The Oculus Rift headset doesn’t even have a vague release date right now, but that’s just fine with me when they still appear to be adding major features to the device.
Oculus VR recently dug into their pockets, now flush with tons of Facebook cash, to acquire Nimble VR and 13th Lab.
Nimble VR’s technology is based around adding a camera to the headset that can sense depth and track hands with low latency. They had a Kickstarter they were running, but have since cancelled it as a result of the acquisition.
13th Lab “has been focused on developing an efficient and accurate real-time 3D reconstruction framework,” according to Oculus’ post announcing the acquisitions. “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.”
In addition to these acquisitions, Oculus has hired motion capture expert Chris Bregler. Bregler’s expertise is in vision tracking and research, and recently was involved with visual tracking for The Lone Ranger and Star Trek Into Darkness. While the quality of those movies might be up for debate, both were nominated for Academy Awards for their visual effects.