Virtual reality glasses using a tablet

In my childhood there was such a wonderful film as The Lawn Mower. Then I didn’t care about the plot, for any meaning laid by the author. But I really liked the film and attracted one thing - virtual reality. Those few scenes in which the characters plunged into the virtual world - this is what it was worth to watch. I wanted to experience all that they experienced. Flying inside virtual reality is something that is remembered forever.

Time passed and now I grew up. The film was forgotten, but the secret desire to plunge into virtual reality remains. And once I saw the project Oculus Rift. He caught my attention for a while, but not for long. After all, Oculus glasses are still in development and getting them is not so easy. But it gave impetus. The head began to delve into the past, taking that very secret desire outward and looking for solutions.

As a result, looking at the tablet, I thought: “Why not?”. And he began to look for suitable materials for the implementation of his ideas. “Using a virtual reality glasses tablet is a great idea,” I thought. It has everything you need: a screen, a machine running the code, motion sensors. Later, after I made the glasses, I learned that my idea is not new and that there are similar projects.

The essence of such glasses is very simple. On the screen of the tablet served the image, divided into two parts. One part (right) is for the right eye, and the other (left) is for the left. Each part displays the same image of the world, but with a slight shift of the camera to the left or right relative to its initial position. Through the lenses, each eye perceives its part of the image, which ultimately leads to the effect of immersion in the world. In fact, this is all well forgotten old. This principle was used long before us to gaze at stereo photographs.

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For the manufacture of virtual reality glasses I needed:
- the tablet. I have a Nexus 7;
- PVC sheets. I needed only one sheet with a size of 500x250 mm and a thickness of 5 mm;
- swimming mask. It fits perfectly to the head, but it had to be painted over so that the light did not penetrate from the sides;
- lenses. To search for lenses had a little run around the city. He took different ones by eye, in order to select suitable ones by sampling;
- A pair of gum pant;
- Super glue;
- stationery knife;
- a file and files, but it is possible and without them;
- a cat for the company.

The overall manufacturing process can be seen in the video below. In fact, there is nothing complicated:
1. We pretend sizes. It is possible in advance, as I did, to draw the 3D model in any editor of three-dimensional solid modeling. At this stage it is important to determine the distance from the lenses to the screen of the tablet. It depends on the focal length of the lens and the person’s vision. I did it by eye, by trial and error. From this distance will come the rest of the design points. Also, the distance between the lenses is desirable to maintain equal to the interpupillary distance.

2. We make a marking on litty PVC.
3. Cut the stationery parts details on the markup.
4. In the mask, cut a hole in the area of ​​the nose to be able to breathe.
5. We glue everything together with superglue, according to the 3D model.
6. Insert the tablet and secure with rubber bands.
7. If desired, the mask, except for the lenses, can be painted in black so that the external light does not interfere with enjoying your stay in virtual reality.



I tested virtual reality glasses on two things. The first is its own test program for Android. She used the accelerometer and the compass to determine the position of the tablet, which were necessary for the work of turning the head. The second is Minecraft (version for Oculus Rift), which I stream via Wi-Fi from a computer to a tablet with the Splashtop GamePad THD program.

Tests of your program can be seen in the video above. The results are as follows:
- accelerometer - too inertial sensor. The world with glasses is shaking;
- compass - slow sensor. And when you lift and lower your head, turns left and right, which I did not like at all;
- General feelings are positive. Words can not convey. Head rotations are an important element giving a sense of immersion.

The test on Minecraft, which can be seen in the video below, has had a greater impact. Though the turns of the head didn't work, the feeling of immersion was amazing. You climb a hill, look down and just admire the beauty and the sense of height. Sometimes dizzy from sharp turns.



Later, I discovered ready-made games for such points. To my surprise, head turns in them worked perfectly. There is no shaking the world, no delays. As it turned out, they used a gyroscope, and I was lucky that in my Nexus 7 it is. In most other tablets and phones it is not.

From the above, I can summarize some results:
- the project (as a whole, and not only mine) deserves attention;
- instead of a tablet, you can also use a phone, but in my opinion, a tablet with a 7-inch screen is ideal. It gives excellent viewing angles (90 degrees, at a minimum);
- sometimes dizzy, as the brain tries to respond to movement;
- for all the time of the test eyes are not tired. Perhaps I successfully picked up the distance from the lenses to the screen;
- The whole design is too heavy, but over time you get used to it;
- it is almost impossible to control the tablet by sensory, even though I provided the open space below;
- not all tablets have a gyroscope available, which means applications with perfect head turns will not be available to everyone;
- General feelings are only positive. You could say that my childhood dream came true. But nevertheless I will get Oculus Rift with its exit.