Virtual Reality Mod Lets You See The World In Third Person POV

This is the real world through video game eyes.

June 30, 2014, 1:46pm

With the advent of Oculus Rift, the realm of video games have left the TV screen and entered virtual reality spaces. However, it seems that the virtual reality sword cuts both ways. Instead of making virtual reality more like actuality, Polish open source software tutorial site mepi—or for English-speaking users, Tutorial Bay—have designed a way to make actuality more video game-like.

Enter: the Third Person Perspective (TPP) device, a DIY, 3D-printed, Arduino-controlled wearable camera designed to give it’s user a brand new way to look at the world. The innovative ensemble simulates the hovering-above-the-head third-person perspective that Pokemon, Grand Theft Auto, and Assassin’s Creed players know and love.

The device consists of four main parts: the backpack-mounted camera rig, the eye-simulating dual cameras, the Arduino-powered camera controls, and the virtual reality headset. The camera rig, made possible only because of 3D printed prototyping, rests in a backpack full of computing and processing equipment. The computing and processing equipment are connected to the cameras, which rest high atop the rig, granting the elevated perspective this whole device was designed for. The computers in the backpack also include the Arduino devices that let the user control the camera view—as if it wasn’t already enough like a video game, it’s controlled with joysticks. Finally, all of these parts feed into the virtual reality headset, which shows the user exactly what the world would look like if he was in a third person shooter.

Aside from the extended view the TPP device grants its user, the effect can be compared to an out-of-body-experience—a kind of technology-enable astral projection. mepi CEO Bartosz Barlowski told 3DPrint.com that he sees real business value in expanding personal perspective, particularly in the automotive, construction, and medical worlds, among others. “Our goal is to develop TPP view for use in virtual reality devices and solve real world problems by using it to help users be more aware of their environment,” he says.

Even if this device doesn't get implemented in the world of gaming, the mind reels at how this contraption could be implemented for recording extreme sports, day-to-day life, or even documentary projects. Filming the real world may slowly begin to resemble a digitized gaming adventure. Master Chief fanboys take note.