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Two or three sensors dilemma

SOTBMP
Protege
Hello,

Currently I'm a happy (pre-order) owner of Oculus Rift. In next weeks I'm planning to buy Oculus Touch, but I'm not sure about third sensor...

So - two questions o:)

First of all I want to play Touch games, such like The Climb, Fruit Ninja VR, Serious Sam VR, Robo Recall, ARKTIKA.1, Lone Echo, Superhot VR, Robinson: The Journey... and more.
Will the third sensor bring me noticeable advantages in these games? 🙂

But except Touch games, I still wanna play with gamepad or with joystick (I've made stand for it) or with steering wheel (here I've bought simple stand) - all these experiences sitting on a bed. And now my biggest dilemma...
Today, with one sensor, there is no tracking problem when I sit on a bed, 2.8m (~9 feet) away from Oculus sensor.
I'm sure that with two sensors it can't be worst - it obviously will be even better.
But what about third sensor?
On standing/360 degree experiences I'll stand in middle of three sensors (with area 2.6x2.2m = ~8.5x2.7 feet).
But with steering wheel or joystick I must sit on a bed (left corner, to be in center of two front sensors).
Third sensor will see me from behind from a close distance...
Will it be worst than with two sensors? Should I disconnect third one for sim/racing experiences?
Or it will work like a champ? 😉

Of course, I know that I can reset my default position - I'm doing it all the time, playing sitting at the desk or on the bed.

I've attached quickly drawn sketch of my room.

wnt7h0ciixf3.png

10 REPLIES 10

JaimieVandenber
Heroic Explorer
Three sensors is experimental anyway right now, I wouldn't bet on anything! Try with two to start with, then add the third later when it goes non-experimental, is what I'd suggest.

Mr_Creepy
Rising Star
If you want better tracking get three, but for most of the games you mentioned you wont need it. If your really keen on roomscale I'd strongly suggest three sensors, but since shipping is free you lose no money by trying just two first. I don't think there would be any tracking issue but it might depend on how close you are to the back sensor and whether that would be an issue with two other cameras seeing you. I would say it's fine, I can't see why it would break tracking.

SOTBMP
Protege
So, if I not necessary need three sensors in games listed by me, in which one it will be more useful?
Do these games even use third one (ie. in case if I turn around)?

nalex66
MVP
MVP
Having a third sensor will mean that there is less chance of occlusion, if you happen to be turned away from the front sensors. For the most part, those games don't really require you to turn around a lot.

It's not up to the game to use the third sensor, that is automatically handled through the Oculus runtime.

Some people have had some tracking problems using three sensors, so it's hard to say whether it will be better for you or not. I would start off with two and see if you feel the need for a third.

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cleetose
Protege
I would say 3 sensors is better than two. The beauty of three sensors is you don't need to be in the center of them all the time and they don't all need to see you for tracking to work.

Here's a crude diagram of my setup:
00a77kxb6rwk.png

Usually when I play sit down controller games I move my chair to the center of my play space and face the two forward facing sensors to the left of my computer desk.

But recently I played Elite: Dangerous with some friends and I sat facing my computer desk. I have a racing style gaming chair so the sensor over the bed was pretty much completely blocked by the chair's high backrest, and the sensors on the shelving could basically only see the right side of my rift. Even with all that, the tracking was perfect.

HiThere_
Superstar
I think you could achieve a better VR space then that small  ~2m20x2m60 out of a ~4mx4m room (your biggest issue being that huge table, which could be removed or at least replaced with a smaller one).

I mean my room surface is almost twice smaller then yours, I have 9 pieces of furniture in it (plus a 1m wide wall-mounted bookcase), and at almost ~2m20x2m20 my VR surface is almost as big as yours.

And if you're going to keep it like that it's too small for room scale, and based on my experience only two sensors in opposite corners would be enough to track it : Those sensors have a ~110° horizontal viewing angle, and more then enough depth for the 360° experimental setup (only the vertical viewing angle is a bit small).

And using the opposite corners setup (instead of the dual front facing setup), even one camera is enough to track the headset when I'm sitting at my PC desk (the second camera is only about tracking the Touch controllers 360° when I'm standing in the middle of my VR space).

Warbloke
Superstar

@SOTBMP

Yeh, get rid of that big table on the left, you don't need that.

Move your bed to the bottom left corner the other way round, so you are facing your screen.

Put your big wardrobe in the bottom right corner... again turn it round so its facing the screen.


edit, or just slide the bed left, and slide the big wardrobe down

"You can't believe everything you read on the Internet " :- Abraham Lincoln 

SOTBMP
Protege
Thanks for your answers!

Rearrange room will be quite good idea if the bigger wardrobe was not connected to the wall 😕
But there is more important reason - this is rented apartment and I'm not allowed to throw anything out the garbage. Oculus sensors will be also mounted on stands made by myself, not hanged on (precious 😄 ) walls.

If you're talking about room scale... well... I don't really want to move a lot.
In my opinion it will be always like moving mouse continuously right - you must take mouse up on edge of your mouse pad and move it on left side of it. I don't want to walk 2,6m, turn, move another 2,6m and turn etc.
Teleport option, provided by many Touch games, is quite enough for me.

So the third sensor, if I decide to buy it, will be just for more precise and not interrupted (turn back to front sensors) tracking. I'm thinking that 2 sensor in the front will give me great tracking on front face experiences (like games that I've listed above), third one will be nice "emergency" addon 🙂

PS Will the difference of 35cm (~ 1,14feet) in height between two front and one rear sensors is acceptable? Or I should made some extension for the rear sensor mount?

HiThere_
Superstar
Well in case you do want more VR space but can't even move that table to another room, then just moving that table to the bottom left corner so you can place your desk and PC along the left wall, would be enough to produce a bigger central space without removing anything from the room.

It's possible to place the two cameras in a way that you can choose between the benefits of two front facing cameras "or" the benefits of the 360° experimental setup, without having to move the cameras.

The third camera adds the ability to move away from the center of your VR space without Touch losing as much tracking when you're near the borders, but if you're fine with staying in the middle and only using teleportation I suggest you start out with 2 sensors (in opposite corners of your VR space), and if that works for you (like it does for me), save yourself the 80$ or spend them on VR software instead 🙂

In my case I think tracking works better if you "don't" place the two sensors at the same height. Again the vertical viewing angle of the sensors is a bit narrow, but the wider your room, the further you are from the sensors, and the less the limited vertical viewing angle is an issue (think of the viewing range of the sensors as a cone, that is wider then it is higher... the further you are from the sensor, the higher/lower it can track your hands).