We assemble in one evening Virtual Reality a helmet with our own hands, with HD image and head tracking
There are practically no people left who have not heard about virtual reality, and probably everyone has already heard about the Oculus Rift VR helmet, which can be said to have become the standard for this kind of devices. There are also solutions on the market that allow you to use a 4-5 "smartphone screen as a VR-glasses screen, such as Durovis Dive or the acclaimed Google Cardboard , which lowered the bar for democratic entry into virtual reality can be said for everyone, but less, so far this technology has not become ubiquitous: not everyone has a smart phone with the right diagonal to use the same google cardboard project, to buy a device like Durovis Dive, if not expensive, but worth the money, without any idea what specifically to do with it It’s quite difficult to order and wait for the Oculus Rift helmet for a simple man in the street for many reasons, ranging from the price for the device, which is not completely clear what to do and ending with a rather long waiting for the delivery of the order. , is the usual laziness and extinct curiosity.
In this article I will tell you about my path to virtual reality, I will describe a detailed and practically exhaustive guide to making a VR helmet using any relatively modern Android smartphone or tablet of any diagonal, this project will cost about 5-8 hours of work and 500 -2000 rubles of costs, depending on your wishes and possibilities, and at the exit you will receive a very interesting device that will allow you to watch fullHD 3D movies and photos, play android games and also use a helmet to play your favorite games. mye PC-game of any degree of modernity. Yes, with head tracking and immersion in VR.
Therefore, if you are not too lazy and curious, I ask you for the cat, but I warn you, the article is filled with three dozen “potato quality” images, weighing 4 megabytes.
In a recent article about Google Cardboard, readers admired such a simple and interesting concept - a cardboard helmet with a pair of lenses, insert your smartphone and fly, but many people had questions like “how to do it under another diagonal”, “how to install a tablet there”, and the main thing is “why I can hardly see this 3D of you”. I, as the owner of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra 6.4 "smartphone, were also interested in these questions, especially after a parcel with a freshly released Durovis Dive arrived to my friend, where, like in Google’s cardboard helmet, you can install devices only around five inches diagonal, and he gave me a pair of lenses, which he bought for making his own helmet.
')
Attempting to lean my smartphone against a durovis-dive did not succeed - something, of course, was visible, but it was a long way from a 3D or even acceptable picture, but it didn’t smell like a virtual reality. In this case, the fourth nexus installed in this device showed good results, but the resolution of 1280x720 pixels also did not allow to fully experience the immersion.
So, having a smartphone, a pair of lenses and some optimism, I decided to spend a little time making the VR helmet. If you already have a similar helmet of your own design, Google Cardboard or Durovis Dive, and you are not interested in reading my manufacturing experience - you can immediately proceed to the description of the possibilities for use, I am sure you will be interested.
So, the first thing we need is a fullHD smartphone or tablet with the Android operating system, the more modern the better, while the diagonal is mostly not important. The longest side of the screen is most important - it should not be much less than twice the distance between your pupils, but it should not be much larger - the center of each half of the frame should fall into the center of the pupil, this parameter is adjusted by approaching and removing the lenses from each other , and there are their pitfalls. For reference, the diagonal of the smartphone used in the described helmet is 162 mm, and the long side is 142 mm.
The second thing we need is a lens. Here you need to remember that the lens has a working area with minimal distortion in the center, and as you move away from it, the image quality drops rapidly, so the lens diameter must be large enough to cover without distortion the difference in the distance between the eyes and the halves of the frame, but Doing this does not exceed a certain limit so that the lenses can be moved closer together or moved apart, but so that the view passes close to the central area of ​​the lens. This is shown schematically in the figure below.
I will not dwell on the topic of choosing and searching for lenses, and in general the optical system, because it is problematic to describe this extensive topic completely, there are a lot of options, and I don’t know which one you have. In my case, a pair of magnifying glasses were bought at a hardware store for 160 rubles, these are:
In tests and initial settings, it was decided to disassemble their cases, and what a surprise - each such loop had a pair of identical (at least indistinguishable with the naked eye) lenses 50 mm in diameter and about 8-9 mm thick, and we will work with them.
Actually, for the manufacture of a helmet, you will need the following materials and tools from the nearest hardware store, in my case it was Leroy Merlin:
1. Polyfoam building, average density, 20 mm thick - 0.5 m2, 60 rubles per sheet
2. Polyethylene foam, 20 mm thick - 0.8 m2, 80p per sheet
3. A roll of double-sided tape and a sheet of micro-corrugated cardboard 2mm - 60r for everything
4. Wide elastic band or belt, it is possible with Velcro “Velcro” - 50r for everything
5. A set of tools for drawing and cutting materials - 100r for everything
6. Scotch tape, or in my case, an assorted vinyl film - 100r for everything
I have to say right away, when buying materials I did not know the necessary expense, but according to estimates, by eye, bought one sheet of foam and polyethylene should have been enough for 3-4 such helmets, and all this was not sold in smaller volumes. It does not matter, before starting work, just remember the next useful skill - cut and cut boldly exactly half of the material, do not be afraid to throw out and try again - materials cost a penny, and your convenience inside the helmet is priceless, so it’s better to redo the part more conveniently than to endure rubbing surface or squeezing, or vice versa, too free size of the resulting product.
Further, already optimizing your activity, I will prompt you in advance that even before the work begins, you will need to upload applications and files to your smartphone, on which you will try and customize your optical system.
1. MX Player 1.7.28 - this free player allows you to play the required files with the desired aspect ratio, and the codec to it, depending on the type of processor
2. Any 3D video files recorded in the side-by-side mode, it can be movies, broadcasts and anything else, look for SBS HD on the network
3. If you find the film in SBS format difficult for you, there are two great Go Show players and SBS Player - the first one in the free mode shows the open-air cartoon Elephant Dream, and the second one can play any regular video files so that they will be displayed in the SBS mode - that is, you will not see 3D, but you will be able to adjust the focus and shift of the lenses, and inside the helmet you will see as if you are watching a regular movie from a very large screen
4. Of course, you can still install any applications from these lists and use them, but I personally didn’t find this option convenient for setting, but you should try them, though, to know what it is about:
www.divegames.com/games.html
www.refugio3d.net/downloads
So, you downloaded and tried the methods described above, and selected the most suitable for you personally for fast work. Let's agree that you have a smartphone or a tablet with a 6-7 "diagonal, two pairs of lenses (you can try with one pair, but my scheme is still two, there may be discrepancies, use it at your discretion), programs are installed and materials purchased tools. The first step would be to make the first frame for the first pair of lenses. I made it out of foam plastic, and in theory it would be nice to have a centrifugal on hand, even if it is concrete, which are cut into sockets, and any type of sliding milling tool for wood or even a compass. that it was not, therefore, cut round holes had office knife Walter White, that when the lens diameter is smaller than me - will be quite messy So, the first workpiece -. this frame for the two lenses, as in the picture below.
In order to make it, you will need to put the smartphone on the table with the screen up, lean over it, and taking the lenses in hand, bring them to your eyes, trying to find the focal length. It is necessary to strive for the minimum distance between the face and the screen, so that it fits in the “lens” and the 3D effect is observed. If this effect is not observed, shifted or distorted, do not despair, for a start it will be enough to understand the focal length, or rather, the amount by which you need to remove the lenses from the smartphone. What about the distance between the lenses in this pair? It's simple - find the value that is in the middle between the distance between the pupils, and the distance between the centers of the halves of the frame (half the long side of the screen). For example, between the eyes we have 65 mm, and the screen is 135 mm, its half is 67.5 mm, which means you need to arrange the centers of the lenses by about 66 mm, for the first approach this is enough.
Now, after we have marked the necessary distances, we cut out the holes for the lenses. Approximately assessing the density of the foam, I felt that it was enough for a strong installation of the lens, if you make a hole under it with a diameter slightly smaller than the lens itself, I reduced the cut out circle by 2 mm in diameter, which perfectly coincided with the assumption. Your parameters may be different, but the essence is the same - make the holes slightly smaller. To drown the lens is shallow, I drowned by 2 mm, it will be clear below why, well, and probably there is no need to mention that it would be nice to place the lenses in one plane, that is, you should both drown them evenly.
The first stage is over, now we have a screen-lens distance layout, and we can move on. Remember what I said about two pairs of lenses? They may not be so important in the optical sense (they are in fact important), but they are invaluable for further tuning. Suppose you installed the first pair of lenses as described above, turned on a 3D image on your smartphone (game, film, of your choice), and try to find three-dimensionality. One pair of lenses didn’t give me that. But when I brought the second pair to my eyes, and after playing at distances I found the desired position - a three-dimensional image immediately appeared on the screen. To achieve this, you need to simultaneously move the lens relative to the screen, in a plane parallel to this screen and the first pair of lenses, up and down and sideways. Find a detail in the image that can track the parallax effect, focus on it and try to merge the images in each eye so that they match. With some skill, this is done very quickly, but unfortunately I can’t give you a way to speed up this process. I was helped by such a test bench, here the lower pair of lenses is already in the foam and is set on the screen, and the top pair, framed in polyethylene, moreover, each lens is separate, I moved before my eyes, looking for “stereo”, and under the whole structure - screen at the right height:
Sooner or later you will have a fresh, juicy, fashionable youth 3D, but, due to the input into the scheme of the second optical pair - the first focus setting will be a little confused. Do not be afraid, all that is required - to reconfigure the focus again. To do this, you first need to make a frame for the second pair of lenses that you just set up. My advice is to first copy your first frame, corrected for the changed distance between the lenses, and then visually estimate the distance between the first and second pair of lenses after you have adjusted the three-dimensionality. It will be enough by eye, and this distance should be compared with the thickness of the material - well, literally, whether the distance between the pairs is greater or less than the thickness of the foam. If it is less, everything is simple, you will need to install the lenses into the second frame a little deeper, by the required amount, if this distance is greater than the thickness of the foam - you can simply flip the first frame with the more recessed side towards you, so you don’t have to fence garden of gaskets between the two rims. In my case, this is what happened, I turned the first rim upside down, folded these rims with more recessed sides to each other, and drowned the lens a little inwards on each side.
So, we have an optical device that allows us to view 3D on the smartphone screen. But, of course, we remember about the focus, which changed first by entering the second pair of lenses, and then also by flipping the first pair with the other side, so the focus needs to be adjusted again. When you catch a trick by means of simple movements, you will need to notice this distance, and make foam supports of such a height so that setting your first frame over the screen - the image in the lenses is focused.
Here it is necessary to say the following, in my opinion an important property, I’m not sure about its nature, but I have repeatedly observed it in experimental subjects. Many actions in life require a repeated approach, using the method of approximation and iterations. This, apparently, is not clear to everyone, but almost always this method works, and gives a better result if you follow a simple algorithm — try and improve. Here and in the case of this helmet - the same story, perhaps the first time you will not be able to make two correct pairs of frames, for example, I reworked one pair three times, and the second - twice, and I already know that I will redo more because there are ideas for improvement. But with each reworking, the quality increased and the picture became better, so if you made a couple of approaches, but you “didn’t succeed” - do not despair, take a break and start again, continue. The result is worth it.
A small hint - if the resulting eyepiece (as I call the block of two pairs of lenses and their frames, assembled together) has a good stereo image, but the focal length has grown greatly with respect to the first approximations, take the eyepiece in half into two frames and play with the distances, perhaps there is a more optimal one - it may be necessary to turn one of the eyepieces upside down, or maybe to spread them away from each other. Remember that you need to achieve the maximum number of useful pixels (otherwise it will be uninformative) and the minimum distance from the screen (otherwise it will be cumbersome). If you have a wonderful, wonderful focal length, and for some reason the stereo base failed, carefully cut the foam in the middle between the lenses with a knife and look - you need to push them apart, or bring them closer, and then proceed according to the situation. Roughly speaking, you will have two eyepieces, each eye has its own, adjust them, and when it works out, glue them together with each other with double-sided tape.
At this stage, the story ends with the lenses, and now it does not matter if you made the optical scheme according to my version, or based on your own considerations, it will no longer be so important, the rest of the story is suitable for any option.
Having found the total focal length from the eyepiece to the screen, we have to make a box on its base, and there are more options here than at the lens stage. But, now you have a “heart” in your hands, or rather the device’s “eyes”, and the most difficult part of it, then it will be easier. Let's say you managed to do all of the above correctly, and you can, with eyepieces attached to your eyes and leaning over your smartphone, confidently watch a 3D image. Having played enough with this demo layout, you will surely notice some features of the location of the lenses and the convenience of eyepieces, which you personally find the most demanding optimization. Do not limit yourself much, optimize and improve something for yourself, under your vision, the shape of the nose and skull, and so on.
For example, after making an eyepiece, I attached it to my face and realized that I was attached to a foam brick. Convenience is exactly zero, but this helmet is still worn on the head for some time! Therefore, in the manufacture of the box, I tried to increase the wearing comfort simultaneously with the reliable and convenient location of the smartphone inside. I had to get rid of the inside of the foam, and replace it with polyethylene foam, it is in the picture is yellow. It is more flexible and allows you to tighten the shape over a wide range, so the inner surface of the helmet is made of it. It should fit snugly to the face in the region of the eyes and around the nose, otherwise you will constantly observe the lens misting from breathing, take this moment into account immediately. There was a thought to make this part of a construction or swimming mask, but I didn’t have them at hand, so I did it myself, however you might find the option with a finished mask more preferable, I’m happy to advise it. I myself also decided to make the sides for the helmet adjacent to the head.
Another thing to remember is the weight of the smartphone and the lever on which it will work, exerting pressure on the support. My ultra-ultra weighs 212 grams, and the required distance that it is removed from the face is 85 mm, plus its own weight of the box - all this together, I would say, makes the helmet comfortable with reservations. Behind him is one strap, it will be seen in the picture at the end of the section, this strap is made of rubber tape, 40mm wide, which rather tightly attracts it to the back of the head, but be heavier than the screen or the lever is longer (read the focal length is longer) - wearing a helmet was would be much more complicated. So that the owners of devices of greater diagonal or weight - I advise you to immediately think of a mounting scheme on the head with a second, transverse strap from the nose to the back of the head, and more convenient and safer.
Also, at this stage you will need to think of another such nuance - the sound output. I have several pairs of headphones of both closed and open types, there are earplugs and so on, but after thinking, I did not build a helmet around large and comfortable Sony MDR with large ear cushions, but chose simple earplugs. Perhaps you will be critical to make a helmet with a cool sound, in this case - you need to immediately imagine exactly how you will combine the headphones, their arc and the helmet with its mount. I had such a temptation, which quickly evaporated at the stage of prototyping, but I will definitely return to it in the next, improved version of the helmet, if I plan to do it. In any case, you will need a hole in the helmet body, corresponding to the position of the audio output of your smartphone.
So, on my desk here is such a device - an eyepiece with an inner surface slightly adjusted to the shape of the head. It is already sitting comfortably on its face, it fits in width, and for its manufacture I only needed this template, cut from trimming foam plastic curved to the shape of the head, it fits with some edits to the top and bottom of the helmet:
Earlier, for several approaches we found out the focal length of the eyepiece. Now at the right distance you want to position the screen of the smartphone. Remember that the screen must be positioned so that its horizontal axis of symmetry coincides in height with an imaginary line between the pupils, but the fact that it needs to be positioned symmetrically relative to the face is clear to you. In my case, the distance between the screen and the side of the eyepiece closest to it was 43 mm, so I made the upper and lower surfaces of foam plastic, as well as two side inserts. It turned out the foam box, which, putting on the screen - could already be used for its intended purpose, this is exactly where the template shown above was needed.
At this stage, there were several minor adjustments to the focus and location of the smartphone, after that - accurate measurement of the results and the cutting of the outer, cardboard body. It serves two purposes - it protects the rather delicate foam plastic from mechanical damage, I rather easily pressed it with my fingers during the initial experiments, I had to watch it, and the second, and the main goal - it was the cardboard that would hold the screen in the right position, pressing it to the foam.
The result was a box with a lid on the top front, under which the smartphone hides.
Having tried on the helmet to the head, and having seen enough of all sorts of 3D, I corrected minor inconveniences inside the helmet, and made a mount - an elastic band to the head. It is simply stitched with a ring, and glued with double-sided tape to cardboard, plus it is stuck on top of a silver oracal, which was used to replace tape. The result was something like this:
By the way, this image shows another technical hole that is used to connect the USB cable, which we will need a little later. And this is what a helmet looks like on the head of a test subject who donated lenses for this helmet:
So, what happened in the end.
Dimensions: 184x190x124 mm
Curb weight: 380 grams
USB input / output
3.5 mm headphone jack
Useful screen area 142x75 mm.
Resolution 1920x1020 pixels.
It is time to move on to the program part of our journey.
The very first thing that comes to mind is watching movies in 3D. This is a very simple and understandable point of entry into virtual reality, although, if we speak more strictly, it is rather a threshold not far from it, the previous step. But, in order not to detract from the merits of this type of entertainment, I inform you that watching 3D movies in the resulting helmet is a very interesting and fun activity. I watched only two films, so I’m not fed up yet, but the sensations are very good: imagine that you are a meter and a half from the wall you are looking at directly. Without turning your head, try to look around the area - this will be the screen available to you. Yes, there is a small resolution - each eye gets only 960x540 pixels from the fullHD film, but nevertheless it leaves the impression quite tangible.
To watch movies in this form, you need a free MX Player with a codec installed for your processor, I have this ARMv7 Neon , well, actually, a video file. It is easy to find them on all sorts of torrent trackers, the technology is called Side-By-Side or SBS for short, feel free to search for these keywords. The player has the ability to adjust the aspect ratio of the video being played, which is extremely useful for SBS files, which otherwise stretch vertically to the full screen. In my case, I needed to go to the settings - “screen” - “aspect” and selecting “manually” to set the aspect ratio to 18 to 4, otherwise you will get images stretched vertically. I tried to look for other players with similar functionality, did not find, if you know, add to the piggy bank of knowledge.
In general, I have nothing more to add to this point - the usual 3D cinema is in front of your eyes, everything is very similar to going to the cinema, or watching on a 3D TV with polarized glasses, for example, but at the same time there are differences, In general, if you like 3D, you should try a VR helmet.
This whole story began exactly at this point. In principle, the following three links show almost all possible programs for android at the moment:
www.divegames.com/games.html
www.refugio3d.net/downloads
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google .samples.apps.cardboarddemo
What do we need for a comfortable taste of virtual reality? Obviously - a joystick, or any other controller, for example - a wireless keyboard. In my case, with a Sony smartphone, the native and natively supported controller from PS3 is a natural and logical choice, but since I didn’t have this at hand, but it turned out to be the good old Genius MaxFire G-12U, I added an adapter from microUSB to USB , hooked up to a smartphone, and was not even surprised that he immediately began working without any questions both in the device interface and in individual programs.
Headphones will also be required, because immersion into virtual reality without sound will be incomplete. I have the usual plugs, and you figure out for yourself how convenient.
What should be expected, and what should not be from the applications presented in this section? The fact is that all applications in general, which are written under the android on the topic of virtual reality - are very scarce, to put it mildly. If you run them without a helmet, and try, well, to see what kind of virtuality this is, then there is a possibility that the helmet will not want to either buy or do. They are frankly very raw and miserable, and do not represent anything super-interesting.
But.When you put your head in a helmet, everything becomes completely different, and personally I, skeptical of everything, would never have believed, nevertheless it is.
The main thing to consider is the tracking of the movement of the head. Even with its poor implementation, or slowing down - this is a completely new and unexplored field for sensations, believe me, before the appearance of the helmet, you didn’t feel anything like this for a long time, since the adventures of climbers in the mountains, walks on the ocean floor, overnight stays in the forest and other mass the murders we all love so much. The helmet provides a completely unreal sense of reality, I apologize for the pun, and any, even the most miserable graphics will seem sweet inside it, in general, I have to say - if you like to play games or feel new - a helmet is a device for you.
From my own experience: Imagine that you were in 1998, and, say, a Polish computer games production studio made a demo in which you landed on the moon, got out of the module, saw the canonical American flag that looked like a cardboard box, stuck to a stick, stuck in the ground, and above the flag in the sky there is an inscription with an extremely miserable font “collect the tools, 3 pieces left”. At the same time, the graphics from very, extremely simple elements, where monotonically accumulated starry sky and squarely repetitive ground under your feet occupy 98% of the useful screen area, and you can see a couple of pixels of those “tools” that you have to find. Actually no. You already see them, just go to them will need 10 minutes. Just go. Over the moon Soundless. By repeated sprites. Well, no action at all.
Tell me, how many seconds would you delete this game from a computer or even a smartphone? That's it. And in a helmet this miracle allows you to experience (!) The devastation and loneliness of the only person on the planet. No kidding. After 15 minutes of the game I found myself desperately afraid that I was alone on the moon, under the hood of stars, and what to do was completely unknown.
More or less the same story with all other games and applications. They are miserable, they are dumb to horror, but at the same time inside the helmet - they send you 15-20 years ago, and who before, to the very games they played, but not for which they spent their time. I have so far the only question for the developers - why there is not a single game with a full-fledged plot for this alignment? The only game would save the state of affairs is simply incredible, because now, showing people virtual reality on the android, there’s nothing to show and nothing, all with reservations “this is a demo, you cannot shoot here”, yes “everything, the whole game is over, yes, for 4 minutes. " By the way, almost all of these applications are written in Unity, the more surprising is their low level, or I do not know how to search.
But you still do not listen to me, try it yourself, and tell your version, I am interested. And season with references, I will immensely. For example, I even installed a demo with the frantic name of the Toilet Simulator. Because.
Thus, all this sluggishness of android developers (attention of android developers!) Led me to the idea - well, there are no games for android - let's try a desktop computer, remembering the main advantages of a virtual helmet - a huge screen with immersion in image and position tracking heads, and try not to lose them.
To be honest, the thought of such a connection appeared immediately, but there was not a single idea how, what and in what order to do. Therefore, while I was drawing, cutting and gluing parts, I thought about where to get information about how to display an image from a computer video card, while simultaneously transferring head tracking, that is, gyro and accelerometer data to a computer. And all this, preferably with a minimum delay.
And you know, the solution was found. It consists of three stages, each of which we consider separately, moreover, first I will describe the working options, and then I will go over those that were not working in my case, but may be useful to you.
It turned out to be relatively simple, but without knowing it right away, you can stray. So, an ideal computer that allows playing full-fledged 3D games in the stereo output format has a video card based on conventional NVidia or ATI chips, the more modern the better, and, which is very important, in the drivers the ability to adjust arbitrary resolutions. If you have a laptop (my case) or a video card whose drivers do not support arbitrary resolutions - the image in the helmet will be stretched vertically, and a possible solution, unsafe and rather dreary - to dig into the registry and prescribe permissions there. Your options, again, are warmly welcome!
In general, you will need to install a driver version for the video card that supports arbitrary resolutions. If your smartphone and your monitor have 1920x1080 pixels on the screen, then everything is very simple - in the settings of the video card you need to create an arbitrary resolution of 1920x540, and then apply it to the monitor. You will see how the working area of ​​the screen has become smaller and located in the middle of the screen. If the picture on your screen looks like this, then you did everything right:
So, everything was tested on a regular but powerful desktop computer with an NVidia video card and the latest drivers. It is important that the conditions are met - when you start the game in stereo mode, the image on each half of the frame was not elongated.
The second thing you need is to download the 3D driver.- which has a full trial version for a period of two weeks, and allows for the output of three-dimensional images to peripheral devices in arbitrary configurations, and side-by-side, and top-bot, and anaglyph, in general, everything you want.
You install in the usual way, run the TriDef 3D Display Setup utility and select the Side-by-side option, now when you start the games from under this driver - they will be in stereo mode “for each eye - half a frame”. If you have games installed, you can open the TriDef 3D Ignition utility and search for installed games, a shortcut to your game will appear in the window - voila, you can use it.
I haven’t installed any games, so I installed Steam and purchased Portal 2 at a sale for 99 rubles, which is an advertisement. And here comes a moment about which you need to know - the driver serving the stereo output can output stereo for any game that has the ability to run in fullscreen, but cannot create output for a window whose area is smaller than the size of the desktop. Remember this moment, below it will become critical, like a red rag in a bull.
In general, if the drivers are installed and configured, the game is acquired and launched, and all this looks on the screen like this:
You can proceed to the next step.
There are several ways, and judging by the numerous icons in the market - the programs that allow you to transfer the required - not so little. I was “lucky” before I found a convenient and workable application, I tried several other depressing and frustrating articles from Google Play, and I am sorry that any slag is allowed there. I spent more time searching and configuring applications than making a device. Moreover, one of the applications had to be bought, and everything would be fine with it if it were not all bad. But first things first: you will definitely need a local wi-fi connection between the computer and the smartphone.
You will also need a good and fast "remote desktop" that does not log out of your account on the desktop when you log in through the remote. This program was a free Splashtop , and was also found half-paid iDisplay .
The one that is paid - everything is fine with it, only it did not allow placing the screen cut off at the top and bottom exactly in the middle of the display, so I had to give it up, but in general it works well, there was even a review on Habré , from where I got it. But Splashtop worked as it should, so put it.
All programs of this type work according to approximately the same scheme - you need to download and install the host version for your desktop, and the receiver version for the smartphone. I think there will be no problems with this, so I will not describe these processes; there, then, there is a tambourine for five minutes - I downloaded, installed, registered, tuned, connect. The only thing I will mention is that you will need to go into the settings and indicate that your wireless connection should be used locally, for which you will need to explicitly specify your computer's IP in the android version, you can find this address using the ipconfig command line. Actually, these are all settings, everything should already work, here, for example, a screenshot from the current smartphone:
If you start the game from under the utility 3D Ignition, it will appear on the screen of your smartphone at the same time as it happens on the monitor. Or not. Because here is the hottest underwater stone of our history, and yes, you will laugh just as I laughed. Watch out for sleight of hand: a driver who gives a stereo image from a game requires fullscreen (if you select the “in window” mode, the stereo will not work, the game will start normally), and the desktop access program from your smartphone shouts “I can't start fullscreen, forgive, yes, absolutely ", and can only show the desktop and windows on it.
Therefore, the most subtle point. Most likely, you will be able to play any games that run in the "in the frameless window" mode. I don’t know for certain why and whence such a mode exists in games, for this reason, or for some other reason - but it was he who turned out to be a salvation: on the one hand, he deceives the desktop, and tells him that he started the game in full screen, but on the other hand, it formally gives only a window to a smartphone, though without frames and maximized to full screen. The same case when the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe.
So I was lucky, portal-2, which I downloaded from Steam turned out to be exactly the game that supports all three launch modes. So it remains for you to check, at your discretion, which games will be launched as well as which ones will not.
Already, you can start the game, and drive in it in the helmet. But, as they say, the picture would be incomplete if there was no tracking of the movement of the head.
You have read this far, with which I congratulate you. I do not want to deceive you, this item is the most difficult and little-studied, nevertheless you should not despair. So.
The first thought was to “parse” the Oculus Rift SDK or SDK Durovis Dive , since the source code is publicly available. Perhaps this should have been done, but I am not a programmer, and I don’t understand anything about it. Therefore, my gaze was turned to ready-made solutions that transmit the position of the smartphone in space to the desktop. As it turned out, there is simply a huge number of programs that supposedly can do it. Judging by the descriptions - in general, almost everything. And again, I went through dozens of programs with sweet promises, but in reality it was even more scary, disgusting and miserable than sorting through programs for displaying an image on a smartphone screen, and even more miserable than those demo games for durovis dive, which I described above. If at this stage to catch a wave of frustration, then all, "goodbye helmet". Nevertheless, the necessary (with reservations) program was found. But first, a fly in the ointment - Monect, UControl, Ultimate Mouse, Ultimate Gamepad, Sensor Mouse - all this did not fit. Especially the first in this list - the description says that Monect Portable provides a mode
As a result, I bought it for a fabulous 60 rubles, but this turned out to be untrue. This mode in the application simply does not exist! I was angry.
But let's move on to successful options. You will again need to download the host and client version of the program called DroidPad. It was she who, when setting up one of the modes, allowed to accomplish what was necessary and transmit the parameters of the sensors in real time via wireless access. The algorithm is as follows: install the program on the desktop and on the smartphone, launch it on the smartphone, select the “Mouse - Mouse using device tilting” mode, and then launch its desktop version.
If everything is done in this sequence, the connection should work, and voila - you control the mouse cursor on the computer screen! So far, messy and messy, but hey, now let's set it up. In my case, in the android version of the application, a screenshot of the settings window looks like this:
You can set the device name, but the port is better not to touch - it works by default, and it is better not to touch the one that works. In the desktop version, everything is a little more complicated, the settings I have are like this, but they have yet to be optimized, so use only as a guideline, no more:
Here, the settings of the X and Y axes on the computer screen, and the strength of the sensor from the phone. How exactly this all works for me so far is a black box, because the developers of the application do not provide any documentation, therefore - I provide the information “as is”. I completely forgot to add that in my smartphone I installed a program that controls the launch of applications in landscape or portrait orientation, and all the applications that were tested for this venture = were tested in album mode. The application is called Rotation Manager, and the auto-orientation of the screen is globally disabled in the smartphone.
Having set up your applications accordingly, you will need to connect the smartphone to the computer using the algorithm described earlier (I have any discrepancy with the indicated order leading to the application shutdown), and holding the smartphone in your hand as it will be located inside the helmet, try to adjust the parameters - alternately correcting desktop sliders and clicking on the "Calibrate" button in the android version window. I will say right away, after quite a few short attempts, I managed to adjust the corners and turns relatively well, but then, setting up more precisely, I knocked down those settings without thinking about taking a picture of them, and those that are now in the screenshot are only approximations to the previous ones still feel better. One more thing - all these sliders are very sensitive, and it’s inconvenient to hold the smartphone in one position so that it doesn’t remove the cursor - it is inconvenient, so you constantly have to break the connection and adjust, then connect and check. After some time, the information in the article on this will be updated, but with the current settings - inside the game world, it looks quite impressive.
So what are the sensations? At the moment, due to my lack of time, Portal 2 games and the free robot-shooter HAWKEN, proposed by Steam, are installed. As for the portal, the surrounding atmosphere and sound enslave you pretty quickly, and the immersion is so strong that you have nothing to compare with, except that sitting in front of the computer 10 years ago at four in the morning, everything is almost as acutely perceived. But if there it was fatigue and darkness around, then wearing a helmet is a slightly different, brighter effect of the same presence. But the second game, where you sit in the canonical “huge humanoid robot” - was surprised. If there is a helmet on the head, the reality projected as if on the surface of the helmet in the game becomes closer, warmer and lighter, moreover, very quickly. Surprisingly fast.
Do not assume that the sensations caused by the VR-helmet will be the same for everyone, but for all the "experimental rabbits" I can confidently say - absolutely everything was appreciated by this device, the reviews are extremely positive and interested. Therefore, boldly and I recommend you, spend one day to make this helmet, and evaluate yourself. My personal goal was just that - to quickly satisfy my curiosity, without special spending money and waiting time, I spent about three days searching and tuning, and now I pass the baton to you, already in a compressed form.
Personally for myself, I decided that I would most likely make the second version of this helmet, with minor modifications and improvements, and later I will get a fresh consumer version of the Oculus Rift. It turned out to be very interesting and informative.
I'm really looking forward to new applications for android, and in part this article is written with the hope that someone from the developers will be interested and give out some kind of inefficiency for a general review. And a small wish - if you know any programs and solutions that I didn’t mention, but which would enhance the quality of the article and improve the performance of the device - write about them in the comments, and I will definitely add valuable information to the article for future generations.
TL; DR: the article describes a fast and high-quality method of making a virtual reality helmet based on an HD smartphone or tablet with an android on board, complete step-by-step instructions and general principles of this process, and also describes the main available methods of using the resulting helmet: watching movies in 3D format, games and applications for android, and connect the helmet to the computer for immersion in the reality of desktop 3D-games.
In this article I will tell you about my path to virtual reality, I will describe a detailed and practically exhaustive guide to making a VR helmet using any relatively modern Android smartphone or tablet of any diagonal, this project will cost about 5-8 hours of work and 500 -2000 rubles of costs, depending on your wishes and possibilities, and at the exit you will receive a very interesting device that will allow you to watch fullHD 3D movies and photos, play android games and also use a helmet to play your favorite games. mye PC-game of any degree of modernity. Yes, with head tracking and immersion in VR.
Therefore, if you are not too lazy and curious, I ask you for the cat, but I warn you, the article is filled with three dozen “potato quality” images, weighing 4 megabytes.
Attention, use everything below described at your own risk, the result of errors in manufacturing can be a spasm of accommodation and overwork during prolonged use.
In a recent article about Google Cardboard, readers admired such a simple and interesting concept - a cardboard helmet with a pair of lenses, insert your smartphone and fly, but many people had questions like “how to do it under another diagonal”, “how to install a tablet there”, and the main thing is “why I can hardly see this 3D of you”. I, as the owner of the Sony Xperia Z Ultra 6.4 "smartphone, were also interested in these questions, especially after a parcel with a freshly released Durovis Dive arrived to my friend, where, like in Google’s cardboard helmet, you can install devices only around five inches diagonal, and he gave me a pair of lenses, which he bought for making his own helmet.
')
Attempting to lean my smartphone against a durovis-dive did not succeed - something, of course, was visible, but it was a long way from a 3D or even acceptable picture, but it didn’t smell like a virtual reality. In this case, the fourth nexus installed in this device showed good results, but the resolution of 1280x720 pixels also did not allow to fully experience the immersion.
So, having a smartphone, a pair of lenses and some optimism, I decided to spend a little time making the VR helmet. If you already have a similar helmet of your own design, Google Cardboard or Durovis Dive, and you are not interested in reading my manufacturing experience - you can immediately proceed to the description of the possibilities for use, I am sure you will be interested.
Tools and materials needed to make a helmet
So, the first thing we need is a fullHD smartphone or tablet with the Android operating system, the more modern the better, while the diagonal is mostly not important. The longest side of the screen is most important - it should not be much less than twice the distance between your pupils, but it should not be much larger - the center of each half of the frame should fall into the center of the pupil, this parameter is adjusted by approaching and removing the lenses from each other , and there are their pitfalls. For reference, the diagonal of the smartphone used in the described helmet is 162 mm, and the long side is 142 mm.
The second thing we need is a lens. Here you need to remember that the lens has a working area with minimal distortion in the center, and as you move away from it, the image quality drops rapidly, so the lens diameter must be large enough to cover without distortion the difference in the distance between the eyes and the halves of the frame, but Doing this does not exceed a certain limit so that the lenses can be moved closer together or moved apart, but so that the view passes close to the central area of ​​the lens. This is shown schematically in the figure below.
I will not dwell on the topic of choosing and searching for lenses, and in general the optical system, because it is problematic to describe this extensive topic completely, there are a lot of options, and I don’t know which one you have. In my case, a pair of magnifying glasses were bought at a hardware store for 160 rubles, these are:
In tests and initial settings, it was decided to disassemble their cases, and what a surprise - each such loop had a pair of identical (at least indistinguishable with the naked eye) lenses 50 mm in diameter and about 8-9 mm thick, and we will work with them.
Actually, for the manufacture of a helmet, you will need the following materials and tools from the nearest hardware store, in my case it was Leroy Merlin:
1. Polyfoam building, average density, 20 mm thick - 0.5 m2, 60 rubles per sheet
2. Polyethylene foam, 20 mm thick - 0.8 m2, 80p per sheet
3. A roll of double-sided tape and a sheet of micro-corrugated cardboard 2mm - 60r for everything
4. Wide elastic band or belt, it is possible with Velcro “Velcro” - 50r for everything
5. A set of tools for drawing and cutting materials - 100r for everything
6. Scotch tape, or in my case, an assorted vinyl film - 100r for everything
I have to say right away, when buying materials I did not know the necessary expense, but according to estimates, by eye, bought one sheet of foam and polyethylene should have been enough for 3-4 such helmets, and all this was not sold in smaller volumes. It does not matter, before starting work, just remember the next useful skill - cut and cut boldly exactly half of the material, do not be afraid to throw out and try again - materials cost a penny, and your convenience inside the helmet is priceless, so it’s better to redo the part more conveniently than to endure rubbing surface or squeezing, or vice versa, too free size of the resulting product.
Further, already optimizing your activity, I will prompt you in advance that even before the work begins, you will need to upload applications and files to your smartphone, on which you will try and customize your optical system.
Programs and files to test performance
1. MX Player 1.7.28 - this free player allows you to play the required files with the desired aspect ratio, and the codec to it, depending on the type of processor
2. Any 3D video files recorded in the side-by-side mode, it can be movies, broadcasts and anything else, look for SBS HD on the network
3. If you find the film in SBS format difficult for you, there are two great Go Show players and SBS Player - the first one in the free mode shows the open-air cartoon Elephant Dream, and the second one can play any regular video files so that they will be displayed in the SBS mode - that is, you will not see 3D, but you will be able to adjust the focus and shift of the lenses, and inside the helmet you will see as if you are watching a regular movie from a very large screen
4. Of course, you can still install any applications from these lists and use them, but I personally didn’t find this option convenient for setting, but you should try them, though, to know what it is about:
www.divegames.com/games.html
www.refugio3d.net/downloads
So, you downloaded and tried the methods described above, and selected the most suitable for you personally for fast work. Let's agree that you have a smartphone or a tablet with a 6-7 "diagonal, two pairs of lenses (you can try with one pair, but my scheme is still two, there may be discrepancies, use it at your discretion), programs are installed and materials purchased tools. The first step would be to make the first frame for the first pair of lenses. I made it out of foam plastic, and in theory it would be nice to have a centrifugal on hand, even if it is concrete, which are cut into sockets, and any type of sliding milling tool for wood or even a compass. that it was not, therefore, cut round holes had office knife Walter White, that when the lens diameter is smaller than me - will be quite messy So, the first workpiece -. this frame for the two lenses, as in the picture below.
In order to make it, you will need to put the smartphone on the table with the screen up, lean over it, and taking the lenses in hand, bring them to your eyes, trying to find the focal length. It is necessary to strive for the minimum distance between the face and the screen, so that it fits in the “lens” and the 3D effect is observed. If this effect is not observed, shifted or distorted, do not despair, for a start it will be enough to understand the focal length, or rather, the amount by which you need to remove the lenses from the smartphone. What about the distance between the lenses in this pair? It's simple - find the value that is in the middle between the distance between the pupils, and the distance between the centers of the halves of the frame (half the long side of the screen). For example, between the eyes we have 65 mm, and the screen is 135 mm, its half is 67.5 mm, which means you need to arrange the centers of the lenses by about 66 mm, for the first approach this is enough.
Now, after we have marked the necessary distances, we cut out the holes for the lenses. Approximately assessing the density of the foam, I felt that it was enough for a strong installation of the lens, if you make a hole under it with a diameter slightly smaller than the lens itself, I reduced the cut out circle by 2 mm in diameter, which perfectly coincided with the assumption. Your parameters may be different, but the essence is the same - make the holes slightly smaller. To drown the lens is shallow, I drowned by 2 mm, it will be clear below why, well, and probably there is no need to mention that it would be nice to place the lenses in one plane, that is, you should both drown them evenly.
The first stage is over, now we have a screen-lens distance layout, and we can move on. Remember what I said about two pairs of lenses? They may not be so important in the optical sense (they are in fact important), but they are invaluable for further tuning. Suppose you installed the first pair of lenses as described above, turned on a 3D image on your smartphone (game, film, of your choice), and try to find three-dimensionality. One pair of lenses didn’t give me that. But when I brought the second pair to my eyes, and after playing at distances I found the desired position - a three-dimensional image immediately appeared on the screen. To achieve this, you need to simultaneously move the lens relative to the screen, in a plane parallel to this screen and the first pair of lenses, up and down and sideways. Find a detail in the image that can track the parallax effect, focus on it and try to merge the images in each eye so that they match. With some skill, this is done very quickly, but unfortunately I can’t give you a way to speed up this process. I was helped by such a test bench, here the lower pair of lenses is already in the foam and is set on the screen, and the top pair, framed in polyethylene, moreover, each lens is separate, I moved before my eyes, looking for “stereo”, and under the whole structure - screen at the right height:
Sooner or later you will have a fresh, juicy, fashionable youth 3D, but, due to the input into the scheme of the second optical pair - the first focus setting will be a little confused. Do not be afraid, all that is required - to reconfigure the focus again. To do this, you first need to make a frame for the second pair of lenses that you just set up. My advice is to first copy your first frame, corrected for the changed distance between the lenses, and then visually estimate the distance between the first and second pair of lenses after you have adjusted the three-dimensionality. It will be enough by eye, and this distance should be compared with the thickness of the material - well, literally, whether the distance between the pairs is greater or less than the thickness of the foam. If it is less, everything is simple, you will need to install the lenses into the second frame a little deeper, by the required amount, if this distance is greater than the thickness of the foam - you can simply flip the first frame with the more recessed side towards you, so you don’t have to fence garden of gaskets between the two rims. In my case, this is what happened, I turned the first rim upside down, folded these rims with more recessed sides to each other, and drowned the lens a little inwards on each side.
So, we have an optical device that allows us to view 3D on the smartphone screen. But, of course, we remember about the focus, which changed first by entering the second pair of lenses, and then also by flipping the first pair with the other side, so the focus needs to be adjusted again. When you catch a trick by means of simple movements, you will need to notice this distance, and make foam supports of such a height so that setting your first frame over the screen - the image in the lenses is focused.
Here it is necessary to say the following, in my opinion an important property, I’m not sure about its nature, but I have repeatedly observed it in experimental subjects. Many actions in life require a repeated approach, using the method of approximation and iterations. This, apparently, is not clear to everyone, but almost always this method works, and gives a better result if you follow a simple algorithm — try and improve. Here and in the case of this helmet - the same story, perhaps the first time you will not be able to make two correct pairs of frames, for example, I reworked one pair three times, and the second - twice, and I already know that I will redo more because there are ideas for improvement. But with each reworking, the quality increased and the picture became better, so if you made a couple of approaches, but you “didn’t succeed” - do not despair, take a break and start again, continue. The result is worth it.
A small hint - if the resulting eyepiece (as I call the block of two pairs of lenses and their frames, assembled together) has a good stereo image, but the focal length has grown greatly with respect to the first approximations, take the eyepiece in half into two frames and play with the distances, perhaps there is a more optimal one - it may be necessary to turn one of the eyepieces upside down, or maybe to spread them away from each other. Remember that you need to achieve the maximum number of useful pixels (otherwise it will be uninformative) and the minimum distance from the screen (otherwise it will be cumbersome). If you have a wonderful, wonderful focal length, and for some reason the stereo base failed, carefully cut the foam in the middle between the lenses with a knife and look - you need to push them apart, or bring them closer, and then proceed according to the situation. Roughly speaking, you will have two eyepieces, each eye has its own, adjust them, and when it works out, glue them together with each other with double-sided tape.
At this stage, the story ends with the lenses, and now it does not matter if you made the optical scheme according to my version, or based on your own considerations, it will no longer be so important, the rest of the story is suitable for any option.
Helmet dummy assembly
Having found the total focal length from the eyepiece to the screen, we have to make a box on its base, and there are more options here than at the lens stage. But, now you have a “heart” in your hands, or rather the device’s “eyes”, and the most difficult part of it, then it will be easier. Let's say you managed to do all of the above correctly, and you can, with eyepieces attached to your eyes and leaning over your smartphone, confidently watch a 3D image. Having played enough with this demo layout, you will surely notice some features of the location of the lenses and the convenience of eyepieces, which you personally find the most demanding optimization. Do not limit yourself much, optimize and improve something for yourself, under your vision, the shape of the nose and skull, and so on.
For example, after making an eyepiece, I attached it to my face and realized that I was attached to a foam brick. Convenience is exactly zero, but this helmet is still worn on the head for some time! Therefore, in the manufacture of the box, I tried to increase the wearing comfort simultaneously with the reliable and convenient location of the smartphone inside. I had to get rid of the inside of the foam, and replace it with polyethylene foam, it is in the picture is yellow. It is more flexible and allows you to tighten the shape over a wide range, so the inner surface of the helmet is made of it. It should fit snugly to the face in the region of the eyes and around the nose, otherwise you will constantly observe the lens misting from breathing, take this moment into account immediately. There was a thought to make this part of a construction or swimming mask, but I didn’t have them at hand, so I did it myself, however you might find the option with a finished mask more preferable, I’m happy to advise it. I myself also decided to make the sides for the helmet adjacent to the head.
Another thing to remember is the weight of the smartphone and the lever on which it will work, exerting pressure on the support. My ultra-ultra weighs 212 grams, and the required distance that it is removed from the face is 85 mm, plus its own weight of the box - all this together, I would say, makes the helmet comfortable with reservations. Behind him is one strap, it will be seen in the picture at the end of the section, this strap is made of rubber tape, 40mm wide, which rather tightly attracts it to the back of the head, but be heavier than the screen or the lever is longer (read the focal length is longer) - wearing a helmet was would be much more complicated. So that the owners of devices of greater diagonal or weight - I advise you to immediately think of a mounting scheme on the head with a second, transverse strap from the nose to the back of the head, and more convenient and safer.
Also, at this stage you will need to think of another such nuance - the sound output. I have several pairs of headphones of both closed and open types, there are earplugs and so on, but after thinking, I did not build a helmet around large and comfortable Sony MDR with large ear cushions, but chose simple earplugs. Perhaps you will be critical to make a helmet with a cool sound, in this case - you need to immediately imagine exactly how you will combine the headphones, their arc and the helmet with its mount. I had such a temptation, which quickly evaporated at the stage of prototyping, but I will definitely return to it in the next, improved version of the helmet, if I plan to do it. In any case, you will need a hole in the helmet body, corresponding to the position of the audio output of your smartphone.
So, on my desk here is such a device - an eyepiece with an inner surface slightly adjusted to the shape of the head. It is already sitting comfortably on its face, it fits in width, and for its manufacture I only needed this template, cut from trimming foam plastic curved to the shape of the head, it fits with some edits to the top and bottom of the helmet:
Earlier, for several approaches we found out the focal length of the eyepiece. Now at the right distance you want to position the screen of the smartphone. Remember that the screen must be positioned so that its horizontal axis of symmetry coincides in height with an imaginary line between the pupils, but the fact that it needs to be positioned symmetrically relative to the face is clear to you. In my case, the distance between the screen and the side of the eyepiece closest to it was 43 mm, so I made the upper and lower surfaces of foam plastic, as well as two side inserts. It turned out the foam box, which, putting on the screen - could already be used for its intended purpose, this is exactly where the template shown above was needed.
At this stage, there were several minor adjustments to the focus and location of the smartphone, after that - accurate measurement of the results and the cutting of the outer, cardboard body. It serves two purposes - it protects the rather delicate foam plastic from mechanical damage, I rather easily pressed it with my fingers during the initial experiments, I had to watch it, and the second, and the main goal - it was the cardboard that would hold the screen in the right position, pressing it to the foam.
The result was a box with a lid on the top front, under which the smartphone hides.
Having tried on the helmet to the head, and having seen enough of all sorts of 3D, I corrected minor inconveniences inside the helmet, and made a mount - an elastic band to the head. It is simply stitched with a ring, and glued with double-sided tape to cardboard, plus it is stuck on top of a silver oracal, which was used to replace tape. The result was something like this:
By the way, this image shows another technical hole that is used to connect the USB cable, which we will need a little later. And this is what a helmet looks like on the head of a test subject who donated lenses for this helmet:
So, what happened in the end.
Dimensions: 184x190x124 mm
Curb weight: 380 grams
USB input / output
3.5 mm headphone jack
Useful screen area 142x75 mm.
Resolution 1920x1020 pixels.
It is time to move on to the program part of our journey.
Available VR helmet capabilities
View 3D video
The very first thing that comes to mind is watching movies in 3D. This is a very simple and understandable point of entry into virtual reality, although, if we speak more strictly, it is rather a threshold not far from it, the previous step. But, in order not to detract from the merits of this type of entertainment, I inform you that watching 3D movies in the resulting helmet is a very interesting and fun activity. I watched only two films, so I’m not fed up yet, but the sensations are very good: imagine that you are a meter and a half from the wall you are looking at directly. Without turning your head, try to look around the area - this will be the screen available to you. Yes, there is a small resolution - each eye gets only 960x540 pixels from the fullHD film, but nevertheless it leaves the impression quite tangible.
To watch movies in this form, you need a free MX Player with a codec installed for your processor, I have this ARMv7 Neon , well, actually, a video file. It is easy to find them on all sorts of torrent trackers, the technology is called Side-By-Side or SBS for short, feel free to search for these keywords. The player has the ability to adjust the aspect ratio of the video being played, which is extremely useful for SBS files, which otherwise stretch vertically to the full screen. In my case, I needed to go to the settings - “screen” - “aspect” and selecting “manually” to set the aspect ratio to 18 to 4, otherwise you will get images stretched vertically. I tried to look for other players with similar functionality, did not find, if you know, add to the piggy bank of knowledge.
In general, I have nothing more to add to this point - the usual 3D cinema is in front of your eyes, everything is very similar to going to the cinema, or watching on a 3D TV with polarized glasses, for example, but at the same time there are differences, In general, if you like 3D, you should try a VR helmet.
Android applications for Durovis Dive and similar systems
This whole story began exactly at this point. In principle, the following three links show almost all possible programs for android at the moment:
www.divegames.com/games.html
www.refugio3d.net/downloads
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google .samples.apps.cardboarddemo
What do we need for a comfortable taste of virtual reality? Obviously - a joystick, or any other controller, for example - a wireless keyboard. In my case, with a Sony smartphone, the native and natively supported controller from PS3 is a natural and logical choice, but since I didn’t have this at hand, but it turned out to be the good old Genius MaxFire G-12U, I added an adapter from microUSB to USB , hooked up to a smartphone, and was not even surprised that he immediately began working without any questions both in the device interface and in individual programs.
Headphones will also be required, because immersion into virtual reality without sound will be incomplete. I have the usual plugs, and you figure out for yourself how convenient.
What should be expected, and what should not be from the applications presented in this section? The fact is that all applications in general, which are written under the android on the topic of virtual reality - are very scarce, to put it mildly. If you run them without a helmet, and try, well, to see what kind of virtuality this is, then there is a possibility that the helmet will not want to either buy or do. They are frankly very raw and miserable, and do not represent anything super-interesting.
But.When you put your head in a helmet, everything becomes completely different, and personally I, skeptical of everything, would never have believed, nevertheless it is.
The main thing to consider is the tracking of the movement of the head. Even with its poor implementation, or slowing down - this is a completely new and unexplored field for sensations, believe me, before the appearance of the helmet, you didn’t feel anything like this for a long time, since the adventures of climbers in the mountains, walks on the ocean floor, overnight stays in the forest and other mass the murders we all love so much. The helmet provides a completely unreal sense of reality, I apologize for the pun, and any, even the most miserable graphics will seem sweet inside it, in general, I have to say - if you like to play games or feel new - a helmet is a device for you.
From my own experience: Imagine that you were in 1998, and, say, a Polish computer games production studio made a demo in which you landed on the moon, got out of the module, saw the canonical American flag that looked like a cardboard box, stuck to a stick, stuck in the ground, and above the flag in the sky there is an inscription with an extremely miserable font “collect the tools, 3 pieces left”. At the same time, the graphics from very, extremely simple elements, where monotonically accumulated starry sky and squarely repetitive ground under your feet occupy 98% of the useful screen area, and you can see a couple of pixels of those “tools” that you have to find. Actually no. You already see them, just go to them will need 10 minutes. Just go. Over the moon Soundless. By repeated sprites. Well, no action at all.
Tell me, how many seconds would you delete this game from a computer or even a smartphone? That's it. And in a helmet this miracle allows you to experience (!) The devastation and loneliness of the only person on the planet. No kidding. After 15 minutes of the game I found myself desperately afraid that I was alone on the moon, under the hood of stars, and what to do was completely unknown.
More or less the same story with all other games and applications. They are miserable, they are dumb to horror, but at the same time inside the helmet - they send you 15-20 years ago, and who before, to the very games they played, but not for which they spent their time. I have so far the only question for the developers - why there is not a single game with a full-fledged plot for this alignment? The only game would save the state of affairs is simply incredible, because now, showing people virtual reality on the android, there’s nothing to show and nothing, all with reservations “this is a demo, you cannot shoot here”, yes “everything, the whole game is over, yes, for 4 minutes. " By the way, almost all of these applications are written in Unity, the more surprising is their low level, or I do not know how to search.
But you still do not listen to me, try it yourself, and tell your version, I am interested. And season with references, I will immensely. For example, I even installed a demo with the frantic name of the Toilet Simulator. Because.
Small easter eggs
Thus, all this sluggishness of android developers (attention of android developers!) Led me to the idea - well, there are no games for android - let's try a desktop computer, remembering the main advantages of a virtual helmet - a huge screen with immersion in image and position tracking heads, and try not to lose them.
Connecting to a computer as a VR device
To be honest, the thought of such a connection appeared immediately, but there was not a single idea how, what and in what order to do. Therefore, while I was drawing, cutting and gluing parts, I thought about where to get information about how to display an image from a computer video card, while simultaneously transferring head tracking, that is, gyro and accelerometer data to a computer. And all this, preferably with a minimum delay.
And you know, the solution was found. It consists of three stages, each of which we consider separately, moreover, first I will describe the working options, and then I will go over those that were not working in my case, but may be useful to you.
Create 3D-output on the computer.
It turned out to be relatively simple, but without knowing it right away, you can stray. So, an ideal computer that allows playing full-fledged 3D games in the stereo output format has a video card based on conventional NVidia or ATI chips, the more modern the better, and, which is very important, in the drivers the ability to adjust arbitrary resolutions. If you have a laptop (my case) or a video card whose drivers do not support arbitrary resolutions - the image in the helmet will be stretched vertically, and a possible solution, unsafe and rather dreary - to dig into the registry and prescribe permissions there. Your options, again, are warmly welcome!
In general, you will need to install a driver version for the video card that supports arbitrary resolutions. If your smartphone and your monitor have 1920x1080 pixels on the screen, then everything is very simple - in the settings of the video card you need to create an arbitrary resolution of 1920x540, and then apply it to the monitor. You will see how the working area of ​​the screen has become smaller and located in the middle of the screen. If the picture on your screen looks like this, then you did everything right:
So, everything was tested on a regular but powerful desktop computer with an NVidia video card and the latest drivers. It is important that the conditions are met - when you start the game in stereo mode, the image on each half of the frame was not elongated.
The second thing you need is to download the 3D driver.- which has a full trial version for a period of two weeks, and allows for the output of three-dimensional images to peripheral devices in arbitrary configurations, and side-by-side, and top-bot, and anaglyph, in general, everything you want.
You install in the usual way, run the TriDef 3D Display Setup utility and select the Side-by-side option, now when you start the games from under this driver - they will be in stereo mode “for each eye - half a frame”. If you have games installed, you can open the TriDef 3D Ignition utility and search for installed games, a shortcut to your game will appear in the window - voila, you can use it.
I haven’t installed any games, so I installed Steam and purchased Portal 2 at a sale for 99 rubles, which is an advertisement. And here comes a moment about which you need to know - the driver serving the stereo output can output stereo for any game that has the ability to run in fullscreen, but cannot create output for a window whose area is smaller than the size of the desktop. Remember this moment, below it will become critical, like a red rag in a bull.
In general, if the drivers are installed and configured, the game is acquired and launched, and all this looks on the screen like this:
You can proceed to the next step.
We transfer the image from the computer to the screen of the smartphone
There are several ways, and judging by the numerous icons in the market - the programs that allow you to transfer the required - not so little. I was “lucky” before I found a convenient and workable application, I tried several other depressing and frustrating articles from Google Play, and I am sorry that any slag is allowed there. I spent more time searching and configuring applications than making a device. Moreover, one of the applications had to be bought, and everything would be fine with it if it were not all bad. But first things first: you will definitely need a local wi-fi connection between the computer and the smartphone.
You will also need a good and fast "remote desktop" that does not log out of your account on the desktop when you log in through the remote. This program was a free Splashtop , and was also found half-paid iDisplay .
The one that is paid - everything is fine with it, only it did not allow placing the screen cut off at the top and bottom exactly in the middle of the display, so I had to give it up, but in general it works well, there was even a review on Habré , from where I got it. But Splashtop worked as it should, so put it.
All programs of this type work according to approximately the same scheme - you need to download and install the host version for your desktop, and the receiver version for the smartphone. I think there will be no problems with this, so I will not describe these processes; there, then, there is a tambourine for five minutes - I downloaded, installed, registered, tuned, connect. The only thing I will mention is that you will need to go into the settings and indicate that your wireless connection should be used locally, for which you will need to explicitly specify your computer's IP in the android version, you can find this address using the ipconfig command line. Actually, these are all settings, everything should already work, here, for example, a screenshot from the current smartphone:
If you start the game from under the utility 3D Ignition, it will appear on the screen of your smartphone at the same time as it happens on the monitor. Or not. Because here is the hottest underwater stone of our history, and yes, you will laugh just as I laughed. Watch out for sleight of hand: a driver who gives a stereo image from a game requires fullscreen (if you select the “in window” mode, the stereo will not work, the game will start normally), and the desktop access program from your smartphone shouts “I can't start fullscreen, forgive, yes, absolutely ", and can only show the desktop and windows on it.
Therefore, the most subtle point. Most likely, you will be able to play any games that run in the "in the frameless window" mode. I don’t know for certain why and whence such a mode exists in games, for this reason, or for some other reason - but it was he who turned out to be a salvation: on the one hand, he deceives the desktop, and tells him that he started the game in full screen, but on the other hand, it formally gives only a window to a smartphone, though without frames and maximized to full screen. The same case when the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe.
So I was lucky, portal-2, which I downloaded from Steam turned out to be exactly the game that supports all three launch modes. So it remains for you to check, at your discretion, which games will be launched as well as which ones will not.
Already, you can start the game, and drive in it in the helmet. But, as they say, the picture would be incomplete if there was no tracking of the movement of the head.
We connect the tracking of the movement of the head
You have read this far, with which I congratulate you. I do not want to deceive you, this item is the most difficult and little-studied, nevertheless you should not despair. So.
The first thought was to “parse” the Oculus Rift SDK or SDK Durovis Dive , since the source code is publicly available. Perhaps this should have been done, but I am not a programmer, and I don’t understand anything about it. Therefore, my gaze was turned to ready-made solutions that transmit the position of the smartphone in space to the desktop. As it turned out, there is simply a huge number of programs that supposedly can do it. Judging by the descriptions - in general, almost everything. And again, I went through dozens of programs with sweet promises, but in reality it was even more scary, disgusting and miserable than sorting through programs for displaying an image on a smartphone screen, and even more miserable than those demo games for durovis dive, which I described above. If at this stage to catch a wave of frustration, then all, "goodbye helmet". Nevertheless, the necessary (with reservations) program was found. But first, a fly in the ointment - Monect, UControl, Ultimate Mouse, Ultimate Gamepad, Sensor Mouse - all this did not fit. Especially the first in this list - the description says that Monect Portable provides a mode
FPS mode ––––––––––––––––––––– FPS mode
As a result, I bought it for a fabulous 60 rubles, but this turned out to be untrue. This mode in the application simply does not exist! I was angry.
But let's move on to successful options. You will again need to download the host and client version of the program called DroidPad. It was she who, when setting up one of the modes, allowed to accomplish what was necessary and transmit the parameters of the sensors in real time via wireless access. The algorithm is as follows: install the program on the desktop and on the smartphone, launch it on the smartphone, select the “Mouse - Mouse using device tilting” mode, and then launch its desktop version.
If everything is done in this sequence, the connection should work, and voila - you control the mouse cursor on the computer screen! So far, messy and messy, but hey, now let's set it up. In my case, in the android version of the application, a screenshot of the settings window looks like this:
You can set the device name, but the port is better not to touch - it works by default, and it is better not to touch the one that works. In the desktop version, everything is a little more complicated, the settings I have are like this, but they have yet to be optimized, so use only as a guideline, no more:
Here, the settings of the X and Y axes on the computer screen, and the strength of the sensor from the phone. How exactly this all works for me so far is a black box, because the developers of the application do not provide any documentation, therefore - I provide the information “as is”. I completely forgot to add that in my smartphone I installed a program that controls the launch of applications in landscape or portrait orientation, and all the applications that were tested for this venture = were tested in album mode. The application is called Rotation Manager, and the auto-orientation of the screen is globally disabled in the smartphone.
Having set up your applications accordingly, you will need to connect the smartphone to the computer using the algorithm described earlier (I have any discrepancy with the indicated order leading to the application shutdown), and holding the smartphone in your hand as it will be located inside the helmet, try to adjust the parameters - alternately correcting desktop sliders and clicking on the "Calibrate" button in the android version window. I will say right away, after quite a few short attempts, I managed to adjust the corners and turns relatively well, but then, setting up more precisely, I knocked down those settings without thinking about taking a picture of them, and those that are now in the screenshot are only approximations to the previous ones still feel better. One more thing - all these sliders are very sensitive, and it’s inconvenient to hold the smartphone in one position so that it doesn’t remove the cursor - it is inconvenient, so you constantly have to break the connection and adjust, then connect and check. After some time, the information in the article on this will be updated, but with the current settings - inside the game world, it looks quite impressive.
So what are the sensations? At the moment, due to my lack of time, Portal 2 games and the free robot-shooter HAWKEN, proposed by Steam, are installed. As for the portal, the surrounding atmosphere and sound enslave you pretty quickly, and the immersion is so strong that you have nothing to compare with, except that sitting in front of the computer 10 years ago at four in the morning, everything is almost as acutely perceived. But if there it was fatigue and darkness around, then wearing a helmet is a slightly different, brighter effect of the same presence. But the second game, where you sit in the canonical “huge humanoid robot” - was surprised. If there is a helmet on the head, the reality projected as if on the surface of the helmet in the game becomes closer, warmer and lighter, moreover, very quickly. Surprisingly fast.
Do not assume that the sensations caused by the VR-helmet will be the same for everyone, but for all the "experimental rabbits" I can confidently say - absolutely everything was appreciated by this device, the reviews are extremely positive and interested. Therefore, boldly and I recommend you, spend one day to make this helmet, and evaluate yourself. My personal goal was just that - to quickly satisfy my curiosity, without special spending money and waiting time, I spent about three days searching and tuning, and now I pass the baton to you, already in a compressed form.
Personally for myself, I decided that I would most likely make the second version of this helmet, with minor modifications and improvements, and later I will get a fresh consumer version of the Oculus Rift. It turned out to be very interesting and informative.
I'm really looking forward to new applications for android, and in part this article is written with the hope that someone from the developers will be interested and give out some kind of inefficiency for a general review. And a small wish - if you know any programs and solutions that I didn’t mention, but which would enhance the quality of the article and improve the performance of the device - write about them in the comments, and I will definitely add valuable information to the article for future generations.
TL; DR: the article describes a fast and high-quality method of making a virtual reality helmet based on an HD smartphone or tablet with an android on board, complete step-by-step instructions and general principles of this process, and also describes the main available methods of using the resulting helmet: watching movies in 3D format, games and applications for android, and connect the helmet to the computer for immersion in the reality of desktop 3D-games.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/228501/
All Articles