Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Physical space poses other technical challenges. The first is the volume of people: Raphael says the Interstellar Arc can accommodate up to 170 participants at a time, which is a fair number even for a room of this size.
This can be a problem for typical VR headsets, which rely on cameras and sensors to triangulate their location within a room. These devices lock onto fixed surfaces when you’re alone, but it’s much more difficult when more than 100 people are walking around. “They might start out drifting through space and jumping, then disappear and then reappear somewhere else,” Rafael says.
F&P uses an interesting solution that uses an additional camera built into the top of the headset that points up at a grid of infrared light spread across the ceiling of the entire room. The mesh acts almost like a “giant QR code,” as Raphael puts it, helping each headphone maintain its precise location by locking onto the unique pattern.
Etches says he’s seen similar anti-latency approaches in large-scale VR programs, but typically markers on the wall or floor are used.
The feature seems to work, at least in my limited experience. I never saw any drifting or jumping from any fellow group member, although to be fair there were not nearly 170 people in the room at the time.
Looking forward
With new models of consumer VR headsets arriving every year and lighter, smarter options on the horizon, Rafael knows that Interstellar Arc won’t be able to rely on the same technology for long. He says F&P has already pushed the Quest 3S “as far as possible,” and that the team will adapt the experience as new models arrive. “You have this technology that has barely gotten to the point now where it’s good enough, recently, and it can still get a lot better,” he says.
Etches believes that virtual reality has really been heading mainstream in recent years. But he believes experiences like Interstellar Arc will only fan the fire by creating the perfect setting for fantasy, historical, or futuristic viewing experiences. “You can’t do it any other way, right? Putting someone in a different place in time, without moving them, and doing it with 170 people at once,” he says.