CREAL introduces novel light field display headsets with stepless focus

The Swiss start-up CREAL presented a VR headset and an AR headset with innovative light field displays at the digital CES trade fair. These two prototypes bring the young technology into a (reasonably) portable form factor for the first time, whereas a year ago, bulky stationary viewing boxes like those used by ophthalmologists were still necessary.

With light field displays, players use their eyes for the first time as they would in the real world: if they focus on a distant object, it appears rich in detail and the foreground is blurred. If they then look at a detail in front of their nose, it will appear sharp. With current VR headsets, on the other hand, the entire world remains visible as if everything is in focus at the same time.

Increased wearing comfort

Until now, you had to wear a monster out of your head to achieve this effect. The young Swiss company CREAL from Lausanne, which we have already written about reportedis probably a few steps ahead. The team now wants to launch a pair of glasses on the market that are much more comfortable to wear. The display is set to become even smaller by 2022. Creal wants to integrate its own inside-out tracking and eye tracking into the next VR prototype in order to reduce the size of the VR goggles.

Not travelling alone

Other companies have also been researching solutions to this problem: Facebook, for example, first presented a mechanical and then a polarised display prototype with several focus levels in succession. In contrast to this, CREAL's light field technology enables completely stepless focus changes for the first time, without recognisable transitions when switching between different levels.