Today at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, HTC revealed their open experiments for mixed reality (MR) capturing of players in a virtual reality (VR) space. Using a greenscreen surround with a HTC Vive, players of the technical demonstration can see themselves imported into an MR video after their time within the VR space.
The demonstration version available at E3 uses I-Illusions’ Space Pirate Trainer for the event, though any VR experience on the HTC Vive could benefit from the MR output. In the greenscreen surround the player would experience the videogame as normal – shooting the sci-fi bad guys as they try to attack the player’s ship, ducking and weaving to avoid getting hit themselves – and the resulting video replaces the greenscreen surround with the virtual environment from the videogame.
The technology has reportedly been a tricky task to refine, but the resulting product is simple to implement and outputs the MR video feed in near real-time. An additional HTC Vive motion-controller is mounted atop the camera to offer a location for capturing within the world.
Whether or not HTC intend on rolling out a version of this technology for users at home remains to be seen, but the potential for this kind of MR output for user-generated content sharing is nothing short of exciting.
VRFocus will bring you a hands-on report of the MR experience very soon, as well as endeavouring to find out more details about HTC’s future plans for the technology.
