The social VR app Bigscreen is adding a few new visual options in The Filters Update and one of them is designed with the intent to make your transition out of VR a bit smoother once you’re ready to remove your HMD.
The Bigscreen developers see that some people spend many hours in their application and, with that understanding, the team is adding a Night Mode option in The Filter Update. The new mode reduces blue light in an effort to reduce eye strain. Blue light also suppresses melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles, so Night Mode might improve the quality of sleep for those spending a lot of time in the Bigscreen beta.
The Filters Update is also adding some new setting options and presets for different types of content users access in the Bigscreen beta. The new settings are brightness, sharpness, contrast, and saturation. Lowering brightness can help with the lens glare common in Oculus Rift and HTC Vive HMDs, while sharpness/contrast could improve text legibility and saturation affects the density of color. The new presets manipulate these various settings to create the ideal combination for movies, text, or sports. There’s also a black & white preset, which could also be a useful accessibility option for some.
There are two other options coming in The Filters Update that will add special effects to content viewed within the Bigscreen beta. The CRT Filter, which is inspired by the classic cathode ray tube TV technology in old, adds moire and barrel distortion so your modern games get an old school look. The 8-Bit Filter gives a similar nostalgic downgrade to your games, giving them a pixelated style.
As far as the future of the Bigscreen beta, the developers have been preparing for Oculus Quest. Bigscreen earned our 2018 award for Best Ongoing Support For A VR App and will be a solid addition to the Quest’s library. Currently, the program is available for free on Rift, Vive, Windows VR, Go and Gear VR.
