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Inside Oculus: Rare photos from the early days of Facebook's virtual reality pioneer

Inside Oculus: Rare photos from the early days of Facebook's virtual reality pioneer

The Oculus Rift team filmed much of the video for its blockbuster Kickstarter campaign in McCauley's Lab.

Inside Oculus: Rare photos from the early days of Facebook's virtual reality pioneer

Here they are watching the finished video as the project racked up cash. In this picture it's at nearly $1 million from 3,905 contributors, and would eventually swell to $2.4 million from 9,522 of them.

Here they are watching the finished video as the project racked up cash. In this picture it

CEO Brendan Iribe and founder Palmer Luckey just chilling in the lab.

CEO Brendan Iribe and founder Palmer Luckey just chilling in the lab.

Once Oculus soared past its Kickstarter goal, it was really time to drill down. Here's McCauley and Oculus' current VP of product, Nate Mitchell, with the owner of the factory that made the first prototype.

Once Oculus soared past its Kickstarter goal, it was really time to drill down. Here

And here's Mitchell testing one of those early prototypes out.

And here

To achieve accurate head tracking, the first model of the Oculus headset had an orientation sensor that included a gyroscope. "You know what we used to calibrate the gyros?" McCauley asks. "A turntable. It turns out that a record player has very precise velocity control. It was more stable than a commercially available calibration instrument."

To achieve accurate head tracking, the first model of the Oculus headset had an orientation sensor that included a gyroscope. "You know what we used to calibrate the gyros?" McCauley asks. "A turntable. It turns out that a record player has very precise velocity control. It was more stable than a commercially available calibration instrument."

Much of the headset's early development happened in China. Oculus office manager Rita Chen stands with McCauley (third from left) and the Oculus China team.

Much of the headset

Here's an inside look at the company office in China.

Here

McCauley remembers his trips to Asia as incredibly exciting, with a lot of hard work (and some hard partying mixed in for good measure).

McCauley remembers his trips to Asia as incredibly exciting, with a lot of hard work (and some hard partying mixed in for good measure).

McCauley snapped this pic of Iribe hanging out in his (very nice!) car back in 2012.

McCauley snapped this pic of Iribe hanging out in his (very nice!) car back in 2012.

Oculus hired John Carmack, the co-creator of the insanely popular game Doom, to be its chief technology officer in 2013.

Oculus hired John Carmack, the co-creator of the insanely popular game Doom, to be its chief technology officer in 2013.

Here's McCauley ready to go into the "clean room" in the optics lab in China that made the lenses for Oculus' second development kit, the DK2.

Here

Here's the crew at the camera assembly plant for DK2.

Here

That's Jack in the blue.

That

And this is one of the first DK2 units produced. The kits went on sale for $350 in mid-2014.

And this is one of the first DK2 units produced. The kits went on sale for $350 in mid-2014.

It's amazing how much buzz there is around virtual reality now," he says. "I'm so fortunate that I'm still working on it, and that I was involved at Oculus. Everyone there worked really, really hard.

Here's McCauley testing out Oculus competitor, the HTC Vive. "It was fantastic," he says. "I was blown away." Although McCauley hasn't tested out the latest version of the Oculus yet, he believes that it and the Vive are the frontrunners in virtual reality...

Here

But he's not without his criticisms.

But he

Tweet Embed:
https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/649749477637537793
#VR it's my baby and she's dying because of a #groupthink I'm worried and heartbroken I put so much work into her

That's why he continues to tinker with different VR-related ideas in his lab. He believes there's a better, cheaper, more effective way for virtual reality headsets to handle tracking.

That

I'm still working on VR and I can't stop," he says. "I'm trying to find ways to improve current designs.

Before Oculus, McCauley was the chief engineer on the GuitarHero video game. Those music roots are very evident in the foyer of his lab.

Before Oculus, McCauley was the chief engineer on the GuitarHero video game. Those music roots are very evident in the foyer of his lab.

We'd love to know more about what it's like inside Oculus — in the past, and now. Reach out to jdonfro@businessinsider.com with stories and tips.

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