
SteamVR Tracking - Impossible
https://partner.steamgames.com/vrtracking/
======
carlosdp
It's awesome that Valve is doing this! They have said from the start that they
were going to open up Lighthouse (the codename for the tracking system) to
hardware manufacturers and this is the first part of that follow-through.

Should be exciting to see what kinds of devices come out of this. I know I saw
a few devices (like gloves) at SIGGRAPH that attempted to reverse engineer
tracking with the base stations, so this should speed up their development
considerably. I wouldn't be too surprised if we see at least an announcement
of wireless Lighthouse-tracked gloves for VR by the end of the year.

It's not just controllers or HMDs either. I expect to see a beer coozy with
tracking so people can pick up drinks on a desk while remaining in VR, and
maybe a collar for pets so you don't step on your dog/cat while the headset is
on. The possibilities are endless!

~~~
jb55
> I know I saw a few devices (like gloves) at SIGGRAPH that attempted to
> reverse engineer tracking with the base stations

I'm attempting to do the same thing at the moment:
[https://github.com/jb55/libvive](https://github.com/jb55/libvive). I got
basic stuff like buttons and gyros working. Right now I'm wrapping my head
around some of the trigonometry that makes the lighthouse tracking work.
Hopefully I'll have an open source reference implementation soon.

~~~
crazyloglad
great! One _big_ annoyance with all the SDKs fighting it out right now is how
much extra (and often closed source) junk they pull in that replicates things
you likely already have, with quite invasive integration with your rendering
pipeline to boot. Access to lower level _primitives_ rather than integrated
solutions is definitely a nice thing.

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gravypod
If there is one thing I CANNOT wait for is these new VR systems being applied
to CAD/CAM software.

The ability to move tools and remove material in 3D from items and move them
around as you feel fit will revolutionize the world of CAD software.

I'm saying this as someone who is attempting to get into doing some CAD
modeling but having an EXTREMELY hard time getting into it. It really is
software made for engineers by engineers.

~~~
jestar_jokin
Have a look at the VR support in the Unreal Engine editor[0]. You can actually
manipulate the virtual world while inhabiting it! It's not much of a stretch
to apply the same principles to CAD.

[0]
[https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Editor/VR/](https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Editor/VR/)

~~~
gravypod
I didn't know this exact example but this is precisely what I am dreaming of.

It's just completely intuitive.

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gfosco
There is a pretty high barrier to entry here with a required $3,000 per-person
training program. I'm not sure why that is necessary, unless it's really
difficult to work with.

~~~
jestar_jokin
Not to mention, it's _in-person_ training, so anyone outside the US is
effectively excluded.

~~~
wavefunction
I am sure you can come visit and take the training, though perhaps you mean
it's more expensive for non-residents of the US to attend.

It's more expensive for people living in other countries, certainly, but
perhaps you could work out a deal where you become a certified trainer
yourself and go back to your country to offer discounted officially-sanctioned
training to folks in your region.

Look for opportunities rather than problems.

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corysama
SteamVR Tracking HDK FAQ

[https://steamcommunity.com/app/507090/discussions/0/36067124...](https://steamcommunity.com/app/507090/discussions/0/360671247404603033/)

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d4mi3n
Interesting that Valve isn't looking for royalties here. Any speculation as to
what the strategy behind this release is?

~~~
Raphmedia
As an Oculus user, based on Valve work for the VR community, I will very
likely move to the Vive for GEN II.

~~~
madaxe_again
And there it is - you are the strategy.

They're pushing for an open vr ecosystem, as they realise both that it's
important to the medium as a whole as it encourages experimentation through
greater access, and equally importantly, they realise that that matters to
you.

At this point they're setting up a playing field where oculus will be pretty
much compelled to put down their dreams of platform and exclusivity, and all
will benefit, particularly the guys who run the ubiquitous game marketplace.
Oculus can have a glorious future as a hardware manufacturer, which is where
they started, too.

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Vexs
Wow, this could be exciting, I'm really glad valve followed through on their
word of opening this up, and it seems they've done so in a pretty good way.
Providing an open standard for tracking is fantastic.

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kelvin0
SO I guess you can only track within a range of 5 meters? Any way to daisy
chain the base stations to have higher coverage? This is an awesome tech,
soooo many applications!

~~~
lsaferite
Well, the current TDM system has a limitation of 2 lighthouses. If you read
into how it works, each lighthouse sends out an IR floodlight pulse follow by
a horizontal and vertical laser scan. Each lighthouse has a single IR detector
to be able to sync these scanning events (or you can use a cable). As far as
I've read, the system is running a 60Hz (due to the laser scanner RPM) and as
far as I can tell they can't really get the current TDM based system past 2
units without decreasing scanning frequency and theoretically decreasing
tracking resolution.

What I find interesting is the idea of switching to a FDM system. I don't know
enough about the current hardware to know if the IR detectors are capable of
FDM (I think they've discussed this in interviews though), but if they are
then you could have a system that supported many more lighthouses _and_ a
higher scan rate (since you don't require TDM anymore).

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prawn
What happened to Neal Stephenson's plan to make a sword-fighting game? Did it
fizzle out? Maybe he could make use of this.

~~~
draugadrotten
This one? [https://uwm.tv/about-us/](https://uwm.tv/about-us/)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN3_m6Bn21Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN3_m6Bn21Y)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBhvUgxfUjk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBhvUgxfUjk)

~~~
markild
Never heard of it. Is it related?

I believe this is the kickstarter video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuWCEpcTbww](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuWCEpcTbww)

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revelation
Seems the wrong way around for a lot of applications, I want the objects to be
the dumb emitters and have a central base station that has a low-latency,
synchronized (!) state of their positions.

Otherwise all the effort on low-latency seems wasted on a device that has no
low-latency path to getting the information out.

~~~
carlosdp
I disagree. That's the model the Rift uses, but that means that as you add
devices, the extra computation of position lies on the PC (or mobile device,
or w/e).

With this Lighthouse system, the positional computation is distributed amongst
each device and they report their computed position, so it scales way better
as you add devices.

~~~
bhhaskin
I think it is definitely for scaling. Also you can add any number of devices
that are independent of each other. Like for instance using two Vives in the
same room, but use the same base stations.

