Issue #1078 | The Business of CAD | 18 January 2021
by Ralph Grabowski
Even as interest in virtual reality continues to not enthuse consumers, companies invested in the technology continue to release updates. I get the feeling that sales are just high enough for some firms, like Facebook and Sony, to continue updating their devices. There is, as well, a desire to perhaps keep a toe in the water, should VR ever catch on in a big way.
To simulate reality inside a virtual reality headset, the headset has to mimic what our brain expects from our senses. Here is some of what vision entails:
-
stereo vision for depth perception
-
high resolution images for clarity
-
wide field of view (FOV) of 124 degrees
-
foveated field of view of 10 to 60 degrees
-
accurate color (with age most eyes have poor color accuracy)
-
stereo sound to assist in identifying and locating items
-
packaged in a product as unobtrusive as contact lenses
Most VR headsets have two fields of view: a smaller UHR [ultra high resolution] area that mimics the areas on which eyes concentrate our vision. This is called the foveate area. Then surrounding it is a a second, larger area displayed at lower resolution that's equivalent to our peripheral vision. (For a really useful tutorial on acronyms and terms used in virtual reality optics, see smartglasseshub.com/vr-headset-display-comparison/.)
VR3 and XR3 Specs
In November, Varjo called up the tech media to introduce its third generation headsets with higher specs and lower prices. The new VR3 and XR3 have "twice the performance for half the price" is how they put it. (There was no XR2.)
The VR headset is for seeing virtual reality scenes, such as of 3D CAD models, while the XR3 is for augmented reality: it overlays 3D models on top of a real-time image of the real world displayed inside the head set through a set of cameras mounted at the front of the goggles. See figure below.
(all images source Varjo)
(The industry has, in recent times, replaced the acronym "AR" [augmented reality] with "XR," short for "mixed reality.")
At launch two years ago, Varjo used the marketing slogan of "human-eye resolution" to introduce the superiority of its goggles, and showed comparison shots of its better resolution against that of a popular brand of VR goggle. Its new models offer 2.3x higher foveate resolution, making the old slogan problematic.
Let us press on. The foveate resolution in the old VR1 and VR2 models was 1612x992 pixels covering an area of 26x16 degrees. For the new third generation headsets, Varjo increased the foveate resolution to 1920 pixels square over 27 degrees. See the figure below.
Outside the foveate area, the resolution is 2880 pixels wide, with a field of view of 115 degrees, double from the 1440 pixels and 87 degrees in the original model. For natural eyesight, the field of view is 124 degrees horizontally; our eyes’ resolution is difficult to measure as it does not work with pixels.
VR manufactures speak of “Pixels per degree” [PPD], instead of resolution, as we tend to do. PPD = horizontal pixel count / horizontal field of view angle. In the case of the new VR-3 model, PPD ranges from the highest of 35+ at the lens' center to a lower 30 at the edges. See figure below.
A camera inside the headset tracks your eye movement 200 times a second to keep the foveate area centered on your gaze. The headsets also support Steam Index tracking as it is a standard in the industry.
The big change to the XR3 headset is LIDAR distance measuring, a first for the industry, says Varja. See figure below. LIDAR lasers have been popularized by self-driving cars, measuring the distance, which is recorded as a colorized array of dots in 3D space. LIDAR is used in the XR3 headset to determine occlusion -- in which real-world objects in the foreground partially (or fully) cover up VR objects -- up to 5m (16 ft) away.
The Varjo Business Plan
Varjo wants to "democratize this technology so that immersive computing can be used by design firms." One part of the tactic is to have the highest-quality imaging; the other is to bring the price down from iMac levels to PC levels. The VR-1 began life at an even $6,000 plus $1,000/yr mandatory subscription; the first XR-1 was $10,000. Here is this year's price list, which use the same numbers in US$ and Euros:
VR-3 = 3,195 plus the 795 subscription
XR-3 = 5,495 plus mandatory 1,495/yr subscription
I don't know where the first models were manufactured, but the third-gen ones are made in China. Here are other tactics Varjo applied to make products more acceptable over competitors:
-
Single-dot eye tracking calibration: look at a dot, calibration is complete. For more accurate calibration, look at five dots.
-
Naturalness come not just from res and field of view, but also range of colors, so now 99% of sRGB. "We are the only ones doing this." Headsets like Valve Index are useless for designing and flight simulator training.
-
Headsets have a three-point fit and are 40% lighter than the heavier XR1, as users wear them for hours at a time. See figure below.
-
The new design allows users to wear any kind of headphone.
-
When coronavirus arrived, the headsets were redesigned with new materials so that they can be cleaned with alcohol wipes and UV [ultraviolet] light.
These are, however, not stand-alone units. The back of the headset plugs into a cable that plugs into a computer. The computers recommended by Varjo run i7 or i9 CPUs, 32-64GB RAM, and a nVidia RTX graphics boards (2080Ti and up). I priced the cheapest computer recommended by Varjo at $2,700.
The computer needs to run Varjo Base (free), software that controls and communicates with the headset, and SteamVR (free) for tracking, along with at least two Steam tracking base stations ($185 each) in the room. The start-up bill seems to be around $7000 for VR3 and $10,000 for XR3. See https://varjo.com/use-center/getting-started/system-requirements/ for details.
Varjo now has regional dealers in several countries, whose job is to collect for you all the needed gear. For instance, some workstation components recommended by Varjo are no longer available from Lenovo, and so substitutions are made by someone who knows which substitutions are acceptable.
Who Uses Varjo
The Varjo Web site suggests their headsets are suitable for training, simulation, design, research, and medicine. But where are they really used?
The folks at Varjo got an early break while working with Autodesk. The CAD vendor recommended that Varjo work with automotive designers, as they are the most demanding ones on the planet, typically using Catia for designing cars, Teamcenter for collaborating on the designs, and V-Red software for viewing them.
Designers at Kia and Volvo use the headsets to collaborate on the design of the car, down to the stitching on leather seats, with accurate colors. Volvo does more virtual designing today by driving on virtual roads with a digital interior. Kia has a design office in Frankfurt, and an in-person design review took four days, traveling back and forth from the head office in Korea; now the design review takes a half-day.
The largest installation at a customer is "hundreds of units."
What Ralph Grabowski Thinks
Virtual reality has been technically feasible for 25 years, yet in the consumer space suffers the same fate as 3D TV and Linux. During the heyday of 3D TV hype, I predicted it would not catch on due to the lack of a compelling reason to wear those special glasses: 3D doesn’t tell a better story than 2D; regular eyeglasses are a personal expression, which the 3D ones do not respect; and mandatory glasses isolate people socially from one another. Headsets put VR in a worse dilemma, as the bulky goggles isolate viewers even more.
There is no mass market for virtual/mixed reality. Google, for instance, last month killed off Poly, its online 3D modeler for VR worlds. Its VR/AR API no longer works in Android 11. As Techcrunch put it, "Google is almost running out of AR/VR projects to kill off."
That leaves the commercial world that Varjo inhabits. The company reveals it has had hundreds of customer companies (not just headsets sold) — this in a world where the global workforce is around three billion. But if you are going to get VR goggles, get ones with high-resolution, and that's what Varjo offers.
Despite hurrahs from techno-optimists, it must be realized that VR and XR are useful primarily in specialized situations, kind of like torque wrenches in automotive repair. Useful in their place, but not at all used all the time.
And in Other News
Remograph releases Remo 3D v2.10 for Windows and Linux controls model scene graphs so that you can modify degree-of-freedom nodes, level-of-detail nodes, switch nodes, and so on. See figure below. This release adds more keyboard shortcuts, better macros, and relative xref paths. Try out the demo version from remograph.com/download.php
- - -
Siemens updates Parasolid to v33, emphasizing enhancements to convergent modeling, its term for mixed modeling, where we can work on facets (meshes) and solids (b-reps) at the same time. This is the current holy grail for kernels. Version 33 adds intersections, fillets, and chamfers, and improves on direct editing, rendering, and repairing mixed models. blogs.sw.siemens.com/plm-components/parasolid-v33-0-release-highlights/
Siemens terms the kernel "open," as it is available for licensing to competitors. So I asked them about the term, as competitors cannot access the synchronous technology part of Parasolid. I was told that ST was built on top of Parasolid and so is not part of it.
- - -
Here are some of the posts that appeared recently on my WorldCAD Access blog:
You can subscribe to the WorldCAD Access blog’s RSS feed through Feed Burner at feeds.feedburner.com/WorldcadAccess.
Letters to the Editor
Re: Running Generic CADD in 2013
Just adding to your Generic CADD6.2.2 stuff. I originally bought [Generic CADD-based] LogiCADD 5 with a Logitech mouse. Registered it, upgraded to Generic 5, Generic 6, Generic 6.22, AutoCAD LT.
Never really learned AutoCAD. Too much to remember and not as easy as Generic. Took a class in AutoCAD. Still not interested.
It is now Aug. 2020, I am retired, and in my own little machine shop in my garage, I still use Generic CADD. I don't bother printing, just use a Dell C600 Laptop and keep it beside the lathe/mill. Always looking for drivers so I can use on PCIe video cards, but no luck so far. At my age, my short term memory is not too good, so Generic Till I Die.
- James (via WorldCAD Access)
Re: Programming Dynamic Blocks
I just read that you have a book on dynamic blocks for AutoCAD. I have done a lot of them and it is pretty cool what you can do with them. I am now 78 and AutoCAD is like a hobby? (Sigh) Can I buy the book in paper or PDF format? I do not want a Kindle e-reader at all. Thank you very much.
- Jack Foster
The editor replies: You are in luck. I only sell PDF versions of my ebooks! Here is the link for making the purchase (scroll down halfway through the Web page): worldcadaccess.com/ebooksonline/2015/07/tdb.html
I find it fascinating that you create dynamic blocks as a hobby. It would be a great way to keep the brain working.
Mr Foster responds: I have a friend of sorts who is an architect and he places panels on the sides of building with lots of screw holes and sizes. I started to work part-time for him a few years ago and when I saw he was simply drawing rectangles and adding them up I was blown away. I proceeded to tell him about using blocks etc.
Now he has blocks with the holes in them that he can move as required. He can change the length and height of the panels, and with some of them the holes autocenter. When ready to detail each block, he changes the visibility state to show dimensions and he is done.
I also wrote some programs that get the length and height of the panels and then places the values on a layer that is the combined values. From there another program walks through the layer table and changes the layers to P-01; P-02 etc. which is better than manually doing so.
[Some time later...]
Mr Foster continues: I have looked at your book on dynamic blocks and there is a ton of information in there. The one I need to go back and look at is the one that combines X & Y. In the past I have had zero luck making that work like I think it should.
Regardless of that I have an AutoLISP programming problem in getting data out of a dynamic block. On page 56 you show the “distance” for a linear parameter that shows in the Properties palette. I need to be able to get that value and assign it to a variable in AutoLISP. Do you have a book that would show me how to do something like this?
I have written hundreds of programs and I am still terrible. If not, thank you just the same and do not waste your time replying. I appreciate all of the help you have given over the years. One of these days I am actually going to retire and stop the fun aggravation.
The editor replies: I have no idea, sorry! However. I did find some code online that might work for you: cadtutor.net/forum/topic/19921-retrieve-distance-parameter-from-dynamic-block/
Mr Foster responds: thanks a whole bunch for taking the time to search for me. I looked at that program last night and it works for attributes but not for parameters. I am still digging and I have found a vla-getdynamicblockproperties function that I am going to search for and investigate. When I searched for that, I found several places online that I had previously visited with no luck.
I really do need to retire but my only hobby is AutoCAD, so I am kind of out of luck there.
Thanks again for trying and your weekly newsletter which I really do read every week. I have passed it on to several people suggesting they sign-up and make the small donation as it is worth it, especially if you are actively employed and making money.
Notable Quotable
“I'm pretty good at that. At least my Linked-in bio says that.”
- Byron (@KeyOrgSys on Twitter)
Thank You, Readers
Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine. To support upFront.eZine through PayPal.me, then I suggest the following amounts:
-
$25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25
-
$150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150
-
$750 for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750
Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and use the account of [email protected].
Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.
Comments