Understanding Progressive Glasses in the Vive

[CaTaPulT]

Hi everyone.

I've been doing a lot of research and experimentation to try and get the best viewing experience in my Vive. I wear Progressive lens glasses (kind of like bifocals without the line).

At first, my thoughts were the distance between my eyes and the Vive lens, so I started experimenting with reader glasses (+2.50 strength) this helped but there was still some fuzziness. I then read someplace that the Oculus Rift's focal point was 1.3 meters (no Idea what it is for the Vive since I can't get a answer for this one, I did ask), this got me thinking, I'm not looking at the lens, I'm looking at the image portrayed in the lens, if that image is at 1.3 meters, then this changes things drastically, instead of using the reader part of my glasses, I would be using the distant part of my glasses. So with this in mind, I found the paperwork for my last eyeglass prescription and noticed my left eye is weaker than my right, my prescription is right eye +1.00, my left eye is +2.25. With this in mind, off to the drug store I went again. This time I bought 2 pairs of reader glasses but both using the identical frames, I bought a pair of +1.25 and +2.00 (they didn't have +1.00 or +2.25). When I got home, I poped the lenses out on one side and replaced it with the lens from the other pair thus getting +1.25 for my right eye and +2.00 for my left eye. WOW!!!! even though this isn't my exact prescription, it made a world of difference in the Vive. Everything was much clearer, not perfect but much better than when I used the +2.50 (both eyes) readers. So with this in mind, I ordered a set of VR Lens Lab inserts to my distance prescription, I also took a few options (RABS lenses and BluGuard), these things ended up being quite expensive (roughly $200 Canadian). I ordered them last night, so I should have these in the next 3 weeks. I will do a follow up post once I get these and have had time to evaluate them in my Vive. I still want to be able to use my Vive without having to wear glasses in it. :)

Regards: Jack

[Synthesis]

 

That's awesome! Glad you're having good results with those lenses. Looking forward to your future updates, CaTaPulT!

 

Thanks,

-John C

[CaTaPulT]

UPDATE:
I just got my VR Lens Lab lenses today.
I've had a chance to try them out for roughly a hour and a half.
All I can say is "WOW!!!!!".
These are made to the distance prescription of my progressive glasses prescription. I also chose to go all the way and get the RABS lenses (thinner, and makes things clearer in VR) and the BluGuard coating.
A couple weeks ago I also bought a EVGA 1080Ti video card so I could up the SuperSampling of my Vive which helps make text clearer.
So far after a short test of these prescription Vive lens inserts, I can see clearly as if I was wearing my progressive lens glasses while using a regular computer monitor. Things in the Vive are so much sharper and clearer and in focus as compared to the pair of reader glasses I had customized.
Anything sight anomalies that are normally in VR are still there like the god rays but now they have a bit of a blue tint due to the BluGuard coating, this is more noticeable when in a dark environment with a bright object in the distance. This will take my eyes a few days to get use to since I'm use to having a small amount of blur when using my Vive. It's a matter of my eyes re-adapting to seeing clearly. :)
So far, I am so very impressed with my VR Lens Lab prescription inserts. I will chime in again to this message thread once I've put in more time and as my eyes get accustomed to the new lenses. I figure a week or so, then I'll write my final review and recommendations.
Regards: Jack

[Synthesis]

That's great! I'm so happy for you! As a fellow glasses wearer, sometimes it gets a little frustrating. (Though, often I'll just go for contacts to save myself the hassle.) It's good to see there are solutions for folks like us.

Keep contributing, we'll keep reading!
-John C

[NightAdder]

Nice job CaT exactly what I wanted to hear

[CaTaPulT]

Thanks John. :)
NightAdder..... since everyone's eyes are different and if you wear progressive lenses the way they set up the line between readers and distance in your lenses can matter, it's when they get you to look straight ahead and put a dot in the lens when you've decided on a pair of glasses before they send it out to get done to YOUR prescription. The best way of telling this is putting on the Vive with your progressive glasses on and paying close attention as to where you are looking in your glasses to see where things are the clearest.... for me it was pretty much dead center in my glasses. Getting VR Lens Lab Vive inserts done to your distance prescription is the way to go, NOT the reader parts of the prescription. I also went with the RABS lenses, which are thinner than regular lenses and also help to make thing even clearer getting rid of barrel distortions (you can read up about this option on the VR Lens Lab website). and the BluGuard coating will help with eye fatigue when wearing the Vive for extended periods of time (eyes get less tired).
So far, I am tickled pink with the results of my lens inserts, but I've read cases on various forums (redit) where some people didn't have the best results, I guess it depends on the individual and their eyes. I took the chance and so far, I'd have to say it paid off for me. :)
Regards: Jack

[CaTaPulT]

Thanks John. :)
NightAdder..... since everyone's eyes are different and if you wear progressive lenses the way they set up the line between readers and distance in your lenses can matter, it's when they get you to look straight ahead and put a dot in the lens when you've decided on a pair of glasses before they send it out to get done to YOUR prescription. The best way of telling this is putting on the Vive with your progressive glasses on and paying close attention as to where you are looking in your glasses to see where things are the clearest.... for me it was pretty much dead center in my glasses. Getting VR Lens Lab Vive inserts done to your distance prescription is the way to go, NOT the reader parts of the prescription. I also went with the RABS lenses, which are thinner than regular lenses and also help to make thing even clearer getting rid of barrel distortions (you can read up about this option on the VR Lens Lab website) and the BluGuard coating will help with eye fatigue when wearing the Vive for extended periods of time (eyes get less tired).
So far, I am tickled pink with the results of my lens inserts, but I've read cases on various forums (redit) where some people didn't have the best results, I guess it depends on the individual and their eyes. I took the chance and so far, I'd have to say it paid off for me. :)
Regards: Jack

[CaTaPulT]

Thanks John.

NightAdder.... everyone's eyes are different, if you wear progressive glasses, you'll need to use your distance prescription since progressive prescription will have two, one for distance and one for reading. A good way of testing this is to wear your progressive glasses in the Vive and pay very close attention as to where in the progressive lens you have to look through to see as clearly as possible, more than likely it will be dead center or very close to it and that should be the distance part of your glasses. As for options for the VR Lens Lab inserts, check on their website for the description of the RABS option (thinner lenses and clearer sight, minimized barrel distortion) and as for the BluGuard coating, this will also help lessen the eye strain in longer Vive sessions. :)

So far, I am happy I got these lenses, so much more comfortable not having to wear glasses in my Vive! :)

Regards: Jack

[CaTaPulT]

Final UPDATE:
 
I've been using my VR Lens Lab prescription inserts for almost a week now and here are my views and a mini review.
Fist let's start by explaining what wearing progressive lenses is like as compared to having 20/20 vision.
 
Pregressive lenses:
When I had 20/20 vision I use to move my eyes to look around with everything being in focus unless it was way out peripheral sides. Now with age, it started off as my arm no longer being long enough to read anything, so a trip to a optomitrist became a pair of Progressive lens glasses (bifocals without the lines). Now, there was a huge adaptation period since moving my eyes to look at things meant looking through the wrong part of my glasses, so I had to learn to move my head instead to where I wanted to see clearly. I had to be looking through the sweetspot of my glasses for any particular distance I wanted to see. Yes, this is a pain and took a long time to get the hang of it.
 
Progressive Lenses in VR:
As mentioned in the initial message in this message thread, VR portrays the image at a distance from your eyes even though the actual lenses might be 1/4 inch or less from your actual eyeball. With this in mind, you need a prescription that allows you to see clearly at roughly 1.3 meters (about 4 feet), this is what I used as a guide and how I based what prescription I needed (distance or readers). I went with my distance prescription from my last eye exam. Now, even with only a distance prescription on the VR Lens Lab inserts, there is still a sweet spot where everything is just so beautiful, but if I move my eyes around in the HMD, things get blurry, so even in VR, it's just like wearing my glasses, I have to turn my head to get what I want to see in clear focus, the sweetspot seems to be a bit bigger than when I was wearing my glasses in VR though.
 
VR Lens Lab Vive Inserts, the review:
The inserts fit over the existing Vive lenses, the thin plastic frame is made so it pushes down around the edge of the Vive lenses (pressure fit). And they stay put really well, they move fine without getting unseated when using the IPD adjustment of the Vive. I decided to go with the RABS option for mine, this is a thinner lens and it supposedly makes things even clearer, I have no other point of refference to compare so I can't comment on these being clearer than the non RABS lenses. I also took the BluGuard coating, this protects your eyes from blue light and is supposed to decrease eye fatigue. I have noticed that when I get God Rays, they do have a slight blue tint to them.
I have been trying to look into the Vive and pay close attention to clarity and to see if the lenses brought in other visual anomilies that weren't there before.
Now, I don't know if it's just because I was looking and paying attention but it seems God Rays might be a little stronger with the lenses but not by much and it has to be a scene in VR where the background is black with pure bright white lights (Fantasynth on Steam (free) is a good test). Once things brighten up in VR then the god rays go away and everything looks great.
Also, when wearing glasses, I had to use the rings on the side of the Vive to move the Vive forward (away from my eyes) to make room for the glasses as not to scratch the Vive lenses or those of my glasses. I had mine back to the full 2nd line. Now with the prescription inserts, I have the Vive in as close to my face as it goes.
I have to say that I am using SuperSampling (both application and compositor are set to 1.5) to make things look better in VR, I did try going back to the default 1.0 but went back to 1.5 since 1.0 was ugly in comparison. This also helps make things clearer and text so much easier to read. I did have Supersampling set before I got my VR Lens Lab lenses though so the comparison is still valid.
The lenses come in a small round zippered carry case and also with a fair sized lens cleaning cloth.
 
Final Thoughts:
After almost a week of using my VR Lens Lab Vive inserts, I would have to say I'm impressed and have absolutely no regrets of getting these even though they were expensive with the RABS and BluGuard options. I'm a happy customer. lol :)