Microsoft Research develops FlashBack VR technology that aims to minimize the dependence on real-time rendering.

According to GSM Arena, virtual reality (VR) has lately become very trendy. This year the concept of VR is illustrated by ambitious projects like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

The technology is catching up to an ambitious vision. However, all these VR projects share a common dependence on processing power.

The new generation of GPUs from both AMD and Nvidia came to respond to this need for more processing power. Even mobile projects such as Samsung's Gear VR struggle with its limitations of the hardware smartphones have to offer.

One of the challenges posed by VR requirements is that it needs a great amount of CPU and GPU resources in order to render content in real time. For high-end computers, laptops and smartphones, that might not be a problem. But for most smartphones below the $500 mark, it is difficult to render VR content.

In this context, Microsoft Research makes an approach to the problem from a different angle. The project FlashBack VR is based on using pre-rendered scenes, minimizing the dependence on real-time rendering.

The FlashBack VR aims to improve performance on all devices, especially lower end ones. The main idea beyond this project is that mobile storage is becoming faster, cheaper and a lot more abundant. When it comes to VR, the mobile storage is vastly underutilized.

According to SlashGear, FlashBack VR is focusing more on augmented rather than virtual reality. However, Microsoft's Research aims to enable even mid-range smartphones to display VR content at a good frame rate.

Smartphones do have enough data storage inside. Microsoft Research came with the solution to move the burden from the CPU and GPU to the data storage.

FlashBack pre-renders the VR content in all possible views and creates a sort of caches. Microsoft Research claims that their technology is able to offer 100 times better energy efficiency, 15 times lower latency and up to 8 times the frame rate.