VR Comfort -Vignette usage in VR
Motion sickness in VR is a thing. For those of you you new to VR… this is a good read for you!
I wanted to give people a resource to learn a bit more about motion comfort, and VR. It can be an overwhelming experience, and people react differently. I hope you find this useful. One thing you’ll find is that instead of Vr headsets and games stating that they induce less “Motion Sickness” will instead have “Increased Comfort”.
Why use a Vignette?
Use of a vignette in a game can help by blinding your peripheral vision. If a game is not running very smoothly, this is actually where it would look the “choppiest”… is in your peripheral view because that’s where the movement is most. Some games offer two types of Vignette, sometimes referred to as Peripheral Blinding.
Frame Rate is very important.
“MAKE IT LOOK PRETTIER, AND MORE REALISTIC, BUT OFTEN AT THE COST OF PERFORMANCE.”
Any time you are moving through the world quickly in VR… it has to be smooth. When the Oculus Quest 2 came out, it could run games at 72hz which in theory would be 72 frames per second, if the game wasn’t doing so much that it could have that little mobile phone chip in the quest redraw everything 72 times every second, it would be pretty smooth. Realistically, any time a game runs under 30 frames per second, you are probably going to notice by feeling unwell. The Oculus Quest 2 had an update that later added support for 90Hz, and at the time of writing they are rolling out support for 120Hz. What this means is smoother movement. Even if things are moving fast, your brain’s got more pictures of that motion and does not have to work so hard to figure out what’s happening. It’s really up to the game developers to build their games in a way that it can balance how it looks, with running well. The more Objects, Lights, Textures that get put into a game can make it look prettier, and more realistic, but often at the cost of performance. Some games will never support the 90Hz, or 120Hz options, simply because they were not designed to.
FILL IN THE BLANKS
Any time your brain has to “Fill in the blanks” it puts added stress on it. It’s damn good at it, but it does not like the extra workload. Ever wondered why most people don’t like Flourescent lighting, or MP3s? Floursecsent lights, and many cheaply powered or dimmable LEDs will actually flash very quickly… I mean, very quick. IT’s not very noticeable unless you rely on your peripheral vision while you turn and look around. LED Christmas lights no longer leave a solid streak when you look away…. now you see a series of points of light. MP3s have frequencies missing… because the brain has a harder time hearing them in certain conditions, so why not just remove them to save the space? That’s how MP3 compression works to remove information. and save space. It’s relying on your brain to “Fill in the gaps”. The Flickering lighting has the same effect on your brain…. it’s trying it’s best to paint a consistent picture of what’s going on, but the environment is actually changing very quickly and your brain simply cannot fully keep up with the changes and sort of averages things out for you. But this stress on the brain is not pleasant.
“IMPLYING MOVEMENT, BUT NOT SIMULATING IT VERY WELL”
When moving or turning in VR, if the movement is not very smooth, it has this same sort of flickering or flashing. A building may not move smoothly in the corner of your vision, instead it may be “there”, then “there”, and then gone… implying movement, but not simulating it very well. For movement and rotation in VR, it’s easy enough for your brain to struggle with the fact that it’s getting conflicting information from your eyes and ears. It’s to also trying to piece together movement based on a few moments in time instead of steady stream of input.
The Two type of Vignette used in VR to combat motion sickness.
Some titles have settings to apply a vignette only when you turn. This can be helpful when you are starting to explore different settings in movement, since rotation and movement can affect people differently from my experience. As an example, look at this GIF above. It’s running at 15 frames per second. When rotating, you can tell that it’s rotating, but it’s not very smooth movements. Your brain sees that it’s “here”, and then a moment later it sees it again, but over “there” and it can figure out that it’s moved over the course of time.
Some titles have settings to apply a vignette only when are moving around.
Games like Population One use a vignette when the player is falling. That good ol’ feeling of falling. I think we’ve all had that dream at some point and it’s terrifying. I wonder if skydivers love those dreams? Maybe not… I never seem to have a parachute in those dreams, so maybe they don’t like them either. Finding a game that has this feature can help you become acclimated to full world movement in VR. When finally get the hang of it, it’s pretty awesome to do. For many people, it will take time. You’ll have to push yourself into uncomfortable territory a little bit each time.