Motion Simulator using the Oculus Rift

[jhordies]

Hello,

I'm currently working on a motion simulator to use together with the Oculus Rift goggles.
I already got the Oculus goggles working without picking the chair moves.



It was tested and working but I now need to build my motion simulator.
The motors are on their way and I'm getting ready to interface them with the AMC1280USB from Thanos.

You can find more information on this project on:

http://motiondrift.blogspot.be/p/motion-drift-motion-simulator-is-system.html

Thanks to Thanos for his help.

Offsetting the Oulus to the chair --> [YouTube]http://youtu.be/6-WIvSV9438[/YouTube]
http://youtu.be/6-WIvSV9438

UPDATE: the simulator is ready.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO2R2p6Cv5Q
Time to tune the software !

[DoctorD]

Hi Jhordes

I am massively interested to see how you've integrated the oculus with a motion platform. I have the SDK2 oculus rift coming later this year and would like to know how you have succeeded in offsetting the platform motion from your own head's motion.

I really look forward to your reply

Sincerest regards,
DoctorD

[jhordies]

Hello DoctorD,

Thanks for your enthusiasm !
We (my friend and I) made a custom version of the Oculus library to change the orientation before it is made available to the game.
We use a sensor placed on the chair to compute the actual orientation of the head relative to the chair.

The results are above expectations, the orientation picked by the game is very stable when moving the chair and leaving the head in the same position, while the head moves of are still smoothly reproduced in the game.
I hope to upload a video soon of the test of the stabiliser.

At the moment we still don't have a motion simulator but the hardware is ordered and plans are almost ready.
So I had to test it on my desk chair on the Tuscany demo of Oculus which is a just a landscape with a house.
It is really disturbing to feel the chair accelerations without seeing the expected reaction in the oculus rift, it feels like being really drunk !

This means the feeling of presence should be amazing once the game environment will be in sync with the chair moves.
We can't wait to test it.

[mattijs]

Hello DoctorD,

Thanks for your enthusiasm !
We (my friend and I) made a custom version of the Oculus library to change the orientation before it is made available to the game.
We use a sensor placed on the chair to compute the actual orientation of the head relative to the chair.

The results are above expectations, the orientation picked by the game is very stable when moving the chair and leaving the head in the same position, while the head moves of are still smoothly reproduced in the game.
I hope to upload a video soon of the test of the stabiliser.

At the moment we still don't have a motion simulator but the hardware is ordered and plans are almost ready.
So I had to test it on my desk chair on the Tuscany demo of Oculus which is a just a landscape with a house.
It is really disturbing to feel the chair accelerations without seeing the expected reaction in the oculus rift, it feels like being really drunk !

This means the feeling of presence should be amazing once the game environment will be in sync with the chair moves.
We can't wait to test it.

I was also thinking to do this this way...and thought about using the DK1 sensor for the chair and the DK2 on my head.
All in the planning stage
Haven't built my motion platform yet

[jhordies]

Hello Mattijs,

I thought about using another oculus rift at first.
Good thinking but it is more complex to have two headset running with the same library instance and would be much more expensive than this solution.

Good luck with your motion sim !

[jhordies]

Hello,

You can now find a couple of videos of our stabilizer without the Oculus rift googles but still explaining a bit how it works.

http://motiondrift.blogspot.be

A video will the Oculus rift will follow, stay tuned.

[sirnoname]

The oculus 1.0 or 1.1 is wrong and outdated. You need the new one with IR detections. Then you have realistic ingame movements without delay fitting to the offset of your simulator. That is the last big step of oculus, they removed the G-Sensors completely because of big illness while playing.

[jhordies]

Hello sirnoname,

We already ordered the DK2 but it will only be shipped in July. We had to use what was available as a Development Kit to start developing, I have no doubt the DK2 and more importantly the customer version will give the user a much better immersion experience.

Where did you find the information about the accelerometer , gyroscope, magnetometer removal ?
From my understanding, the external camera is only meant for head position.
The sensors are still there to manage the orientation and were apparently improved as well with a higher number of orientations per second.
http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/announcing-the-oculus-rift-development-kit-2-dk2/
The motion sickness was lowered by the Oculus team by increasing the frame rate, the motion to photon latency, the resolution, and adding a black frame between each picture.

We are planning on placing the camera on the rig itself to that it will also pick the head position without any customization to do.

Please let me know where you got the information you are referring to, I'm really interested to anticipate the arrival of DK2.

Regards

Jerome

[sirnoname]

I read the developer newsletter with ongoing development reports.
The framerate is one part, then the ghosting and the sensor delay. The DK1 was a copy of the cybermaxx from 1995 in pixel resolution and sensoric. This device was also available for 500€ (1000 DM). The response of the buyer was also the same.
I sold the Oculus 1 as fast as possible because the solution is in the future of this type of devices. Do not spend so much time with this DK1. Sony and the other companies like Zeis have developed what they are going to do. Now after the developer supporter quit because of facebook it seems that there get another new free device more support.
The only good part was the Steam game support and marketing. More was not available for us customers after the DK1 was released.

ps. here the newsletter copy:

Positional Tracking
We’ve said before that precise, low-latency positional tracking is a requirement for great VR since the virtual world can be accurately synced to the player’s real world movements. Crystal Cove introduces a new 6-degrees-of-freedom positional tracking system, resulting in a much more comfortable and immersive experience.

Crystal Cove’s positional tracking system is optically-based, with an external camera tracking LEDs on the the headset. By referencing the LEDs on the headset against a virtual model of the headset, it can determine the Rift's location in physical space. The system was designed by the Oculus team, with a custom vision pipeline that we’ll continue to optimize and build on

Below the statements you see the DK2 with white IR position markers all over the helmet.

Same as with TrackIR. I do not like the agressive marketing slogans about who has invented this type of position tracking. It is old school position tracking. The camera itself is wrong, too much delay. You need the Microsoft Kinekt type of cam which makes realtime position tracking with own microprocessors.

By the way: have a look at the VR device of the Valve developer, this is really amazing holographic work. CastAR is the name and much more better for simulators. Your own body, flight sticks and dashboards get visible. No heavy parts on your head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3HGrclGkIE
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/te ... -vr-system

[jhordies]

I believe you are confused between orientation and position in space.
The position is where your head is : moving forward, leaning, crawling... For instance it will allow you to zoom on your dashboard if you move your head forward.
The orientation is where you are looking at.

I'm glad other companies are joining the vr ecosystem. It will mean more choice for the user. Better prices and more content.
About the Facebook acquisition I think it will only speed the time to market.
Regards