DIY Oculus Rift - schematics, instructions and build pics!

Post by **Jose** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:21 pm

I think even when the devkits ship, open source enthusiasts will probably still be building these. There are still people who build open source rep rap 3d printers, even though there are much better commercially produced 3d printers available.

Post by **PalmerTech** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:34 pm

PinkTyGRR wrote:This is so awesome! thanks for the awesome and detailed instructions that you also presented.
I've tried waiting for my rift to come in but i've caved and started ordering parts to build a low budget diy headmount.

I've seen and read a lot of people using the wii remote in front of the tv/monitor and using infrared lights for head tracking. From my own not very scientific experiments of taping the ir sensor to a hat and then trying with the wiimote on the hat it seemed like the wiimote on the head was more stable and accurate for tracking.

I'm wondering if anyone had experience with one being more accurate and responsive than the other for head tracking ignoring the fact that a couple ir lights are much lighter than a wiimote.

The WiiMote is going to be better, since it has onboard accelerometers (And gyro, in the Wii Motion Plus). If you are willing to take one apart, you can get the weight way, way down, and you can relocate the batteries to someplace more convenient.

Post by **Namielus** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 10:55 am

I simplified my foam design when I realises how close it actually needs to be.
Roughly described here. I chose glass fibre because it was actually lighter than
the thinnes carbon fibre cloth I could find at the time. (weird)

I needed part of the foam to be inside the goggles, thus the design chosen.
Its possible to wrap the foam and the frame for the lenses without the goggles and then mounting that later,
or alternatively i could wrap around the goggles too, but I would have to put more foam pieces in to
support the glass fibre while drying.

The picture is incorrect in saying its 65mm IPD, its actually 63.

PS: My hot wire cutter was broken, so I had to heat up a hacksaw to make the cut, making the cuts very crude.

Post by **geekmaster** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:31 am

@Namielus: I see that your cut lenses appear that they may touch the side of the nose like my fresnel lens stacks, in which case your setup may also allow you to see VR images "behind" your nose, giving beyond natural "inside" FoV (no visible nose occlusion).

Post by **Namielus** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 11:37 am

I didn't think about that. I just needed to cut them to get them closer to my eyes and also to fit in the goggles.
Interesting. I just need to know if people can spot any errors because I only get one shot.
Once the glass fibre+epoxy cures, its going to be stuck that way

Post by **German** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:13 pm

As long as you have accounted for the goggle foam flattening out once put it on, it looks okay to me.

Post by **Namielus** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:15 pm

Well I think I will leave the goggles off anyway, that way if I need to move even closer I can cut away from the front of the goggle rims to get it closer.
That said, I think im good

Post by **alienatorZ** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 4:37 pm

Has anyone tried a rectangular lens such as http://www.bernell.com/product/21/227 ?

I wonder if it would give more visibility to the peripheral vision.

Post by **Mel** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:06 pm

alienatorZ wrote:Has anyone tried a rectangular lens such as http://www.bernell.com/product/21/227 ?

I wonder if it would give more visibility to the peripheral vision.

It mentions 'bifocal' in the product description. I wonder how it's bifercated? Also, I think it would be best to try them out in portrait orientation to match the screen halves.

Post by **geekmaster** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:10 pm

alienatorZ wrote:Has anyone tried a rectangular lens such as http://www.bernell.com/product/21/227 ?

I wonder if it would give more visibility to the peripheral vision.

That 10-inch focal length seems a bit too much. A smaller focal length would need a thicker lens, and larger diameter even thicker (and heavier).

I wish we could find a nice hybrid lens that meets our needs, with solid aspheric center zone with fresnel outer zone, to keep weight down while increasing the total FoV.

Post by **alienatorZ** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:11 pm

Mel wrote:
alienatorZ wrote:Has anyone tried a rectangular lens such as http://www.bernell.com/product/21/227 ?

I wonder if it would give more visibility to the peripheral vision.
It mentions 'bifocal' in the product description. I wonder how it's bifercated? Also, I think it would be best to try them out in portrait orientation to match the screen halves.

Yes I saw that after I had posted. I just wonder if there is still the need to warp the image if a rectangular lens is used.

Im looking to see if i can find a source of cheap ones that may work and try them out. I have the recommended lenses on the way and my panel is on the slow boat from China.

Post by **Diorama** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:41 pm

geekmaster wrote: I wish we could find a nice hybrid lens that meets our needs, with solid aspheric center zone with fresnel outer zone, to keep weight down while increasing the total FoV.

Just wait, when* the Rift is successful, Sony and others will either have to keep up or fall by the wayside. That's when it begins, the moment we have waited up to 20 years for.....the 'immersion wars', as HMDs come out left right and centre, every year higher resolutions, every year better lenses, every year lighter hmds, higher field of view, lower prices. Eye tracking, depth of field, RealBright™ OLED screens with such a high contrast ratio and realism that staring at the sun hurts, binaural sound, real-time raytracing, smart-phone VR, I need a cold shower.

*not 'if'

Post by **3dvison** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:46 pm

I came up with a lens combo that works great with the 5.6 inch screen.
I like it beacause it has just enough magnification to push the screen edge just a hair short of being out of view, so you don't need to put black tape on the outer edges of the lens like you have to with the 2″ 5x pocket loupe magnifier, and the larger diameter makes you feel less like you are looking through tubes.

The only down side is weight because it uses the Anchor Optics Double Convex Lens AX73424 62.8mm dia. x 72.4mm FL that is used in the leep on the cheap but I use it as the top eyepiece not as the bottom Objective lens, for the bottom Objective lens, I use the UltraOptix 3" Round with 4X power(Link below) it is atleast plastic for less weight.
I place both with the flat side up curve side down.

The thing I love the most is having more lens to the sides so you feel less like you are looking through tubes. You now have an almost 2.5 inch eyepiece to look through instead of the 2inch dia. pocket loop.

Eyepiece lens AX73424 62.8mm dia. x 72.4mm FL http://www.anchoroptics.com/catalog/pro ... &iid=20087
Objective lens http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019N ... 01_s00_i00

The funny thing is I forget why I did not use two of the plastic UltraOptix 3" Round lense, which would be lighter. I think I tryed that combo but forget the out come and why I did not use them.
I have my current lens combo glued together and don't want to take it apart to find out .

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 4:43 pm

How many people have successfully extended their LVDS cables? For seated VR it seems to make sense to move the controller board into its own enclosure ala the Rift's design - less weight on the goggles, lighter cabling to the screen.. Does anyone know the practical limits on LVDS cable length and have any other advice for doing this? I've seen people around the net using cat 5e cable for the twisted pairs so I guess that's a start.

Post by **Dycus** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 5:25 pm

I have.

6ft seems to be the limit if you do it well. HDMI cables work a charm and have enough pins for USB and LVDS.

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Fri Feb 15, 2013 6:45 pm

Hah, I bet you have.

6 feet sounds promising. Are there wires with a thick enough gauge to send power through a modified HDMI cable? I'll have to check out the spec to see what sorts of twisted pairs are in there.

On a completely different note, I've been playing around in photoshop to see what sort of overlap I can expect out of a 7" screen assuming the width of a 5.8" screen gives 100% overlap. I worked out you get about 81% overlap, or about 121 pixels of non-overlapped peripheral vision on either side of the screen. Looks a bit like the image I've attached. Not sure what the FOV is of the random image I used to base this off.

Post by **cert** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:25 am

is 81% overlap comparable to the natural human view? humans dont have a 100% overlap (normally

)

Post by **Dycus** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 1:57 am

AdaAugmented wrote:Hah, I bet you have. 6 feet sounds promising. Are there wires with a thick enough gauge to send power through a modified HDMI cable? I'll have to check out the spec to see what sorts of twisted pairs are in there.

LVDS generates very little current, unless you were planning on doing something else.

If you are considering running LVDS over HDMI, there's a post explaining how to do it in here somewhere. You just need a passive cable; not too hard to find. Just get the cheap ones.

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:55 am

Dycus wrote:LVDS generates very little current, unless you were planning on doing something else.

If you are considering running LVDS over HDMI, there's a post explaining how to do it in here somewhere. You just need a passive cable; not too hard to find. Just get the cheap ones.

Thanks for the hints. I'll have to do some experimenting to see what I can come up with. I imagine ideally one would break out the sockets on the LCD panel and controller to HDMI sockets on their respective housings and then run an unmodified cable between the two. I'll search around when the time comes and see if I can find the post you mentioned.

Post by **Matoz** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 3:57 am

Dycus wrote:
AdaAugmented wrote:Hah, I bet you have. 6 feet sounds promising. Are there wires with a thick enough gauge to send power through a modified HDMI cable? I'll have to check out the spec to see what sorts of twisted pairs are in there.
LVDS generates very little current, unless you were planning on doing something else.

If you are considering running LVDS over HDMI, there's a post explaining how to do it in here somewhere. You just need a passive cable; not too hard to find. Just get the cheap ones.

See this post: http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=15554
I have used this connector: http://www.reichelt.de/HDMI-DVI-VGA-Ver ... OFFSET=100&

I hope this helps!

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 5:02 am

Oh thanks! that is helpful.

Post by **3dvison** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 4:39 pm

Anyone know if there is a way to run 7 in 1 board used with a 5.6 inch screen without the keypad for the 7 in 1 board connected ?

Post by **Dycus** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:17 pm

Yes... unplug the keypad.

Post by **3dvison** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:34 pm

Dycus wrote:Yes... unplug the keypad.

LOL..I did that, but then the LCD never turns on without a power button to press ???

Post by **Namielus** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:05 pm

I can see the other half of the screen of both eyes. Does that mean I am getting the lenses too close to my eyes?

Post by **German** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:34 pm

Namielus wrote:I can see the other half of the screen of both eyes. Does that mean I am getting the lenses too close to my eyes?

Are you looking at a single image or a side by side 2d/3d image? You can't see anything correctly if you just look at standard video card input.

Set that image Carmack tweeted to your background and then disable icons and hide all windows/gadgets or make a Youtube video full screen.

Post by **Dycus** » Sat Feb 16, 2013 7:35 pm

Press the power button and then unplug it?

All of the 7-in-1's I've used have kept their power states after they've been unplugged. If you turn it on and unplug it, it'll turn on again when you plug it back in.

Post by **misoswan** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:02 am

where i can to buy 7inch with 1920*1200 lcd pane?

Post by **Namielus** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 8:14 am

German wrote:
Namielus wrote:I can see the other half of the screen of both eyes. Does that mean I am getting the lenses too close to my eyes?
Are you looking at a single image or a side by side 2d/3d image? You can't see anything correctly if you just look at standard video card input.

Set that image Carmack tweeted to your background and then disable icons and hide all windows/gadgets or make a Youtube video full screen.

I am using my side-by-side cinema demo. Also tested with different pics.
The problem is I can see across the diving line and see the other half of the screen.
I can see the left side with my right eye and vice versa.

Its distracting. I think its because my eyes are too close to the lenses

Post by **PasticheDonkey** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 8:21 am

you may need larger magnification or a barrier. how's the outside of your view? seeing screen edge?

Post by **3dvison** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:15 pm

Dycus wrote:Press the power button and then unplug it?

All of the 7-in-1's I've used have kept their power states after they've been unplugged. If you turn it on and unplug it, it'll turn on again when you plug it back in.

Thank You Dycus for keeping an eye on this thread.

Post by **3dvison** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:30 pm

For those building with a 5.6 inch screen or any size for that matter, and want to try somthing different with optics, I ordered more of the 3 inch lenses and the results are great.
Placing the bottom lens with the large curve up and the top eyepiece lens with the large curve facing downward. You end up with just enough magnification and looking through a large 3inch lens is so much nicer than the 2 inch 5X lens.

People have said they would like plsatic leep optics, well I think this is better than the Diy leeps I used.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019N ... 01_s00_i00

Post by **German** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 1:36 pm

3dvison wrote: Placing the bottom lens with the large curve up and the top eyepiece lens with the large curve facing downward. You end up with just enough magnification and looking through a large 3inch lens is so much nicer than the 2 inch 5X lens.

You need 4 of these total then, two for each eye? How much of a gap is there between the two lenses, none?

Post by **3dvison** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 2:37 pm

German wrote:
3dvison wrote: Placing the bottom lens with the large curve up and the top eyepiece lens with the large curve facing downward. You end up with just enough magnification and looking through a large 3inch lens is so much nicer than the 2 inch 5X lens.
You need 4 of these total then, two for each eye? How much of a gap is there between the two lenses, none?

Yes 4, 2 for each eyepiece.
When I was testing I had them touching no gap. Put together there will be just a tiny gap, not enough to change anything.

Post by **vrvision** » Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:53 am

Can i use these lenses ,,http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... r347935000

Post by **KBK** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 10:55 am

Dycus wrote:Hot glue is not conductive. Use it to coat everything that needs some strain relief!

Hot melt can eventually loosen over time, as shrinkage and plasticizer outgassing occurs (both wire skin and glue outgass). The combination of shrinkage and plasticizers coming to the surface, as a pair of conditions, that happen over time, is what creates this eventuality. The hotter the area of application (in the finished device in use), the quicker it becomes a problem. I keep a 400 grit sandpaper piece nearby, and use it to roughen the connector body for better grip. This is a DIY solution, obviously, not a production solution. It still ends up being a problem, regardless, if applied to mission critical situations that must be stable over the long term. I try to use correctly spec'ed industrial level hot melt glues for this, if it is to be production (limited production, obviously).

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:00 pm

I'm waiting for my lenses and LCD display to turn up, so in the mean time I've been hacking around a bit in the Darkplaces source port / engine for Quake. Imagine my surprise when I realised there's already side by side stereo in this engine, I probably should have read the documentation a bit better. Anyway the side by side stereo mode that was written into the engine basically draws two very small side by side images each about a 3rd of the width of the screen and with the height scaled to match the aspect ratio of the total resolution.. with a thick black border between them. It looks crap. So I've started adding a "Rift-alike" mode to the code. So far it's just side by side stereo with full res height and no wasted pixels. I've screenshotted a WIP with cross eye mode turned on.

Edit: just added a couple more screenshots with the hud and weapon turned off and eye separation turned way up to emphasise the stereo effect.

Post by **cybereality** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:26 am

That 3D is looking pretty nice, AdaAugmented. Good job.

Do you plan on attempting to pre-warp the image? Might be hard on a pre-shader engine.

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:43 am

This is a port of the GLQuake engine and it looks like there's some degree of GLSL support in there. I'm definitely aiming to get pre-warping in there if I can.. I'd consider this a failed project if I can't manage it. From what I'm seeing around the Quake 1 modding forums though, it's a tough engine to add an arbitrary number of shaders to. Hopefully I'll figure it out.

Post by **AdaAugmented** » Wed Feb 20, 2013 4:28 am

I'm just kinda figuring this out as I go along, but I've borrowed the barrel warp algorithm out of Emerson's Biclops driver and managed to implement it in a fragment shader in the DarkPlaces engine. Now I just need to get it to play nice with the SBS stereo mode. After that I'll see if I can move the origin of the distortion around so it can hopefully be used on those 7"+ HMDs. I should probably make a seperate thread for this if I get far enough along with it.

Edit: After a bit more hacking around I think I might have got it.. there are some artifacts in the areas that don't get drawn with the pre-warp on. But otherwise I think this is okay? A sanity check from people who've been paying attention to this stuff for a bit longer than me would be good.