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Hello Ralph,
is it possible to adapt vorpx to the Pimax 8k and 5k+?
There is a review of Voodo.de of the Pimax headset
which says that the performance is very bad with vorpx.Greetings from Germany.
rossi
I’m glad to see that it is working on the 8k, though I already expected it would. Thanks for testing Voodoo.
The two main problems I worry about currently are:
1. It may be hard to get games to render at ultra-widescreen FOVs as high as 170.
2. Performance will take a hit due to large resolutions, and a less optimized Pitool render system that currently does not utilize Asynchronous Space Warp nor Reprojection.
I can remain optimistic however, since there are alternate Pitool modes with more manageable FOVs (170, 150, 120) and super-sampling slider options to regulate resolution size.
Pimax also claims to be near completion of their own Brainwarp solution, witch is expected to act similar to ASW and reprojection, if not a combination of the two.
I also think more testing of alternate resolutions and sampling need to be done for a better idea of performance. Voodoo’s settings may not have been quite the optimal, perhaps even on the high side.
————————————-I have been using the Pimax4k with vorpX for a year now, and it has worked great. It even gets slightly better performance than my oculus rift when pushing the same high game resolutions. Perhaps the difference being I use the SteamVR render system (from a Piplay version that predates Pimax’s own render system). This includes the reprojection necessary to “double” the framerate.
Even though the 4k is set to receive only 1440p input signal in SteamVR, the built in 4k scaler really seems to take advantage of down-sampled resolution information. So instead of raising the supersampling in steamVR, I play with high ingame resolutions, that greatly improve image quality in the HMD. Especially when you turn up the vorpX sharpness slider in conjuction, witch works very well on the 4k screen with hardly any shimmer from being too sharp. The sharpness slider is really something Pitool needs natively. It makes a huge improvement in vorpX.
My only complaints about the 4k are that it’s not quite bright enough, it suffers from LCD ghosting with only 60hz refresh, and has slight tracking drift that requires constant recentering. It appears the 8k should resolve all of these on top of increase FOV options, so I’m anxious to try it out.
————————————————-My observations so far on how vorpX could better suite the 8k/5k+:
– Increase the horizontal/vertical size, distance, and curve slider ranges for all the modes.
– Increase sharpening slider even more if possible.
– Hopefully provide a way to force reprojection/asw in some way.
I know Ralf has been pretty silent regarding the coming Pimax hmds, perhaps from uncertainty on how to deal with larger FOVs and performance, and not wanting to promise anything. But early testing shows it can indeed work, and theoretically be able to handle the new sets with some minor tweaking. Still I’d be curious to know Ralf’s thoughts on the matter.
The performance aspect you mention will likely be most dependent on the optimization of Pitool rendering, and the power of your hardware. Hopefully we can reach acceptable levels soon, since playing games in vorpX is so cool. Just imagine with an 8k FOV :)
Although at this point that is pure speculation since I don’t have a Pimax here, I would assume that it’s mostly the larger FOV that is responsible for the performance hit. The larger the FOV, the more geometry has to be drawn, which obviously affects performance. Even more so in heavy games like the tested Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Pimax apparently is very much aware of that and thus (judging from the video) seems to provide three FOV settings with even the smallest one still being substantially better than the other current headsets. A pretty neat idea actually that should make things a lot easier for vorpX.
sweviver briefly mentions testing with vorpx but requiring tweaking to get the games to work. i think he is planning a more in-depth review of pimax with vorpx but he sounds more promising.
it will likely need a beast of a gpu.
Pimax is finally starting to ship units to backers, and people seem fairly optimistic with what the headsets have achieved. Testers have reported good things regarding its increased FOV, lens clarity, and much reduced SDE. They say it is very comfortable to wear, and that tracking works just as well as Vive.
The only major concern (aside from demanding performance) seems to be the “softer than expected” image clarity produced by the 8k model, and it’s color contrast levels. But these are things that afflict my 4k model, which vorpX can mitigate quite well – with it’s image sharpening/saturation tool. Works great in my vorpX games, I only wish it could carry over to my native VR games somehow.
So this has had me wondering…
@Ralf: Would it be possible to hook basic tool elements of vorpX into native VR apps? Or to the headset itself?
Like provide a simplified “VR app” profile to use, with only basic functionality to enhance sharpness/saturation/brightness.
Or create a standalone software aside from vorpX for native apps, or a headset driver that runs along side them (that doesn’t need to tap directly into the games pipeline).
Something like this could be very beneficial to headset users, especially those with the coming Pimax units.
If you wanted to take it a step further, you could also include things like the controller button remapping and keyboard hotkeys for recenter etc. Things which most VR apps should but don’t include.
Anyway, I’m excited to get my 8k in the coming months. I anticipate using it a mostly for vorpX games, though I’m hoping for an improved native VR experience as well. Should be neat.
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