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Sebbi
Up and Coming
April 24, 2013

Android Development

Hi there,

I don't have my Rift yet, but when I do I'm probably going to try to make it work with my Nexus 10 (Android tablet). It's one of those tablets that have both HDMI out and USB which can be used to get the orientation data from the Rift sensors (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/connectivity/usb/host.html).

Has anyone tried this already? Or maybe just the stereo output of some rift screencap?

EDIT:
I'll update the first post with the development progress so others can easier follow and find information about Android and the Rift.

Repository for the Android Rift library:
https://github.com/sebastianherp/riftlibrary

Get sample app here:
http://appsdoneright.net/files/rifttest_0.2.apk

Compatible (=tested) Android devices (Version 0.2):

  • Nexus 10

  • Nexus 7 (no HDMI out)

  • Asus Transformer Prime


Screenshot (Version 0.2):
screenshot_0.2.png

Left side of screen moves the player, lower right side rotates the player (yaw). In the upper right side up/down changes the FOV and left/right the IPD. I tried to find good values for both and they should be ok on a Nexus 10.

    26 replies

    Show previous replies
    SebbiAuthor
    Up and Coming
    July 7, 2013
    Hi, I haven't tried it on the OUYA, but from what I've read, it should run fine.

    Unity has a plugin system, but I don't know if you can change the renderer to output side-by-side warped images. The headtracking stuff shouldn't be too difficult to integrate though.
    cjdavies
    Up and Coming
    August 8, 2013
    Bumping the thread with testing of the .apk linked in the OP on my ODROID U2. The first video is outputting to a monitor via DVI, the second is outputting to the Rift via HDMI. Evidently the Rift's control box accepts the RGB colour encoding that DVI uses & doesn't require the YCbCr encodng that HDMI uses (my U2 is currently outputting RGB because the DVI monitor I'm using don't work with YCbCr).







    My ultimate aim is to be able to develop Unity applications & run them on the ODROID outputting to the Rift whilst mobile; both ODROID & Rift can be powered from a USB battery pack (I already have one that outputs 3A worth of 5V). How realistic do you think this is? What is involved in a.) getting head tracking to work in Unity on Android & b.) getting distortion/lens correction working in Unity on Android?
    SebbiAuthor
    Up and Coming
    August 9, 2013
    Wow, awesome videos! Maybe I should spend some time to bring this to a more usable state (warping was almost working) ...

    But I still don't know more about Unity on Android. There are other (open source) engines though which should be easy to update with Rift support.
    cjdavies
    Up and Coming
    August 9, 2013
    Thinking about it, my application doesn't really have any reliance on Unity, nor do I have more than 20 hours or so invested in learning/using it, so if you did manage to get Rift support into a different engine it would likely be just as valuable to me! I guess I only started playing around with Unity because the out-of-the-box support was nice & displaying a webcam stream (required for my application) in Unity is simply a case of a 3-line script.

    Essentially what I want to do is walk around a virtual version of a building (which might look completely different to the real one, but share the same layout) wearing the Rift, with a webcam stream to allow you to keep a grasp on the real building/people around you. Unity can pull in a webcam stream with a 3-line script which got me this far;




    But that's running on a laptop at my desk instead of from the ODROID whilst walking around. I could always put the laptop in a backpack, but the ultimate dream is to have it native Android running on the ODROID attached to a belt :)
    huttybangbang
    Up and Coming
    October 27, 2013
    Hi Sebbi, wondering if there were any updates on this thread. Would be very cool to try out more Android tests on various devices. In particular, would be awesome to have an app that could distort a video for the "3D cinema" experience:)
    Oculus Hut - A big fat slice of VR A page I made about surfing the virtual reality web! Janus VR Room 45: janus://zion.vrsites.com/1/45 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj70pq7hA26fvLv832NmboA A little UE4 experience: Virtual Bard
    EthDal
    New Participant
    November 9, 2013
    Any updates on progress? I just backed this KS project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1618235783/xcope-virtual-and-augmented-reality-headset-for-sm

    Plan to develop my game using the Android plugin for Unity, then add Rift support after the fact.
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