Aces High + Oculus Rift: Virtual Reality Headset Setup

[Vulcan]

For years I've been a fan of Virtual Reality gear, it started in the mid-90's with the Forte VFX-1 headset. Believe it or not back then there was reasonable widespread support for games with stereoscopic 3D and head tracking.

Since then I've also owned an Emagin Z800 (nice) and a Vuzix VR1200 (horrible).

A really smart guy called Palmer Luckey posted some awesome ideas and eventually got a kickstarter project going. The outcome of that was the Oculus Rift VR headset.

What makes the Rift so special? Well the way he does it you get a very very wide field of view compared to older headsets. This makes the games far more immersive. He also did it cheap, us$300 compared to us$1800 for the emagin Z800! So yes I brought one as soon as I could.

The Rift includes a 1280x800 display, and 3 Axis head tracker (tracks Yaw, Pitch and Roll).

Note the the Rift is currently a kind of prototype, a Developers Kit (DK). In 2014 Oculus plan to release a higher definition model with 6 DoF head tracking (both head angle and position).

To use the Rift you need to modify games to 'warp' the display as well as make it steroscopic 3D. Games like Aces High do not do this natively. You also need to get the head tracking talking to the game somehow.

Fortunately there is a lot of community and commercial support coming out.

My Rift was purchased for one primary reason... Aces High. So over the last couple of months between work/fishing/ and hunting I've been tweaking and playing trying to get the perfect AH/Rift setup.

A Razer Hydra has also been added to my collection. This a dual "VR" controller that uses a magnetic base station to measure roll/pitch/yaw/x/y/z positional information from the two hand controllers. One of those controllers has ended up taped to my Rift to provide the positional X/Y/Z head information.

I use TriDef commercial drivers to 3D and 'warp' Aces High.

For headtracking I use OpenTrack (open source) which takes my Rift Yaw/Pitch/Roll and Hyra X/Y/Z data to feed as an emulated TrackIR/Freetrack to Aces High.

End result is I have a VR headset where I can look around, move my head, and see AH in beautiful stereoscopic 3D.

The link below is too a youtube video for a short session of play. Sorry the inset video is slightly out of sync, it's quite hard to get it just right. I also found FRAPS was smacking the framerate back a bit, normally there is zero lag/stutter. Excuse the video quality, it was taking ages to upload so I had to pull it back a bit.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q51xXnLgj4

[Latrobe]

That's awesome Vulcan! I can not wait to get myself the Oculus Rift for Aces High! Did you use TrackIR to play Aces High before? If you did then did you find it easy to transition to the Rift? If not then did you enjoy the head tracking from the Rift? How did you manage to use the keyboard with the Rift on, or did you just ignore using the keyboard while wearing the Rift?


Thanks for putting the video together. Aces High looks like it's going to be a blast with the Rift! 

[Vulcan]

That's awesome Vulcan! I can not wait to get myself the Oculus Rift for Aces High! Did you use TrackIR to play Aces High before? If you did then did you find it easy to transition to the Rift? If not then did you enjoy the head tracking from the Rift? How did you manage to use the keyboard with the Rift on, or did you just ignore using the keyboard while wearing the Rift?


Thanks for putting the video together. Aces High looks like it's going to be a blast with the Rift! 

Never used trackir, but this is the 3rd VR headset I've used with AH. I go purely HOTAS with the Rift, no keyboard.

[Nefarious]

Go ahead! Take my money! That is some cool stuff!

[Bizman]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us! I've been dreaming about those devices for over a decade, not being wealthy or motivated enough to get one. Yet...

For those unfamiliar with stereoscopic 3d videos, they can be viewed by crossing your eyes. This method will produce three images, the middle one being 3d. With a little practice it is possible to change your focus into every corner of the center picture.
Yet one hint: Take a piece of cardboard, preferably size A4 or Letter, rather dark than white. Cut a hole of 2in x 2inches in the middle of it. Place the cardboard at a foot length of your face and look at your monitor through the hole. Experiment with the distances to optimal quality. I could watch Vulcan's video on full screen with my 30" monitor without any problems. It's much easier to eliminate the side images and also less straining to your eyes. One side note: The image will look like the monitor were pivoted!

[wpeters]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us! I've been dreaming about those devices for over a decade, not being wealthy or motivated enough to get one. Yet...

For those unfamiliar with stereoscopic 3d videos, they can be viewed by crossing your eyes. This method will produce three images, the middle one being 3d. With a little practice it is possible to change your focus into every corner of the center picture.
Yet one hint: Take a piece of cardboard, preferably size A4 or Letter, rather dark than white. Cut a hole of 2in x 2inches in the middle of it. Place the cardboard at a foot length of your face and look at your monitor through the hole. Experiment with the distances to optimal quality. I could watch Vulcan's video on full screen with my 30" monitor without any problems. It's much easier to eliminate the side images and also less straining to your eyes. One side note: The image will look like the monitor were pivoted!
[/quote
 Can you put some details how you fasten it to your head

[hitech]

I wrote the drivers to support the Oculas at the end of July. With the demo version,I found the resolution to be low to be worth releasing support for it at this time.

Other issues are things like you can not see your key board to position your hands to type.

When they release a hi res version of it, We may add support for it, coupled with tracker ir for translation control.


HiTech

[Arlo]

Thanks, HT.

I'm holding out for this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bkmPjVF-k ... on a larger more affordable scale in order to make:

[Bizman]

Can you put some details how you fasten it to your head

Not directly to your head, but to a convenient adjustable distance: There's two swivelled sticks attached to your sides on the shoulder level, equipped with smaller sticks with a grip function. With a little practice you should be able to get the cardboard into the desired position.

[Wiley]

I wrote the drivers to support the Oculas at the end of July. With the demo version,I found the resolution to be low to be worth releasing support for it at this time.

Other issues are things like you can not see your key board to position your hands to type.

When they release a hi res version of it, We may add support for it, coupled with tracker ir for translation control.


HiTech

Just a gentle suggestion, no snark intended, but it seems to me a lot of people have gotten their hands on these things and are using them extensively, warts and all.  Why not release for the current one?  If the code's just laying around, where would the harm be?

Doesn't matter too much to me, if I ever get my hands on one I'm comfortable going the route Vulcan's gone.  The way he's got it to work looks good enough for me.  Just seems to me a low outlay thing to do for you guys.  EDIT:  Not that I'm expecting a direct answer to this post.  Just realized it sounded like I was calling you out.  Just wanted to put the suggestion in your head.

Wiley.

[Vulcan]

I wrote the drivers to support the Oculas at the end of July. With the demo version,I found the resolution to be low to be worth releasing support for it at this time.

Other issues are things like you can not see your key board to position your hands to type.

When they release a hi res version of it, We may add support for it, coupled with tracker ir for translation control.


HiTech

Geez HT you coulda saved me a lot of time. The lower resolution is a tradeoff for the immersion - why not give us the option now (pretty please)?

[hitech]

Geez HT you coulda saved me a lot of time. The lower resolution is a tradeoff for the immersion - why not give us the option now (pretty please)?

Because the difference in time it takes to develop a testing system and a full implementation is not a trivial matter. There are currently many other things that are above the oculas on list of priorities.

P.S.

" but it seems to me a lot of people have gotten their hands on these things"
I would be shocked if 10 AH players have them.

" If the code's just laying around, where would the harm be?"
The harm is that it takes time from other things.

These type of comments.
Are why I very rarely speak about what is currently under development.  And is why I never mentioned the Oculas when I did the original development.

HiTech

[Wiley]

Because the difference in time it takes to develop a testing system and a full implementation is not a trivial matter. There are currently many other things that are above the oculas on list of priorities.

And that's reasonable, and negates everything else I said.  Thanks for the reply, didn't mean to be a bother.  I see now you meant you had something done that works, not something bulletproof ready for production.  I'm just glad it has a slot in the priority chain, no matter where it is.

" but it seems to me a lot of people have gotten their hands on these things"
I would be shocked if 10 AH players have them.

Quite possibly.  It'll be n+1 if I can overcome the wife ack.

Wiley.

[Vulcan]

Because the difference in time it takes to develop a testing system and a full implementation is not a trivial matter. There are currently many other things that are above the oculas on list of priorities.

Understood, I work for a software organization and understand. FWIW I think the tracking is better handled by OpenTrack, as it lets you put in curves, combine input sources etc.

[zack1234]

Awesome

Not being able to use keyboard to type may be useful for those who keep getting banned