Real-Time in Real Time: DCBR for AR / VR

This week at GDC 2019, Google announced Stadia, their solution for Data Center Based Rendering for games. I call it DCBR. The implications for this type of technology for real-time rendering applications goes far beyond that of Assassins Creed or any other AAA title for that matter. In fact, it goes right into every other sector currently exploring the technologies of AR and VR for commercial enterprise applications as well as private design and military applications. This approach to solving the massive data rendering issue for massive 3D worlds, assets, and game play is nothing new, but google is doing it first.

I have been watching over the past few years the slow to no adoption rates for VR HMDs and part of the issue is the massive amount of high end gear that is needed to render these 3D worlds to these tiny screens on our faces. The price tag for staying current as a developer continues to be painful at best, and the need for dedicated space, base stations, etc... just makes it overwhelming. Heaven forbid you don't have a dedicated place to set up your personal or even business VR volume.

Maybe, just maybe, the DCBR solution from Google, and without a doubt, other data center owners, (coughing voice... "Apple"), in the not so distant future, will bring the affordability within the realm of societal scale feasibility, as well as the portability of our phones and pads. Imagine simply putting on your headset and having it connect automatically to your phone that is receiving the pre-rendered 60fps stream... magic. This is a weak signal of what is coming, and the types of technologies that will be needed in order for games, VR, AR, and future technologies for interacting with our world in digital ways, to become and remain a real-time reality.

#GDC #VR #AR #DATA #AI #UNITY3D #UE4