I wonder though if this can be done without hydraulics and based purely on a balanced board. So to dive you'd shift forward, the board will tilt and you'll get a sensation of diving. Or will this be too counter-intuitive to control?
But that would be less accurate modeling of how a bird flies. Imagine yourself under water. You don't just "shift forward", you push on the water with various parts of your body to change your orientation. Flight is similar. This system seem to try to emulate that as much as it can.
I think the problem with that is that, as far as I know, birds use their limbs to control their flight, so the Birdly setup makes sense to me. Kind of inching my body forward or backward on a platform doesn't seem like it would give the right feeling.
And how would you pull out of a sharp dive? I'm just imagining someone strapped into this thing face down and tilted way forward, and being kinda stuck there.
The note about a balanced board is very interesting. I think it would be great. Especially if you are safely and comfortably tied to it so you could dive sharply for example.
Exactly. That film was the sole reason I got into this field at a young age. Sadly I never followed through with it and chose another tech path. It's really GREAT to see these things becoming reality and its tempting me to change industries.
The best (and only) flying simulation I've ever experienced was on a ride at California Adventure, which was built inside a warehouse. Riders were locked into a seat (rows of about 6) and a projector turns on. Wind starts blowing, as the scenery changes below you. My favourite part of it though was when they tilted the seats back and forth, simulating g-force. Would love to see one of these happen for Oculus Rift, although it's not really a consumer product.
I love this attraction. They have a duplicate at Epcot in Orlando called "Soarin'". I think an Oculus-concept could also be implemented for "Mission Space", which already simulates g-forces by way of centripetal force.
I really love this. With today's information overload and being constantly bombarded by latest and coolest releases, it's difficult to be really excited about anything. But this is awesome and invokes that childhood feeling of awe. I hope when the product comes out, it's just as good as it looks in that demo.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the cost. I read somewhere they spent around $150,000 to create this. I thought that was extremely costly, but I don't know anything about this kind of stuff, so I'd like to see what you guys think.
Has anyone made a bird simulator game? I would pay money for a game that simulates the life of a peregrine falcon or golden eagle. It just seems like it would be incredible fun control a bird of prey chasing down a pigeon.
That would be really interesting to see, actually: with a tiny bit of projection math it sounds doable, and very trippy, to get the field of view of a side-eyed animal.
I wonder though if this can be done without hydraulics and based purely on a balanced board. So to dive you'd shift forward, the board will tilt and you'll get a sensation of diving. Or will this be too counter-intuitive to control?