Replay head tracking in Tracks made in VR.

[Snacko]

I was going to make a VR Track to demo the Cockpit in VR for a friend to see.  But after I saved the Track, I found out that it does not replay where your view was looking.  So when I leaned forward to look at an MFD or display or switch to toggle, it was not saved/replayed.  So it was not going to be of any use...  When he watches the Track in VR, his view is just looking where his head was looking.

It would be nice if Tracks would save and replay the actual head movement from the Track, and ignore the users head movement during tracks.

Or, is there any way to do this now?  Is there some setting that I can change that will play the Track's Head Movement??

Thanks!

[cfrag]

1 hour ago, Snacko said:

So it was not going to be of any use...  When he watches the Track in VR, his view is just looking where his head was looking.

And that is a good thing. Forcing HMD movement not in synch with the wearer's HMD is a surefire way to make them throw up. This is because the brain notices that the signals from eye and inner ear (gravity) have desynched, something that usually happens when you ate something poisonous. So you immediately throw up. 

Your friend should be able to watch the track from pancake. There your HMD movements are recorded unless and will continue until you change the view yourself.

Edited April 2, 2023 by cfrag

[Snacko]

What you are referring to is actual movement of the entire body.  Just having your head turned I truly doubt would have that effect.  That's what we see on TV every day..

[cfrag]

7 hours ago, Snacko said:

Just having your head turned I truly doubt would have that effect.

I wish it was that easy. Just by turning the head view (camera), without the player turning their head, it looks like you move the entire world areund the player (you are moving the entire frame of reference laterally, inducing strong parallax effects). Tilt the camera up or down without user interaction, and the world seemingly drops out under them. This usually suffices to induce strong symptoms of simulator sickness in the majority of players. Just how sensitive many players are to this can be seen in the trials around head limits: when code limits head movements to cockpit confines (so the player can't move their head through the cockpit walls/canopy), many players respond with queasiness. And that's just a fraction of an inch desynch in movement. For a really bad time, try the Combined Arms module - it spectacularly does everything wrong that VR game design warns you about, and you'll have the displeasure of experiencing first hand what it means to have your world moved with your vestibular system disagreeing every arcsecond of the way. One of the cardinal rules in VR game design is

Quote

Generally, significant movement — as in the room moving, rather than a single object — that hasn’t been instigated by the user can trigger feelings of nausea. Conversely, being able to control movement reduces the experience of motion sickness.

and, more to the point

Quote

• Do not instigate any movement without user input (including changing head orientation, translation of view, or field of view).
• Do not rotate or move the horizon line or other large components of the environment unless it corresponds with the user’s real-world motions.

Re-playing the head movements of a recorded player to a HMD is the exact opposite of that, most players will not feel comfortable and have a bad experience.

Of course, VR experience is highly subjective. You, after many hours in a VR cockpit, may have a natural and/or acquired high tolerance for these things, so your experience can be different. Since you have a VR, I encourage you (if you have the time and interest) to perform a great free experiment:

• Get the free Unity game engine. It comes with VR projects ready-to-go
• Get the free "blacksmith" jaw-dropping demo environment to have something to look at.
• Place the VR camera rig in the village center. The camera is now driven by your HMD. Run the game. Just stand there, awestruck, for a few minutes, looking at the scenery.
• Then, attach a script to the rig that alters the camera's x and y rotation (not position, just rotation) driven by a function of time, using Perlin noise (for a more organic randomness). 
• Time yourself until you throw up (not everyone does, most do, median time is some 2 minutes). 

Not only is this a great experiment in VR game design, you'll almost immediately start experimenting yourself, and soon you'll be developing your own VR game / app -- it's really easy in Unity, and great fun. But be careful, it can be highly addictive  

Edited April 3, 2023 by cfrag