Valve developer claims macOS SteamVR release coming in the next few months
Reiterated by a report on Wednesday, an executive for Valve's Steam digital delivery platform has declared that preliminary versions of the company's VR platform will be available for macOS and Linux very soon.
Noted by VR enthusiast site RoadtoVR in October, and highlighted by Hexus.net ">on Wednesday, Valve developer Joe Ludwig demonstrated a running version of OpenVR and SteamVR on Linux to the gathered audience, and promised public releases "in the next few months" for macOS.
Ludwig and Valve believe that VR should be as open a platform as possible, and neither needs nor demands a "gatekeeper" limiting platform access.
The Linux demo utilized the Vulkan graphics API, running on an unnamed Linux distribution, with a HTC Vive headset. Most VR applications are coded with DirectX currently, and OpenGL or Vulkan utilization would be required for cross-platform use.
While rumors peg Apple using VR solutions to test self-driving cars and navigation systems, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently reaffirmed his stance that AR's ability to amplify human experiences makes it more likely to succeed over the more involved VR.
Though Apple has yet to outline an official strategy on either technology, the company is making strategic AR segment purchases like last year's acquisition of motion capture specialist Faceshift and German AR firm Metaio.
The company is also developing supporting tech in-house, as evidence by a growing portfolio of AR/VR patents like transparent displays, iPhone-powered virtual reality systems, advanced computer vision tech and more.
Noted by VR enthusiast site RoadtoVR in October, and highlighted by Hexus.net ">on Wednesday, Valve developer Joe Ludwig demonstrated a running version of OpenVR and SteamVR on Linux to the gathered audience, and promised public releases "in the next few months" for macOS.
Ludwig and Valve believe that VR should be as open a platform as possible, and neither needs nor demands a "gatekeeper" limiting platform access.
The Linux demo utilized the Vulkan graphics API, running on an unnamed Linux distribution, with a HTC Vive headset. Most VR applications are coded with DirectX currently, and OpenGL or Vulkan utilization would be required for cross-platform use.
While rumors peg Apple using VR solutions to test self-driving cars and navigation systems, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently reaffirmed his stance that AR's ability to amplify human experiences makes it more likely to succeed over the more involved VR.
Though Apple has yet to outline an official strategy on either technology, the company is making strategic AR segment purchases like last year's acquisition of motion capture specialist Faceshift and German AR firm Metaio.
The company is also developing supporting tech in-house, as evidence by a growing portfolio of AR/VR patents like transparent displays, iPhone-powered virtual reality systems, advanced computer vision tech and more.
Comments
If a VR solution can use something like openCL or metal for rendering, the gpu won't be the problem.
The refusal to bring VR over to linux or os X comes from lazy developers.
Given that the minimum requirements for VR that won't make you seriously sick disqualifies all current, including the new MacBook Pro's, I'm kinda wondering what is up. The Radeon 455 Pro is at best, equal to a Geforce 1050.
I have the impression that they'll now be turning their attention to the pro desktop, but there is this little problem with the difficulty of getting new processors.
There's also the possibility that Final Cut Pro can be massaged into being faster for dealing with stereo 3D and 360 video, and the new touch input methods they've been coming out with will result in some unbeatable editing platform. But that's a hope based on no direct working knowledge of FPC X.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/08/nvidia-pascal-laptop-specs-gtx-1080/
They're not cut down versions of the desktop, they are the desktop part with a slight clock speed reduction. Considering that they are available on MXM boards, some laptops can even upgrade to them. Dell, HP, Clevo (the gold standard for gaming laptops) and Acer all use standard MXM modules. Apple uses MXM on some of the iMac Models up to 2011 I believe. It would be kind of funny to put a Geforce GTX 1080 into a 2011 iMac.
http://uploadvr.com/valve-cost-vr-graphics/
It all depends on what you want to display. If you display very simple graphics like Minecraft in VR then the frame rate will be very high.
The reason VR developers don't want to support Linux and Mac is the same reason game developers don't. The audience is too small. The VR audience on PC is already tiny and the Mac/Linux audience is 1/20th of that. The VR manufacturers aren't going to say that hardly anyone is buying their products so supporting other platforms wouldn't be worthwhile, instead they make comments that they know will satisfy their PC gaming audience.
The real test for VR is if it takes off with consoles because that's the mainstream gaming audience. If it fails there, it has no market.
On the subject of open vs closed platforms, Gabe Newell in the video was talking about gatekeepers and curated outlets while he runs of one these with the Steam store. Even although this isn't an entire platform, the reason for curated platforms as he will know is quality. Entirely open platforms are best for developers to be able to experiment with new ideas. Right now, VR is a developer experiment but it's not that enjoyable from a user perspective because you are very aware of the heavy goggles. It doesn't feel like you are in a virtual world, it feels like being in a deep-sea diver's outfit and people have surrounded you with LCD monitors and you just have to sit there looking around.
It needs a lot of experimentation to get something worthwhile so at least having access to the hardware with this Steam VR platform will facilitate this but the hardware could really use an Apple makeover, not aesthetically but functionally because the user experience right now is not nice at all.