Tobii Foveation technologies
Foveation technologies

Optimizing performance

The processing capabilities of a headset, rendering requirements of an application, 5G network capacity, and edge-processing all have an impact on user experience. Foveation technologies are a software solution for lowering processing and bandwidth needs, enabling the XR ecosystem meet the needs of graphically demanding applications and raise performance of existing devices and infrastructure.

By mimicking the natural degradation of perception, foveation makes it possible to limit high-definition rendering to the relatively small portion of an image where the user’s attention is focused. Fixed foveation, which assumes the user’s focus is on the center of the screen, provides some degree of optimization. The real gains, however, come with dynamic foveated rendering, leveraging the user’s gaze to optimize rendering and transport in real time — which requires eye tracking.

Why is foveation essential?

There are several reasons why foveation technologies are crucial for the current XR system, including their capability to:

Free up device resources — which can be used to, for example, enable complex shading, while maintaining high and steady frame/refresh rates.
Support the use of graphics-hungry applications on standalone devices — promoting visual quality, immersion, and graphics.
Lower bandwidth requirements, reducing the overall cost of delivery.

Tobii Spotlight for Foveated Rendering

Tobii’s solution for dynamic foveated rendering provides outstanding computational efficiency for device performance. Delivering accurate, low-latency tracking of a person’s focus in real-time, the solution supports immersive user experiences at a fraction of the resource cost. On a standalone headset, our solution enables framerate increases of up to 78% and a drop of 10% in power consumption, with tests showing an average savings of 66% for GPU shading load on a PC-tethered device.

Partners in the XR ecosystem

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NVIDIA VRSS 2

NVIDIA’s Variable Rate Supersampling (VRSS) solution is designed to raise image quality based using foveation technologies. The VRSS 2 release uses eye tracking information delivered by Tobii Spotlight for Foveated Rendering and delivers it, with minimal overhead, to the NVIDIA driver. This architecture ensures that VRSS-2-compatible applications will reap the benefits of dynamic foveated rendering without additional integration.

Tobii XR

Tobii Spotlight for Foveated Transport 

Our solution for foveated transport in the XR ecosystem is a lightweight foveation codec that leverages the gaze stream generated by our eye tracking integration platform in real-time. It reduces transmission over 5G, Wi-Fi, or cable in split rendering architectures. The optimization foveated transport delivers ensures that next-gen headsets will support ultra-realistic content while maintaining comfort with reduced video encoding and decoding latency, bandwidth usage and transfer latency, as well as improved visual quality.  

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Tech reviews

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"It saves processing power and works surprisingly well, and it's exactly what the next wave of VR headsets will lean on to create higher-res graphics on small headsets with limited battery life.”

—  CNET

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"Foveated rendering relies on eye tracking. In fact, that eye tracking needs to be essentially perfect. Otherwise, there would be distracting delays in detail when looking around. Not all foveated rendering solutions are created equal. The better the eye tracking, the more gains can be found in rendering efficiencies."

—  UploadVR

Watch

A lightweight foveation codec for VR

Tobii Spotlight Technology raises image quality in VR headsets

Foveated rendering and its future

Tobii Spotlight for Foveated Transport

Benchmarking unconstrained fps on HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition

Explaining Tobii Spotlight Technology

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Disclaimer

Benchmark tests carried out on Pico Neo 2 Eye

Benchmark tests carried out on HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition