DIY Oculus Rift - schematics, instructions and build pics!

[Cathodoluminescence]

Hi there, I was thinking the exact same thing as I already have bought the 5" aspheric lenses. As the DevKit has moved to 7" is there a supplier for an 7" 1280x800 display with controller?

By the way, i am from Germany too.

So far, I just found this chinese ebay seller: http://stores.ebay.de/chinatobby/_i.htm ... =485979119 Scroll down to find some 1280er (those around 100 € - keep in mind, we have to pay another 19 % for taxes)

[mahler]

So far, I just found this chinese ebay seller: http://stores.ebay.de/chinatobby/_i.htm ... =485979119 Scroll down to find some 1280er (those around 100 € - keep in mind, we have to pay another 19 % for taxes)

Would this one be sufficient? http://www.ebay.de/itm/HDMI-DVI-VGA-con ... 1005323160

[Bretspot]

OK it looks like everyone is linking to the:
N070ICG-LD1
Board, is that our new best guess as to what will be in the final Rift?
http://www.revo-sys.com/prodimages/LCD- ... asheet.pdf
Any other theories?

[Bretspot]

Ah, I found a site... I'm sure the panel is in here somewhere....
http://www.panelook.com/sizmodlist.php (the link doesn't work 100% properly, click on size list and choose 7")
Kinda interesting, but damn, that's a lot of panels. Too bad there a no 1920x1200 7" panels out there in this range.

[Fredz]

What sort of power supply should I be looking for? Sorry if that's a really silly question, but I know nothing about electronics. I don't think I've seen anyone talking about powering their screens on here.

I've got the small HDMI/VGA board and use it with the power supply of a Freebox v3.

The specs :
MODEL NO : DA-1212A
INPUT : 100-240V ~ 50/60Hz 0.5A
OUTPUT : 12V ⎓ 1.2A

[braddas]

Thanks Fredz, that's just the info I was looking for!

I think I'll go for this one, it's listed as 12v 1.2A, but it says the amperage isn't forced and should be compatible with devices that require anything between 0.5-2A. Not entirely sure what amperage the LCD will require so that sounds like a good thing.

[3dvison]

So a question for the old pro's here.
If you were going to build a new DIY RIFT today, would you now use a 7"inch panel or just stick with the 5.6"panel ?
Please chime in with some Pro's and Con's....

[brantlew]

I actually think this might be a more interesting build now, and congrats to Parity for being so prophetic with the design. All told - it's probably cheaper and vastly easier to put together and would give you similar characteristics to the Rift plus you've got an integrated head tracker and it's totally wireless ! The downside is that you have to stream content at a crummy 30 FPS (although I'm itching to see if that could be improved with stereo compression). So for a quick looksy I don't think you can beat it.

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... 607#p84593

[3dvison]

brantlew,
Can you run windows through that Nexus7 some how or can you only use Android games on it ?

[brantlew]

brantlew,
Can you run windows through that Nexus7 some how or can you only use Android games on it ?

You have to use a wireless streaming app to go from PC to Android - which is why your frame rates are limited.

[3dvison]

brantlew,
Can you run windows through that Nexus7 some how or can you only use Android games on it ?

You have to use a wireless streaming app to go from PC to Android - which is why your frame rates are limited.

Thanks brantlew,
So if I go Nexus7 or the regular old DIY RIFT talked about here, do you think 7"inch screen is the way to go ?

[Fredz]

If you were going to build a new DIY RIFT today, would you now use a 7"inch panel or just stick with the 5.6"panel ?

I would use a 7" display.

From the Kickstarter update it seems to be much better quality on many aspects (color, contrast, latency) and it doesn't suffer from the limited width of the previous panel (120.96mm => 6.048cm separation). It should also probably give a better HFOV, but I don't know how much.

Foisi also started building a DIY HMD one year ago with a 7.2" 1280x768 display (Sharp LQ072K1LA03). At first he decided to tilt the lenses outward because their size wasn't compatible with his nose, but he later decided to keep them straight and instead modify the rendering by zooming and shifting the images. From the Kickstarter images the lenses look straight too, so I guess the rendering should also be adapted in a similar way (by modifying the camera matrices at the rendering level for games or stereo drivers).

[Mel]

I’ve been wondering if we could use something like the 3Dfury to convert frame-packed 720p to Side by Side 720p? It would be no good for video but might allow us to use the AMD HD3D output / Nvidia 3DTVplay driver (along with something like Warp Inject). I wonder if Oculus have tried it?

What is the hardware panel scaling like guys, does it stretch 720p to fill the screen, is it very soft when you feed it 1080p? I’ve been going out of my way to encode pixel perfect native resolution videos but it would be interesting to compare them to the panels hardware scaling.

I’ve just uploaded some new Ambi-Light video samples, If any of you DIY’ers can test them out I’d really appreciate the feedback.

60fps 3D:

https://rapidshare.com/files/4200273682/SBS2_3D.mkv
https://rapidshare.com/files/3503306078/FIX90_3D.mkv
https://rapidshare.com/files/2917471896/WARPIN70_3D.mkv

https://rapidshare.com/files/2245506381/SBS_3D.mkv
https://rapidshare.com/files/2967655910/FIX110_3D.mkv
https://rapidshare.com/files/1828680122 ... N90_3D.mkv

60fps 2D:

https://rapidshare.com/files/4136566042/SBS_2D.mkv
https://rapidshare.com/files/691599072/FIX110_2D.mkv
https://rapidshare.com/files/1588061140 ... 100_2D.mkv

More details here:

http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p ... 885#p87885

thanks


EDIT: I have fixed my Rapidshare account, the download links should actually work now, doh!

If you still get an error try again in a few hours, the FIX90 file might actually be best for DIY Rifts?

Heh Nick,

A quick note to say I downloaded and watched https://rapidshare.com/files/3503306078/FIX90_3D.mkv on my DIY HMD. Couple of things:

1. Your barreling algo is too aggressive. The top and bottom edges are still quite bowed (upward and downward, respectively).
2. Is there a reason why you don't/can't stretch the image to full screen width? The empty bands on the left and right are begging for video.

It's a bit of an odd experience watching a movie this way in that it somewhat feels like looking at a huge screen due to the fact that I actually have to move my eyes a fair distance to look at the outer edges of the image, yet the low resolution puts the lie to the illusion. Does that make any sense? Also, the 3D doesn't sit well with me (and never has)...too much strain on my eyes and brain. Personal dislike.

I will try to grab a picture of what I see and post it tomorrow. In the meantime, I am going to grab a different one and provide another non-scientific analysis.

Thanks for posting these.

[EdZ]

2. Is there a reason why you don't/can't stretch the image to full screen width? The empty bands on the left and right are begging for video.

The idea is to keep the image to the maximum 50° viewing angle recommended for cinema screens. Too wide, and you strain your eyes trying to see everything in a film that was not designed to fill that much of your view.

[brantlew]

2. Is there a reason why you don't/can't stretch the image to full screen width? The empty bands on the left and right are begging for video.

The idea is to keep the image to the maximum 50° viewing angle recommended for cinema screens. Too wide, and you strain your eyes trying to see everything in a film that was not designed to fill that much of your view.

That's ironic since it's the same viewing angle as the HMZ-T1. So you aren't gaining the benefit of the high FOV. With the higher resolution and better color (not to mention built in video decoding), the Sony is almost certainly the better device for movie watching.

[EdZ]

That's ironic since it's the same viewing angle as the HMZ-T1. So you aren't gaining the benefit of the high FOV. With the higher resolution and better color (not to mention built in video decoding), the Sony is almost certainly the better device for movie watching.

That's probably why Sony chose it. For watching movies, TV, and for unmodified (and non head-tracked) gaming, the HMZ-Tx HMDs are going to be vastly superior to the Rift due to the resolution, contrast, and response rate of the OLED displays. Throwing high FoV and head tracking in is where the Rift pulls way ahead.

[Jotschi]

I'm using http://bino3d.org/ to test my HMD. It supports various formats. Prewarping of the output video is not yet supported. I patched the player so that i'm able to set larger parallax values. For the rift dev clones this might not be necessary. When dealing with two screens and a different viewing angle this is definitely a must.

While building my HMD http://www.jotschi.de/?page_id=793 i noticed that the 7+1 driver board for the HV056WX1-100 display provides a better lvds signal compared to the NT68674.5X board. Can someone confirm this? I'm powering the NT68674.5X with 7.5V.

[Nick3DvB]

That's ironic since it's the same viewing angle as the HMZ-T1. So you aren't gaining the benefit of the high FOV. With the higher resolution and better color (not to mention built in video decoding), the Sony is almost certainly the better device for movie watching.

There's no doubt that there are many HMDs much better suited to movie viewing, but I think it's still worth experimenting with on the Rift as higher resolution panels make it more viable in the future. The ambi-light bars are a rather crude attempt to make some use of the "spare" FOV, when coupled with head-tracking it could be quite effective. For the foreseeable future studios will continue to shoot movies to be viewed from distance on a flat screen so, without adding yet another degree of separation through a virtual cinema experience, we will have to find ways to accommodate that. Video shot specifically for the Rift using ortho-stereoscopic POV cameras will be amazing, but we're going to have to produce all that content ourselves... But there is already a POV comedy show in the UK called Peep Show (best comedy on TV IMHO) lets hope if VR really kicks-off this time some future TV shows will be shot specifically for HMDs.

[tmek]

One thing i haven't seen mentioned is the placement and orientation of the tracker module on the HMD. Where should it go and how much does it matter? Does it have to be oriented a certain way? Or can the orientation be offset via drivers and whatnot?

[MaterialDefender]

Due to the Rifts delay I just joined the DIY-crew, despite having absolutely zero experience in assembling something like this...

Since the Rift devkit isn't using the 5.6" display anymore, I chose a 7" model instead, conveniently sold together with a matching controller board. Just in case anyone is interested:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-DVI-VGA-co ... OC:DE:3160

Also I chose slightly larger lenses with a diameter of 5.7cm instead of the 5cm ones from rfurlans building instructions, mainly to make sure they are able to cover the larger display without having to add more space between lenses and screen. Although I don't really think this is neccessary. Those can be obtained here (somewhat more expensive than the proposed ones and the page is available in German only):

http://www.lupenshop.de/content/lupensh ... /View/1861

Regarding the mounting I will go the foam+ski goggles road, seems to be the best option to get somewhere as fast as possible.

[tmek]

I'm trying to get a few of WickedAndy's HDMI <--> LVDS/USB breakout boards ordered and assembled.



He provided the gerber files at the bottom of the file list on this page.

These should be less than 5cm x 5cm in size so I assume I can order these using this item/service..

A few things I'm not clear on though:
1.) Where can I order the HDMI connectors?
2.) What should I specify for *PCB Thickness / *Surface Finish / *E-test ?
3.) What are the proper connectors? (looks like 2x8 @ 2mm and 4x1 2x1 @ 2.54mm)

UPDATE:
I found the HDMI connector part it's written on the PCB seen in this image




Any help is much appreciated!
tmek

[tahustvedt]

Great thread!

I'm going to try making one as well. I have an HV056WX1-100 and a couple of 5xlenses on the way. I will have to use TrackIR for tracking because gyro/accelerometers would not work in when I'm sitting in my motion simulator (also DIY).

[Naru]

Due to the Rifts delay I just joined the DIY-crew, despite having absolutely zero experience in assembling something like this...

Since the Rift devkit isn't using the 5.6" display anymore, I chose a 7" model instead, conveniently sold together with a matching controller board. Just in case anyone is interested:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-DVI-VGA-co ... OC:DE:3160

Also I chose slightly larger lenses with a diameter of 5.7cm instead of the 5cm ones from rfurlans building instructions, mainly to make sure they are able to cover the larger display without having to add more space between lenses and screen. Although I don't really think this is neccessary. Those can be obtained here (somewhat more expensive than the proposed ones and the page is available in German only):

http://www.lupenshop.de/content/lupensh ... /View/1861

Regarding the mounting I will go the foam+ski goggles road, seems to be the best option to get somewhere as fast as possible.

Awesome, I like that lcd panel. Let us know where you get using it and the lenses you chose. If all goes well I'll try making one too. Things tend to blow up on me though.

[zacherynuk]

Due to the Rifts delay I just joined the DIY-crew, despite having absolutely zero experience in assembling something like this...

Since the Rift devkit isn't using the 5.6" display anymore, I chose a 7" model instead, conveniently sold together with a matching controller board. Just in case anyone is interested:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-DVI-VGA-co ... OC:DE:3160

Also I chose slightly larger lenses with a diameter of 5.7cm instead of the 5cm ones from rfurlans building instructions, mainly to make sure they are able to cover the larger display without having to add more space between lenses and screen. Although I don't really think this is neccessary. Those can be obtained here (somewhat more expensive than the proposed ones and the page is available in German only):

http://www.lupenshop.de/content/lupensh ... /View/1861

Regarding the mounting I will go the foam+ski goggles road, seems to be the best option to get somewhere as fast as possible.

Oooh, brave! When will you get your kit ? - Hopefully some software dev beta will be released soon!

[braddas]

Hmm... Starting to wonder if I should have gone for a 7" screen. Too late now, the 5.6" one is ordered.

I bought a pair of ski goggles today but not sure how it all fits together. I can get my eyes that much closer to the lenses without it. I'm thinking about just using the strap and putting some foam on the nose and forehead areas of my current case. It won't look as slick, but the whole thing is covered in duct tape anyway. Does using the goggles add anything to the design I might have missed?

[zacherynuk]

Hmm... Starting to wonder if I should have gone for a 7" screen. Too late now, the 5.6" one is ordered.

I bought a pair of ski goggles today but not sure how it all fits together. I can get my eyes that much closer to the lenses without it. I'm thinking about just using the strap and putting some foam on the nose and forehead areas of my current case. It won't look as slick, but the whole thing is covered in duct tape anyway. Does using the goggles add anything to the design I might have missed?

Without the SDK or directly compatible games the 5.6" would be the sensible purchase, IMHO. Unless you are a hammerhead shark.

I wouldn't worry about 'slick' you'll likely want to break it and fix it a good few times! - just make sure it is comfortable, stable and if other people use it it won't come apart in their hands! - But you will go through an awful lot of iterations, trust me

[MaterialDefender]

Oooh, brave! When will you get your kit ? - Hopefully some software dev beta will be released soon!

Yeah, would be great to have the SDK some time before the kits arrive. I did my pledge on day one of the kickstarter campaign, so I hope to get at least one from the first batch. But I can't be completely sure since I upgraded my pledge to get one more later on. Pure speculation which one of the two dates Oculus got from Kickstarter.

7" displays certainly aren't the perfect choice for viewing normal side by side content, but if you're working on something yourself, the larger center to center distance can be accounted for quite easily even without the SDK. Lower pixel density and design implications aside, the larger screen sounds quite interesting to me. From what I understand partial overlap seems to be a good idea anyway due to the enhanced peripheral vision. Or did I get that wrong? At least I'm really eager to experiment with that.

[3dvison]

When I look at the size spec's for the 5.6"inch panel, it seems the center of each image would be about 1/4" inch off inward from my eyes center and the 7"inch panel would be about 1/4" inch off outward from my eyes center.

I like the extra size of the 7" panel but is a little bit too wide eye spacing harder to deal with than a little too narrow ?
Have not ordered parts yet so I would love everyones thoughts on this.

[zacherynuk]

When I look at the size spec's for the 5.6"inch panel, it seems the center of each image would be about 1/4" inch off inward from my eyes center and the 7"inch panel would be about 1/4" inch off outward from my eyes center.

I like the extra size of the 7" panel but is a little bit too wide eye spacing harder to deal with than a little too narrow ?
Have not ordered parts yet so I would love everyones thoughts on this.

Go here to get accurate sizes: http://www.prinds.com/tools/screenDimensions.htm : aspect/format you want is 16:10
Get a stereo pair from Google images (Just Google stereo pair) - choose something non complex: eg: http://www.deviantart.com/download/1410 ... shhaze.jpg
and print it out to the exact sizes and have a play with some lenses. - By a couple of 4x & 5x 2" lenses / loupes for pitance to test with.

I may be wrong, but even with multiple 3" lenses I have never been able to bend the light correctly - a 7" screen is horizontally the roughly same as two 5.6" screens placed vertically. I have a big head and I can get stereo separation; just - however, anybody smaller, female or younger would have had no chance with the rigs I made....

I would urge you to experiment and post your findings...

[MaterialDefender]

I'm not sure whether this is true for anyone besides me, but at least I seem to be completely incapable of rotating both eyeballs outwards at the same time. Looking inwards on the other hand is no problem, you do that all the time when focusing on something nearer than infinity.

If that's true for you too and your main goal is using 'normal' SBS material the 5.6" sounds like the better choice.

[bobjwatts]

When I look at the size spec's for the 5.6"inch panel, it seems the center of each image would be about 1/4" inch off inward from my eyes center and the 7"inch panel would be about 1/4" inch off outward from my eyes center.

I like the extra size of the 7" panel but is a little bit too wide eye spacing harder to deal with than a little too narrow ?
Have not ordered parts yet so I would love everyones thoughts on this.

Go here to get accurate sizes: http://www.prinds.com/tools/screenDimensions.htm : aspect/format you want is 16:10
Get a stereo pair from Google images (Just Google stereo pair) - choose something non complex: eg: http://www.deviantart.com/download/1410 ... shhaze.jpg
and print it out to the exact sizes and have a play with some lenses. - By a couple of 4x & 5x 2" lenses / loupes for pitance to test with.

I may be wrong, but even with multiple 3" lenses I have never been able to bend the light correctly - a 7" screen is horizontally the roughly same as two 5.6" screens placed vertically. I have a big head and I can get stereo separation; just - however, anybody smaller, female or younger would have had no chance with the rigs I made....

I would urge you to experiment and post your findings...

Yep I have been testing this with a printout too and need to move the 5x loups quite far apart to get the image to converge, seems to need about 8mm overlap to work. Looking forward to hearing how you go @MaterialDefender with the larger lens.

I'm hoping one of the setting in TriDef3d will do something like overlap, haven't checked yet.

I have ordered a 7" ips screen + controller from chinatobby on ebay, fun and games!

[Mel]

...
I'm hoping one of the setting in TriDef3d will do something like overlap, haven't checked yet.

If you find something, please let us know. I bought DDD and have not found any such adjustment yet.

[3dvison]

Looking at the the Size of the 5.6"inch & 7"inch panels, the 7"incher just gives me a bad Vibe.

Don't get me wrong, I think it will be fine for the REAL RIFT Dev. kits, I am just talking for the DIY RIFT I have a gut feeling the 5.6"inch may be the way to go...?

Like was said above, I also think it is normal/easy to foucus/rotate your eyes inward but not outward....

[3dvison]

I have ordered a 7" ips screen + controller from chinatobby on ebay, fun and games!

Hey zacherynuk, Could you give me a link to the combo you went with.

I was not shure which 7"inch panels were and were not IPS and also it looked like the HDMI-DVI-VGA controller board might only do 60hz ver. refresh but the DVI-VGA controller board looks like it might do 80hz ver. refresh.

[bobjwatts]

I have ordered a 7" ips screen + controller from chinatobby on ebay, fun and games!

Hey zacherynuk, Could you give me a link to the combo you went with.

I was not shure which 7"inch panels were and were not IPS and also it looked like the HDMI-DVI-VGA controller board might only do 60hz ver. refresh but the DVI-VGA controller board looks like it might do 80hz ver. refresh.

Hmm, that's weird, I wrote that not zacherynuk?

Anyways, I got this one, it is the only one I have found that says IPS - no idea what the refresh rate is going to be.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DVI-VGA-Cont ... 2a2662a9ac

[3dvison]

Hmm, that's weird, I wrote that not zacherynuk?

Anyways, I got this one, it is the only one I have found that says IPS - no idea what the refresh rate is going to be.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DVI-VGA-Cont ... 2a2662a9ac

Sorry my mistake bobjwatts, that was you.
Thanks for the link, that is also the combo I was thinkibg of getting. Don't think the HDMI port on the other one is needed anyway.

[3dvison]

OK I am not sure how dumb this question is..here goes.

How would this work ?
If dead center eye spacing on the 7"inch panel was too far apart for my eyes, what would happen if I just moved both lenses the same amount in toward the nose ?

Would that be doing the same thing as lowering seperation in a 3D driver, and just cut down on the 3D effect ?

[tmek]

OK I am not sure how dumb this question is..here goes.

How would this work ?
If dead center eye spacing on the 7"inch panel was too far apart for my eyes, what would happen if I just moved both lenses the same amount in toward the nose ?

Would that be doing the same thing as lowering seperation in a 3D driver, and just cut down on the 3D effect ?

Let's imagine a commercial version of the Rift that allows you to adjust the interocular distance of the lenses using a dial or slider to match your own IPD. Adjusting this dial could also tell the Rift drivers what your interocular distance is (6cm for example). The game could use this to automatically set the interocular distance of the virtual eyes/cameras to the same distance. For the LCD image you want the "look vector" of each virtual eye/camera to line up with the line formed by the center of the corresponding eye through the center of it's lens. The center of the rendered image should be 1/2 of your IPD horizontally from the center of the LCD panel. So the bigger the LCD you use the more periphereal (but non binocular) field of view you would have. Which because of our nose mimics our real vision.

Short version is you want the IPD of your real eyes, lenses and virtual eyes to all be the same and be lined up with the look directions of the virtual eyes to get optimal results.

Doom3 BFG edition has console variables to deal with this manually:
stereoRender_warpCenterX
stereoRender_warpCenterY
stereoRender_interOccularCentimeters

(Sorry for the crappy diagram all i have is paint.NET)

[bobjwatts]

OK I am not sure how dumb this question is..here goes.

How would this work ?
If dead center eye spacing on the 7"inch panel was too far apart for my eyes, what would happen if I just moved both lenses the same amount in toward the nose ?

Would that be doing the same thing as lowering seperation in a 3D driver, and just cut down on the 3D effect ?

Let's imagine a commercial version of the Rift that allows you to adjust the interocular distance of the lenses using a dial or slider to match your own IPD. Adjusting this dial could also tell the Rift drivers what your interocular distance is (6cm for example). The game could use this to automatically set the interocular distance of the virtual eyes/cameras to the same distance. For the LCD image you want the "look vector" of each virtual eye/camera to line up with the line formed by the center of the corresponding eye through the center of it's lens. The center of the rendered image should be 1/2 of your IPD horizontally from the center of the LCD panel. So the bigger the LCD you use the more periphereal (but non binocular) field of view you would have. Which because of our nose mimics our real vision.

Short version is you want the IPD of your real eyes, lenses and virtual eyes to all be the same and be lined up with the look directions of the virtual eyes to get optimal results.

Doom3 BFG edition has console variables to deal with this manually:
stereoRender_warpCenterX
stereoRender_warpCenterY
stereoRender_interOccularCentimeters

(Sorry for the crappy diagram all i have is paint.NET)

Thanks tmek, that's a really clear explanation of something that was floating around in my head, it's clear now the concerns with the 7".

[braddas]

Without the SDK or directly compatible games the 5.6" would be the sensible purchase, IMHO. Unless you are a hammerhead shark.

That's a very good point, the number of games that work with these DIY rigs is limited as it is! In any case, it probably won't arrive for at least a few weeks so there's plenty of time to figure out how I'm going to strap the thing to my head.