To a degree; camera tracking will never be as low latency as an IMU.I posted this in the BF thread a few weeks ago:
Dennys (@dennyskuhnert) on Threads
Hand tracking side-by-side comparison 🙌 Top: Apple Vision Pro Bottom: Meta Quest 3www.threads.net
This seems like the kind of problem that can be solved in software.
And it feels like they’re actively working on it. Fruit Ninja at launch was nigh unplayable. With the 1.1 RC it was immensely improved. Early days’ growing pains.
The middle inset shows the actual hands, though it's hard to correlate with the passthrough hands on either headset.
Fruit Ninja is about as casual as it gets. They'd have to give up any fast timing based gaming, which would be a shame, as it's one of VR's strong points (Beat Saber). They could do something like Maestro VR, where the latency wouldn't matter as much, even with fast movement though.
Ah ok, I was going form memory and saw a different version I guess.
I posted this in the BF thread a few weeks ago:
Dennys (@dennyskuhnert) on Threads
Hand tracking side-by-side comparison 🙌 Top: Apple Vision Pro Bottom: Meta Quest 3
This seems like the kind of problem that can be solved in software.
I just read that last night too. Long but definitely worth a read.
Only two points that I have significant issues with:
Why can't we have both?
If I could plug a Vision Pro into my PC to play my collection of VR games as well, I'd be much more likely to buy one even at this early stage.
Yes, agree.
Maybe, but the future is uncertain – and a 'tether' need not imply a cable.
Getting the battery off your head and into your pocket is a good move. They're heavy, and hot, and the mechanism Apple is using lets you have both the firm connection at the headset as well as generic USB-C charging capability for continuous power.
To drive forward a new computing paradigm ("spatial computing") the device can't just be an accessory for your Mac. It has to be a fully realized self-contained device out of the box, and then you can add in all the "extend your Mac desktop" parts afterwards.
The same is true of compute - it's heavy and hot. Moving it off device should be a good move too.
How much of that can you strip out before you can't pull off the eye tracking, AR passthrough, and "virtual objects in real space" though? If it was just going to be a Bigscreen Beyond style VR computer display, sure, but that's not the product Apple is making.
Real answer, without getting into NDA'd specifics? A lot. Rough estimate is with Apple's engineering skills, they could get down total weight ~300gms, nearly all of it glass, while maintaining decent style (avoiding a Bigscreen Beyond ID).
Really? I'm surprised, I anticipated quite a bit of grunt to keep that rock-solid ~12ms loop intact.
It... does that now? That's what the remote desktop feature is, to be a (wireless) monitor for your Mac. What they're not (currently) interested in making is a device that is only a monitor for your Mac.
More accurately, I suppose, "engineering skills, plus the amount of money they're prepared to spend on it". Given the upthread commentary linked to by Hap, that second part appears to be significant.
It can be done over a cable, and there are many tricks one can apply since they have eye tracking, e.g. you only need low latency near the fovea.
Sorry, should have clarified what I was asking (been a long day...). How much of that can you strip out before you can't pull off the eye tracking, AR passthrough, and "virtual objects in real space" without being tethered? I don't think Apple has any interest in the "just tether yourself to your computer!" product right now. Somewhere around rev5, a cheaper version that's more of a "Studio Display, but AR" I can see, but only after the paradigm and market is well established.
Fully untethered, with the battery on board, I think you can get to ~500gms (roughly the same as Q3, but taking into account Apple being generally really good at engineering to cram the extra stuff in the same weight).
100-150g shaved off, if I've googled correctly? Worthwhile, and I'll be intensely curious to see the trend line for weight across the first few revisions.
I originally was talking about moving everything off the headset to a belt unit like Magic Leap. ant1pathy clarified he was talking about weight reducing the headset so tethering wasn't necessary, at least that's my read.
Ah, thank you for the clarification, we were talking past each other. I was thinking the "tether" was to a full on Mac, not to a belt clipped device. The AVP has active cooling for the chipsets, that would lead me to believe the kind of horsepower Apple has included in the thing would not be a good choice for something to put in your pocket (unless the screens are the primary heat generation?).
