As a graphics blogger I’m always interested in the next big thing in tech and particularly, VR, so when I saw a news item about a guy cycling the length of the country from the comfort of his living room I just had to know more.
I, for one, hate spin classes. I go because I know logically that it’s doing me good but my common complaint (to just about anyone who’ll listen) is ‘but what’s the point of pedalling your backside off when you’re going nowhere?!’ Well it’s almost as if innovative developer Aaron Puzey heard my lament and decided to address it with his Cycle VR app, so clearly I had to track him down. A little bit of cyber stalking and a desperate bid for more information led me to the kind of innovation that is at the heart of what we’re trying to do in bringing VR and AR to the mass market.
In deciding which platform to target in developing his app, Aaron realised that whilst console and desktop options are taking off with releases like the HTC Vive, ‘In two years time EVERYONE will have a phone capable of VR. It seems like an obvious market to head for.’ In choosing the Samsung Gear VR as his mobile platform of choice, Aaron was able to utilize the superior visual quality of the Galaxy S6’s AMOLED display as well as the high powered Mali-T760 MP8 GPU as part of the inbuilt Exynos 7420 SoC. The Mali High Performance range of GPUs supports the demanding performance requirements of VR whilst saving maximum power and bandwidth to ensure a super slick experience.
The stereoscopic display allows for minor differences between each eye, providing a sense of depth
We know that some of the key challenges to a successful VR experience are latency, framerate and resolution but these tricky areas didn’t actually present a problem for Aaron. As he was working with a single mesh and single texture with very little geometry to add complexity, he was able to achieve the quality he needed without too many issues. The biggest struggle was transforming the data from Google Maps Street View into a working 3D model because of the lack of available information but with a little digging Aaron was able to make use of work already done on this elsewhere. He initially attempted to stream the data live but the lack of multithreading in Unity meant this was causing a stall on every new texture load. He’s discovered the best way around this is to the cache the required data prior to each session and run it offline until a workaround to prevent the stalls can be found. The camera moves smoothly from one panorama to the next, producing some visual distortion but keeping the motion of the bike as realistic as possible.
We’ve seen lots of different ways of navigating a VR environment beginning to crop up, from VR chairs and stools which respond like a Segway when you lean in the direction of travel, to fully encapsulated treadmills. The latter let you move, walk and run freely around your virtual environment without the risk of crashing into people, pets or objects. However, instead of relying on expensive, dedicated hardware like these, Aaron simply customised his own existing exercise bike using a simple cadence monitor to record the RPM. Whilst it doesn’t measure the amount of effort put in, just the distance travelled, with the simple addition of adjusting the bike’s friction setting to emulate real road conditions, Aaron could get a pretty accurate output.
So, whilst still in its early stages, Aaron has high hopes for the project and is looking for the right partner to take it to the broader market. With plans to enhance the user experience, including adding multiplayer capability so you can race your friends cross country, I for one can’t wait to get my hands on the commercial version and ditch dull spin classes for good!
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Twitter: @FreddiJeffries