the Pimax which is impressivly fast.
_ image color they are good a little bit flat, it’s not oled.
_ the weight, despite the size it’s light.
_ the fov/distorsion, the large FOV is definitly a must have for simracing. Not only you can see better your opponents but you see better your car and his movments and that makes a huge difference because you feel the car more lively and the difference between type of cars is obvious and huge.
I can’t see a big distorsion due to the large fov but the lenses are not clear on 70% of their surface. I still can’t understand why VR headset are sold with these bad lenses except for a marketing goal. I have an Homido headset that work with a mobile phone and the lenses are clear on 95% of their surfaces.
I can think that all these bad lenses (the HP Reverb was bad too) are used with intention, the intention that you had to buy the next version.
I’ve been spending a good amount of time tweaking my 8KX, and noticed the vertical offset helps a lot with focus. I’m still debating between using +1,1.5, or 2. That may help you. Also, those spaces between the lenses/screens at max IPD are in every Pimax headset. Had it in my 5K+, it’s in my X, and I’ve brought it up to Pimax before, so they know, it’s just how it’s designed, although, I guess you’re showing that it’s not the same spacing between both sides, which doesn’t look right.
Thanks,
there is a screen vertical offset i will play with it.
Yes the space is different and i think it’s not great if you need to have the sweet spot at the same place for both eyes.
By the way i made a mistake, there was super sampling in Steam.
I removed it and immediatly it makes Automobilista looks so much better.
I have the feeling that super sampling add blurriness in Big Screen or Virtual Desktop and for simracing it’s game dependant.
The picture is far better with Automobilista without super sampling than with it.
I think it is still usefull and add something with Assetto Corsa and RaceRoom.
So things are less blurry without super sampling and static applications but i still find something odd with IPD mechanism.
Sometimes i have the same image in both lenses.
Any idea?
What do you mean by “remove” with supersampling? Do you mean the Advanced Super Sampling filter? If so I agree, it should be unchecked, but the resolution scale should be monitored on a per-game basis. Couldn’t tell you the issue with same image in both lenses besides maybe needing the “Compatible with parallel projections” enabled, which requires a SteamVR restart to take effect. I know for a fact you’ll need that for AMS2 because Project Cars 2 needs it enabled too, and they use the same engine.
I mean the super sampling by game. They all have already a number; I set them all to 100 which is a good base and by far better for AMS2.
It seems that the image issue is due to parallel projection not activated for Rfactor2.
You are right Rfactor2 needs it and Automobilista 2 too (oups).
Got my artists on Saturday and was going to return it based on my issues feel free to review my post. what I can tell you emphatically specifically with project cars 2 in AMS to is that you need to increase the pie tool setting to 1.25 and drop the supersampling and steam down to 50% or 40% and the game will look amazing. Let me know if this helps
Thanks i will try it but what is the difference between Pitool upscaling and Steam upscaling?
They do not achieve the same thing?
No clue. and to be frank I get conflicting information from it all these different posts about it so I’m only willing to share my experience. First if your running anything under pie tool ending in 262, you’re wasting your time. 2. When I had steam 100% and pitool at 1, my games looked and ran absolutely horribly, and looked like sh1t. Far worse than my Rift S…which I was assuming the Artisan wan an upgrade for. 1.25 and 40% in steam actually made the games look much better, and run much better
you get a chance to try it?
Yes and it does not work for me, 1 and 100% is better but we don’t have the same hardware.
With the RTX2080 i have no issue to get a good speed with all sims except ACC.
So PIMAX answer me that all Artisans are like that. So they have a default assembly that avoid to have a clear view. For me it’s made with intention, the intention that you look for a better image and buy an 8K.
If i’m right it’s a bad marketing choice.
There might be an issue with there understanding. Some have difficulties getting both eyes clear. From reading your posts it seems that one might need to off set the one side to achieve both eyes clear.
Ie thicken foam on one side to tilt headset to the right or left? You may have found a fix for this anomaly that maybe due to in part face shape profiles.
The same comolaints of one eye not clear has been on all p2 headsets from different folks.
The ipd mechanism is shared between models
Yes but i have pictures that show that left and right does not look to be symetric. The space around the lenses at max IPD is not the same and by far.
And my left eye is always on the outside of the left lens which should not be.*
I have to push the PIMAX to the left to have a clear view from my left eye and at the end the PIMAX is slighlty angled on my face.
Someone made a mistake at the assembly line when they put the lenses on the rack.
That is quite possible. Now to best check you would want to remove the rubber face gasket to check more properly as it might be the gasket that is throughing things off
You mean the gasket is not correctly set?
It’s possible i had to unmount it in order to set the strap.
I will check it but how to explain the space difference?
If lenses get closer / further away from each other what blocks you to move HMD left/right side to align the HMD & adjust IPD offset accordingly.
The only thing I can think of is not having eyes independent IPD offsets, so we can change those the same way as for vertical offset, maybe it could help people to increase convergence comfort by moving screen picture only in one or another eye
It was a gasket issue.
I unmounted the gasket in order to check again the lenses and this time i’ve been able to see that there is a space on the left lens too. Don’t know why but it’s really difficult to see though i think the space on the right is a little bit bigger.
I set back the gasket carefully and it improved a lot my vision on both eyes.
Helio was right it was mainly a gasket issue.
Thanks Helio, you made my day.
Issue solved and i like a lot the Artisan.
For simracing it’s definitly the best headset available for the entry cost.
It works like a charm with Iracing, AMS2, AC, R3E and Rfactor.
ACC is awfull but it has nothing to do with the headset.