1 Meet the Oculus Rift
This chapter covers
- • Why should I support the Rift? How the technology is useful for developers and users.
- • What is the Rift? The hardware and how it works.
- • How do I work with the Rift? Setting up the Rift in a development environment.
- • How do I keep working with the Rift? Dealing with motion sickness.
If you've picked up this book, you probably already know that the Rift is a virtual reality head-mounted display (VR HMD). You may have one of your own already or maybe you’ve tried one out and were, like us, blown away by the intense immersion. Even if you've only read about the Rift in passing, if you watch demo videos and reaction shots, you can often see the look of incredulous delight on peoples' faces the first time they use the Rift.
With the increased field of view (more than double what you get with a typical monitor!) and head tracking to change the viewpoint (the wearer just turns their head to see what they want, no need to use a mouse or joystick to orient), the Rift represents an opportunity for people to view your work in a way they never could before. When thinking about developing for the Rift, the question is less “Do I want to support the Rift?” and more, “Does my application benefit from VR?” This boils down to asking yourself if your application presents a view into a world or environment. If it does, then wouldn’t the application benefit from the view being better?