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Up and Coming
January 8, 2016
Question

Designing a "HoloDeck" (i.e. a room for my Rift)

I'm getting ready to remodel my basement, and was planning on putting in a home theater room.

However, I'm more excited about the possibility of building a "Holodeck," that is, I'm looking to build the perfect room in which I'll use the Rift, as well as other VR / AR devices.

I have a space set aside that's about 10' x 20'. My thought is to carve about 4' off the long axis to make a closet in which the Rift PC and any more traditional home theater components can reside. On the wall outside, I'd have a narrow standing desk for Keyboard and mouse, a 4k screen, and a shelf to park the Rift when not in use.

I suppose I should also keep at least one rolling chair handy, for flight sims if nothing else.

Nicely padded floor—maybe gym tiles instead of carpet. Possibly carpet on the walls just in case of collision.

Cable management. That's going to be a thing. I wonder if it would be possible to route the cables overhead? Pivot arm?

So... what about you? Where are you going to keep your new toy, and if you were designing the perfect home, what would it look like?

    12 replies

    Up and Coming
    January 8, 2016
    but actually for a holodeck you are wrong with oculus, go Vives...
    Up and Coming
    January 8, 2016
    Like a lot of people here who are developing for VR, I expect to go with both. So I want to have room to move around Vive, and to take advantage of the additional freedom that should come with the Oculus controllers.
    Up and Coming
    January 8, 2016
    I will probably do it in the future using a 5m x 5m space. My main thoughts are about cable management, it may be good to have a central ceiling hub, where the rig resided and then have monitor keyboard/mouse on longer cables at the wall.

    Walk around games will probably be designed not to continually twist the wire but always balance players clockwise/anticlockwise rotations.

    The ceiling hub allows for a suspended cable loop to prevent cable interfering with feet/legs. And it allows for the shortest cable run to reach any wall.

    If you have the height then a suspended ceiling with like 20cm space could fit loads of gear in (including sound system for cinema) and nice LED downlighters to make it look hi tech, and you maximise your floor area. It could have hinge down modules for easy maintenance.
    Android VR Developer. https://twitter.com/SiliconDroid
    Up and Coming
    January 9, 2016
    Unfortunately, I don't have a space that offers that much width, so I won't be strolling so far.

    Of course, I could drop a Virtuix Omni in the middle of the room and just dangle all the cords over it. But I'm guessing that would diminish the feel of natural movement in scenarios that don't require running a mile.
    Up and Coming
    January 9, 2016
    cabled HMD is no future.
    VOID is planning to do it with backpacked PC.
    you can also do it wireless (if you accept to lower to 60Hz).
    Up and Coming
    January 10, 2016
    "nosys70" wrote:
    cabled HMD is no future.
    VOID is planning to do it with backpacked PC.
    you can also do it wireless (if you accept to lower to 60Hz).


    I think many people will use cabled HMDs in domestic settings for a few years yet.

    In the future a backpack will be cumbersome and quite unnecessary, so one could say the same of them (backpack PCs).

    Also with wireless it's not the lower refresh that's the worst... it's the increased tracking latency.
    Android VR Developer. https://twitter.com/SiliconDroid
    January 16, 2016
    Just don't forget the wallpaper!

    Up and Coming
    January 17, 2016
    if you want an holodeck , you do not need an headset.
    it will cost you less to put 4 video projector to get a picture on each wall.
    no cable, no glasses, no sde, higher resolution.
    January 17, 2016
    "nosys70" wrote:
    if you want an holodeck , you do not need an headset.
    it will cost you less to put 4 video projector to get a picture on each wall.
    no cable, no glasses, no sde, higher resolution.


    And no sense of 'presence'...
    Up and Coming
    January 25, 2016
    I was planning on a setup a little more extreme. Its funny how everyone assumes in order to do room scale vr you have to get the vive. The Oculus with two cameras has nearly the same radius as the Vive. The Sixense Stem 5 tracker system is accurate to 15 feet from the base station, meaning if the station is in the middle of the room, you would have an easy 25 square foot area to play with.

    I'm planning on setting up environments within my garage. Walking over to a crate in a game, but then clipping through it because it isn't there just doesn't sit well with me. I would like to recreate those environments within my garage, so that when you walk over to a crate, or a wall, you can actually touch it, lean on it, jump over it, or even hide behind it for cover. Simple plywood constructions from scrap wood is all that is needed. I can see where this would be especially immersive in a game like Arizona Sunshine, where there are barriers already made from sandbags, etc. The Sixense trackers can even be attached to gun controllers such as the Top Shot Elite, or baseball bats, etc. so you can actually pick up the weapon on the table and have it tracked perfectly. Here is a good demonstration if no one has seen it. This is using the Sixense system for all positional tracking, no oculus IR cam:


    Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCDrvzyiqz8Qiu7 ... irmation=1 FaceBook: www.facebook.com/The-Wombat-Cave-103351200009813/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheWombatCave Upcoming: Sixense Stem-May,Virtuix Omni-April,HTC Vive-?,Oculus CV1-Mar.28