Image blur/sharpness drop at the bottom of the field of view on Meta Quest 3

[studio360.com.ua]

Hi everyone,

I’ve noticed a persistent visual issue when viewing Pano2VR tours in immersive mode on the Meta Quest 3.

In the lower part of the visible area, there is a distinct boundary line. Below this line, the image becomes significantly less sharp and loses contrast, as if a blur effect has been applied.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to capture this via the headset’s built-in recording tool, as it only records the central rectangular area, while this issue occurs in the lower periphery. However, it is clearly visible in the "Stop Motion Set" (dollhouse view) of this tour: https://vtour.cloud/0cdw87ml/e1f9f3bc/. It is particularly noticeable when looking at the carpet on the floor.

My Observations: Initially, I suspected this might be a hardware-level optimization (like Fixed Foveated Rendering) to save resources. However, I have tested VR tours created with other software, and this "blur mask" does not exist there. In other engines, the image remains perfectly sharp across the entire field of view, regardless of whether it is a stereo or mono panorama.

This leads me to believe that this is a bug in Pano2VR's VR rendering, as the issue is present in tours created with various versions of the software. It looks unprofessional and breaks the immersion. I would like to ask the developers to investigate this and find a way to fix this "mask" or boundary line.

To all VR headset owners: I would appreciate it if you could test this for yourselves and confirm whether you see this drop in sharpness at the bottom of your view in Pano2VR tours. Please let me know if you can reproduce this on your devices.

Thank you!

[Andre_J]

I can't see any problem with it.
Could be the way the photo was taken, feels like macro, where the depth of field is really narrow.
It's nice work nevertheless.

[Frank]

just an idea:
how did you correct the Nadir of these images?
If done by AI with Photoshop be aware that the PS AI does only give you a lower resolution with the AI filled areas.

kind regards
Frank

[studio360.com.ua]

Friends, I think you are talking about completely different things.

First of all, this is not my project. It is a tour provided by the Pano2VR developers themselves on this page: https://ggnome.com/pano2vr/. I used it as an example specifically because the image is very sharp, which makes the blur even more noticeable.

The blur is not located in the nadir. It stays at the bottom of the field of view no matter where you look. If you look up at the ceiling, the blur is still there, roughly 70–80 degrees below your center of vision—it’s not tied to the floor.

To clarify: everything roughly 70–80 degrees below your direct line of sight becomes blurry. There is a visible "line" where the sharp area meets the blurry one.

This issue exists in every single Pano2VR tour viewed in immersive mode. I have tested immersive modes in tours created with other software, and this effect is not present there. It is not an issue with the photo, the resolution, or the nadir retouching—it is a rendering issue within the Pano2VR VR engine.