Time Warper

A new way to manipulate time in virtual reality.

Sagar Ramesh
Sep 9, 2018 · 1 min read

In Time Warper, players are introduced to a “master clock” that controls time. By turning the clock’s hands, users can zip through an entire day in a matter of seconds or carefully “scrub” through an event that took place.

Time Warper demo, originally recorded in early 2017.

When I started experimenting with animating in VR, I started thinking about creative ways to represent time more intuitively. One idea that came to mind was designing a virtual “smart watch” that displayed the current frame and total number of frames in the form of a watch face; Time Warper was the first step towards bringing that concept to life.

An early timeline UI built for Ollie, which represents time traditionally (much like other nonlinear editing programs).

In the demo, players can move cars and trains on the street, change the time of day, and turn house lights on when it gets too dark outside. If you have access to a Vive and want to try Time Warper yourself, you can find the code and assets here.

Room-scale VR Experiments

Built for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Sagar Ramesh

Written by

Working on VR @usc. Previously designed experiences @facebook, @oculus, and @mirareality.

Room-scale VR Experiments

Built for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

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