Dario Laverde discusses developing for room scale VR using Unity3d. Room scale VR adds to immersion by allowing free movement within a defined physical space tracked by Valve's Lighthouse system. Getting started with Unity3d involves adding the SteamVR plugin and configuring the camera rig. Best practices include rethinking FPS game design for room scale and using portals or fades for transitions beyond physical boundaries. Testing is important, especially techniques like teleportation. Examples demonstrate room scale concepts and the AltSpaceVR social VR app is highlighted.

1. Dario Laverde
Sr Developer Evangelist, HTC
Developing for Room Scale VR
Using Unity3d
http://virtualrealitysummit.com/new-york/2016/

2. If you haven’t experienced Room
ScalE…

3. GETTING STARTED tutorial

4. Best Practices (so far)

5. Room-Scale VR
•dramatically adds to immersivenes
•along with submillimeter tracking provides
presence
• Presence vs Immersiveness
Why Room Scale?

6. The psychological state of “being there”
Presence

7. Valve’s Lighthouse System
•2 base stations
• An infrared blast followed by laser sweeps
How the Vive works

8. How the Lighthouse works
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqPaaMR4kY4

9. What room Scale MEANs or DOESN’T
mean
• It doesn’t mean that you need absolutely need a dedicated
room for VR
• Developers should consider as small as 2m x 1.5m
• Standing and seated options are available
• >16 ft technically between base stations feasible with additional
base stations (not supported yet)

10. OpenVR
Valve’s OpenVR SDK is the basis of the available support in
various engines:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/openvr
Unity3d, Unreal, Cryengine, StingRay, jMonkeyVR and more…

11. GETTING STARTED with Unity3d
tutorial

12. Search for the SteamVR plugin
For Unity3d – just search on the assets store!
Note: develop on Win/Mac/Linux, runs only on Windows

13. Step 1: drag n drop the Camera Rig prefab

14. avoid “Tracked Devices” as found in example scene:

15. Step 2: disable existing camera object

16. and Step 3. Run….
assuming you have a kit and the Steam client installed to run
SteamVR’s VRCompositor*
* provides chaperone

17. some out of the box gotchas
models provided under the steamvr application 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_vive_1_5
runtime check for Vive disables controllers

18. Customizing Controllers in Unity

19. Customizing Controllers in Unity
SteamVR scripts automatically set up the default
models for tracked items (this includes the base
stations)
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

20. Customizing Controllers in Unity

21. Customizing Controllers in Unity
Disable default rendering

22. Customizing Controllers in Unity
Using SteamVR’s model requires 180 degree rotation

23. Customizing Controllers in Unity
customize color

24. Developing without a Vive KIT in Unity
allowing offline (and Unity3d on a Mac) development
requires this tmp change in SteamVR_ControllerManager.cs

25. steps for porting existing apps
As indicated in the steamvr docs (guide):

26. steps for porting existing apps

27. Best Practices (so far)

28. some best practices 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
Transition with complete fades
Be innovative with teleporting

29. Test, test, test
especially teleporting!
If you don’t have a lighthouse tracking system try other
positional tracking alternatives – e.g. Project Tango
Tablet
Borrow a HTC Vive…

30. examples of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM47bOeHSL4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhSsdsu4yIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYfNzhLXYGc
how to:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/358720/discussions/0/405694031549662
100/
http://www.kertgartner.com/making-mixed-reality-vr-trailers-and-videos/
Use Mixed Media to promote Room
Scale VR

31. more example scenes
Hidden under “extras”

32. more example scenes
Hidden sample scenes currently include:
TestThrow
TextIK (inverse kinematics)

33. Room Scale demo : AltSpaceVR

34. Thank you! And Q&A and
Resources
Room Scale VR with Unity3d (blog entry)
http://medium.com/@dariony
recommended book:
The VR Book
Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality
author: Jason Jerald, Ph.D.
contact:
http://google.com/+DarioLaverde