Best Rift + sensor setup for homebrew stationary VR

[WiredEarp]

I was thinking that a Rift + Hydra setup will be the best for homeVR in a standing stationary setup. JC has said that the Hydra doesn't have a fast enough update for good headtracking, but we know that the Rift is going to have nrp's fast gyro suite tracker anyway, so that will be great for rotations. However, gyro systems cannot do reliable translations by themselves.

I was thinking that a Hydra on the gun/controller and a Hydra on the waist or shoulders will provide a partial solution to much of this. By fusing the hip data stream with the gyro, the gyro can know that the translation (say, when bent over) cannot be beyond a certain point. This will prevent drift from being too excessive. Also, it should be possible to merge the xyz of the Rift to the Hydra hip xyz when the Rift is positioned close to upright (when looking straight ahead etc, for recentering. This setup would allow low latency head tracking, and give us 2 point tracked areas (hips and gun) so we can move in one direction, look in another, and fire in a 3rd. The downside would be whether the error margin will be acceptable or not.

Alternatively, we could mount a Hydra on the Rift, and merge the datastream. We could then use the fast gyro tracker and correct the info using the Hydra. This would be the most accurate solution, the only problem would be that we then lose one of our two Hydra trackers (I believe a gun/hand is essential for good VR). However, maybe a 9DOF gyro could be used in the hips for the turning, although then I believe we would lose infinite crouching ability due to unreliable gyro tracking in that plane.

Does anyone have any input on other methods I could go down to get a full stationary setup once my Rift arrives?

[FingerFlinger]

My plan is to use the Hydra for hand input, and track the head optically, similar to the Project Holodeck setup.

With precise 3DOF tracking from the Rift sensor, it is mathematically possible to determine head translation by tracking just one point, although I don't know if that is practical. It's what I am going to try first, anyway.

EDIT: Or potentially using the Hydra sensors on the player's feet, in conjunction with accelerometers, to make a sort of advanced pedometer.

[marbas]

I'm also planning on using the Hydra in conjunction with the Rift for my software experiments.

What I'm unsure about is if the hydra's magnetic field would interfere with the the Rift tracker's magnetometer ?

[Fredz]

My plan is to use the Hydra for hand input, and track the head optically, similar to the Project Holodeck setup.

That's what I'm trying to do as well for head-tracking, using the PS Move API.

With precise 3DOF tracking from the Rift sensor, it is mathematically possible to determine head translation by tracking just one point, although I don't know if that is practical.

You'd need at least 2 points to get the Z position, but that can be done with the PS Move since its radius is known.

And yes it's practical, you may have a look at my test here using this configuration :
PS Move API head tracking test.
The inertial tracking is not perfect but the optical one is quite good.

[Leahy]

For a sit down VR, with a chair that allows sufficient movement, I considered the idea of using a hydra controller's positional tracking strapped to the rift to simulate walking and strafing based upon head translation. I suppose if the chair allows one could incorporate jumping and crouch based on the translation of the head. Not sure how feasible that would be though. It might be worth a shot to try

[brantlew]

One idea I had was to map the yaw position of the hand controller to the torso direction of the player. So when you swing the controller around it controls your direction of movement - EXCEPT that unlike other control schemes where your head stays in alignment with your torso. The head position always stays in the direction you are looking. This would counteract any nausea affects you might get by swinging the view around with the controller.

So for example, if you are pointing the controller forward, looking forward, and pushing the walk button you will move forward normally. But if you suddenly swing the controller 90 degrees, your view will not change. You will still be looking the same direction but the motion will turn into a "strafe" and you will have to rotate your head if you want to realign with the direction of movement. The gun would always in shoot in the direction of the controller.

So for the Hydra, you could just use the two controllers. One on the head for positional info and one in the hand. You wouldn't need a sensor on your body because your actual torso direction is irrelevant in the game. But for a simple 3DOF setup you could just use the Rift IMU for head direction and a Wiimote for hand controller or something similar.

[FingerFlinger]

With precise 3DOF tracking from the Rift sensor, it is mathematically possible to determine head translation by tracking just one point, although I don't know if that is practical.

You'd need at least 2 points to get the Z position, but that can be done with the PS Move since its radius is known.

I'm planning on using a stereo camera setup.

[123mg123]

What I think could be the best virtual reality setup:
Game: Battlefield 4 or Crysis 3
Rendering: Brigade
3d Audio: LongCat AudioStage
Headphones: Sehnheiser HD 800
Head-Mounted Display: InfinitEye or Oculus Rift DK2
Haptic Feedback: ARAIG
Controller: Delta Six
Body Tracking: Xsens MVN with CyberGlove III
Movement: Virtuix Omni
What do think?

[DrBeef]

With precise 3DOF tracking from the Rift sensor, it is mathematically possible to determine head translation by tracking just one point, although I don't know if that is practical.

You'd need at least 2 points to get the Z position, but that can be done with the PS Move since its radius is known.

I'm planning on using a stereo camera setup.

I wrote a positional tracker using two wii remotes (had to be two to get good Z position even with head rotation) and a wireless sensor bar duct taped to my rift.. but it was a bit cr&p. However I don't have a Hydra (can't get them for love nor money these days) and I am not ordering a DK2 (can't afford it if I am going to buy the consumer version when it comes out).

If anyone really wants to see the source I'll share the github details, but the low FOV of the wiimote, and all the faffing about with bluetooth and the sensor bar makes it little more than a bit of lab tinkering. I'd probably have been better off trying to get FreeTrack to do what I wanted, but I didn't know about it when I started.