HTC Vive lineup is getting an add on, or mod if you will, for most of the headsets. Named the Droolon F1, the eye-tracking mod is priced at only $149. The new mod will be available for the Vive Cosmos, Vive Focus Plus, Vive Focus, and the original Vive. This isn’t being made by HTC Vive, but it is going to be ly sponsored and even sold by Valve. This will be made by 7invensun, a startup company based out of China.
7invensun also worked on a Vive headset exclusive eye-tracking system back in 2017 for a price of $220, but it wasn’t anything like their new one, and the price point wasn’t worth the technology just yet. It never ended up hitting the virtual shelves, but it is worth noting that it was featured at an official HTC Vive keynote.
Droolon F1 features the same technology that the Vive Pro Eye uses, so the content you want to use with your new mod is going to be the same that you could get on any other Vive Eye headset. This is going to open the virtual worlds for consumers and developers alike to get creative with how they incorporate eye tracking as it all of us sudden just become more available and consumer friendly than ever before.
Eye tracking has a plethora of uses inside of virtual reality, and developers and hardware/software designers are going to be putting their own spin on it for years to come. As of now, the most used reasons for eye tracking are automatically setting the IPD inside of the headset, using VR without a controller as your look gives the selection, and it is even starting to be used inside of social VR apps to give the masses a more realistic view on what the other person is looking at. All of these have been and will be more incorporated inside of VR, and there is a wide market on what could be in VR eye tracking as well.
One of the biggest features that eye tracking is going to give us inside of virtual reality is foveate rendering. This is when the center of what you are looking at is high resolution and everything else is blurred out. This happens in our everyday lives, so this should be happening inside of virtual reality. Not only will it make virtual reality more realistic, but it will make the headsets require less work as it doesn’t need the entire display to be 4K. It also will help with eye fatigued throughout your virtual experiences. If you have ever gone on a virtual trek for more than just a few minutes with a headset with insane resolution, you know how exhausting it can be on your eyes.
Throughout your xperiences you will get the urge to close your eyes, and foveate rendering is going to help with that. Stimulating the eye can lead to fatigue and a desire to get out of virtual reality. That isn’t what virtual companies want their loyal customers to experience, so incorporated real eye-tracking and foveate rending into their head-mounted displays is imperative going forward.
As for the mod that is going to available for the HTC Vive lines, it will be shipping in December after a month of pre-orders in November. There ar no promotions going on right now for people that pre-order, but we are sure one will come eventually. There is no word about which countries will be available to order this product, but we will update this article once we have more information. For more VR news and updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
