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Monthly Archives: March 2019

Lord Darian Plays!

I’ve been playing computer games since the days of the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. Recently I delved into the world of VR, I had always thought VR was a niche gimmick. Turns out, not really. VR is awesome, the immersion and vast varieties of experiences you can have in VR are just crazy. 

There are interactive animated stories that surround you and bring you into the story (a very cool Native American one called the Crow is my favorite), be it serious or whimsical. The games pull you in and very quickly the line between the real world and the one inside the helmet blurs and fades away. My HMD (Head Mounted Display) has a very wide FOV (Field of View) with built in headphones and mics. I don’t have haptic feedback like in The Oasis quite yet, but the controllers do vibrate to things I interact with inside the environment. Love killing some Zombies!

I’ve also recently started my own channel on YouTube, which has involved learning graphic design, video and sound recording, marketing strategies and best video production practices. I spent 4 hours creating my first, semi-professional play through gaming video, using various free programs and copyright free assets.

It was a lot of fun. And here it is.

 

Posted by on March 26, 2019 in Uncategorized

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There’s a YouTube channel now?

So yeah, like the title says: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1FPaS5wCoZGX6VIOGDwTA

Not much at the moment, but I feel it will lead to bigger and brighter things.

 

Mixed Reality!

So I picked up a Windows Mixed Reality headset for dirt cheap last December (Acer) and then a Samsung Odyssey HMD off eBay for just as cheap. BTW the Odyssey has fantastic displays! Then my son bugged me until I bought Beat Saber. Honestly, getting to use light sabers in VR is a no brainer. It’s so cool!

Within a week of playing and watching folks on YouTube recording themselves inside the virtual world, I asked myself ‘How hard could it be?’. Turns out, it’s not that hard. Several tutorials and many downloads of free software later, I managed to get a working setup.

It’s not by any means a professional video. My green screen is actually a twin size purple sheet. But it is a proof of concept that I’m fairly proud of.

The hardware is a Logitech C910 Webcam and the before mentioned WMR (Windows Mixed Reality) headset and controllers. For software, the list is long! Microsoft Mixed Reality Portal, SteamVR, OBS Studio, OBS Virtual Camera, LIV Client and of course Beat Saber. There are probably a dozen or so drivers I installed along the way as well. But the final result looks like this!

You feel so much cooler in VR then you look, or at least I do.

 

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