The typical way to merge virtual worlds and elements with reality is via a VR headset. But only when a VR headset can detect the movements of your eyes can it offer you a truly immersive experience with a more fluid and intuitive way to interact with what you see.
But how exactly does this feature work, and why is it so important?
Here at Tobii, we are the global leaders in eye tracking with over 20 years of groundbreaking research under our belt, making us equipped to break down why the technology makes the VR experience so much better.
Eye tracking in VR usually involves cameras and lights arranged in a ring between the user and the display. Machine learning algorithms analyze the camera feed to provide real-time data on pupil size, gaze direction, and eye openness. This data can be used to assess a person's response to stimuli, reactions to scenes, and intentions.
VR headsets with eye tracking built can track real-time non-verbal cues like emotional expressions and pupil focus. Enabling the interface you’re interacting with to respond in a way that makes the experience more comfortable.
What you’re looking at inside the headset can be automatically adjusted to reduce the strain on your eyes and offer intuitive interaction and attentive UI for improved control and feedback.
Eye tracking in VR offers a unique feature that significantly takes the strain off the CPU (central processing units) of the headset, computer or gaming console driving the experience.
The feature that enables this is foveated rendering, a graphics technique that concentrates the CPU’s resources on the area where your gaze is focused, resulting in higher resolution and performance efficiency.
Read more about foveated rendering.
A common problem users come across with VR headsets - offered by even the biggest tech brands - is poorly designed lenses distorting the image, which causes discomfort over long term use.
To prevent this, Tobii has an innovative solution called
“dynamic distortion compensation”, a feature that continuously adjusts distortion in real-time based on the user's eye movements, ensuring that the image remains sharp regardless of where the eyes are focused. This means more comfort for users and enhances visual quality.
Find out more about each of these partnerships, how the integration process works and see positive reviews of XR headsets using Tobii’s eye tracking technology.
Want to find out more about XR integrations? Talk to one of our eye tracking integration specialists today.
This white paper from analysts Moor Insights & Strategy covers the importance of eye tracking and how it enhances the VR experiences and enriches AR and VR devices through three capabilities: foveated rendering, interpupillary distance (IPD), and user identification.
An analogous step in virtual reality (VR) is eye tracking. It enables the VR headset to register eye movement and positioning. Hence, the VR environment can be built around the fact that the software is responsive to the user’s gaze. This naturally translates into a whole new range of possibilities in terms of interacting with and experiencing the VR environment.
In this first post of our spark series, Tobii's Johan Bouvin talks about the healthcare use case — looking at the convergence of VR and eye tracking, the benefits for healthcare, and some of the tools available to accelerate innovation.
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