Tag: High Fidelity

The High Fidelity architecture of virtual worlds to be

Posted on by Inara Pey

HF-logoI’ve been trying to keep an eye on High Fidelity of late, particularly since things like the SVVR meet-up in March and VWBPE 2014 in April, both of which featured presentations / talks by Philip Rosedale. However, I missed a recent blog post on the High Fidelity site, so my thanks to Nalates Urriah for giving a heads-up about it.

One of the things that has caused people some consternation with high Fidelity is that while there have been various demonstrations and some talk about it using distributed computing (a-la Seti@Home) as an operating model, more precise information on the architecture for High Fidelity has been lacking.

The official blog post, dated Thursday April 24th, goes some way towards rectifying this, by providing a high-level system diagram for High Fidelity and providing some additional notes on the various aspects of how it is hoped the system will work.

How High Fidelity will work - click for full size (courtesy of High Fidelity)
How High Fidelity will work – click for full size (courtesy of High Fidelity)

High Fidelity won’t, as they’ve previously made clear, be providing a virtual word per se. Rather, they are seeking to provide the software and protocols which will allow others to create virtual worlds and connect to one another, and the means for uses to connect to, and move between these worlds as they become available. The idea here is that by providing the means to create fully distributable virtual worlds, harnessing shared computing devices to scale their content and load, thus theoretically making a scalable, global virtual environment with shared resources through which users can travel.

The top section of the diagram denotes those services where High Fidelity hope to generate revenue.

  • The Nameserver allows virtual world domains to be uniquely identified if the owners wish (think DNS) – so that, as a totally hypothetical example, @secondlife could be registered to allow users to quickly discover and access Second Life. The registration service for virtual worlds is optional, rather than required. This service can also supply authentication mechanisms which can be used to both restrict access to a virtual world or allow users a particular virtual world to securely disclose chosen aspects of their identity.
  • The Digital Marketplace is fairly self-explanatory, allowing people to buy, sell and transfer digital goods to and from each other, and move these goods among different virtual worlds.
  • The Currency Server provides the wallet services and other API’s needed to allow people to quickly and easily share their computing devices as well as buy and sell digital goods using a cryptocurrency. Whether the latter will be a recognised cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin) or something new, remains to be seen.
  • The Assignment Server, allows people to share their computers with each other to act as servers or as scripted interactive content. It monitors and analyses devices which are made available as servers in order to try to assign them suitable tasks – so that a mobile ‘phone offered as a server might be used to control a scripted agent such as a dog wandering around a virtual world, while a high-end PC might be assigned more intensive tasks. This Assignment Server will also oversee the transfer of cryptocurrency between users, so that those providing their systems to help run a world are compensated by those making use of their computing capabilities to run their world.
High Fidelity 2013 image (via Singularity Hub)
High Fidelity 2013 image (via Singularity Hub)

Another core aspect of the system, which has been covered in various commentaries on High Fidelity, is the use of voxels, and more particularly, the voxel server, which stores and serves the content that is found inside the virtual world. Voxels can be nested within one another, or averaged together, allowing for significant levels of detail to be achieved over distances than is otherwise possible. The voxel server allows elements within a world to be distributed across multiple servers, so for example, an apartment block in a cityscape could comprise apartments which are each running on their own server.

The Voxel Server, together with the remaining elements of the software (the Domain Server which sits at the heart of any virtual world using the software and protocols, the Audio Mixer, Avatar Mixer, Interactive Client, etc.), are available under the Apache 2.0 open-source licence, Further information on them can be found in the High Fidelity blog post, and they can be downloaded from High Fidelity by those who wish to play with them.

The post has drawn a fair number of comments and questions, and as Nalates points-out, they make further interesting reading – particularly Philip Rosedale’s replies (or where some questions are concerned, lack of a reply).

 

VWBPE 2014: Philip Rosedale keynote – but is technology really the key to mass adoption?

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Wednesday April 9th, the 2014 Virtual Worlds Best practices in Education conference opened with a keynote address by Philip Rosedale. In it, he covers a lot of the ground he laid-out at the SVVR meet-up at the end of March (which I’ve covered here) in terms of communications in virtual worlds, although things were at times couched in more general terms than being specifically framed by demonstrations of some of High Fidelity has been doing.

The following is the official video of the presentation, recorded by Mal Burns on behalf of VWBPE. Timestamps within the notes indicate the points at which Philip’s exactly comments can be heard.

After a brief introduction by Kevin Phelan (Phelan Corrimal in SL), Philip provides a short overview of Rosedale’s own attraction to virtual worlds – born out of a desire to “building crazy things” which extended into imagining what it would be like to build a virtual world able to mimic the richness of the real world. In this, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One is mentioned, as is Second Life’s role as a pioneer and validation of what might be achieved if the right tools were in place that would enable a billion, rather than a million, people engage in virtual world spaces.

[12:30] He particularly sees the mouse and the keyboard as major barriers to entry, as they require complex manipulation (keystrokes and mouse movements) to achieve avatar movement, while limiting communications by disallowing facial expressions and / or natural gestures. In this he points to emerging hardware such as the Razer Hydra, Sixense Stem and 3D cameras as overcoming these limitations and opening the floodgates to virtual world adoption.

[23:55] Latency is also raised as a bugaboo issue as well. While I agree that reducing the level of latency is good for communications, I’m not convinced by all of the arguments put forward (for example, I doubt most people using a mobile ‘phone are even aware of the 500 millisecond delay, much less finding it a reason to loathe using their cellphone), which is not to say I think that latency isn’t an issue worthy of being addressed as far as might be possible.

[31:50] Identity disclosure, and our right to determine what is disclosed of our identity and how is very much a fundamental part of trusted use of any system, and as such, is key to the future of virtual worlds. This is something he has spoken about at SVVR and has blogged on the subject as well, indicating that the level of trust sought and identity given should, as with real life, be more fluid, depending upon what we’re doing and where we’re going. This spills over into areas of commerce and into the idea of having the freedom to move around between the kind of multiple worlds the metaverse is envisaged as being, and doing so with confidence and trust in the different environments and having control over what we are willing to reveal to those environments, rather than having them determine what they should take.

[35:07] For Virtual worlds to really grow, he believes they need to be more like the Internet, with people running their own servers and links between them operating much like the Web does today, allowing for complete continuous interconnectedness between servers and worlds, built upon open-source software (again: trust), and which can be properly scaled – such as through High Fidelity’s examination of distributed computing (again, as I point-out in covering the SVVR talk – think SETI@home).

[49:50] Q&A.

The presentation is interesting, and couched in general terms rather than being specific to High Fidelity – which is not inappropriate for the venue. Little of it comes over as hype or a sales pitch. I found the comments on identity, together with the statements made at SVVR and in the High Fidelity blog post, to be very much on-message and highly relevant. The distributed computing approach is an interesting idea as well, and possibly one with a lot of potential if the right value proposition is offered to people – such as rewarding them with crypto-currency credits they can spend on goods and services (or even cash-out over time?).

Where I do perhaps have an issue with things is in the view that the only barrier to the mass adoption of VWs is primarily that of technology. The latter can certainly enhance our experiences once we’re in a virtual world, no doubt about that. There is also no denying that with something like SL, more needs to be done to reduce that initial learning curve for someone entering the environment.

Are motion controllers and the like really the key to unlocking people’s ability to recognise virtual worlds as a value proposition for their time or is something else actually required? (image courtesy of Razer Hydra)

However, like it or not, springboarding VWs into mainstream adoption isn’t purely a technical issue, there is a social element as well. There needs to be compelling reasons to encourage people to turn to VWs instead of other possible options. Facial recognition software and motion controllers may well be wonderful for translating your expressions and gestures to an avatar when communicating with someone on the other side of the world, but frankly, so is a webcam and monitor screen. As such, for many, the technology will not be the value proposition that will encourage them to be more involved in VWs. There needs to be something more.

The need for a real value proposition is perhaps most clearly exemplified by Pamela in the 8th segment of The Drax Files Radio Hour. She dismisses any involvement in a virtual world because she sees no advantage in it compared to what she can do now. hers is unlikely to be a minority attitude.

That Philip Rosedale dismisses this social element so readily in the Q&A session isn’t entirely surprising – he is a technologist, after all – but given his experience in the field, it is disappointing. Technology can and will make immersive VW environments a lot easier to use, for sure. But I suspect the company or group that really cracks the nut of presenting VWs in terms of compelling, mainstream activities people believe should see as a daily part of their lives is actually going to be more responsible for unlocking the door to mass adoption than the company or group that provides a technologically superior means of accessing a VW.

Talking castAR and High Fidelity

Posted on by Inara Pey

The Silicon Valley VR (SVVR) Meet-up at the end of March featured a series of presentations from people within the VR field, including those by Brian Bruning, VP of Business Development and Marketing at Technical Illusions (castAR) and Philip Rosedale of High Fidelity.

The full video of the presentations is provided below, and I’ve included notes on each of these two presentations in particular. When reading, please be aware that these are notes, and not a full transcript.

Brain Bruning – castAR

Brian Bruning’s presentation commences at the 0:05:48 mark.

Image courtesy of Technical Illusions
Image courtesy of Technical Illusions

I’ve covered the early work on castAR in the past, some of which is touched upon at various points in the presentation, so I don’t want to repeat things here. What is interesting is that the system’s development has been following a similar route to that of the Oculus Rift: Technical Illusions have been out attending technology shows, conferences, exhibitions, etc., to gain visibility for the product , they ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for castAR which raised $1,052,110 of a $400,000 target.

[07;10] castAR has three modes of operation:

  • Projected augmented reality (AR), which presents a 3D hologram image projected onto a retro-reflective surface in front of you. allowing you to interact with it via a “wand”
  • Augmented reality of a similar nature to that of Google Glass
  • Virtual reality of the kind seen with the Oculus Rift.
castAR projected AR gaming with the castAR wand (image via Technabob)

The emphasis is that the headset is natural, comfortable-looking (a pair of glasses) which has three product features built-in. As a result of the Kickstarter, the company has now grown to 10 people, and the technical specifications for the system have been decided:

Glasses

  • Less than 100 grams in weight
  • Fits over most prescription glasses
  • Ultra flexible micro coax cable
  • Active shutters with 50% duty cycle
 Projectors

  • 1280 x 720 resolution per eye
  • 120hz refresh rate per eye 24 bits of color per pixel
  • 65 degree horizontal field of view 93% fill factor
Tracking System

  • 110 degree FOV
  • 120hz update rate
  • 8.3ms response time
  • 6 degrees of freedom
  • Absolute positioning Over 200 unique tracking points
  • 0.07mm accuracy at 1.5m
 AR & VR Clip-On

  • 90 degree horizontal FOV
  • Very low distortion freeform optics
  • 5mm by 8mm eye box
  • Removable flip-up shutter for AR mode

[11:20] castAR has its roots within the gaming environment and has been developed with the games market in mind (again, as had pretty much been the case with Oculus Rift), although they had recognised the potential for wider applications – they just hadn’t anticipated that someone like Facebook would step into the VR / AR arena and potentially add impetus to the wider applications for VR / AR.

[11:45] One of the benefits seen with a combined approach to VR / AR is that there are situations in work, in education, in research / medical fields where a completely occluded view of the real world  – as required by head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as the Oculus Rift – are simply not appropriate (Mr. Bruning jokes that there are even some activities associated with gaming where a HMD is inappropriate – such as simply trying to eat a snack or take a drink without interrupting the game flow!). In these situations, the projected AR or the Google Glass-like” AR are seen as more beneficial, and hence the drive to address all three modes of operation.

[13:20] Technical Illusions believe that many of the challenges faced by AR and VR content creators are similar in nature – such as dealing with UI issues, both seeing UI elements and interacting with those UI elements, or dealing with physical objects which my be places within a VR / AR scene. As such, Technical Illusions are focused on educating content creators to the needs of immersive / augmented environments and are producing dev kits to assist content creators in developing suitable environments / games / activities which take such issues into account.

[14:57] Current planning is for Technical Illusions to have their dev kits and the Kickstarter sets shipped in summer 2014, and to have the consumer version ready to ship by the fourth quarter of 2014, and it is indicated that price-point for consumer kits (glasses, tracking components, retro-reflective surface and input wand) will be “sub $300”.

The castAR update is an interesting, fast-paced piece, primarily focused on the projected AR capabilities of the glasses. Little or nothing was said reading the ability of the system to be used as a VR system, and no disclosure was given on the VR clip-on system.

This is apparently a deliberate decision on the part of the company, in that they are allowing VR HMD focused companies promote the potential use of VR, While Technical Illusions focus on the potential of projected AR capabilities.  While an interesting approach to take, I can’t help but feel that (assuming the VR clip-on is at a “feature complete” status) promoting all capabilities in castAR  wouldn’t be better, as they help present the product as a more versatile tool.

Continue reading “Talking castAR and High Fidelity” →

High Fidelity: a further $2.5 million. Now on the radar?

Posted on by Inara Pey

HF-logoThe latest Drax Files Radio Hour  drew my attention to new that Philip Rosedale’s newest venture, High Fidelity, this week gained a further round of investment capital.

The news on the move appears to have been lost amidst all of the noise coming out of Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR, however, VentureBeat covered the news on Wednesday March 26th.

Whether the latest round represents new investors or those already involved increasing their stake or a combination of both, remains unclear. However, the amount pushes the total level of investment into High Fidelity received close to some $5 million, including the $2.4 million obtained in April 2013 from Linden Lab, Kapor Capital, Google Ventures and True Ventures. Not bad for a company often referred to as “flying under the radar”.

Since Facebook’s move on Oculus VR, there has been a lot of speculation as to what might be next for the acquisition bag – and whether it could be Second Life. I’m not that convinced on the latter. But what about High Fidelity? In terms of Facebook, there might seem to be something of a fit – of not right now, then potentially down the road a bit.

Mark Zuckerberg, in describing his future vision for VR talks grandly in terms of “social VR” – VR which promotes “real” interaction and communications and which has real-world applications. That’s pretty much the space High Fidelity seems to be aiming at. I say appears, because High Fidelity seems to have a finger in a lot of idea pies, but most of the talk is in generalities rather than specifics when it comes to product(s).

Philip Rosedale: could his High Fidelity start-up be on Facebook's radar?
Philip Rosedale: could his High Fidelity start-up be on Facebook’s radar?

But given this commonality, and given High Fidelity is building on the kind of cool, sexy hardware – including the Rift, which apparently will work “out of the box” with whatever High Fidelity is / will be – it’s likely to have more of a bleeding-edge golly gee appeal than the decade-old, over-the-hill and decidedly unhip Second Life. Indeed, where it gets reported in the media, it already has.

Philip Rosedale is also something of a known quantity to one of the key players in FB’s acquisition of Oculus VR: Cory Ondrejka. They co-founded Second Life together and worked together as CEO and CTO until a difference on opinion separated them – and I assume that difference wasn’t enough to prevent them ever working together again. High Fidelity itself has attracted some of the key technology players from LL as well, who will also be known quantities to Ondrejka.

There’s also the matter of timescales. Facebook, as I’ve mentioned previously, seem to be jumping into the VR market-to-be for the long haul, they’re content to let Oculus VR test the waters for them in the gaming arena while looking towards more distant potential markets (and better, lighter and more ergonomic headsets that a broader cross-section of consumers will find attractive). As such, the slowly, slowly approach High Fidelity appears to be taking could synchronising rather nicely with FB’s approach.

Of course, this is all predicated on a number of things: exactly what it is that High Fidelity really has, how it fits a bigger technology picture, etc., right through to matters of equity stakes and controlling interests in the company.  However, in this latter regard, were High Fidelity to demonstrate they have something FB could leverage, it’s pretty clear that Facebook has the financial clout to make a deal worth everyone’s time.

At the very least, might be interesting to see where things go with any third round of investment into High Fidelity in the future …

 

 

 

High Fidelity put out call for alpha testers

Posted on by Inara Pey

HF-logoI’ve been keeping a sort-of eye on news concerning Philip Rosedale’s High Fidelity from something of a distance, occasionally checking the website and seeing what is going on. However, as a lot of it goes somewhat over my head, I tend not to report on it, preferring to wait as see to what actually starts to emerge in the future.

Nevertheless, Ciaran Laval poked me earlier in the moth that some interesting news might be coming out of the company, and so I’ve been watching various feeds to see what does. As a result, I caught Hamlet Au bringing the news, courtesy of “Epona666”, that High Fidelity have put out a call for alpha testers.

High fidelity: seeking alpha testers
High fidelity: seeking alpha testers – click to follow

Hamlet refers to the company as looking for “creative builders” for the Alpha testing. However, the sign-up form is scant on specifics, and leans more towards the hardware and operating systems applicants have at their disposal, rather than on specific skill sets of any description. There also doesn’t appear to be ant blog post associated with the announcement, so it is a little hard to discover further information relating to the call.

The application form: hardware and OS-focused
The application form: hardware and OS-focused

This request is somewhat easier than the company’s last, as reported by Ciaran Laval at the time. In December, the company invited those wishing to work for / with them on code aspects of the platform to build the High Fidelity user interface from source code and then log-in to the system to get the company’s attention, and then attempt to tackle one of the current tasks the company has listed on Worklist.

The company's last call for assistance took the form of a challenge to those interested
The company’s last call for assistance took the form of a challenge to those interested

For those interested in signing-up for this alpha testing can do so by following the link from the High Fidelity home page, or by following this link (or click the banner ad towards the top of this article) to the application form itself.

Hamlet also points to a new subReddit where High Fidelity can be discussed by those interested in the project.

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