Room Scale VR with the HTC Vive

Overview of what Room Scale VR means to developers with a quick intro to the SteamVR Plugin for Unity3d for developing for the HTC Vive including tips for developing offline (without a developer kit)

Transcript

1. Room  Scale  VR  with  the  HTC  Vive   Dario  Laverde,    Sr  Developer  Evangelist,  HTC   November  16,  2015  
2. Why  Room  Scale?   -­‐    dramaHcally  adds  to  immersiveness   -­‐  along  with  submillimeter  tracking  provides              presence     -­‐  provides  the  “aha”  moment  that  goes  beyond   HMD  specs    
3. HTC  Vive  Specs   •   A  1,200  by  1,080  pixel  screen  in  front  of  each   eye,  with  refresh  rates  of  90  frames  per   second  
4. HTC  Vive  Specs   •   A  gyrosensor,  accelerometer,  and  laser   posiHon  sensors  on  both  the  HMD  and   controllers  
5. The  Lighthouse  System   •  Designed  by  Valve’s  Alan  Yates  consisHng  of  2   base  staHons  (more  can  be  added)    
6. Lighthouse  Tracking  System   earlier  camera  based  aWempts  by  Valve:      (as  featured  at  a  Boston  VR  meetup  Jun  2014)        
7. How  it  works   also  see  simulaHon  at:  hWps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QfBotrrdt0      
8. what  room  scale  doesn’t  mean   •  That  you  need  a  15`  x  15`  (~4.5m  x  4.5m)  space   Developers  should  consider  3m  x  3m  as  well  as  2m  x  2m   Standing  and  seated  opHons  are  available   >15  `  technically  feasible  with  addiHonal  base  staHons   (not  supported  yet)  
9. The  SDK  has  been  already  available   •  Valve’s  OpenVR  SDK  is  the  basis  of  the   available  support  in  various  engines:        hWps://github.com/ValveSo`ware/openvr     •  Includes,  Unity3d,  Unreal  4.9+,  OSVR  and   many  more  (now  including  JMEVR*  as  well!)     *  JavaMonkeyEngineVR  
10. Search  for  the  SteamVR  plugin   For  Unity3d  –  just  search  on  the  assets  store!   Note:  develop  on  Win/Mac/Linux,  runs  only  on  Windows  
11. Step  1:  drag  n  drop  the  CameraRig  prefab  
12. avoid  “Tracked  Devices”  as  found  in  example  scene:    
13. Step  2:  disable  exisHng  camera  object  
14. and  Step  3.  Run….     •  assuming  you  have  a  kit  and  the  Steam  client   installed  to  run  SteamVR’s  VRCompositor*         *  provides  chaperone  
15. some  out  of  the  box  gotchas   •  models  provided  under  the  steamvr  applicaHon  folder   under    ….  /SteamVR/resources/rendermodels     •  If  you  copy  it  to  your  assets  folder,  you  can  provide   offline  access  to  controller  objects  with  models     •  current  controller  model:   vr_controller_05_wireless_b     •  runHme  check  for  Vive  disables  controllers        
16. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity  
17. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity   •  SteamVR  scripts  automaHcally  set  up  the   default  models  for  tracked  items  (this  includes   the  base  staHons)   •  So  you  can  add  to  the  model  or  replace  the   model  (at  least  change  the  color)   •  In  some  cases  it  may  make  sense  to  keep  the   default  models  for  the  controllers      
18. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity  
19. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity   Disable  default  rendering  
20. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity   Using  Valve’s  model  requires  180  degree  rotaHon  
21. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity   customize  color  
22. Customizing  Controllers  in  Unity   •  allowing  offline  (and  Unity  on  a  Mac)   development  requires  this  change  in   SteamVR_ControllerManager.cs  
23. some  best  pracHces  for  Room-­‐Scale   •  FPS  (First  Person  Shooter)  does  not  port  to  room-­‐scale   out  of  the  box  –  requires  rethinking  game  design!     •  Do  not  move  the  player    (head  bob,  stafing,  jumping,   foot  steps,  collisions…    etc.)   •  Allow  exploring  beyond  scene  borders     •  TransiHon  with  complete  fades   •  Be  innovaHve  with  teleporHng      
24. steps  for  porHng  exisHng  apps   •  As  indicated  in  the  steamvr  docs  (guide):  
25. steps  for  porHng  exisHng  apps  
26. Test,  test,  test   especially  teleporHng!     If  you  don’t  have  a  lighthouse  tracking  system   try  other  posiHonal  tracking  alternaHves  –  e.g.   Project  Tango  Tablet     Borrow  a  HTC  Vive…  
27. more  example  scenes   •  Hidden  under  “extras”  
28. more  example  scenes   •  Hidden  sample  scenes  currently  include:                    TestThrow              TextIK  (inverse  kinemaHcs)  
29. Room  Scale  demo  videos:              AltSpaceVR  
30. Q&A   contact:    hWp://google.com/+DarioLaverde     new  blog:  hWps://medium.com/@dariony       upcoming  tutorial:  Unity  for  Android  Developers  at  hWp://andevcon.com     also  check  out  hWp://meetup.com/nyc-­‐gdg