Microsoft is clearly hedging its bets by supporting both virtual reality with Oculus Rift and augmented reality with its own HoloLens. But it looks like Microsoft’s support for Oculus goes beyond software as the company has just published steps for improving the headset’s performance.
Microsoft has released the necessary specs to 3D print better lenses than the ones the Oculus Rift ships with. The company claims that this new design would improve visual quality and avoid the “lens distortion” that’s seen with Oculus’ own equipment. However the new design would also lead to a narrower field of view, a seemingly recurring theme for Microsoft.
Unfortunately, despite Microsoft saying that its own design is “significantly better than the lenses that come with the Oculus”, it isn’t for everyone. First off, the material needed is quite expensive compared to the standard Oculus lenses. And of course, for real quality improvements you’d need serious 3D printing equipment.
Still, this may be a fun project for a few folks out there, and it’s really interesting to see how interested Microsoft seems to be in Oculus. It even makes us wonder what might have happened if Facebook hadn’t bought the company when it did.
Source: Microsoft Research via: El Reg