VR Eye Tracking technology is in the works, intriguing many businesses. Do you want to know what VR Eye Tracking technology is? Of course, you are not the only one. Many people, including us, are fascinated by its development.
In this article, we look at what it is, how it operates, where it came from, and what are the uses for eye tracking in VR.
VR Eye Tracking Technology
Eye contact is the starting of everything. It begins a conversation, shows disagreements, gets used to showing someone attracts them (by winking). No matter what it is, eye movements are a whole other way to converse with someone. Eyes give various meanings and connotations.
Nonetheless, our above statement seems to from one side, as when you are using your screen to converse with someone, no one looks back at you. Various companies are not on tracking technologies cases. By that we mean, they are experimenting with it, making even us unsure whether the before the statement is true or not.
Similar things are happening in the Virtual Reality (VR) world, as eye-tracking technology is becoming highly popular. While you get suspicious and put scotch tape on your computer/laptop camera, let us tell you more about VR eye-tracking.
How Did Eye Tracking start as a Trend in VR?
These days, eye-tracking has become a regular practice in various industries, whether it is human computing or gaming. Nonetheless, the question is, how did VR enter? Let us try to figure it out together.
A startup in Tokyo in 2014 introduced Fove’s technology at its organizer’s Kickstarter campaign. The very first eye-tracking VR headset got launched after its victorious implementation.
Uses of Eye-Tracking in VR
Many industries have already started to get many advantages from this new eye-tracking VR innovation, even though it is still in its starting development stages. A few of them include:
Entertainment
We all know how the gaming industry’s main goal is to provide its users with the most winning and realistic experience they can. If we look at it from this point, VR eye-tracking technology is a perfect way to give users exactly what they want. It allows the industry to offer its players a whole new immersion level where they can live the realistic experience using the responsive virtual environment generated by gaze-based interactions.
VR Training and Simulations
It is undeniable how a high level of accuracy is imperative, even if it is just the virtual environment we are talking about. For example, Healthcare practitioners, especially surgeons’ training and simulators need accuracy in every move they make with hands and eye actions. Therefore, the activity highly improves by the use of eye-tracking technology as it adds further precision to the whole VR experience.
Social Interactions
The whole pandemic has made everyone in the 21st century think of social distancing as a normal practice and nothing weird. Moreover, modern society is searching for innovative ways they can communicate to reduce the high impact of the whole global pandemic. During the circumstances, we all faced in the last year or so, telepresence activities like remote meetings and VR socializing have become a thing of necessity. Eye-tracking technology has made it easy and more natural to communicate virtually because of expressive eye movements.
Experimental Design
The whole idea of exploring artificial and unrealistic spaces is fascinating because the virtual world can give you the feeling like you are in a whole other dimension. On the other hand, the endless opportunities a virtual environment gives you can make get you to feel confused and lost. Luckily, VR eye-tracking technology gives you the chance to drive your gaze, giving you an interactive and much more pleasant experience.
Multiple Advantages Of Eye-Tracking Tech and VR
Let us look at the whole eye-tracking technology and VR potential. Above we already explained some cases, but now it is time to give you the many advantages this VR innovation brings.
Foveated Rendering
To summarize, this whole feature got established on human anatomy. Do not worry about us giving you biology lessons. However, we will try to explain it in straightforward words.
There is a small area in the retina known as the fovea. This area creates high-resolution visual content. On the other hand, peripheral vision is the outside picture, the fixation point typically blurred. Foveated rendering operated in a similar way by following the blueprint of the eye anatomy. The focus point is the main point, and everything else gets blurred, creating the real human vision effect.
Improved Interactions
What is the reason that makes virtual experiences genuinely captivated? There are many features. However, the fact how the VR app development, without doubt, becomes much richer when the virtual characters recognize body language makes it even more alluring. It reads faces and emotions and allows users to give more responsive reactions using VR. This lets Artificial Intelligence (AI) analyzes the eye movements, improving interactions within the whole virtual environment.
User Identification & Security Measures
Various individuals using HMDs (head-mounted displays) can get recognized, all thanks to eye-tracking technology. There are many benefits of these features, especially in some cases, as it eliminates the requirement to choose or authenticate any specific user.
Likewise, a parallel can get designed to unlock phones or to lock doors. The highest level of security gets guaranteed by “eyes-only” as the VR experience permits it to the right users.
More Comfortable Experience
The illusion of a natural vision gets created by many VR headsets now as they measure inter-pupillary distance (IPD). Let us see how it works. The measurement refers to the space between the viewer’s eye centers. IPD aligns the lenses’ centers as per the user’s eye centers.
Once the lenses and displays of the headsets get located within their optimal position, they guarantee the highest-quality visuals and increase comfort by reducing eye strain.
VR Device Compatibility with Eye Tracking Technology
Only a few devices are compatible with eye-tracking technology, including:
- Varjo VR-1
- Varjo VR-2
- HTC Vive Pro Eye
- Varjo XR-3
- Varjo VR-3
So, How Does It Work? The Process Explained
Firstly, the distance between the center of the pupil and the cornea reflection gets measured by technology.
As the eyes moves, the distance will vary as per the visual angle.
The refection gets created by an invisible infrared light that enables the cameras to identify and track all changes in distances.
Basically, a virtual line gets traced by the VR headset from the eye direction of the user into the virtual environment.
Final Note
In the current consumer market, there is a developing innovation on eye-tracking. Moreover, when it comes to VR, assuring potential can get seen by this exclusive technology. Nonetheless, technology is evolving increasingly in this modern world, making eye-tracking on the list also.
This fascinating technology has captured the interest and attention of society, giving various opportunities for developments that will impress us in the upcoming years.