LiquidVR: AMD's Software Push For Virtual Reality

This week AMD revealed their developer-aimed virtual reality experience, LiquidVR by AMD. "We are seekers of new experiences," said AMD's CVP of Visual Computing Raja Koduri, "When you see it, when you feel it, you know it's something different." Koduri spoke of his latest experience with Oculus VR – at CES 2015 – and how he felt like the world had changed. Presence is here, and Virtual Reality is no longer a place where we have to worry about getting motion sickness. VR is here – or nearly here.

AMD is "in pursuit of presence", suggesting that the line of development goes like this: Basic 2D Rendering, Basic 3D Rendering, Shaders, Immersive 2D Displays, Physically Based Rendering, VR, Photorealism in VR, then Full Presence. "We will see it in our lifetime," said Koduri.

VR experiences, suggested Koduri, span from eduction to gaming, and "I'm most excited about education." Medicine, Big Data Visualization, Training and Simulation, Entertainment, Gaming, Virtual Social Worlds, and Remote Presence are here as well.

"The number one rule [in AMD VR] is 'do not break the presence,'" said Koduri. From the first moment the first photon hits your eye, the presence must be maintained. "If your graphics card can't keep up, you throw up."

LiquidVR by AMD is the name of the game. Comfort, Compatibility, and Compelling Content are the goals of AMD's LiquidVR. Comfort with low-latency head-tracking, compatibility with "Intuitive Attach," and compelling content with scalable rendering in full effect.

Stay tuned – more on LiquidVR SDK for developers and AMD's team-up with Oculus VR, nDreams, Crytek and more soon!