Power Up VR Simulator #2

FIRST General Forum
1

Yep another one.

Looks like Noah Page beat us to the punch and posted a VR Simulation of the Power Up Field yesterday. He did an awesome job given only the CAD files and Graphics!

This is the same thing, but since we did the Power Up Game Animation we already have all the textures and rigged models, which means this version:

  1. Looks photo realistic
  2. Has working switches and scales
  3. Has realistic Power Cubes
  4. Has working platform lights (ownership only right now)
  5. Has working Vault Lights
  6. Prevents you from removing cubes from vault (since that is illegal in the game)
    etc …

To Do:

  1. Vault Button Press and associated Switch And Scale Platform lights
  2. CG of cube
  3. What else would you like ot see?

This works on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift

Here is a 2D videoof it in action.

Go here to learn more and download the Power Up VR Field Simulator.

Let us know what you think!

Rick Folea
FRC Game Animation Team

p.s. This was done by an FRC Alumni (he started Team 1746 - Team OTTO) who is also the lead animator for the FRC Game Animation here at AutomationDirect. He programs VR apps in his spare time. His latest effort, Punch Bomb, is currently in early access so if you have an extra $6 laying around please consider supporting his efforts …

QUESTIONS: Here are the answers to the questions that were asked of Noah’s Project, as applied to this one:

  1. Created in Unreal (UE4)
  2. Can the CG of the cube be changed - yes we’ll do that in the next rev
  3. Can Scale and Switches pivot? They already do.
  4. Can this work on inexpensive headsets like daydream or gear VR?
    Not at this time - the field models are way too complicated for those devices to keep up.
  5. Can you make it work on Oculus? Already does.
2

Sweet! This is very similar to the work we’ve been doing. This is exciting to see.

3

Looks great! Those textures make the simulator look so awesome, can’t wait to go home and try it out!

4

Now we want to see a way to “insert” our bot into the arena! Would be awesome to get drive practice without having a practice bot and make all changes through CAD!

5

And add online multiplayer. You could do the whole competition in VR!

6

I’d be down :smiley:

7

Any chance of releasing the field CAD with all the textures so teams can do their own thing with the textures?

8

Asking for the field artwork to be posted via the QA might also work…

9

The Solidworks CAD has the artwork, but its a PITA to do anything with if you dont use Solidworks…

10

This is WAY COOL. I need one of these shnazzy goggle devices.

11

I’d wait for the Vive Pro if you can. And get a wireless adapter with it too. The resolution will be a 78% increase on the pro over the og version. ::safety::

12

Can we get this to work with google cardboard for those of us who can not justify buying a $400+ VR headset? I get we wouldn’t have controllers, but at least we could stand on the field?

13

What about windows mixed reality?

14

Unfortunately, the geometries use in this simulation are too complicated for google cardboard or even daydream or oculus gear vr to keep up with.

We’re looking into ways to simplify that, but for now the answer is we can’t do it.

15

This may pull us into VR. Our school has been researching VR. We were looking into purchasing an Oculus headset. What headset would be able to run a program like this at a reasonable cost?

16

This will start a holy war but the Oculus is your best bet. That being said, it’s not just the headset, you need a decent system to run it so do some research on minimum and suggested specifications before rushing out to order one.

17

OK, I’ll bite …

Oculus is “Best?”

I’m curious what in your mind makes Oculus the best.

Personally, I can argue either way (we have both), but I tend to lean towards the light house approach the Vive uses - it doesn’t suck up all of your USB ports like the Oculus IR cameras do and doesn’t require running long USB cables all over the room … And of course, the VIVE only needs 2 light houses for full 360 degree room-scale motion - the Oculus needs 3 …

But … long range my bet is on Oculus - even if Zuckerberg has to buy the whole market … the amount of money he is pumping into the VR arena is staggering …

It will be interesting to see what HTC does with the VIVE pricing now that they have announced the new headset … wouldn’t surprise me if they meet the Oculus headset price with the original Vive.

Again, not trying to start a Holy War, just curious what other folks perspectives are …

18

the Rift and the Vive are usually seen as the best two. IMO, get both and see which you guys like better. Past performance its all down to preference and what works best for you.

Also, if reasonable cost is about $2500 for rig+headset, then yes.

19

Btw I tested it and all of this runs on the HP WMR headset too!

20

Thanks for letting us know - we don’t have a way to test that. Very cool.

In theory it should run on any headset that uses the Steam VR as the base. We just can’t advertise that because we can’t test it.