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Main article: HTC Vive

Hardware

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Vive Headset

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The Vive headset contains two OLED displays in front of the viewing area for each eye.[1] The displays for each eye are 1080x1200 pixels, amounting to a total resolution of 2160x1200.[2] This high resolution affords users a horizontal field of view around 120-degrees for making the experience feel more immersive and prevent the user from feeling like they are wearing ski goggles or looking through binoculars.[3] According to HTC, the refresh rate of the displays are 90Hz which requires content to be rendered at 90 frames-per-second to ensure the best visual experience.

The head mount of the prototype looks similar to that of Oculus VR's competing virtual reality head-mounted display, the Oculus Rift. The face shroud housing the displays is constructed of black plastic and is held onto the user's head by adjustable straps that resemble those worn on a head-mounted flashlight.[4] The viewing port for the user's eyes is also made of matte black plastic and has foam padding to protect the skin of the user.[4] Connectivity consists of one HDMI port, one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port.[5] There is also a power port for plugging in the power adapter.

Some have criticized the appearance of the Vive headset, stating that it is too bulky and less visually appealing when compared to its counterpart, the Oculus Rift.[1] The same criticisms were made of the Rift when its initial developer kit was released to the public.[6]Oculus vastly improved the aesthetics and finish of the Rift in later versions, so it is not unreasonable to believe that HTC will also be refining its design in future iterations of the Vive headset.

Audio

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The developer edition of the Vive has an audio jack on the side of it to output sound to any pair of headphones. However, HTC plans to include built-in headphones on the consumer version of the device.[7] It is unclear if the audio jack will remain on the consumer version and if the headphones will be detachable.

Spatial Tracking

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The defining feature of the Vive is that it includes over 70 sensors (including photosensors) that allow positional tracking of the user in an enclosed space.[1] The Vive uses a gyroscope, accelerometer, as well as a laser-positioning sensor for tracking rotation of the user's head on the x- and y-axes. Front-facing cameras mounted in the face plate allow SteamVR to map and keep track of different room configurations.[8]

Base Station

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Available separately, Valve has created SteamVR base stations that map an enclosed area (up to 15x15 feet) so that the user's physical position can be tracked.[2][9] This allows the user to walk around in a virtual environment. The base stations have a function called Chaperone that warns the user when they are approaching the boundary of the defined safe zone. The the user is at risk of leaving the safe zone, the system will render a mesh boundary that notifies the user that they are close to edge of the virtual space. The base stations are included in the developer edition package that can be requested from HTC VR's Official website.

Lighthouse

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Used in conjunction with the headset and base stations, what Valve dubs as Lighthouse are small boxes that contain many LEDs. These LED boxes remain stationary in the room and shoot light in a single direction so that the headset and/or controllers can sense the light.[10] The headset or controllers report to the base station which sensor detected the light and the base station then relays the headset's position back to the headset itself.[10]

and have its position relayed from the base station back to itself.

Handheld Controllers

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The full SteamVR experience includes the use of two wireless hand-held sticks that loosely resemble the PlayStation Move motion controllers. There are two triggers under the index fingers. Touchpads that are found on Valve's Steam Controller are positioned in the area under each of the user's thumbs and pressure-sensitive grips are found on the back and sides of the controller.[3][4] In addition to this, there are sensors on the top of the controllers that communicate with the base stations to more accurately track the movement of the user.[11]

The controllers are made of black plastic with a matte finish and are quite bulky due to the large sensors.[11] It is likely that the consumer versions will be reduced in size for greater handling.

Software

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OpenVR

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OpenVR is Valve's own software development kit (SDK) that it released for hardware manufacturers. The package includes the OpenVR API, runtime, and samples so that multiple types of VR equipment can be accessed, even if they are created by a third party.[12][13]

Source 2 Engine

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In March 2015, Valve showcased a demo of their new engine, Source 2 Engine using the environment of their highly popular puzzle-platform game, Portal, to demonstrate the capabilities of SteamVR when combined with the new engine.[14] In addition to showing the demo, Valve announced that the Source 2 Engine would be free for everyone to use, similar to its predecessor. However, if non-Valve developers decide to sell their game, it has to be sold through Valve's own digital distribution platform, Steam.

Unreal Engine 4

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In April 2015, Epic Games announced in a blog post that the Unreal Engine 4 would fully integrate and support SteamVR function.[15] This opens up mainstream development of virtual reality applications to anyone as Epic games also made the Unreal Engine 4 completely free for anyone to use in March 2015.[16]

Unity Engine 5

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The fifth iteration of the Unity engine is also compatible with the Vive through the use of a SteamVR plugin. [17] It is currently only supported for Microsoft Windows.[17]

Works Cited

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  1. ^ a b c Ward, Brad. "HTC Vive vs Oculus Rift: which is better?". TechRadar. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b "HTC's VR Vision". HTC Vive. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. ^ a b Chan, Norman. "HTC Vive vs. Oculus Crescent Bay: My 10 VR Takeaways". Tested. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b c Charara, Sophie. "HTC Vive first impressions: Gaming on the cutting edge SteamVR headset". Wearable. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob. "Hands-on with HTC's Vive VR and new wireless controllers". The Verge. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  6. ^ Louderback, Jim. "Why Oculus is Doomed". TechnoBuffalo. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  7. ^ Graham, Peter. "HTC 'looking at audio solutions' for the vive". VRFocus. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  8. ^ Spoonauer, Mark. "HTC: Why Vive Will Beat Oculus VR at Its Own Game". Tom's Guide. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Room Setup Tool". Valve Developer Community. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  10. ^ a b Buckley, Sean. "This Is How Valve's Amazing Lighthouse Tracking Technology Works". Gizmodo. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ^ a b Robertson, Adi. "Valve's virtual reality headset is great, but its controllers are the real story". The Verge. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
  12. ^ "OpenVR SDK". GitHub. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ^ Takahashi, Dean. "Valve launches OpenVR dev kit for virtual reality hardware makers". VentureBeat. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. ^ Senior, Tom. "Watch a clip of Valve's Source 2 Portal VR demo". PC Gamer. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. ^ Cowley, Dana. "Unreal Engine 4 Releases with SteamVR Support". Unreal Engine Technology. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. ^ Sarkar, Samit. "Epic makes Unreal Engine 4 free". Polygon. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. ^ a b "SteamVR Plugin". Unity. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
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