(Part 3) Top products from r/virtualreality

(These are all (non-fiction) books. If you want research papers I can give you a bibliography of things you might find a few interesting things within.)

Virtual Reality by Howard Rheingold is a very good place to start for a founding in the history of VR (right back to the invention of the HMD by Ivan Sutherland in the 1960's) but was written before the current reignited interest in VR that Oculus has triggered;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Reality-Revolutionary-Computer-Generated-Worlds--And/dp/0671778978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396019470&sr=8-1&keywords=virtual+reality+howard

If you like Rheingold's writing style then The Virtual Community might be of interest to you. Not directly related to VR, but as VR becomes more mainstream (& especially with players such as Facebook expressing interest) it is only a matter of time until VR becomes a popular interface to virtual communities;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262681218/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If such sociological aspects of computers/VR interest you, then Sherry Turkle's books are fascinating;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262701111/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0684833484/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262012707/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As somebody else already mentioned, Infinite Reality is a nice read, but is very 'light' on science/technical detail;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0061809500/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you like your cyberpunk fiction then Cyberspace: First Steps is great - it even has a foreword written by William Gibson;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262521776/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For more of a brain-fuck read, take a look at The Cyborg Experiments;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/082645903X/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For basic virtual environment/virtual world background I can recommend these two (Richard Bartle is the guy who invented MUD1);

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0131018167/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0631182144/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And if by 'the VR experience' you mean 'immersion' or 'the sense of presence' then the first section of Virtual Space is a good start before diving into back issues of MIT Presence;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Space-Spatiality-Inhabited-Worlds/dp/1447111001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396019722&sr=8-1&keywords=virtual+space+spatiality

Monoprice Cabernet Ultra Certified High Speed Active HDMI Cable 35ft Supports Ethernet 3D Audio Return and CL2 Rated https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016KOPUG8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0IEwzb0Y2AWQ7

IOGEAR USB 2.0 Booster Extension Cable, 39 Feet, GUE2118 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003K1L85C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EJEwzb7D0GVW9

These are the two cables I used and they work perfectly. I connected them together so it acts like 1 cable.

And is nice to mirror for spectators, it does audio and video. https://imgur.com/a/ogNdl Plus when you need to talk a beginner through an area its much better to see what they are doing. The Steam link was just on sale for $15, I bought 2 for $20 each during the spring sale. The links also cool for playing slower paced games like Skyrim on a big screen from the couch. You need to have it hard wired or on a 5ghz wifi or the quality is pretty bad, for spectating its not such a big deal tho.


One down side to extending the vive is seated games that use a keyboard and mouse might be better played at your computer desk but your lighthouses are mounted in another room. A work around for this is to have one of your lighthouses on a quick release wall mount, you really only need 1 lighthouse for a seat 270 degree experience so you can quick release a lighthouse and move it to your computer room. Theres not a lot of seated games but there are a few good ones that people put a lot of time into. So this is the work around, IMO its the best of both worlds. Room scale really needs as much room as you can through at it; Swinging swords, throwing grenades, diving down to the ground, shooting prone. Its well worth it. Also I haven't used it yet but apparently the Steam link has a usb extension feature that supposedly allows you to use a keyboard and mouse remotely without any input lag but I haven't tried it yet since I play room scale games only at this point. I just thought Id mention this before you run into it yourself.

Ignore Carmack (on this one, very specific issue). His conceptual model of what a UI is, can be, and should be, are extremely one directional, vision-centric, and rooted in ancient PARC UIs made for a completely different medium under totally different constraints. VR is a spatial medium by nature, and it simulates the real physical world. In VR, the world IS the interface. You don't need to conceptualize the UI as a separate thing at all. There are only interaction mechanics. You are designing for a mind, not for a rectangle.

To really hammer this home, I recommend studying the following titles:

• Job Simulator
  
  
• Rick and Morty VR
  
  
• Vacation Simulator
  
  And reading the following books:
  
  
• The design of everyday Things by Don Norman
  
  
• The body Has a Mind of its own
  
  
• 3D User Interfaces, Theory and Practice
  
  Be a bit critical of that last one - it's is all very old research. it's good for foundation but do not just copy what they've made, use it to synthesize new ideas.
  
  Leap Motion's blog is also an invaluable source of 3d human computer interaction design wisdom. They recently did a series of interaction design sprints that explore 3d physical interactions
  
  I've also gone through their blog and pulled out a bunch of articles that I found the most interesting and useful in my work:
  
  General design:
  http://blog.leapmotion.com/designing-intuitive-applications/
  
  Fictional UI:
  http://blog.leapmotion.com/fictional-uis-influence-todays-motion-controls/
  
  Vlog FUI pt 1:https://vimeo.com/103174872
  
  https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/03/sci-fi-interaction-designers-gestural-interfaces/
  
  3d OS:
  http://blog.leapmotion.com/truly-3d-operating-system-look-like/
  
  Sound in VR: http://blog.leapmotion.com/4-ways-unleash-power-sound-vr/
  
  http://blog.leapmotion.com/explorations-vr-design/
  
  If you get the chance you should play their Blocks demo to see the kind of UX that can teach a completely un-initiated VR user how to interact with a virtual world in an exceptional way. If you really care about HCI, you owe it to yourself to grab one of their devices and go all in on it. It really is an incredible new area to explore and will eventually reveal 2D-only interaction models to be the ancient dinosaurs they are.

Sorry! Should have specified

• So here are the headphones - these are identical to what's on the CV1, and the exact same driver as the award winning koss porta pros
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006B486K/
  
  • (The housing is silver - wanted black to match the headset - so I went with sporta-pros https://www.amazon.com/Koss-155475-SportaPro-Stereo-Headphones/dp/B00001P505 for a few bucks more.= - just note you can't do the 'bend' mod below)
    
• If you just want the speakers and want to terminate your only custom-length 3.5mm cables (since the rift s has 2 3.5mm jacks) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32851689592.html
  
  
• Now, easiest thing to do is just bend them to hand, something like this: https://imgur.com/gallery/V7zKoN9
  
• you can also get 3d printed mounts that replace the plastic clips/headbands like this (the route I took)
  
• Here are some examples:
  
  • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3664007
    
  • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3665883
    
  • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3646364
    
    ​
    
    ​
    
    Hope this helps :)

Get Touch. It'll be the best $99 you ever spent.

Touch actually comes with $50 of free games (Robo Recall + Dead and Buried) and $60 of free creativity apps (Oculus Medium + Quill) - so it's incredibly good value!

---

No, you can't use a splitter with the Rift. Get a DisplayPort to HDMI cable for your 2nd monitor and have the Rift plugged directly into the HDMI

wow, I haven't seen a vr backpack like this, I was thinking like a gaming laptop with a backpack mesh https://www.amazon.com/ASICS-ZR450-Mesh-Backpack/dp/B0049H8UVQ

Would love to see a video, if going outdoors, make sure you are in the shadows, sun hitting the sensors will make the controllers unusable as I heard.

http://youtu.be/QZefOe7mhWI?t=22m40s

About GUIS...

Developers are doing some good experiments with LeapMotion you could take as reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phn3Ix-YxPA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UywbvH2Sfwc

A VR design manifesto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3b8hZ5NV2E

Articles about what works and what doesn't in VR experiences. It's REALLY good. There aren't too much articles, so you could read the blog in a few hours. It's really worth reading, and a pity at the same time because the author doesn't update it.
https://www.twentymilliseconds.com/

Books... I bought this one which was recommended at r/Oculus. I haven't had enough time to check it, but considering the feedback from r/Oculus and Amazon, it looks great. The problem is the book it's not very common, I bought one used for ~ 30$ (new ones were about 80$, and I am not even a US citizen, so shipping would be expensive).

3d User Interfaces (Theory and practice) (A snippet)

http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780201758672/samplepages/0201758679.pdf

Hope this helps somehow.

Brainwashing though. They pay THX money to get the certificate so they can charge more.

I presented you a review of one of the best TV reviewing sites in the web. In-depth. If you want to pay more for nothing, that's your decision. Just wanted to (seriously) help.

Even cheap (!) sound sytems get a THX certificate...Do you really want to say that these THX-certified speakers blow a $1000 system out of the water? Just because a certificate? Probably not even a same priced sound system. Because they didn't have to pay for a certificate. Same with TVs.

I've been using a Blue Yeti USB mic - https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Yeti-USB-Microphone-Silver/dp/B002VA464S

It sounds pretty good! In Streamlabs I added a little bit of gain to it. The background hiss is from a fan in the room: https://www.twitch.tv/humanmodevr/clip/PlausiblePlacidLardKreygasm

I've tried using a Sennheiser wireless mic with a Zoom H6N connected to the computer via USB, but for some reason Streamlabs pitches up the audio and I sound like a chipmunk, lol. Idk why.

Cardboard is ok to see if you even like VR, but Amazon sells really cheap headsets of much better quality that are more comfy.

I got these recently and they're much better and more comfy.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B016ULRGPE/ref=sxts1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473607001&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

This book's a great starting point http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Reality-Projects-Jonathan-Linowes/dp/178398855X/

Of course I'm a little biased since I'm the author, but it has good reviews too :). Feel free to ask me any questions.

Some of the WMR headsets go on sale for sub $150 quite often. I don't think they are having quite the market splash that was projected, and as a result get slashed often.

​

Currently the best deal I see is the HP WMR + Touch controllers for $159.99 for a refurb unit. Pretty good deal IMO. Hardware is comparable to Vive and Rift, with maybe a few less bells and whistles. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSFYJKD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_TADIBbR21ZMT8

Hmm, it does say gamepad support on the steam page. What have you tried doing so far? From what I've read, it seems to just work with an Xbox controller or equivalent

Also

HP - Mixed Reality Headset and Motion Controllers (2018) (Renewed) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CSFYJKD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xgsHDbKNC9ZC0

And
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F123912020503

Both of those are about $200ish which is an amazing price for full room scale vr.

These:

https://www.amazon.com/Koss-Porta-Headphones-Black-Silver/dp/B00001P4ZH/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=koss+headphones&qid=1558406870&s=gateway&sr=8-5

or

https://www.amazon.com/Koss-KSC75-Portable-Stereophone-Headphones/dp/B0006B486K/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=koss+headphones&qid=1558406960&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Koss is imo the best you can get under $100. Most over ear choices might not work the best with Rift S due to the strap, but there haven't been many sources that tested out different headphones. Come release tomorrow, we'll start to get a better idea of which over-ears work and which don't.

I thought they were all the same at that price - derivatives of the basic Google Cardboard V2 design. But I've been happily amazed by the Magicoo, a hard-shell with a headstrap, button, good light blocking, reasonable padding, and a removable view-through window for AR. It looks like a Star Wars stormtrooper training accessory.

https://www.amazon.com/Glasses-MagiCoo-Virtual-Reality-Smartphone/dp/B016ULRGPE/

get a hose boom.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M6VKQW/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687682&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0061Y99ZG&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1P8RAQSV2FQR579GB82F

56 dollars. Free shipping.

Ascension was originally a board game. It's been adapted to iOS, Android and the PC. The PC version seems referenced by your link. This is a whole new version designed and developed for VR. I haven't played Dragonfront, but my take is Ascension is more designed to be a boardgame in VR w/ all the player/player interaction, vs Dragonfront being VR game with boardgame like design - kinda two different interpretations.

The book comes out next Tuesday and sounds interesting.

These are the poles I bought for just $35 CAN for 2:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B003I6ENXS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Get some decent ones that are light weight and have short cord.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003JOETX8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and a short extender.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D2E54H4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

/u/palmerlucky was working on this before he was fired, according to History of the Future.