Large screen far away vs small screen close up... I can tell the difference but can't figure out why.

[TheTomas]

I'm experimenting with bigscreen and am trying to figure out the technical difference between a large virtual screen far away (movie theater), vs a smaller screen close to your face. I feel like I can tell the difference, but can't put my finger on it. Does size scale the resolution? Both fill the same amount of my field of vision, but I can't really decide which is better for video/web browsing.

What combo do you use, and why?

[💙Very Scary Dragon💠]

Large screen far away is easier on your eyes.

[rainabba]

The difference comes down to the brain and stereoscopy (or stereo disparity which some people don't really perceive) and convergence, or the angle of the eyes relative to each other, which is another indicator the brain can use to understand the distance of an object.

When projecting a 2D image/video in VR, there is no stereo disparity of the image itself, though once projected for the HMD (2 separate images), there is some disparity. If you're someone that isn't sensitive, this has no effect. Convergence is the natural side effect of distance. In VR, the difference between a small, close screen (assuming it's flat and not curved) and a far, large one is mostly convergence. All other things being equal, the further something is, the closer to parallel the eyes are relative to each other (staring at a star for example) and the farther something is, the closer the eyes are to crossed.

This can be manipulated backwards too. If I place the exact same background in front of both eyes, then an image in front of each and move the image for the right eye, to the right and the left eye, to the left, then I decrease convergence (move the eyes towards parallel) and the further away the brain will think it is. If I move the image for the right eye to the left (closer to the nose) and the image in the left eye, to the right (closer to the nose), the closer the brain will think it is.

The effect of convergence is what makes the Magic Eye pictures possible and makes for a great way to explain this phenomenon. There are some other great explanations here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autostereogram

Some people just don't perceive depth well though and they rely much more on other natural phenominon such as occlusion (nearly things blocking further ones) or depth-of-field (things further/close than what you're focused on will be blurred) and since VR is artificial and lacking some of these cues or they can't be seen due to the limited resolution in rendering and display (like subtleties of reflections), they won't see depth as well in VR.

Perhaps you're one of those?

More good reading at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoblindness and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_perception

[Kevfactor]

silly question but how do you push a screen back lol. know how to expand and turn. just everything is like the same distance and if i open the stuff from accross the room then stuff like vr couches and blue bars are in the way. :)

[shanks]

Originally posted by YT - Kevfactor:

silly question but how do you push a screen back lol. know how to expand and turn. just everything is like the same distance and if i open the stuff from accross the room then stuff like vr couches and blue bars are in the way. :)

Press forward on Vive/Touch to move it forward.

Or use the 2D interface and click on the Customize Screen icon on the left of the UI. You'll see several sliders, and one is called "Depth"

[Fill]

For web browsing, I like smaller screen closer by, because then you can more easily lean in if you want to see something clearer.