The news that there were still people not employed by Oculus VR did not go down well in the company’s underground lair, which is also on the moon. That’s why the VR developer isn’t just hiring individuals, now, it’s swallowing up whole teams. You probably know someone working there now, or perhaps you are reading this from your office in the aforementioned underground layer.
Today, Oculus VR announced three new acquisitions amounting to many brains that will be consumed by the virtual hive mind: Nimble VR, 13th Lab and mo-cap expert, Chris Bregler.
Nimble VR has been developing hand tracking technology since 2012. The goal was to create hand tracking that would allow developers to create a new level of interactivity, with players picking up in-game objects with their hands.
“The Nimble Sense uses time-of-flight technology — composed of a photonic mixer device from pmdtechnologies and a powerful, but eye-safe laser to capture a detailed 3D point cloud and an infrared image of the world,” explains Nimble VR “This 3D point cloud is interpreted by our skeletal hand tracking software to track the location, identity and joint angles of each finger. All of this information is exposed through an API, allowing software developers to design applications that allow you to pick up pieces on a virtual game board, control and manipulate virtual objects, and experience being in virtual reality like never before.”
The developer had a Kickstarter running, and it had exceeded its goal, but the offer from Oculus VR means that it’s not longer needed.
“Today, we’re happy to share that we’ll be joining forces with Oculus, a team that is creating an entirely new medium, platform and industry,” the team said in a Kickstarter update. “We’re excited not only to continue to push at the boundaries of input and user experience in VR, but to do so with the resources and means to make a bigger impact on a larger audience.”
13th Lab have been brought on because of their experience with re-creating 3D environments. “The ability to acquire accurate 3D models of the real-world can enable all sorts of new applications and experiences, like visiting a one-to-one 3D model of the pyramids in Egypt or the Roman Colosseum in VR,” says Oculus.
Here’s an AR FPS they’ve been working on for mobiles – it’s pretty impressive.
Mo-cap and visual tracking expert Chris Bregler has worked on movies like Star Trek: Into Darkness, and has worked for studios such as Disney and ILM.
Bregler’s going to be heading up a vision research team at Oculus.
So, Oculus VR is now several steps closer to its nefarious goal: giving everyone a new job.