Homebrew VR, 2014 Style
Sat, 23 Aug 2014
Interesting things are happening with Virtual Reality again. While I'm still not sure that it will be more than a niche technology in the long run (I think 'augmented' is more interesting than 'virtual'), it is quite fun to see something I was experimenting with over 20 years ago back in the spotlight.
Two approaches are popular at the moment. One is the classic VR 'goggles' system, like the Oculus Rift, in which a special stereo display and head tracker is worn by the user and driven by a computer. The other is to take advantage of the high-quality display, position tracker and computer many of us already have in our pockets - in the form of a smartphone - and simply provide a housing and lenses to enable it to be used as a 3D display. The best known version of the latter approach is the Google Cardboard - literally a cardboard holder with plastic lenses and a control switch.
You might think that the dedicated VR goggles would have significant advantages over the smartphone approach. This is true to an extent, but the power and quality of the modern smartphones is such that the difference is actually much less than expected.
I have been experimenting with various Google Cardboard designs and have managed to source lenses for as little as £2.50 a pair and whole kits off of eBay for £6 (or a bit more from here). On the whole they all work pretty well, but can be a little flimsy.
To find something more rohbust I have been looking at plastic and 3D printed alternatives. My favourite so far is the OpenDive by Durovis. This is a 3D-printable version of the commercial Durovis Dive product. This is a smartphone VR housing that actually predates the Google Cardboard.
While it doesn't have the magnetic switch of the Google Cardboard (although one can be easily added), it does the same basic job - that is hold your smartphone in front of some lenses. It also 3D prints pretty well - albeit taking almost 5 hours to produce on my Replicator. What's more, even with the lenses and an elastic head strap the total cost of the project is less than £5.
Of course, hardware is only one part of the system. Durovis also provides a free Unity plug-in that does head tracking using your phone's position tracker and renders your 3D model as two side by side views for stereo vision. This allows you to use the Unity game engine (a free version is available) to create interactive 3D worlds and compile them for Android and iOS.
This results in a complete 'home-brew' VR system that you can experiment with for the cost of a large latte or two at Starbucks! What's more, the Unity environment is also compatible with the Oculus Rift (although you have to upgrade to the Pro version) so the new skills you develop will be transferable to this VR environment.
