[Keyboard for VR] KickStarter new Idea.

I've been thinking something similar - there really is a need for some kind of hardware support for representing your physical keyboard within VR.

However, people tend to be used to their keyboards and somewhat unwilling to change them. To aid adoption, what about a system where you can bring your keyboard into VR, maintain motion tracking, and have a 3D-model custom-generated?

Here's vaguely how it would work off the top of my head:
You purchase an IR camera, and some IR markers. The markers go onto the centre of the 'Esc' key, the centre of the 'LCtrl' key, the centre of the '-' key on the numpad (or the right-hand side of the Backspace key if you're using a short keyboard), and the bottom of the 'Enter' key on the numpad (or the centre of RCtrl on a short keyboard).
Then you somehow input a reasonably high-resolution (i.e. not a webcam photo) image of the keyboard, top-down, into the software. It detects the position and sizes of all the keys. It then brings you into a VR demo where you fine-tune the keyboard height, and the key height. After that, you should be done - a 3D model of the keyboard can be generated, and its position tracked in realtime.
Obviously that exact solution wouldn't be how it works, but it would be a decent starting point, and illustrates the idea. The main plus-side is it would be cheap - basically just the cost of the camera and a few IR LEDs, and that people can bring their own keyboard. The down-side is it would require some setup, so it would alienate a lot of casual users. But to be honest, I think that most casual users aren't going to be using their keyboard all that much in VR - it's going to be more for people who want to use a VR-based OS or other productivity-type things in VR, and these people tend to be savvy enough to run a configuration utility for their keyboard.

A lot of the fancy functions you talked about are lost, but for those kinds of functions you might be talking about building $200 keyboards, which is going to really limit the number of people who are willing to adopt a technology like this.

...

That being said, if you were making a kit that allows people to setup the system with their own keyboard, it would be super easy to just build your own keyboard, have a nice textured 3D model already built for it, have the IR points built into the keyboard body, and sell it as a complete package. It might cost twice as much (so hypothetically, $120 rather than $60), but still affordable, and considerably easier for people who are willing to switch keyboards for VR.

I think you should totally give it a shot - I would back it. ;)

lol.
At that price, most people would prefer just to buy a new keyboard for VR.

In most use cases the position of the keyboard is fixed relative to the tracking camera so you know where it is without tracking (just an initial calibration). The real problem is that you don't know where your hands and fingers are.

"renderingpipeline" wrote:
In most use cases the position of the keyboard is fixed relative to the tracking camera so you know where it is without tracking (just an initial calibration). The real problem is that you don't know where your hands and fingers are.

Well, even if you know where your hand are, if you don't SEE the keyboard , its not natural to find it.

For those with peripherals that can track in 3D space, like a STEM pack:
I expect software that will allow you to use the tracker to outline or trace a physical item, to give it a spatial size and reference point for representation in VR. Of course, after the tracing, the tracker would have to be attached to the unit if you would like it to be anything other than stationary, but again, in a seated environment, as most VR seems like it's going to be for home usage, spare trackers should be available. (I'll have a few!)

(3D trackers are going to give inanimate objects life in this fashion)

I would not be surprised if we see 3D models designed by the manufacturers for keyboards and peripherals to help gain more of a foothold in the VR market.

"Tgaud" wrote:

"renderingpipeline" wrote:
In most use cases the position of the keyboard is fixed relative to the tracking camera so you know where it is without tracking (just an initial calibration). The real problem is that you don't know where your hands and fingers are.

Well, even if you know where your hand are, if you don't SEE the keyboard , its not natural to find it.

You can render it. As I said: you know where the keyboard is after an initial calibration and without realtime tracking (as long as you don't move it around like a mouse).

true.
enabling a calibration at the beginning would be perfect
"

An initial calibration wouldn't be perfect though. Unless your keyboard's position on your desk is 100% constant all the time (like, break-out-the-double-sided-tape constant), you'll need to recalibrate every time you so much as nudge the keyboard.
If you have some form of sensor that can track in realtime, but doesn't have to (i.e. a camera that turns on, registers the position of the IR lights on the corner of the keyboard, or whatever other tracking method you want), and then sets that as the static keyboard position. A keyboard shortcut could be used to recalibrate anytime.

But if you just have it initially calibrated and don't have any kind of realtime tracking capability, you're going to have issues...at least with a lot of people. (I personally use the front of my desk as half keyboard, half writing-space)

And about hand-tracking, I don't think it's necessary - if you can see the exact location of the keyboard through your HMD, and this location is equivalent to the location you would be seeing the real keyboard in, I feel like you could just use your kinesthetic sense to find the correct hand-position for typing. ControlVR or LeapMotion would improve the experience, but I don't think something like that is essential.

I do think you want to go for the system that the most people will be willing to adopt - there's a real need for the departure from blind-use of keyboards in VR, so the first really good solution will enjoy a lot of success I think. :D

ControlVR for the hands and something similar to a stem pack for the keyboard. Only problem is the price.

"IsoMacintosh" wrote:
ControlVR for the hands and something similar to a stem pack for the keyboard. Only problem is the price.

Also it's drift and latency response issue(s).

Fairly sure the STEM system is the only low-latency non-drift solution so far.
Hoping the other companies catch up soon!