Wacom, a leader in stylus pens and tablets for creative professionals, unveiled a new device late last month which was built specifically for creators looking to leverage the power of VR.
Called Wacom VR Pen, the device is a pressure sensitive stylus controller. This, the company says in its developer-focused webpage, allows users to not only draw in VR, but also with the company’s fleet of professional pen tablets for traditional 2D drawing.
Image courtesy Wacom
One of the major obstacles in creating a VR stylus is the lack of force feedback, which makes drawing in open spaces difficult and inherently less precise.
Wacom says however its pressure-sensitive button near the pen’s tip lets users naturally alter stroke thickness depending on the amount of force used when gripping the pen, which it says recreates a “similar experience to drawing with a pen on paper.”
Image courtesy Wacom
Wacom VR Pen also features a few other buttons, including a trigger-style grip, a rotator knob for digital tool selection, and a selector toggle on the knob itself.
There’s still plenty left to learn about Wacom VR Pen, including its standalone tracking solution; it doesn’t rely on standard VR tracking systems such as Valve’s SteamVR base stations or Oculus Insight, the onboard optical tracking solution on Oculus Rift S and Quest/Quest 2. Wacom hasn’t detailed exactly how its tracking system works yet, so we’re hoping to learn more soon.
Image courtesy Wacom
Going with an independent tracking solution however is undoubtedly beneficial to reaching a greater number of headset users. To that effect, Wacom President and CEO Nobu Ide says in a video (linked below) that VR Pen is designed to work with “major head-mounted displays in the market.”
A strong endorsement of the company’s move towards native VR creation, Ide calls VR Pen “unlike any other pen which Wacom created before, and it will be our transition point into the next creative future.”
Wacom isn’t the first to offer a VR-specific stylus. Logitech, one of the biggest entrants and direct competitor to Wacom, has offered their $750 Logitech VR Ink stylus since early 2020, integrating SteamVR tracking into a fairly standard stylus body.
At the moment, it appears Wacom is still shopping around for partners. Interested professional users are asked to contact Wacom directly via email at wacomvrpen@wacom.com.
Wacom, a leader in stylus pens and tablets for creative professionals, unveiled a new device late last month which was built specifically for creators looking to leverage the power of VR.
Called Wacom VR Pen, the device is a pressure sensitive stylus controller. This, the company says in its developer-focused webpage, allows users to not only draw in VR, but also with the company’s fleet of professional pen tablets for traditional 2D drawing.
Image courtesy Wacom
One of the major obstacles in creating a VR stylus is the lack of force feedback, which makes drawing in open spaces difficult and inherently less precise.
Wacom says however its pressure-sensitive button near the pen’s tip lets users naturally alter stroke thickness depending on the amount of force used when gripping the pen, which it says recreates a “similar experience to drawing with a pen on paper.”
Image courtesy Wacom
Wacom VR Pen also features a few other buttons, including a trigger-style grip, a rotator knob for digital tool selection, and a selector toggle on the knob itself.
There’s still plenty left to learn about Wacom VR Pen, including its standalone tracking solution; it doesn’t rely on standard VR tracking systems such as Valve’s SteamVR base stations or Oculus Insight, the onboard optical tracking solution on Oculus Rift S and Quest/Quest 2. Wacom hasn’t detailed exactly how its tracking system works yet, so we’re hoping to learn more soon.
Image courtesy Wacom
Going with an independent tracking solution however is undoubtedly beneficial to reaching a greater number of headset users. To that effect, Wacom President and CEO Nobu Ide says in a video (linked below) that VR Pen is designed to work with “major head-mounted displays in the market.”
A strong endorsement of the company’s move towards native VR creation, Ide calls VR Pen “unlike any other pen which Wacom created before, and it will be our transition point into the next creative future.”
Wacom isn’t the first to offer a VR-specific stylus. Logitech, one of the biggest entrants and direct competitor to Wacom, has offered their $750 Logitech VR Ink stylus since early 2020, integrating SteamVR tracking into a fairly standard stylus body.
At the moment, it appears Wacom is still shopping around for partners. Interested professional users are asked to contact Wacom directly via email at wacomvrpen@wacom.com.
A newly-discovered patent filing gives us what may be our best look yet at new PSVR controllers for the unannounced PSVR 2.
The Japanese filing, first spotted by Let’s Go Digital, includes detailed diagrams of the devices from various angles. Though the text is in Japanese and we can’t translate, the designs do seem consistent with a number of other patents and research filings we’ve seen out of Sony in the past few years.
New PSVR Controllers Spotted
The controllers, for example, look very similar to Valve’s Index Controllers, with a side-mounted ring that would likely house sensors for 6DOF tracking. The main grip for the controllers definitely looks like it could imitate the Index Controllers’ finger-tracking technology too. Earlier this year, we discovered a Sony research video that confirmed the company was working on such technology.
Those frustrated with the original PSVR’s Move controllers will be happy to hear these new PSVR controllers sport analogue sticks too. Plus there are what looks like two face buttons and two smaller buttons that could perhaps mirror the PS5’s ‘Share’ and ‘Options’ buttons. It’s interesting to note that, overall, this is a fewer amount of buttons that on the original Move controllers, making us wonder how and if these controllers might accommodate old PS4 VR games.
Another look at the design confirms that the controllers have not only triggers, but it also looks like the PSVR headset itself can track the position of the controllers. That suggests PSVR 2 might use an inside-out tracking system similar to the Oculus Quest and Rift S rather than the original PSVR, which relied on a user-facing camera.
As always, we should point out it’s very possible that these patent filings won’t amount to much but, as we said before, they’re certainly consistent with other Sony filings we’ve seen. PS5 is launching in November and will support the original PSVR, but a new iteration of the headset won’t be releasing alongside the console. Hopefully we’ll hear more about the company’s future VR plans in the new year.
What do you make of these new PSVR controllers? Let us know in the comments below!
A newly-discovered patent filing gives us what may be our best look yet at new PSVR controllers for the unannounced PSVR 2.
The Japanese filing, first spotted by Let’s Go Digital, includes detailed diagrams of the devices from various angles. Though the text is in Japanese and we can’t translate, the designs do seem consistent with a number of other patents and research filings we’ve seen out of Sony in the past few years.
New PSVR Controllers Spotted
The controllers, for example, look very similar to Valve’s Index Controllers, with a side-mounted ring that would likely house sensors for 6DOF tracking. The main grip for the controllers definitely looks like it could imitate the Index Controllers’ finger-tracking technology too. Earlier this year, we discovered a Sony research video that confirmed the company was working on such technology.
Those frustrated with the original PSVR’s Move controllers will be happy to hear these new PSVR controllers sport analogue sticks too. Plus there are what looks like two face buttons and two smaller buttons that could perhaps mirror the PS5’s ‘Share’ and ‘Options’ buttons. It’s interesting to note that, overall, this is a fewer amount of buttons that on the original Move controllers, making us wonder how and if these controllers might accommodate old PS4 VR games.
Another look at the design confirms that the controllers have not only triggers, but it also looks like the PSVR headset itself can track the position of the controllers. That suggests PSVR 2 might use an inside-out tracking system similar to the Oculus Quest and Rift S rather than the original PSVR, which relied on a user-facing camera.
As always, we should point out it’s very possible that these patent filings won’t amount to much but, as we said before, they’re certainly consistent with other Sony filings we’ve seen. PS5 is launching in November and will support the original PSVR, but a new iteration of the headset won’t be releasing alongside the console. Hopefully we’ll hear more about the company’s future VR plans in the new year.
What do you make of these new PSVR controllers? Let us know in the comments below!
Code found by a VR developer in Oculus Quest’s firmware reveals new Touch-like VR controllers which may feature improvements to tracking, haptics, and finger sensing.
Last month, the official Oculus Developer website leaked the codename for a ‘Del Mar’ standalone headset with a developer early access program. A reference to ‘Oculus Jedi Controller For Oculus Del Mar’ was also discovered in the Oculus Mobile SDK.
This week, Gerald McAlister of RGB Schemes found a driver for the Jedi controller within the latest firmware for the consumer Quest. We don’t know whether this driver was included accidentally or its inclusion implies the current Quest could one day support the controller.
UploadVR analyzed the driver and compared it to the current Touch driver to zero in on some specific changes. Keep in mind, however, changes could be made between now and this becoming a product- or Facebook could cancel the project altogether.
Familiar Input
The driver file reveals a controller with a thumbstick, index trigger, grip trigger, A/X button, B/Y button, and a system/menu button- the same layout as the current Oculus Touch controllers, which continued the same layout as the original Rift’s Touch.
A function for infrared LED calibration exists, suggesting this controller is optically tracked in the same way as the current Touch– cameras on the headset follow the movement of the LED constellation, and this is fused with the accelerometer readings to achieve sub-mm precision.
Facebook’s VR controllers are tracked via infrared LEDs under the plastic
On Quest, the headset cameras sample at 60 Hz. Half of the frames are high exposure shots for a clear view of your room used for headset tracking, and the other half are low exposure shots that zero in on controller position with minimal blur. Thus Touch flashes the LEDs at 30 Hz, or 30 times per second.
The ‘Jedi’ driver references a 60Hz IR LED mode. This could reduce the time it takes for the headset to re-acquire a controller that went out of view. It might also hint at cameras that sample more frequently on ‘Del Mar’, which might enable lower latency for controller-free hand tracking.
The driver also reveals the series model number of the controller’s inertial measurement unit (IMU)- the chip within all VR controllers which contains the accelerometer.
Teardowns and the FCC filings for the current Touch showed it uses TDK’s ICM-20601 IMU from late 2015.
The IMU in the current Touch controllers for Rift S and Quest
Jedi’s driver lists it as using a new ICM-426-series TDK chip, described as a “premium performance” IMU with “the lowest noise figure in the industry” when it was announced at CES 2019.
Touch (v2)IMU
‘Jedi’Listed IMU
Noise (µg/rt-Hz) (lower is better)
390
70
Resolution
16-bits
18-bits
Tolerance (lower is better)
2%
0.5%
Variation from Temp (%/ºC) (lower is better)
1.6 ×10-2
5 ×10-3
Energy Usage
3 mA
0.65 mA
Gyro Noise (mdps/rt-Hz) (lower is better)
13
5.3
Gyro Resolution
16-bits
19-bits
The specifications suggest an accelerometer and gyroscope with a 6x and 2x reduction in noise, respectively, as well as improvements to resolution. Noise here means the fluctuation in output. This improved IMU should give the tracking algorithm more data with less noise, and that could enable more precise controller tracking.
When not in view of any camera, the accelerometer is used to estimate the controller’s motion. This works when the controller is moving quickly or predictably, but only for a few seconds at most currently. A better accelerometer could increase this time, or just make the estimation more accurate.
Potential Haptics Improvements
The original Oculus Touch (and HTC Vive wands) used a linear actuator for precise haptics. This same technology is present in the Nintendo Switch as “HD Rumble”, as well as in the Valve Index controllers.
The current Touch controllers use a standard motor of the type found in a gamepad, drawing criticism from developers utilizing linear haptics in their experiences.
The ‘Jedi’ driver mentions a new haptics thread running on the controller, which now interfaces with a specific haptic driver. This might suggest improvements to haptics, but there’s not enough information here to say anything more definitive.
Analog Finger Sensing
The original and current Touch controllers use capacitive sensors to detect when your fingers are touching buttons, the thumbstick, or the index trigger.
The Jedi driver includes a reference to an analog capacitive touch sensor that appears to carry the codename ‘Rainier’. Oculus has a long history of naming prototypes after California beaches– and Rainier is in Washington State, where Facebook’s VR/AR research division is located.
So What Is Del Mar?
The information that Quest’s firmware provides about Jedi narrows down the possibilities for what the ‘Del Mar’ headset is.
One popular theory took the ‘Jedi’ codename seriously, postulating optional Lightsaber controllers for a superior Beat Saber & Vader Immortal experience. Others suggested ‘Jedi’ could be a product based on the finger tracking wristband being developed by CTRL Labs, a startup acquired by Facebook in September. The full traditional input spotted in this driver might rule out both of these theories.
One of Facebook’s prototype headsets from R&D, Half-Dome 2
Today’s new information- Jedi being a controller with the similar input to the existing Touch but featuring an improved IMU- may point to Del Mar and Jedi being a successor or higher end alternative to Quest. As well as providing a step up in the market for standalone headsets, it looks like Facebook could also be taking the opportunity to make improvements to input, while avoiding a total overhaul that could break backwards compatibility. Of course, if Facebook did improve the Touch controllers with these Jedi units launched alongside a new Quest, we’d hope for backwards compatibility with the current Quest as well.
Featured image at the top of this post features Oculus Touch prototypes shown in an Oculus Connect 4 presentation in 2017.
Etee, the finger-tracking VR controller with SteamVR Tracking, has nearly reached its Kickstarter goal with plenty of time to spare. Though the controller is designed to be free of buttons, sticks, and triggers (relying instead on finger tracking), its creators say it can adapt to existing VR games. TG0, the company behind Etee, has shared Half-Life: Alyx gameplay with the controllers and a Q&A which speaks to the decisions underlying the controller’s design.
The Etee Kickstarter launched on April 1st, 2020, setting out to raise £45,900 (~$56,000) for Etee controller dev kits. The campaign appears to be just days away from reaching its goal with nearly four weeks to spare.
And while the controllers aren’t designed strictly for VR gaming, TG0 has marketed for that use-case (among others) and claims that they are perfectly adaptable for the input needs of existing SteamVR games.
Image courtesy TG0
To demonstrate that the Etee controllers are up to the task, the company has published two videos showing Half-Life: Alyx played with the controllers (note: that the company is using Vive Trackers for now but the final controller will include a bespoke SteamVR Tracking module built into the controller).
The good news is that Half-Life: Alyx and many other games can adapt to the controller without any special modifications to the game (thanks to Valve’s forward-looking SteamVR Input system).
At a minimum the game looks entirely playable with the Etee controllers, though without trying it ourselves, it’s hard to say how consistently gestures like grabbing, throwing, and shooting will perform without any buttons or triggers. If TG0 creates a fully compatible driver for the SteamVR Input system, it should be possible to tweak many of these parameters and dial in something that feels decent (assuming the underlying hardware that tracks fingers is doing its job well). At a minimum, we’re glad to see the company not shying away from showing the gaming use-case of the Etee controllers in greater detail.
In addition to the Alyx footage, TG0 has also shared a self-Q&A with Road to VR (below) which expounds on the design decisions underlying the controller. TG0 has also committed to answering more questions here in the comments, so feel free to drop a line below if you have additional questions.
TG0 co-founder Mick Lin | Image courtesy TG0
Mick Lin, our super-creative interface product design specialist, originally hails from Taiwan. He began developing etee after co-founding TG0 back in 2016.
What sort of response have you seen so far to etee?
People are really impressed, which feels great after spending so much time developing it. Most people are fascinated by how this tiny controller works – it’s something completely new that people haven’t seen before. We are having a lot of debate about the buttonless aspect. Some people like the idea. Some don’t. But we really believe we are doing the right thing.
etee is your baby. How did the idea first come about?
Initially, we didn’t set out to make a controller at all. It was during a brainstorming session on the uses of TG0’s technology that we realised how well our tech would work when combined with a VR controller. The more we discussed the idea, the more we knew it was something we just had to make.
What were your key goals as you set out designing etee?
We wanted the lightest and simplest design possible, something that was intuitive to use with an impressive finger sensing level. Because we wanted the controller to be quick and easy to put on and take off, we steered clear of fiddly glove designs. What we’ve ended up with is a controller that can be slipped on and off in seconds, and because it’s so small and light, you can even stop to answer the phone while wearing it.
Why did you decide not to use buttons?
When you think about it, buttons are pretty archaic and clunky technology. Without button layouts to memorise, movement becomes intuitive and a lot closer to how it is in real life. Instead of cumbersome buttons, we made a controller that harnesses finger-sensing technology. This leads to a totally different, superior experience.
Shooting games are growing in popularity in the VR/AR sphere. Can etee mimic a gun with no trigger button?
It certainly can – you just move your index finger as you normally would to pull a trigger. etee is actually a game-changer in this area: thanks to advanced pressure sensing, you can have guns with various trigger sensitivities and step triggers, something that no other controller offers. Rather than building the controller around a trigger function, we went for a human-centric design. If you focus heavily on buttons, layout and hand position for shooting, then suddenly everything is a shooting game. As the old saying goes, if you only have a hammer every problem is a nail.
How many versions of the design did you go through?
There were actually more than 40 iterations, each version honing different elements of the design. Every stage brought new challenges to work through: we improved everything from the signal detection and wireless connection to etee’s ability to detect different sizes of hands when it’s picked up. We experimented with different 3D forms and textures, and took notes of different user’s experience. We incorporated all of that feedback to make sure that users experience real freedom with their hand gestures.
How does TG0’s technology set etee apart from other controllers?
We’re tactile control specialists, which means we can bring something to the table that few others can. The conductive material we’ve used is pretty unique and gives etee a powerful sensing system. The structure itself is fairly simple, yet there’s no other controller like it. We wanted the end result to be truly different, hence etee’s ergonomic shape and the cylindrical control surface, which means that people can interact with it intuitively.
Can you see etee being used outside of VR?
Absolutely, I think there is scope for etee to be used in all sorts of ways and we’ve designed it with that fluidity in mind. It works well as a joystick in gaming, for example, as well as for hacking other control devices. I can also see it being used for corporate VR training purposes too, as well as uses in telecommunications and tele-presence. The possibilities for a controller like this are far-reaching.
What is the next step?
We want to take etee to the next level. To do so we need backers for our Kickstarter campaign. We have started well but every backer makes a difference; please support us if you can.
London-based hardware startup TG0 launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier last month for the Etee dev kit, a VR controller with integrated SteamVR Tracking. TG0 positions the controller’s button-less design and finger tracking as its main attractions.
Update (May 11th, 2020): The Etee Kickstarter has concluded today, boasting 338 backers pledging a total of £90,650 ($112,000).
Surpassing £90K has unlocked the stretch goal for a formalized developer program, something creator Mick Lin says will include an event where devs will help the company expand Etee’s usecases.
The final funding amount fell just short of the £100K mark, which would have allowed the team to work on Android support.
Update (May 6th, 2020): The Etee Kickstarter campaign for a finger-tracking VR controller with SteamVR Tracking is now 153% funded with £70,450 (~$87,500), having well surpassed its goal of £45,900 (~$56,000). With four days left, the project is approaching the £80,000 (~$100K) mark.
TG0, the creators of the project, recently shared new gameplay footage with Half-Life: Alyx and Boneworks to show how the button-less controllers handle common gaming inputs like shooting guns and moving around the environment:
The project has reached two stretch goals so far—open-source CAD files for the controller’s handle, and an ‘EteeRoom’ demo game—and could reach its third stretch goal at £80,000 which will see the accelerated development of an Unreal Engine SDK for the controllers.
Update (April 14th, 2020): The Etee Kickstarter campaign has exceeded its goal of £45,900 (~$56,000) with nearly four weeks left. Among 190 backers for the controllers, 87% have backed the SteamVR version of the controllers, which is understandable as the base controller doesn’t offer integrated 6DOF tracking. Upon reaching the campaign goal, the creators revealed the first of several stretch goals which will be unlocked as more money is raised.
For the first stretch goal the company has announced that the LED surface on the controllers has two separate sensors which can serve as two touch-sensitive buttons, or a continuous thumb slider. It isn’t clear if this was something the company has added for the stretch goal or is merely explaining in more detail.
For the second stretch goal at £60,000, the company says it will make the available a 3D model of the controller’s handle so that makers and modders can create different handle shapes and accessories.
Four additional stretch goals, each £10,000 higher than the previous, have yet to be revealed.
Update (April 9th, 2020): One week after the launch of the Etee Kickstarter campaign, the project is nearing its £45,900 (~$56,000) funding goal, currently at 81%. TG0, the company behind the controllers, also announced that it has opened up the campaign to worldwide shipping, allowing developers from all over to back the project.
While the campaign looks on track to reach and exceed its goal, $50,000 doesn’t seem like much for a hardware project of this scope, which likely requires bespoke parts and precise manufacturing. Still, we hope to see the campaign succeed, as more controller options means more choice for developers and potentially for consumers further down the road.
Original Article (April 2nd, 2020): TG0 has launched the Etee Kickstarter campaign with the hopes of raising £45,900 (~$56,000) for its VR controller dev kit. The Etee dev kit will come in two versions, one with 3DOF tracking starting at £200 (~$265) for a pair and another with 6DOF SteamVR Tracking starting at £240 (~$315) for a pair. There’s a range of higher tiers available with more unique rewards, including a version with advanced haptics and another with a cool transparent shell.
Based on a thesis that sounds… downright wrong to the ears of any VR gamer, TG0 says that “buttons are way out of date,” and touts the Etee controller’s button-less, trigger-less, and joystick-less design as its major selling point, alongside finger-sensing, which the company says detects proximity, touch, and pressure.
This is in contrast to the rest of the VR industry which has steadily coalesced around VR controllers and games which make use of use of buttons, triggers, and joysticks for key gaming interactions. TG0 says that Etee supports gestures which can be used in place of buttons.
While removing the reliance on binary controls sounds great on paper, in practice it has proven difficult in the VR gaming space because of the need for precise and highly reliable inputs.
But VR gaming isn’t the only use-case the company is touting for the Etee controllers. As a dev kit, they could of course be used for any application where motion input is useful. Indeed, VR content that doesn’t demand the binary precision of hardcore game experiences—like training, art, therapy, social, remote control, and more—could definitely leverage Etee as a more intuitive means of input than a VR controller covered in unfamiliar buttons, triggers, and sticks. We’ve made a similar point about Oculus Quest’s experimental hand-tracking feature (which of course also lacks buttons, triggers, and sticks).
Image courtesy TG0
Though the controllers are a dev kit at this stage, thanks to integration with the SteamVR Input system, the Etee controllers should be technically compatible with SteamVR games out of the box, though we’d expect the need to experiment with custom bindings for many games to reach a point where things are truly playable with the controllers given the need to remap buttons and other controls to Etee’s unique inputs.
Image courtesy TG0
TG0 says developers can expect battery life up to 6 hours of continuous use and 14 hours of standby, and that the 3DOF version of the controller weighs 75 grams and the SteamVR Tracking version weighs 120 grams.
The Etee Kickstarter campaign runs until May 11th and the company expects the first ‘Early Bird’ controllers will begin shipping in December 2020.
A recently-published patent from Sony Interactive Entertainment suggests that the company is working on a new VR motion controller, similar to those for the Valve Index. Could this be a new PSVR 2 controller?
The patent for a ‘Controller Device‘ outlines an input mechanism for a “home-use game machine” that “detects movement of a user’s hand”. Not only that, but the kit features “a plurality of sensor units that detect the fingers of the user”. These can detect “the proximity or contact of a finger and outputs a finger detection signal indicating the state of proximity or contact of the finger.”
New PSVR 2 Controllers?
In the image above, you can see a design not too dissimilar to current VR controllers; the user fits their hand into a strap and wraps their fingers around the back of the device to grip.
The sensor units mentioned above are placed where the fingers would rest just like the sensors on the Index controllers or those embedded in an Oculus Touch controller. When the fingers are wrapped around the sensor, the controllers can relay that information to a given VR game and reflect the user’s in-game hands as making a fist or grabbing object. When the sensors can’t find a finger, they’ll assume it’s extended outwards and reflect that in-app.
Again, this has been a feature in PC VR setups for a few years now, but no such feature exists in the PlayStation Move motion controllers for the original PSVR. Given the timing of the patent’s publication, this could indicate that Sony is looking to implement this type of finger tracking into new motion controllers for its rumored PSVR 2 headset, thought to be launching for the upcoming PS5 console.
The drawings also show a strap for the user’s hand that could, in theory, allow players to let go of their controller and have it remain in their hand. In this way, the controller may be able to simulate the grabbing of virtual objects, much in the same way Valve’s Index controllers do.
Meanwhile on the front of the device, we can see what looks like four face buttons with what could either be a fifth larger button in the middle or, possibly, an analogue stick, a feature that’s sorely missing in the current Move controllers for PSVR.
However it doesn’t sound as if Sony has settled on a definitive means of tracking fingers, at least according to the patent. At one point the text says the sensor units could be configured by either an “electrostatic sensor or an infrared sensor” as examples.All that said, this is of course just a patent and in no way an indication of the final design of a potential new motion controller for a potential PSVR 2. In fact, we’ve seen other patents from Sony for a similar product sporting an entirely different design.
We do know that Sony is implementing some exciting features into its next DualShock controller for PS5, including triggers that can apply resistance when squeezing and improved haptic feedback. We’re hopeful these features find their way into a new PSVR controller too. But we’re not expecting PSVR 2 to launch alongside PS5, which hits this holiday season, so we’re likely in for a long wait before these features are confirmed.
The controller tracking of the Oculus Quest and Rift S needed to be patched to work properly near Christmas trees and other holiday lights.
Oculus Touch controllers are built with a constellation of infrared LEDs under the plastic of the tracking ring. These lights are tracked by the cameras on the headset in order to determine the position of the controller.
Holiday lights like those on Christmas trees can look a lot like these LEDs to the cameras. This means the algorithm has more sources of light in each frame to analyze, and sometimes it can’t tell the difference between the controller LEDs and the irrelevant LEDs at all. This could make the controller tracking work poorly, showing the wrong position for the controller.
The solution works because the headset tracking algorithm already remembers static landmarks seen by the cameras in the room — that’s how it works without external sensors. By keeping a track of these landmarks the system can reject blobs of light which stay in the same position and don’t move.
This process on its own, however, is not enough to eliminate all the issues. So Facebook also trained a neural network to detect and filter out blobs of lights that are too small or too large to be a controller LED given its last position.
This isn’t the first time Facebook improved the controller tracking on Quest and Rift S. Both headsets use the Oculus Insight tracking system and launched on the same day. At launch, the controllers wouldn’t track when brought too close to the headset and tracking could break when one was placed in front of the other. This made games like shooters difficult to play until a patch was released one month after launch which fixed these issues.
Logitech’s enterprise-focused VR stylus is now available for pre-order. The $750 ‘VR Ink Pilot Edition’ uses SteamVR Tracking and offers up a more natural and precise input modality for a handful of art & design focused VR tools.
Logitech revealed the VR Ink Pilot Edition back at the end of May. At the time the company was only working with select partners to gather feedback on the VR stylus; now Logitech has opened up pre-orders for the device for $750, though they’re still calling it a “beta product” (and ask those pre-ordering to explicitly confirm their understanding of its beta status). The stylus is expected to ship in February 2020 and supports SteamVR Tracking base stations 1.0 and 2.0 (though these are not included in the price).
Image courtesy Logitech
In addition to the stylus, Logitech is offering an optional ‘VR Ink Drawing Mat’ for $70. The company describes this as a “low friction surface texture designed for optimal tracking performance,” though it isn’t clear if the mat actively contributes to tracking or if it’s just the ideal friction to take advantage of the pressure-sensitive tip of the VR stylus. The drawing mat is A1 sized, which means 23.4″ × 33.1″ (594mm × 841mm).
The Logitech VR Ink Pilot Edition stylus weighs 68 grams and includes a pressure sensitive button, a clickable 2D touch-strip, menu & system buttons, side ‘grab’ buttons, and integrated haptics. Logitech is promising “2.5+ hours” of battery life.
While the stylus integrates with SteamVR and is recognized as a regular input device, its unique buttons and inputs mean it isn’t suitable for typical SteamVR games. Instead, the stylus has custom integrations with a handful of art and design focused VR tools. Logitech currently lists VR Ink Pilot Edition support for Flyingshapes, Vector Suite, VRED, Mindesk, Gravity Sketch, MARUI (Maya plugin), IrisVR, and Tilt Brush, with integrations for Unreal Engine and Unity so that developers can adapt more applications to the stylus.
To make a stylus really work for surface drawing in VR, you need a lot of precision, and so far the VR Ink has impressed on that front. Largely driven by SteamVR Tracking, but undoubtedly assisted by the stylus’ pressure-sensitive tip, drawing against a table feels really natural. I’m by no means a digital artist who spends every day with a Wacom tablet, but I’ve used my fair share of tablet PCs with active digitizers (including the Surface Book as my primary laptop), and VR Ink’s drawing and pressure sensitivity felt very comparable.
[…]
Granted, there was some occasional stuttering of the stylus, though for the most part it seemed occlusion related, which could be fixed with better base station placement. The demo room was using four 2.0 base stations mounted above head height (which is typically what you want), but mounting them just above table height might actually allow for better view of the stylus, especially when the user is leaning over the stylus as they draw or write.
Beyond Logitech, the VR Ink stylus is also a win for Valve, as it shows not only how versatile their SteamVR Tracking tech can be, but also how their commitment to an open VR platform is enabling for others. VR Ink couldn’t work with Oculus headsets (unless through SteamVR) because Oculus doesn’t allow third-parties to make use of its tracking systems.
