If Starbreeze is going to get you wearing VR headsets in IMAX theaters and pods, it’ll have to create a wow-inducing experience… and it might have taken one step closer toward that goal. The company has bought Nozon, a visual effects house whose recent breakthrough is an interactive parallax effect that gives you more freedom when watching computer-generated or 3D-scanned VR video. You ideally get quality closer to pre-rendered 3D, but the freedom to tilt your head and otherwise look around more naturally. You should feel more like you’re present in a given scene, instead of staring at a giant video wall.
You don’t need Nozon’s tech to have freedom of movement in VR tracking — just ask HTC. However, existing approaches are generally designed for gaming, not the pay-per-view experiences Starbreeze wants. This could help studios produce VR recreations of movie and TV scenes that you’d actually want to watch, or guided tours that are more immersive than the usual 360-degree video clips. It’ll take a while for this technology to find its way into something you can watch, but it should give you a better reason to leave home for a VR extravaganza.
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