I’ve had access to the HTC Vive Pre for a few weeks now. During that time I’ve been running tests on the portable rig we use at meetups and meetings.
The lightstands work really well, they have a relatively low footprint and go well above the players head.
But as we get ready for the first generation of modern VR it was time that I outfitted my home office with a more permanent setup like at work.
The HTC Vive uses lighthouse boxes to send tracking data to the headset. These work best when secure so I mounted it to the walls.
The distance between these two points is a little larger then they should be. They want them within 5.5 meters and I’ve got 6.3 but even though it warms me about it I still get great tracking. If at some point things get weird I’ll try to bring them closer. It won’t look as nice though.
For the computer I’m using one of our trusty L-type computers… wait there’s no link to a blog post?! I need to fix that soon! In the meantime here’s a tweet.
At first I thought having a dedicated PC would be overkill and a hassle but there are some serious advantages. My original plan was to run VR at home with my main machine, I even have a custom port built for it but I ran into so many problems with that I don’t recommend main PC for VR at all anymore.
This isn’t that different of a stance for me really, I was a console user for years so I could keep my computer free for rendering and its settings ideal. I only switched to PC for gaming 3 years ago and started with a standalone box for the living room before I switched to steam link.
So yea, get a stand alone box as soon as you can!
One of the advantages this setup gives me is an extended platform for the headsets themselves.
I picked up the cabinet and the top plate at recycle centers about 10 years apart. they come together great.
The top plate;s original purpose was as some kind of display, maybe for a tv. It had movable pins in it that were prefect for holding the Vive’s control box.
The box is held by veclro for easy removability but the pins stop me from yanking it out and damaging the system while in use.
I’m really happy with the way this came out. This rig is close enough that I can use it at the desk for seated stuff without having to move anything but the HMD.
I get the best of room scale and seated along with all the custom features of my desk.
Our Oculus Rift dosn’t arrive for another week or so but as far as I can tell my system and body are ready.
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