MS Research: IllumiRoom *spin*

[AzBat]

But how would you hook it up to your console?

Good question. I would assume it would be like Kinect 1 before they created the dedicated Kinect port: USB port. XB1 supports USB3 or could it be a WiFi Direct device? I don't see a need for another HDMI out.

Tommy McClain

 

[Scott_Arm]

Good question. I would assume it would be like Kinect 1 before they created the dedicated Kinect port: USB port. XB1 supports USB3 or could it be a WiFi Direct device? I don't see a need for another HDMI out.

Tommy McClain

Yeah, I guess it could be a wifi direct device.

 

[Billy Idol]

Illumniroom is so cool. I want it.

 

[Wahz]

Unless it get to this level of reality else uninterested

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrgWH1KUDt4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_cKsOe7hLI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ1KaYEBe5U

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Those are only VR from the POV of a 2D capture from the camera position; they only look how they do because of the capture position. For the person in the scene, the projections will be distorted and disjointed. It's a nice piece of performance art, but completely useless as a computer interface tech. Projection based AR needs something like Illumiroom calibrated to the user's position, or a head-mounted projector, or AR glasses.

 

[Wahz]

I knew those are fake like 3D street floor paint and tailor make to specific viewing angle, but I assume that viewing point can be set to my sitting position......

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Yes, and that's what Illumiroom does, unlike the PS concept vids that were set up by the designers. The virtual space is achieved by Illumiroom just as well as these vids (Illumiroom manages pretty well in a room with clutter unlike a purpose built studio with blank canvases to project on). What's not possible from the user's POV is something like the floating cube in video 2. It only appears to be floating due to perspective cues in a 2D image. In reality it's a distorted projection on the wall. For a player, you could project a perspective correct cube and rays, but it'd clearly be on the wall without any depth. Considering the cost of the setup for Sony's PR videos, we're far, far more likely to get VR goggles before we get consumer level holographic chambers.

 

[hesido]

Is a depth sensor camera required for such functionality (illumiroom)? Surely it makes calibration so much easier and it may even adapt dynamically to position changes of objects in the room, but could a 2d camera be used to calibrate distortion by displaying straight lines / grid and work out the distortion and calculate the required distortion for the beamed image?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

There's always more than one solution to a problem. 3D evaluation from projections has been used before (that's actually the basis of Kinect 1).

 

[Silent_Buddha]

This has really surprised me, I didn't expect some of the stuff you can see in the video.

This astonishing new video about Ilumiroom shows the possibilities of the technology.

Finally got a chance to check out that video. My mind is blown. Up until they changed the actual visual characteristics of the room and furnishings I was just thinking, OK, this is pretty cool tech.

I was quite impressed by it's ability to not only alter the characteristics of the furnishings (making real life objects appear cel-shaded) but then to also manipulate it in such a way that a game could appear to directly affect your real life furnishings.

Also impressed with how well it could scan the color of the objects in real life and then adjust the projected color such that the combined color was correct in reference to what was being show on the main screen (IE - what the color of an object should be no matter what it was being projected onto). Although obviously nothing can be done about solid black furnishings or objects.

If this is released as a consumer product, I'd be tempted to try to find a TV with a white bezel.

Regards,
SB

 

[jimbo75]

By the looks of things you get a very similar feeling of immersion to eyefinity. Pretty cool, this has got me interested. Wow gets much cooler later in the vid.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Also impressed with how well it could scan the color of the objects in real life and then adjust the projected color such that the combined color was correct in reference to what was being show on the main screen

That's actually not hard. Project the negative and you get complete colour removal with a halving of the brightness. Just combine the negative with the intended image. The gamut will be severely reduced though! A fairly colourful room will probably prove too much for the system.

It's a clever idea (building on technology that exists elsewhere in performance arts), but I'm not as excited and enamoured as others here. It'd be perfect for an arcade setup (and perhaps what the arcades need to invigorate them), but otherwise too niche IMO.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Definitely niche unless they come in with a very surprising price point.

The projector appears to be fairly low resolution and doesn't appear too bright (so likely LED, IMO) which should help with the cost somewhat. But it still would require a projector + Kinect. And they can't repurpose the Kinect that is included with the Xbox One as game developers are assuming they have that available for their games.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

One also wonders how Kinect will fair at functioning with a projector shining at it. That could be solved with a laser projector which should have zero light bleed on an off pixel.

 

[expletive]

One also wonders how Kinect will fair at functioning with a projector shining at it. That could be solved with a laser projector which should have zero light bleed on an off pixel.

If its smart enough to embellish bookshelves, plants, cabinets and make them look black/white, wobbly, cartoony, i'm sure it can carve out a tiny black rectangle opposite it for the other kinect.

 

[bkilian]

One also wonders how Kinect will fair at functioning with a projector shining at it. That could be solved with a laser projector which should have zero light bleed on an off pixel.

Shouldn't effect Kinect at all, as evidenced by the bright flashlight demos. Colour feed will be crap, but the rest should function just fine.

 

[Jwm]

Shouldn't effect Kinect at all, as evidenced by the bright flashlight demos. Colour feed will be crap, but the rest should function just fine.

Never seems to bother my old Kinect, oh crap I forgot I never use the motion part of it!

Anyway voice works just great with my projector pointing directly at it.. lol

*mouth before brain moment

 

[deathindustrial]

If its smart enough to embellish bookshelves, plants, cabinets and make them look black/white, wobbly, cartoony, i'm sure it can carve out a tiny black rectangle opposite it for the other kinect.

Unless projectors have gotten amazingly better recently there is no such thing as "black" and there is always some light bleed, it is just a matter of contrast making it seem black. Throwing a glowing and reflective LCD screen in the middle of that does not see like a good idea (think about what it is like when you have a sliver of light shining through your curtains when you are watching a movie). Not to mention fan noise, lighting + placement issues, the apparently magical boundless rendering budget of the example game, etc. There is zero chance of this being a real product, at least in the home space (maybe for trade shows or theatres if they can bundle it with suitable video mixing software).

Honestly it is kind of embarrassing that MS would trot out such obvious vapourware, especially tying it to their next console.

Cheers

 

[warb]

How is it tied to their next console? I see OG Kinect in the video.

I don't see how it's embarrassing to show off nifty projects like this.

 

[bkilian]

Honestly it is kind of embarrassing that MS would trot out such obvious vapourware, especially tying it to their next console.

Cheers

What? This has been clearly marked, from the start, as a MS Research project. It is not, and has never been billed as a product. Nor has it been "tied" to their next console. The only folks making those claims have been forum warriors and our friends, the overreaching gaming media.

Think of this as one of those demos using Kinect you see on YouTube done by university researcher. It may one day be incorporated into a product, or it may not. But it still makes an awesome and flashy demo that shows off capabilities unlocked by Kinect.