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Using a Smartphone As a Virtual Reality Controller

Posted by Soulskill on from the don't-drop-it dept.

New submitter mutherhacker writes: A group from Osaka University in Japan and McMaster University in Canada have presented a method to control a virtual 3D object using a smartphone [video]. The method was primarily designed for presentations but also applies to virtual reality using a head mounted display, gaming or even quadrocopter control. There is an open paper online as well as a git repository for both the client and the server. The client smartphone communicates with the main computer over the network with TUIO for touch and Google protocol buffers for orientation sensor data.

13 comments

  1. Re:I have a greased up Yoda Phone shoved in my ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My little yoda doll friend you are most of a sick person.

  2. Excuse me butt by terrywirth5 · · Score: 0

    as I stolled through the VR section at Canon Expo NYC yesterday, the VR users looked like a bunch of mutant frogmen struggling to find a vacant teat. Plus, 8k! Please, it's much to early to get jiggy over this technology. It is only that, technology and may never find a usability niche.

  3. Not...seeing the point by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

    Why not use the accelerometer to track XYZ movement instead of just rotation? Making the user use the touchscreen while holding the phone in random orientations seems like a horrible UI.

    On the other hand, the principle has some merit. Using a phone as a slicing plane in 3D space could be clever in a different application.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    1. Re:Not...seeing the point by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Why not use the accelerometer to track XYZ movement instead of just rotation?

      Drift.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    2. Re:Not...seeing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem I have with Google Cardboard is the need for head rotation. Invalids could benefit from VR if they could use a second smartphone to control the rotation and other functions. Is this what your "slicing plane" meant to accomplish so that the second smartphone can remain relatively stabilized with just nudges being used to control the user's perspective.

    3. Re:Not...seeing the point by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

      If you're wearing a VR helmet, wouldn't an Oculus Touch-like hand controller be much better than a smartphone?

      By 'slicing plane' I mean the ability to quickly snap a cross section view of a 3D model at any location at angle, for visualization or editing with a conventional 2D screen and tools.

      Adjusting the viewport in 3D editing apps is something of a chore, even with tools like the SpacePilot... it would be nice to use a smartphone as a poor man's virtual camera, to view a scene from any position and angle as if it were floating in front of my workstation... then capture and send that viewport to the PC for editing.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    4. Re:Not...seeing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we should consider the 'slicing plane' as if it were the view from the driver's set in a car with small movements of a steering wheel reorienting the whole vehicle? There just isn't any practical way to get your finger up into the head unit. The reason not to use Oculus Touch-like controls is that sooner or later everyone has more than enough smartphones lying around.

    5. Re:Not...seeing the point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Using the accelerometer in such a way requires a double integral and will definitely introduce drift. i.e. You can probably translate a little but when you come back you won't be in the same spot. Also this work was intended for large displays, when you're collaborating with other people in front of large displays you don't want to be waving your arms around to translate, you'll be hitting your collaborators. Finally, waving your arms around with your $800 smartphone has a danger of dropping and cracking it. Which is why this approach has merit.

  4. Re:I have a greased up Yoda Phone shoved in my ass by sexconker · · Score: 0

    That Mega Tokyo reference takes me back.

    Fun fact: That shit is till going in some form or another (I can't make sense of it), and they STILL haven't learned how to draw eyes that aren't a country mile apart:

    http://megatokyo.com/strip/143...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...
    http://megatokyo.com/strip/142...

    As terrible as ever.

  5. Cellphone as input device by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A similar project, that could be used for VR input, but is made for non-VR Games/Programs is called "Happy Fun Times" http://greggman.github.io/HappyFunTimes/

    It's three components:
    1) A library that is included in a project (typically Unity3d)
    2) A server that runs on the computer in the background of the project; acts as a bridge between the Game/Application and a web-server
    3) HTML5 pages running on a phone that are served from the computer

    Simple idea; awesome technology when it's all put together. After seeing a "Marble Madness" type game at Baltimore's Artscape, I tried out the library and found it was very quick to get up and running (already have a 4 player old-school "Combat" game that uses the phones sensors for speed and turning.)

  6. Re:I have a greased up Yoda Phone shoved in my ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, mega fuckyo is still there. What a piece of shit that crap comic is.