Schlagwort: Vive Tracker

  • HTC VIVE Trackers: A Powerful VR Accessory that Can Bring More Reality into Virtual Reality

    HTC VIVE Trackers: A Powerful VR Accessory that Can Bring More Reality into Virtual Reality

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    There has always been the desire to better connect virtual reality with actual reality, and within that desire most noticeably how to bring more from the real-world in. After all, the goal of VR is to make users feel completely immersed in an experience, and if some part of that experience is lacking then it’s harder to let oneself fully embrace the technology. Of course, it all starts with a headset and controllers, but both developers and consumers continue to demand more tools to fully realize their ideas on what VR should be.

    This is where HTC VIVE Trackers play a tremendous role in amplifying VR experience. Think of VIVE Trackers as little pucks that work in concert with VR headsets to offer a greater opportunity to bring elements of the real world into the virtual world. What do we mean? Take for instance, you love to play tennis. So much so, that you recently downloaded a tennis training app to take your playing to the next level. But, holding a controller just doesn’t feel the same as the grip on your favorite racket. Well, a VIVE Tracker connected to a racket accessory, now places an actual racket in your hand in the game! Now, you can feel more comfortable as you smash that overhand serve past your virtual opponent.

    But, VIVE Trackers do so much more than just helping you with your tennis game. They are also an invaluable tool in providing developers and content creators more unique and powerful ways to bring their ideas to life. In fact, VIVE Trackers have been a popular resource for years now, providing that crucial bridge from reality to virtual reality and the other way around. And, what’s neat about VIVE Trackers is their versatility, meaning sometimes you don’t even need a headset to use them to make your masterpiece.

    Take, Blackfish Studio, a Polish technology film studio, who saw the need for more dynamic camera angles for their animated content project for GoPay. Instead of just locking down a camera and filming actors, they wanted to bring the viewer in on all the action and dynamism of the footage. In order to achieve that effect, Blackfish attached a VIVE Tracker to their camera and leveraged specific production software, essentially connecting the camera to virtual space making the viewer feel like they were along for the heart-pounding ride. In the “making of” video here you can see how the camera’s view moves within the virtual space, adding a very dramatic effect that keeps the viewer on their toes.

    Of course, gaming accessories and production are just the tip of the iceberg in demonstrating the power and capability of VIVE Trackers. In the coming weeks, we will continue to bring you examples of the limitless opportunities these nifty little devices can provide. If you are interested in learning more about how VIVE Trackers work, visit www.VIVE.com

    Website: LINK

  • Mario Kart Arcade GP VR Takes Off in Irvine, CA with HTC VIVE

    Mario Kart Arcade GP VR Takes Off in Irvine, CA with HTC VIVE

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    A fan favorite. Reimagined in immersive VIVE VR. Experience it now at VR Zone Portal USA at K1 Speed.

    Mario Kart GP VR & VIVE

    With VIVE headsets and trackers, players can not only play Mario Kart Arcade GP in immersive VR, they can shell and peel riders off course too.

    VR ZONE Portal is a one-of-a-kind virtual reality hub. Originating in Japan and the United Kingdom, this Shinjuku-style arcade experience made waves at Washington D.C.’s historic Union Station last fall. Now, you can catch it—for the time being—at K1 Speed, an indoor go-kart track and family fun center in Irvine, CA.

    At VR ZONE Portal USA / K1 Speed, you can play through an exciting suite of virtual reality games, including: Argyle Shift, an exciting, futuristic mecha battle and flight simulator; Ski Rodeo, a thrilling, steep trial to the bottom of the slopes; and last, but definitely not least, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, a thrill-packed virtual take on the arcade game.

    With use of the HTC VIVE VR system, each game provides a highly immersive experience. Mario Kart Arcade GP VR not only features industry-leading graphics for players, but the ability to reach up and grab classic items like Green and Red Shells with VIVE Tracker technology to drive opponents off-course. Additionally, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR boasts haptic feedback capabilities, creating a truly four-dimensional experience that allows players to feel every twist and turn.

    Mario Kart x VR Zone Portal x VIVE

    Experience the Mario Kart VR phenomenon now at VR ZONE Portal USA / K1 Speed in Irvine, CA. For more information, please visit: https://www.k1speed.com/

    Nick Iftner, Virtual Reality Sales Manager at BANDAI NAMCO Amusement America, says “There is no doubt that Mario Kart Arcade GP VR is one of the most immersive games on the market. With this game, virtual reality joins forces with one of the most popular IPs in the world to create a must-have experience. Players finally get to feel as though they are cruising on tracks and throwing items with their favorite characters. Whether players have known Mario Kart for a long time or are new to the game, all ages will surely enjoy the racing adventure.”

    Website: LINK

  • VIVE & Motion Workshop Bring Full-Body Interaction To VR

    VIVE & Motion Workshop Bring Full-Body Interaction To VR

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Fast, high-quality mocap animation at 400 fps. Brought to you by VIVE Tracker & Shadow® Motion Capture System.

    Erik Bakke is the co-founder of Motion Workshop, a Seattle-based business that focuses on motion sensor technology and motion capture. We invited him to sit down and discuss his signature Shadow Motion Capture System and what he was able to accomplish with VIVE.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWBX6aE4qeA?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Dancer Catriona Urquhart, equipped with the Shadow Motion Capture System and 3 VIVE Trackers, has her movement livestreamed into characters in Unreal Engine.

    Production of animation content has traditionally involved very expensive motion capture setups using dozens of cameras. This limited high-quality animation production to large studios with big budgets. In the past few years, advances in tracking technology have brought excellent quality animation production to smaller budget projects, indie game and film studios, and independent freelance animators.

    Motion Workshop offers a new hybrid tracking system using their Shadow full-body mocap system and HTC VIVE Trackers. The Shadow mocap system provides excellent, fast full-body animation up to 400fps with built-in VIVE Tracker support. The Shadow/VIVE setup provides drift-free position tracking and smooth, accurate full-body joint animation. Plus, VIVE Trackers can be added for virtual camera, prop, and object tracking.

    With the included plugins you can livestream into Unreal Engine and Unity game engines. Character animation, props, and cameras are all available in one easy-to-use data stream inside the game engine.

    In a recent mocap shoot with dancer Catriona Urquhart from Cornish College of the Arts, we used the Shadow mocap system with 3 VIVE Trackers to livestream the dancer’s motions onto a AAA game character in Unreal Engine. We started with the free Paragon characters from the Unreal Marketplace and retargeted the animation in real time using Autodesk Motion Builder. The results were composited and rendered in near-real time using the Composure tool in Unreal Engine.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=338xxSMqMoo?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    This setup is ideal for virtual production and doesn’t require a large team or a dedicated mocap stage to create great content. For very small teams, these tools are helpful in getting animation content and rendering/compositing arranged in one place for quick and reliable delivery.

    ***

    Shadow Mocap Plugin
    Shadow Mocap plugins are available for free on the Unreal Marketplace and Unity asset store. The Shadow Mocap system is available for purchase at motionshadow.com

    Website: LINK

  • VIVE Pro Eye Simplifies Input & Navigation for MLB Home Run Derby VR

    VIVE Pro Eye Simplifies Input & Navigation for MLB Home Run Derby VR

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Precision eye tracking eliminates the need for handheld controllers in VR, creating an incredible access point for first-time users.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk70dm3nCfc?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

    Sports are all about moments. No one knows that better than Major League Baseball (MLB). The way we, the fans, absorb those moments are changing all the time. We’ve gone from peering over fences, relaying what we’ve seen to friends and family to huddling around the radio, to television, collectively sharing our amazement and disbelief. In the 21st century, though, digital mediums reign supreme as fans connect with the game through apps, streaming, and social media. And now, there’s another medium making its way to the baseball experience lexicon: virtual reality.

    MLB Home Run Derby 2018

    A moonshot in MLB Home Run Derby VR.

    Last year at MLB All-Star Week in Washington, D.C., VIVE Pro presented a unique VR video game experience in a whole new way as MLB held its first-ever Virtual Reality Home Run Derby Tournament championship competition. More than 300,000 people in attendance and millions through Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch livestreams watched fans of all ages step up to the plate and swing for the fences in MLB Home Run Derby VR.

    Needless to say, and forgive the pun, it was a big hit.

    But the 2018 Home Run Derby VR Competition was just the beginning. For the 2019 season, MLB worked with clubs to bring Home Run Derby VR on VIVE Pro to select ballparks across North America so fans can immerse themselves in this all-star VR experience while watching their favorite team.

    VIVE Pro Eye Precision Eye Tracking

    VIVE Pro Eye’s precision eye tracking make VR experiences more intuitive for fans.

    Now, MLB continues to take its virtual reality game to new heights with VIVE’s latest product: VIVE Pro Eye. Rolling out later this year and beyond, this next-generation system will enable fans to immerse themselves further in Home Run Derby VR by enabling a more accessible and more intuitive simulation.

    Whereas other virtual reality systems fall back on familiar game controls and mechanics, VIVE Pro Eye’s integrated eye tracking allows people to navigate Home Run Derby VR through sight alone. Eye tracking follows and analyzes where users are looking, enabling gaze-oriented menu navigation and hands-free pointing, zooming, and selection.

    What does that mean for fans? No more complicated menus. No more ham-fisted VR controllers. Just a streamlined user interface and a more fluid user experience where fans can get right to swinging with less roadblocks and frustration—an incredible first access point for users intimidated by, uncomfortable with, or simply unsure of VR.

    Play Home Run Derby VR on VIVE Pro as part of this year’s All-Star Week in Cleveland at PLAY BALL PARK or on any of your visits to the following ballparks across North America:

    Arizona Diamondbacks – Chase Field
    Atlanta Braves – SunTrust Park
    Boston Red Sox – Fenway Park
    Chicago White Sox – Guaranteed Rate Field
    Cincinnati Reds – Great American Ball Park
    Cleveland Indians – Progressive Field
    Houston Astros – Minute Maid Park
    Miami Marlins – Marlins Park
    Minnesota Twins – Target Field
    Pittsburgh Pirates – PNC Park
    Philadelphia Phillies – Citizens Bank Park
    San Diego Padres – Petco Park
    San Francisco Giants – Oracle Park
    St. Louis Cardinals – Busch Stadium
    Toronto Blue Jays – Rogers Centre

    Website: LINK

  • Developing for the Vive Tracker with the VRUnicorns

    Developing for the Vive Tracker with the VRUnicorns

    Reading Time: 6 minutes

    With Vive Trackers and the Racket Sports Set becoming available soon, we chatted with the mystical developers at VRUnicorns, who are bringing compatibility with the new accessories to their hashtagged VR titles.

    Being “game jammers by heart” our questions were answered by Horatiu Roman (Chief Technical Unicorn), and Julie Heyde (#ChickenBitch) of VRUnicorns.

    For those who aren’t familiar, tell us a little about you, and your projects over at VR Unicorns!

    We’ve been creating VR games since Julie stole an Oculus DK1 from the Copenhagen Unity office back in spring 2013, but our worlds were changed when we received the Vive in summer 2015. We are game jammers by heart and started jamming out various crazy semi realistic sports games although we were supposed to work on a Norse mythology horror game called RagnarokVR.

    One day Horatiu made the very first version of #SelfieTennis, and it was so fun to play that we cancelled RagnarokVR. We started working on #SkiJump around the same time and then later teamed up with The Swedish part of VRUnicorns on #Archery. When Julie was high on steroids last year she came up with the idea for #Utopia and suddenly we had 4 games in development.

    Okay, what’s the deal with all the hashtags.

    #-tagging everything started as a joke as Julie really hates hashtags. So it’s more of a pun-on-pun than anything else, but now we are stuck with hashtags. Forever.

    While we’re talking about existing projects, how did you come up with the ideas for these games?

    #SelfieTennis was seeded when Horatiu, Milan and Julie had a late night idea jamming in the office and Milan came up with the idea of playing tennis with yourself. So Horatiu decided to jam up a game called #SelfieTennis the next day and asked Julie if she wanted to play tennis with herself and she was game. About a week later we dropped the game we had been working on for 2+ years and then went all in on semi-realistic sports games and they are so much fun!

    #SelfieTennis

    #Archery started at a Vive Jam in Copenhagen that Julie was part of organizing. Max brought Jakob with him to Copenhagen from Stockholm (where Max and Julie had hosted another Vive Jam a few months prior and Jakob and Julie met for the first time). Jakob and Max worked on a game called Pizzahood where you made pizzas with bow and arrow and Julie loved it. A few months later Jakob and Max joined VRUnicorns and Julie forced them to rename the game #Archery. #Archery will launch just before Xmas 2017.

    #SkiJump started back in 2015 around the time of #SelfieTennis as Thorsten S. Wiedemann (organizer of A MAZE Festival) came to Copenhagen to visit us. So Julie asked Horatiu if we could make a surprise for Thorsten as he used to be a professional ski jumper. Thorsten loved it and worked on it for a bit with us and we have promised him to release it SOON.

    #Utopia was an idea forming in Julie’s head when she was very sick with sarcoidosis and floating around on her back in a kayak in the ocean in Danish Winter high on steroids. She discussed the idea with Mauro and then somehow convinced Rami and Horatiu that we should make a version of #Utopia ready for GDC 2017. They said yes for odd reasons, but partially just because they were happy to have her back to work. And on steroids. We have no idea when #Utopia will release, but Julie wants to upload her soul to it and dispose her body. One day.

    Let’s talk about the Vive Tracker! Did you find it easy to add Vive Tracker into your existing VR development setup?

    We have already used the trackers for quite a while in #SkiJump with the animation system that Horatiu has created. We basically have a mocap system based on the trackers and recording directly in Unity, so don’t need to hand animate our characters. We were working on #SkiJump the day we received the racket tracker, so we decided to add a ponycorn to the tracker and jump around on #MountPony and shoot with bow & arrow. The implementation took a few minutes and then we were testing. The following days we jumped back to #SelfieTennis and upgraded it to the latest Unity version and then we added the Ponycorn to the tracker, so you can jump around the court with the tracker between your legs while using tools in both your hands – or just play tennis, but get all the tricky balls you play yourself easier than when standing still.

    #SelfieTennis

    How about adjusting your code – was it easy to integrate?

    The racket tracker was very easy to integrate and we have added new features to #SelfieTennis so the gameplay is hella fun with the racket tracker. The best thing about the racket tracker is its limitation: it has no buttons, therefore designing around that makes for more interesting ideas of what you can do in the game – everything that happens is more automatic and you just play and hit stuff. 

    Are there any ‘dream projects’ you now realize you can create with the Vive Tracker?

    One of our main dreams has already come true in terms of animating our characters with the trackers and our own bodies instead of spending hours animating in a 3D tool. This is also very beneficial for Julie as she gets a lot of pain working on a computer due to her condition whereas spending time in the Vive moving around works as an instant pain relief. So suddenly game development is not so damaging to her body and she can work for much longer on a daily basis.

    Once we got our hands on the trackers we had many ideas for their use, since we’ve already worked with alternative controllers for games. Horatiu is a piano and guitar player and he has been experimenting with bringing musical instruments in VR for a while, and the trackers are making this easier than ever. Another prototype we played with is a hammock game where the player is on a real hammock, while in VR, and has to shake the hammock to get clowns to fall off the ropes before they get too close… And when we got our hands on the racket tracker, we mostly had ideas for it that had nothing to do with tennis: use it as a giant spoon, a paddle for #SelfieKayaking, a wrench or a suitcase (if you hold it from the opposite end…). And of course as a #Ponycorn.

    What most surprised you about using the Tracker? What was an unexpected bonus, if anything?

    We have always loved the Vive and the overall tracking system with the base stations, but we were still happily surprised about how well the trackers work and how accurate they are. The trackers are a blast to work with and we are using them daily during development.

    Do you think the future of VR is in full-body tracking, or is that not necessary for a truly immersive experience?

    We are currently mainly using the trackers during development of our games, but we do a lot of tests on players and we see how much they love the animation system and bringing characters to life with their own movements in VR. We can definitely see a future of full body tracking in VR and we have already created a variety of locomotion mechanics over the years where trackers can work as a huge add-on.

    Thanks for talking with us, VRUnicorns!

    #SelfieTennis and #Archery are available in Viveport Subscription. The Racket Sports Set, including a Vive Tracker and handles for tennis and ping-pong, will be available in December. More details here.

    Website: LINK