At the last I / O conference, Google showed its version of cardboard reality glasses. In principle, the scheme of such points has long been on the Internet (for example, FOV2GO ). However, the scheme of the guys from Google turned out to be simpler than analogs, and also they added a chip with a magnet that works as an external analog button. In this post, I will share my experience of assembling virtual reality glasses based on a smartphone: Google Cardboard from cardboard, OpenDive from plastic and glasses cut on an acrylic laser cutter.

Materials

1. Cardboard. I used an unnecessary laptop box. Another option is to order your favorite pizza or buy cardboard in a special store (micro corrugated cardboard E is requested upon request).
2. Velcro. It is bought in any sewing shop. I took for a 100r tape adhesive sticky tape. This tape will have enough pairs for 10 points.
3. Magnets. In principle, this thing is optional if you do not plan to use the Google API. Google itself recommends taking 1 nickel and a second ferromagnet. In our Internet such magnets in bulk in specialized stores, but I was too lazy to wait for the order. As a result, in the same store, I took a set of fastener magnets, however, they did not work perfectly with me. Cost - 50p for 3 magnets.
4. Lenses. In general, it is recommended to take lenses 5-7x, 25mm diameter, aspherical. The easiest way to take a magnifying glass with two lenses, like Veber 1012A, is cheaper than buying 2 identical ones. I only had a 30x magnifier with two 15x lenses on hand (I took this magnifier on the market for 600 rubles). Despite the high increase, it turned out well.
5. Gum and carbine. It will be needed if you plan to use Cardboard as glasses, and not hold them with your hand all the time. I bought another 2 meters of gum and a couple of carbines in the same sewing shop for 100 rubles.
6. Foam rubber. In order to not hit the glasses in the face, it is necessary to glue in the places of contact foam. I used tape to warm the windows. Another 100 rubles in the construction market.

The total price of materials: 400-1000r, depending on the lenses.
')

Instruments

1. Stationery knife.
2. Thermoglue (gun). Better small.
3. Stapler or thread with a needle.

Assembly

Here, in general, everything is trivial.

1. Go to the Google Cardboard site and download the scheme for the cut. If you suddenly have a laser cutter at hand, you can cut it out. If not, then we print on the printer and cut along the contour.
2. We fasten adhesive tape. In addition to the two velcro in the original, I added one to the left side so that the design did not disperse. And also stuck two Velcro on the sides, on which we will glue the gum for attachment to the head.
3. Insert the lens, magnet and roll up the design.
4. Fasten 2 pieces of gum with Velcro. At one end we insert a carbine at a fixed distance (on an elastic band I fixed it with a stapler :)). On the other side we take an elastic with a margin and fasten the second part of the carabiner with the ability to adjust the length.
5. Success!

However, putting the application, I found that in this form, my button does not work. To activate the press, I had to take a magnet in my hand and drive it right along the left side of the phone, however, even so it works through time. A sign that you are doing everything right - when touched, there should be a feeling of a magnetic field that slightly repels the magnet from the phone.

Perhaps the reason is that I took too weak a magnet. Perhaps, in that my model (Galaxy Nexus) is not declared by Google as supported. Nevertheless, the demos work, the button is pressed, hooray!

Plastic model

If you want at a minimum to bathe with the assembly and you have a 3D printer (or enough money to order prints), then this option is for you. :) I printed a model from the Thingverse website. In the same place on request of "virtual reality" there will be some more similar options.



I ordered printing in the Laboratory of three-dimensional printing , it turned out about 3000r.

All materials from Cardboard are relevant for these points, so the final price tag reaches almost 3500r.

Assembling a plastic model

We put in the lenses, glue the foam rubber, and take the usual office elastic bands to mount the phone. You can also glue the foam surface with the entire surface outside the lenses, then you will not interfere with the light from the smartphone. In such glasses, you can also insert larger lenses.



Another option: insert a lens from the Soviet stereoscope. To do this, it is necessary to slightly modify the mount, replacing round holes with rectangular ones. The option with a stereoscope is quite convenient, but it has a minus - the working area is smaller, the image is cropped at the top and bottom.

Model of acrylic (or plywood)

Even before collecting virtual reality glasses became a trend, a remarkable scheme of glasses, cut out on a laser cutter, appeared in the network. Without thinking twice, I decided to order their cutting in the same laboratory. They didn’t have plywood at that moment and they offered to cut me out of black acrylic. The cost of cutting along with the material turned out about 800r.



In addition to lenses, rubber bands and foam rubber, it will take about 20 screws with nuts 3-4mm for assembly (the model author suggests using 4mm, but I hardly had them and I took 3mm).



Oddly enough, the final version turned out to be even better than on a 3D printer. First, the glasses are easier and more compact. Secondly, the material is smooth and more pleasant to the touch. Of the minuses - acrylic is a rather fragile material, and such glasses may not survive falling.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the content for such points is still quite small. You can try to play with streaming, as described in a recent article on Habré. There are simple apps on Google Play that support DurovisDive and the Cardboard demo . In my opinion, now it’s worth collecting glasses if you want to write something yourself. Under Android there is an SDK from Google Cardboard. Under Unity there is a DurovisDive plugin that works with Android and iOS. If you have WinPhone8, then at DevCon 2014, among other things, I told you how to get the simplest virtual reality application under Unity on WinPhone8, to look from the 14th minute.

Have a great dive! :)