Oculus Rift in Action

Oculus Rift in Action
Author: Bradley Austin Davis
Publisher: Manning Publications
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2015-09-03
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9781617292194

Summary Oculus Rift in Action introduces the powerful Oculus Rift headset and teaches you how to integrate its many features into 3D games and other virtual reality experiences. You'll start by understanding the capabilities of the Rift hardware. Then you'll follow interesting and instantly-relevant examples that walk you through programming real applications using the Oculus SDK. Examples are provided for both using the Oculus C API directly and for using Unity, a popular development and 3D graphics engine, with the Oculus Unity integration package. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Book Virtual reality has long been the domain of researchers and developers with access to specialized hardware and proprietary tools. With the appearance of the Oculus Rift VR headset, the game has changed. Using standard programming tools and the intuitive Oculus SDKs, you can deliver powerful immersive games, simulations, and other virtual experiences that finally nail the feeling of being in the middle of the action. Oculus Rift in Action teaches you how to create 3D games and other virtual reality experiences for the Oculus Rift. You'll explore the Rift hardware through examples of real applications using the Oculus SDK and both the Oculus C API and the Unity 3D graphics engine. Along the way, you'll get practical guidance on how to use the Rift's sensors to produce fluid VR experiences. Experience with C++, C#, or another OO language is assumed. What's Inside Creating immersive VR Integrating the Rift with the Unity 3D SDK Implementing the mathematics of 3D Avoiding motion-sickness triggers About the Authors Brad Davis is an active VR developer who maintains a great set of example Rift applications on Github. Karen Bryla is a freelance developer and writer. Alex Benton is a lecturer in 3D graphics at the University of Cambridge and a software engineer at Google. Table of Contents PART 1 GETTING STARTED Meet the Oculus Rift PART 2 USING THE OCULUS C API Creating your first Rift interactions Pulling data out of the Rift: working with the head tracker Sending output to the Rift: working with the display Putting it all together: integrating head tracking and 3D rendering Performance and quality PART 3 USING UNITY Unity: creating applications that run on the Rift Unity: tailoring your application for the Rift PART 4 THE VR USER EXPERIENCE UI design for VR Reducing motion sickness and discomfort PART 5 ADVANCED RIFT INTEGRATIONS Using the Rift with Java and Python Case study: a VR shader editor Augmenting virtual reality

Oculus Rift in Action

Oculus Rift in Action
Author: Alex Benton
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 624
Release: 2015-08-12
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1638353484

Summary Oculus Rift in Action introduces the powerful Oculus Rift headset and teaches you how to integrate its many features into 3D games and other virtual reality experiences. You'll start by understanding the capabilities of the Rift hardware. Then you'll follow interesting and instantly-relevant examples that walk you through programming real applications using the Oculus SDK. Examples are provided for both using the Oculus C API directly and for using Unity, a popular development and 3D graphics engine, with the Oculus Unity integration package. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Book Virtual reality has long been the domain of researchers and developers with access to specialized hardware and proprietary tools. With the appearance of the Oculus Rift VR headset, the game has changed. Using standard programming tools and the intuitive Oculus SDKs, you can deliver powerful immersive games, simulations, and other virtual experiences that finally nail the feeling of being in the middle of the action. Oculus Rift in Action teaches you how to create 3D games and other virtual reality experiences for the Oculus Rift. You'll explore the Rift hardware through examples of real applications using the Oculus SDK and both the Oculus C API and the Unity 3D graphics engine. Along the way, you'll get practical guidance on how to use the Rift's sensors to produce fluid VR experiences. Experience with C++, C#, or another OO language is assumed. What's Inside Creating immersive VR Integrating the Rift with the Unity 3D SDK Implementing the mathematics of 3D Avoiding motion-sickness triggers About the Authors Brad Davis is an active VR developer who maintains a great set of example Rift applications on Github. Karen Bryla is a freelance developer and writer. Alex Benton is a lecturer in 3D graphics at the University of Cambridge and a software engineer at Google. Table of Contents PART 1 GETTING STARTED Meet the Oculus Rift PART 2 USING THE OCULUS C API Creating your first Rift interactions Pulling data out of the Rift: working with the head tracker Sending output to the Rift: working with the display Putting it all together: integrating head tracking and 3D rendering Performance and quality PART 3 USING UNITY Unity: creating applications that run on the Rift Unity: tailoring your application for the Rift PART 4 THE VR USER EXPERIENCE UI design for VR Reducing motion sickness and discomfort PART 5 ADVANCED RIFT INTEGRATIONS Using the Rift with Java and Python Case study: a VR shader editor Augmenting virtual reality

Mastering Oculus Rift Development

Mastering Oculus Rift Development
Author: Jack Donovan
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2017-02-06
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1786461781

Explore the new frontier of virtual reality with the Oculus Rift and bring the VR revolution to your own projects About This Book Create immersive 3D games especially designed for the Oculus Rift platform Build complex realistic virtual reality (VR) games with the Unity Engine Create striking VR environments with advanced graphical techniques Who This Book Is For This book is for aspiring indie developers and VR enthusiasts who want to bring their ideas into virtual reality with a new platform that provides an unprecedented level of realism and immersion. What You Will Learn Increase immersion with 3D audio and intuitive interfaces Create group VR experiences using multi-player networking Design fun and engaging mechanics that utilize VR principles Explore the best ways to navigate and interact using the Oculus Rift Design intuitive ways to navigate and interact with scenes in VR Add stunning realism to a scene with three-dimensional audio Invent mechanics and features that take full advantage of VR hardware In Detail Virtual reality (VR) is changing the world of gaming and entertainment as we know it. VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift immerse players in a virtual world by tracking their head movements and simulating depth, giving them the feeling that they are actually present in the environment. We will first use the Oculus SDK in the book and will then move on to the widely popular Unity Engine, showing you how you can add that extra edge to your VR games using the power of Unity. In this book, you'll learn how to take advantage of this new medium by designing around each of its unique features. This book will demonstrate the Unity 5 game engine, one of most widely-used engines for VR development, and will take you through a comprehensive project that covers everything necessary to create and publish a complete VR experience for the Oculus Rift. You will also be able to identify the common perils and pitfalls of VR development to ensure that your audience has the most comfortable experience possible. By the end of the book, you will be able to create an advanced VR game for the Oculus Rift, and you'll have everything you need to bring your ideas into a new reality. Style and approach This book takes a step-by-step tutorial approach with illustrative examples to help you implement the projects on your own. The book lets you first get to grips with the Oculus SDK and then moves on to the Unity Engine to add realistic graphics and features in your games.

Learning Virtual Reality

Learning Virtual Reality
Author: Tony Parisi
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2015-10-26
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1491922788

As virtual reality approaches mainstream consumer use, a vibrant development ecosystem has emerged in the past few years. This hands-on guide takes you through VR development essentials for desktop, mobile, and browser-based applications. You’ll explore the three go-to platforms—OculusVR, Gear VR, and Cardboard VR—as well as several VR development environments, programming tools, and techniques. If you’re an experienced programmer familiar with mobile development, this book will help you gain a working knowledge of VR development through clear and simple examples. Once you create a complete application in the final chapter, you’ll have a jumpstart on the next major entertainment medium. Learn VR basics for UI design, 3D graphics, and stereo rendering Explore Unity3D, the current development choice among game engines Create native applications for desktop computers with the Oculus Rift Develop mobile applications for Samsung’s Gear VR with the Android and Oculus Mobile SDKs Build browser-based applications with the WebVR Javascript API and WebGL Create simple and affordable mobile apps for any smartphone with Google’s Cardboard VR Bring everything together to build a 360-degree panoramic photo viewer

Research & Innovation Forum 2019

Research & Innovation Forum 2019
Author: Anna Visvizi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 555
Release: 2019-10-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 303030809X

This book features research presented and discussed during the Research & Innovation Forum (Rii Forum) 2019. As such, this volume offers a unique insight into emerging topics, issues and developments pertinent to the fields of technology, innovation and education and their social impact. Papers included in this volume apply inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches to query such issues as technology-enhanced teaching and learning, smart cities,, information systems, cognitive computing and social networking. What brings these threads of the discussion together is the question of how advances in computer science – which are otherwise largely incomprehensible to researchers from other fields – can be effectively translated and capitalized on so as to make them beneficial for society as a whole. In this context, Rii Forum and Rii Forum proceedings offer an essential venue where diverse stakeholders, including academics, the think tank sector and decision-makers, can engage in a meaningful dialogue with a view to improving the applicability of advances in computer science. In brief, Rii Forum takes the imperative inherent in the 4th industrial revolution seriously, in that it identifies ways of making technology usable and therefore inclusive.

Virtual Reality Blueprints

Virtual Reality Blueprints
Author: Charles Palmer
Publisher: Packt Publishing Ltd
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2018-02-28
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1786465035

Are you new to virtual reality? Do you want to create exciting interactive VR applications? There's no need to be daunted by the thought of creating interactive VR applications, it's much easier than you think with this hands-on, project-based guide that will take you through VR development essentials for desktop, mobile, and web-based games ...

Augmented and Virtual Reality in Libraries

Augmented and Virtual Reality in Libraries
Author: Jolanda-Pieta van Arnhem
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018-05-24
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1538102927

Augmented and Virtual Reality in Libraries is written for librarians, by librarians: understanding that diverse communities use libraries, museums, and archives for a variety of different reasons. Many current books on this topic have a very technological focus on augmentation and are aimed towards computer programmers with advanced technology skills. This book makes augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality applications much more accessible to professionals without extensive technology backgrounds. This innovative title touches on possible implementation, projects, and assessment needs for both academic and public libraries, museums, and archives.

Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems

Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems
Author: Stuart P. Wilson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3319229796

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems, Living Machines 2015, held in Barcelona, Spain, in July 2015. The 34 full and 13 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 50 submissions. The themes they deal with are: locomotion, particularly for soft-bodies; novel sensing and autonomous control systems; and cognitive architectures, social robots, and human-robot interaction.

Investigating Rollenwahrnehmung, Perspective and Space through Virtual Reality related Game Interfaces

Investigating Rollenwahrnehmung, Perspective and Space through Virtual Reality related Game Interfaces
Author: Daniel P. O. Wiedemann
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2021-01-03
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3752611405

This book is the publication of my PhD dissertation and is written in the corresponding style. The included research provides explorations and investigative reflections on Rollenwahrnehmung (a newly coined phrase meaning role perception/fulfillment), Perspective and Space through Virtual Reality (VR) game interfaces. A number of important topics will be addressed, like the creation of new experiences in the context of VR, the extension and new development of various interaction paradigms, various User Experience (UX) aspects and user guidance in a sophisticated new medium. Placed in the field of design practice, this research focuses on the creation of digital gaming artifacts, while extrapolating insights and guidelines concerning VR interfaces. Hence, this practice-based research is derived from a portfolio of specifically developed interactive artifacts, following the methodological approach of Constructive Design Research. These include the VR related games Nicely Dicely, LizzE - And the Light of Dreams and Gooze. They were used for various Lab experiments and Showroom presentations, while continually being refined throughout an iterative process. Nicely Dicely is an abstract game based on physics. In Local Multiplayer, up to four players are able to compete or collaborate. It is not a VR game per se, but features both, Monoscopic and 3D Stereoscopic Vision modes, which were tested in an experiment on their effect on Player Immersion. LizzE - And the Light of Dreams is a Singleplayer 3rd Person Hack and Slay game based in a fantasy universe. In an experiment, the game was used to primarily investigate in which ways 3rd Person VR games can work for a broad audience, regarding camera behavior. Gooze is a 1st Person VR puzzle game, taking place in a realistic horror environment with supernatural aspects. It was designed with diverse VR interaction technologies in mind and offers users different options to play the game, depending on available hardware and preferences. The Locomotion and Virtual Object Interaction mechanics were tested in an experiment regarding their UX. In summary, this book illustrates various game, interface and VR designs, informing the emerging field of VR game development of the relationship between UX, interfaces and gameplay. Furthermore, guidelines for designing and developing specific aspects of VR games were identified and each single artifact can be used as a design and development precedent for practice and academia.