VR with Carboard?

When you think about what VR and what it can accomplish, you would think that it would cost quite a bit to buy into. In most cases you would be right, but along came Google and revealed what they dubbed, Google Cardboard.

You may be wondering how a simple piece of cardboard can be made into a virtual reality device and, I must admit, so did I when I initially heard about the device. Google has released a simple cardboard template that you can either download and cutout yourself or order ready made cutouts of online. You then simply assemble the device, add some lenses and you have a VR headset! What? Where's the screen and the headtracking module you say? Well this is the brilliant part. It uses your smart phone as the screen and as the head tracking device, using the phones built in sensors. Awesome!

                                (Pictured: Google Cardboard)

Now I decided to order one of the ready made kits online and within a week it arrived and I got to try it out. For the cost of the unit (provided you have a compatible phone) the experience is very good. Obviously this isn't going to compare to the big boys like the Oculus Rift, but it does provide an enjoyable and for some a totally new experience.

There are a multitude of apps that have sprung up on the Google Play Store that make full use of Cardboard. Most of these are more tech demos and showcases currently but some, like VR Cinema, offer some great functionality. VR Cinema let's you take any video file on your phone and play it back in side by side mode so that when viewed through the two lenses of Google Cardboard it creates a 3D effect. While the effect is quite good, without proper glass lenses the image is a bit on the blurry side (plastic lenses are included in the pre-made kit). The head tracking works very well but unlike the Oculus Rift, doesn't have six-degrees of movement (being able to translate forward, backward, up and down movement in the virtual world) but this is only because of hardware limitations of the sensors in phones. 

It is an interesting and fun project to play with and until the Oculus Rift consumer version is released, I'm going to continue fiddling with it.

In my next post I will be detailing some awesome tricks for Google Cardboard, including a way to stream games to your phone... In 3D!