What is the main concept behind foveated rendering?
In this article, we discuss the what is the main concept behind foveated rendering. Foveated rendering, sometimes called eye-tracked rendering, describes a technique that varies the resolution of computer graphics depending on the viewer’s eye position. By foveating, more detailed information can be provided only near the point of regard, reducing processing requirements and energy consumption when viewing peripheral areas of interest that are less detailed.
What is foveated rendering?
Foveated rendering is a recent development in 3D graphics that uses a person’s natural eye movements to reduce computational load. It fools your brain into thinking it has done most of the work to process what you see on screen by providing low-resolution images directly to where you are looking and high-resolution images everywhere else. Then, as your eyes move about, this process is repeated for any object or element that your eyes examine in detail.
This allows for a much faster processing time because only certain aspects of your viewing need to be rendered at full fidelity and complexity. This process can also work with different depth levels or a user’s field of view. Eliminating processing strain from corners that the user may not focus on so often.
How does it work?
Foveated rendering divides a viewer’s attention across their whole field of vision. When you look at something with high visual importance, a full-resolution picture will be sent to just that area in the retina. The eye then darts around until it settles on an object with less visual importance. At this point, only an updated low-resolution image is sent to this spot on the retina. This lets you see more than one object without overloading your brain. And also saves battery by not having as many pixels updated with each change in what you’re looking at. Foveated rendering might take some time since it requires going back and forth between full and low-resolution images. But you’ll get used to it eventually.
Which VR headset use foveated rendering
Each day, more and more brands are embracing VR. And now that 2018 has arrived, it’s time to look at all the virtual reality headsets you can buy. Foveated rendering helps increase image quality and prevents processing power from being wasted on pixels that aren’t in view. Unfortunately, the only headsets to use this technology so far are Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
