It always feels like some form of VR tech comes out with some sort of fanfare and with a promise it will take over the world, but it never does.
It always feels like some form of VR tech comes out with some sort of fanfare and with a promise it will take over the world, but it never does.
I sometimes wonder what would happen to VR, if it would get the same situation as 3D printing. That took of, because some patents where expiring and it was then easy to build up your own version. We had/have many open source/FOSS printers and nearly all the companies currently in this space wouldn’t exist, if it werent for the many open source developments and the extention of the market, that they created. I know this is highly unprobable for VR, but one should be allowed to dream
well most (tech-related) industries dont really get much traction when its just private companies. generally a private company starts something and then open-source projects keep the underlying tech working while major companies rebrand stuff every year.
thats part of why I’m so excited for the steam frame. it’ll finally give a vr platform that doesnt rely on proprietary stuff, freeing people up to do stupid things with it and accidentally make something really cool. what we really needed is for the bubble it was in to burst so the companies that had it in a chokehold would let go, but it just got smaller and they held on. its a lot like the ai situation right now where there are useful and sustainable use cases, but its too wrapped up in shareholder circlejerks for anyone to get the chance to set it up right.
also, I need to get my ender v3 working again. that thing was fun.
I think that you always run into the issue that you look like an idiot using it and you need to do something special to use it.
Though that is mostly a problem for big techs vision of VR, where we use it everyday allday (like all the shit with business meetings in VR). It was always a niche technology. But 3D printing is also a niche. But it got to be a big niche. And with even the current developments we got quite a reduction in size (thus better wearing comfort). I think an open hardware and software system would quite help the whole VR industry to get better, though still being a niche.
3D printing has found its niche in being able to create custom plastic models at a cost far lower than injection molding. That’s been big for RPG and wargaming as a way to create better boards at an acceptable cost. I’ve also seen some toys sold that are obviously 3D prints, which shows the technology’s viability as a part of a commercial production line. These are use cases where 3D printing is the best option available, so the technology gets used.
I don’t see that equivalent for consumer scale VR/AR. The state of the industry for VR tech seems be to sell rented experiences where the VR tech is integrated into an experience with other equipment or defined spaces. Thats an equivalent to when computer games were rented in arcades.