The company has conducted a test in which a user could physically move through three connected real rooms.
The GM of HTC China, Alvin Wang Graylin, has shared via Twitter a room scale setting (or home in this case) in which they use 6 base stations 2.0 to achieve tracking in 3 interconnected physical rooms, thus offering a preview of the” home scale ” that Valve referenced last year. This means that a user can move physically throughout the defined real space without losing positioning. To achieve such a configuration, Alvin indicated that they had used the SteamVR beta update of July 3, which introduces the stations ‘ configuration and conflict resolution interface and improves the quality of tracking when stations are far apart.
Looks like there’s a little # surprise in the new # SteamVR Beta! Our lab here just linked upto 16 # basestations 2.0 together to cover multiple rooms into a single virtual tracked space w / the # VivePro! Large space # VR setup costs are about to drop exponentially! Thanks Valve! pic.twitter.com/kPDG4xMErG
– Alvin Wang Graylin (@AGraylin) July 11, 2018
The interface shows the possibility to configure up to 16 base stations.
In the following image we can see the plane of real space on which they have placed the 6 stations. In addition, they have used a Vive Tracker in each room ,as this “seemed to stabilize the entire structure”.
Real plan of the installation made with 6 base stations.
Next we have a video in which we see a user moving through the previous physical plane. As Alvin points out, the ideal in this case is to use a PC backpack to not be limited by the viewer cable (as we see in the video), at least until a wireless adapter that is compatible with these multi-room scale configurations is available.
Here’s a video of the test environment that people asked for. Three separate tracked spaces, with two 2.0 BS each, all in a shared virtual space. (Seems to work even behind closed door) Trackers placed within the shared space to show common coordinate system between spaces. pic.twitter.com/efqJKajky6
– Alvin Wang Graylin (@AGraylin) July 11, 2018
Now, without a doubt Alvin’s tweets serve to get an idea of how SteamVR tracking will become an alternative to other outside-in solutions (with external sensors) used in multiple arcades, but currently SteamVR beta software is still limited to 4 2.0 base stations at the same time, as confirmed by Alan Yates of Valve. “To be completely clear; the first four you see in a session, so this announcement is a little premature. This release is mainly about beta support for radio-based channel configuration tools, ” he adds.
Valve thus confirms that it continues to work on adding more features to SteamVR tracking 2.0, for which we can get into it right now with the Vive Pro Full Kit that recently opened the pre-purchase for consumers.
