Do you want to walk around in your new house before it has been built? Or take stroll through Central Park in New York even though you are sitting in your own sofa? Or maybe just relax and enjoy a game or movie in 2D or 3D for yourself? Carl Zeiss wants to make this possible with the OLED-based Cinemizer that will be available this summer. Carl Zeiss dreams of a very exciting virtual reality future.

Carl Zeiss Cinemizer
At first glance Carl Zeiss’ head-mounted display looks like Sony's Personal 3D Viewer. But Carl Zeiss has a bigger plan that expands beyond just consumer-oriented products. They want to create a complete virtual reality environment that is customizable.


Carl Zeiss wants to create a Virtual Reality world with their OLED-based Cinemizer, picture source: Engadget.com

In the video presentation at the bottom, Carl Zeiss demonstrates how they will allow architects to show customers a virtual reality environment of their new home. By wearing the Cinemizer, the customer can freely roam the house. The environment – including walls, floors, rooms, furniture etc - can be customized in real-time directly from a tablet. Carl Zeiss underlines that this is just one solution and that they can create virtually anything in their virtual reality system. Games and movies are naturally also supported.


Carl Zeiss wants to create a Virtual Reality world with their OLED-based Cinemizer

Carl Zeiss’ head-mount display is based on two small OLED panels; one in front of each eye. They each have a resolution of 870x500 pixels and because the two images can be separated, the user can enjoy content in both 2D and 3D. A head-tracking module is also available, which basically means that the user can navigate through virtual reality environments just by moving the head. Engadget reports that the experience of walking around in a room with Carl Zeiss’ display glasses on is "almost lifelike". Carl Zeiss exhibited their first prototype back in 2008.
 

Carl Zeiss wants to create a Virtual Reality world with their OLED-based Cinemizer

Carl Zeiss is currently exhibiting their Cinemizer prototype at CeBIT 2012 and is planning on releasing it this summer for around 600-650 Euro. The head-tracking module will add 100 Euro on top of that. Excuse our enthusiasm, but this could have a very bright future! Rumors are also swirling that Google is working on big display glasses project - maybe it is something similar?

- Source: Engadget.com