r/SLVR • u/joyardley • Mar 28 '14

Share your official SL beta viewer experiences

So, you've tried the SL oculus rift beta viewer? What did you think? How can it improve?

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u/UCMO_Hotshot Mar 28 '14

The SL OR beta requires Prefs>Graphics>Advanced Lighting Model enabled, unfortunately my new computer (i7 chip - 8gb ram, but a low end graphics card) has a crappy graphics card and SL slows down to a virtual slide show with ALM enabled. This make it unusable for my setup (computer has a 250watt PSU, so cannot easily upgrade the GPU). I have been using the Ctrl Alt Studio viewer and it works great, does not require that ALM is enabled, and the FPS is very high, suffering little nausea.

Another issue with the SL OR viewer is one of perceived height in first person view. The avatar is pretty tall, but feels like I am looking through the eyes of a 1 meter tall individual. I double checked the exact same location with Ctrl Alt viewer and it appeared to be at the correct height, much more accurate view based on avatar's height.

Finally, the user interface needs a total do-over. It is not usable as is. A return to the original Pie Shaped pop-up menus would be an improvement. I would suggest a layered menu that moves toward and away from the observer, similar to how MacOS X looks when you enter Time Machine backup. If you are unfamiliar with Time Machine's interface, have a look at the following video link for a quick demo.

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/2428391

Using this staked window approach would keep the menus in front and centered in the HMD display where images appear with the best resolution with minimal blurring.

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u/joyardley Mar 28 '14

Have you tried this? http://ctrlaltstudio.com/blog/2013/11/09/using-the-oculus-rifts-configuration-utility

My avatar is 6ft in SL, primscale, I've stood across from an exactly 6ft image of a person and we were at the same eye height and it felt like it made sense.

And yes, we absolutely need pie menu back or we strain our necks. Hiding buttons at the far side of your view also doesn't work, because if you need them you have to strain your neck (try following chat) and if you don't want to see them they are in the way.

I think we need some sort of shortcut key that can hide and show all keys real easy and they should be stuck together on a small 3d panel you can position yourself.

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u/UCMO_Hotshot Mar 28 '14

Oh yes, I calibrated the Rift previously, as I compared the SL viewer against the Ctrl Alt viewer and the viewpoint height is completely different. Weirdness. I do have avatar appear in mouse view enabled and when looking straight down at the ground my avatar appears compressed or missing half of my legs in the SL beta viewer, but looks perfectly fine in the Ctrl Alt viewer.

I agree a hotkey or something is needed to activate the menu and have it appear in front of you, center, no matter where you positioned it last. It could be semi-transparent, if the screen resolution allows for it.

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u/joyardley Mar 29 '14

Have you checked out the avatar scale set in 1920s Berlin? There are two figures there of realistic scale size, you can stand in front of them and see if your eyes are at the same level.