Ezra Harris

Category: VR

  • Getting Started on Unity with Meta Quest 2 in VR

    Recently I fell down another rabbit hole. And that hole is about using Unity (a game design engine) with VR. Unity by itself is very capable and also complicated for the beginning user. The way I got set up is I used a YouTuber by the name of Justin P Barnett. He made a significant update to one of his original tutorials on how to get started with Unity in VR. He has also, to this day, made excellent tutorials on other aspects of unity configuration with VR, which I highly recommend you watch as they are beneficial for beginners.

    In his video, he has you set up and install Unity and get the correct mods and assets you need to get it working with the Quest 2 controllers and headset. Overall the beginning setup progress is really relatively easy to get set up. Justin also has a free template for just automating the process of getting the quest 2 headsets to work with Unity, which he published here.

    The best way I’ve found is to use Unity with VR and not have to take off the headset every time I want to test the program. I use the oculus menu to open my desktop monitors and usually use my mouse and keyboard.

    I started a C# (pronounced “see sharp”) course on CodeCademy to get the basics of coding with Unity and took their beginner course on coding with C#. To be able to code in Unity, as it runs on C#. Then I can actually write scripts which then can be used to create interactive games.

    (please note I am a beginner with Unity and only have a couple of hours of experience as of writing this)

    And if you’re interested in getting started, a group of Youtubers (including Justin Barnett) created a game jam. A game jam is where you usually have a week or two and try to build a game based on the theme they set. Then the judges decide which game is the best based on the strongest attributes of the game, link to join below:

    https://itch.io/jam/vrjam2022

  • Meta Quest 2’s Hand Tracking Controllers

    I bought my first VR headset, the Meta Quest 2, in September 2021. ever since then, I’ve been amazed at the technology from one of the cheapest VR headsets with a lot of capability and elegant features for the price. One of the really amazing things when I first put on the headset was the controller hand tracking. At first, I was confused because it was tracking where my fingers were on the controller. The demo and actual games with full hands (which is most VR games) work well. And it shows how immersive it is to use your actual fingers in the “metaverse” to interact with virtual objects., This, combined with the vibration motors, play wonderfully, making it almost feel like you’re picking up an actual thing.

    From what I’ve found online and actually seen when taking apart the controller, the controllers have a ring that goes around the main controls such as the thumb rest, joystick, a/b buttons, etc. At first, it seems like it used sensors inside that ring to sense where your fingers are, but after more research, I don’t believe it does. Although I’m not sure, the sensor-like parts in the ring are currently being used.

    matty_mac_21 on ifixit

    The Quest 2’s controllers instead have a simple way of handling the finger placement tracking. It uses capacitive controls for all of the buttons and the thumbstick. A lot of devices feature capacitive touch thumbsticks, as well as Meta’s competitor in the VR space, Steam’s Vive Headset, a user posted on Reddit about a cable coming from the main thumbstick cap:

    Posted by Lightcap- on Reddit.

    This was the primary response in the comments:

    Capacitive sensors touch work in a way that your own body is being used as an electrical charge conductor that the device can react to. Almost every smartphone uses this same technology for its touchscreen. (more info about it at the bottom)

    I also found another post about one of the original Oculus Touch controllers in which a user went into detail about how the tracking works on the controllers. I found this extremely informative. I recommend you read it. Link to the post here. They also attached an image with their reply showing different positions the quest’s controller can track your finger using the aforementioned capacitive touch sensors, which are represented by the marked blue spots on the controller:

    this is a separate design controller, but I believe Meta still used this same function with the Quest 2 controllers.

    Overall this is really fascinating to find out how different companies use capacitive touch sensors with various controllers to find where your finger is placed, which execute well to make the games more immersive.

    If you have comments about this post, let me know below. If I missed some vital information / or mistakenly wrote about Quest 2’s technology, let me know below. (I am not a professional in this tech space, but I am curious to learn more about it.)

    Reference and more info links:
    “Do Oculus touch controllers have finger tracking” in depth on how the capacitive sensors work on the original design touch controllers:

    Do touch controllers have finger tracking?
    byu/kallenl8 inoculus

    “Meta Quest 2 controller breakdown and guide” I found this extremely helpful in taking apart my controller:

    https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Oculus+Quest+2+Controller+Disassembly/147947

    “how touch sensors work” this explains how the capacitive touch sensors you see more often work:

    https://www.arrow.com/en/research-and-events/articles/how-touch-sensors-work

    “What purpose does this cable have?” Reddit post asking what the purpose of the cable is for on the Vive VR headset:

    What purpose does this cable have?
    byu/LightCap- inValveIndex

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