Look carefully!
Sony announced that it will release a new type of display called Spatial Reality Display (SR Display) on October 31, 2020. I've experienced it right away ... No way, a 3D model pops out of the display !!
The photo above is one that miraculously captures the spatial reproduction experience with SR Display. If you look closely, can you see the crab's legs popping out of the display? The positional relationship between the surface of the display and the legs of the crab is slightly strange. Please see the video as well.
This SR Display will be on display at Sony Showroom / Sony Store Ginza from October 16th (Friday) (will be exhibited at other Sony stores as well). If you are interested, please come and try it. I think you have a strange voice ...
A three-dimensional content experience that normally requires a VR headset or 3D glasses. The SR Display makes this possible with the naked eye. At first glance, the display looks like this.
The usage image diagram by Sony looks like this. It's a special display that when you connect it to a PC and display 3D content, it looks like it pops out of the display (three-dimensionally). It feels like the content comes to this side (real world), and it's completely different from the VR headset.
SR Display can display 3D / VR content in 4K 60P. The resolution of the 3D content that pops out in front of you is tremendous, and the texture expression is also wonderful. It was as clear as if the image was being played directly on my retina, and it was the most beautiful 3D image I had ever experienced with a VR headset. It feels like the 3D incarnation has progressed by about 3 levels.
Unfortunately, at present, only content produced on Unity / Unreal Engine 4 (3D / VR game development software) can be displayed three-dimensionally. It cannot be used for general games. The assumed users of SR Display are game creators, 3D creators, modelers, and other professionals who handle VR and 3D, and are designed to be used for creative checks of content being produced. It is also expected to be used for exhibitions in showrooms (such as showing a new car at a car dealer). In short, it's for business use. The estimated market price is 500,000 yen. It seems that Sony is a product with a challenging standing position, with the feeling of "let's put it out."
However, in some demos, characters live and realistic human models created from 360-degree cameras move around, and if the price drops and the corresponding software spreads, "I'm close to myself. I felt like I could use it like "Look at it to your heart's content." I have a great dream!
Currently, it is a specialized product, but how would creators, who are supposed users, feel when using SR Display? Fortunately, we were able to talk to game creator Shun Sasaki, who cooperated in the development of SR Display and gave feedback by trial, about the difference from existing VR devices, the usability of SR Display, and its development potential. I did.
Mr. Sasaki seems to be conscious of what kind of experience he can give, and it seems that SR Display was also used by paying attention to what kind of property it has as a tool to give experience.
Shun Sasaki
Representative director, producer / director / engineer of Historia Inc., a software development studio specializing in Unreal Engine. He uses Unreal Engine 4, which is supported by SR Display, to create games and 3D / VR content for enterprises such as automobiles, architecture, and broadcasting.
── He was very surprised at the high resolution when he experienced SR Display. I think it's a big feature of SRD, but how was it?
Sasaki: I was also surprised. It's hard to find a device of this type with such a high resolution. The higher the resolution, the greater the amount of information, and the texture and the difference in brightness will be clear. It will be more realistic, so you will be drawn into the virtual world firmly, and the impression you will be given will be greater. There is also the aspect that a fairly high-spec PC is required.
──Did you feel any difference between your existing VR device and SR Display?
Sasaki: With SR Display, you can realize the immersive feeling and the fact that you are "there" in VR without wearing a VR headset.
Sharing the experience with other people is much easier (Editor's note: SR Display has only one user who can experience the content at a time, but another person can just stand in front of the SR Display and look at it. Is possible). It's not impossible with VR, but there is a concern that it will be difficult to easily recommend VR headsets worn by other people to other people, especially for enterprises, if the habit of avoiding contact with people made by corona vortex becomes established. It is a commercial VR. In that respect, SR Display matches the times. If it's in the store, I think you'll think "Let's take a look".
──Are there any differences in the experiences you can provide and the aspects of their production?
Sasaki: VR has the advantage of being fun just by creating a virtual world and preparing "a little play". It's a great experience just to move around, grab something, and throw it. However, VR is too free and has some difficulties. When you enter the world, everyone is impressed and looks around. It's hard just to get them to look in the direction you want them to see. It's a good experience, but it's hard for the creator to do it every time.
On the other hand, in the experience with SR Display, the user is in the real world. You can see objects in SR Display, but unlike VR, it is not a 360-degree experience. The angle of view is about 60 degrees displayed on the SR Display, but you can make that much. With VR, you have to make everything behind.
SR Display also has the feature that it can be produced within the content. One of the weaknesses of VR is that the camera is stolen (fixed to the position of the user's head). For example, you can't get closer to the horror house, and at the end you can't make it look frightening and frightening, or you can't direct it with camera work.
──It seems that content for SR Display has a future different from VR.
Sasaki: The content for SR Display is a peeping experience, so I think the experience given will be lighter than VR. You understand that it is an extension of TV and incorporates the experience of VR. I think VR is not an extension of television, but is following another evolutionary lineage.
I think each one is worth it. Disneyland has a great experience, but it's not like playing at an arcade in the city, you also like UFO Catcher.
──It is said that there is a creative check of content as a usage scene of SR Display, but when you hear the story, it seems that "SR Display as a device to show content" is more attractive than such usage. I thought.
Sasaki: I feel that I may live when reviewing production content with people who are not familiar with 3D / VR in work for enterprises. Previously, when I received a job to create a virtual model room, when I asked the people in the field to check what I made, I received comments such as "It's as designed, but this is different" and "I like this more" and discussed. Has begun. I felt like we should stop and don't change it anymore (laughs).
At that time, I was watching it on the monitor, but since the monitor has no parallax, it is not possible to adjust the perspective accurately. You will see images that do not match the sense of distance. With SR Display, it adjusts according to the viewer's face and eyes, and can express a sense of distance. You can see it accurately. It's like using it instead of a model. I think these points are valuable.
── Thank you. It's a product that has the potential to provide a three-dimensional experience that is different from VR.
A product that has potential but is unknown in the future, but stimulates creators. I feel a strong passion for changing the world (content experience in the case of SR Display) with technology. I was quite impressed by the scheme that Sony, an already successful manufacturer, asks the world about such things. I don't know if SR Display will be accepted in the market in the future, but I wondered if it would be successful and would be something like "PlayStation SR".
Source: Sony