Packet³⁹ Blog

Using Unity and USB external display, a 3D printed adapter and the HTC Vive tracker. More info coming soon.

As of the writing of this blog post (May 2018), Beat Saber is the darling of the VR gaming market. Universally praised, highly reviewed and fiendishly fun, it’s truly a gem. Three weeks after release, Hyperbolic Magnetism reported to have sold 100k copies. Lets dive into that number, shall we? Beat Saber sold 100k copies at $20, …
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With the release of the hit VR rhythm game, Beat Saber, I’ve seen lots of talk about adding wrist and ankle weights to increase the workout, or to “take it to the next level”. Wrist and ankle weights for VR is a really bad idea. It’s will provide marginal benefits while greatly increasing your chances of …
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– Last updated on April 24, 2018 VR treadmills have been trending recently, so I decided to do some research and also share my own experience. There is a lot of noise but very few actual products. Here is what I found: Slidemills systems This is the cheapest and most common design for a VR treadmill, …
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Right now, as for early 2018, Augmented Reality sucks. It’s not fun, it’s not useful or engaging, doesn’t solve any problems or provide any value. Allow me to explain. Lets start at the beginning. History Augmented Reality has been around for a very long time. Back in 2005 I was hired as the R&D manager …
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3DOF vs 6DOF DOF means Degrees Of Freedom, the number of different “directions” that an object can move in 3D space. 3DOF VR headsets can track your head orientation, i.e., it knows where you are looking. The 3 axis are roll, yaw and pitch. 6DOF headsets will track orientation and position, the headsets knows where …
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In The Box My two Zed Mini cameras arrived today, after a bit of a delay (pre-order placed sometime in Oct 17, was scheduled to ship in Nov. Included in the box: Camera Lens cap Bracket for the HTC Vive Paper alignment helper thingy Short USB-C cable (1m) Long USB-C cable (~4m, not pictured) Software …
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Introduction Remember that first time you put on a VR headset? You were immersed in a virtual world and (hopefully) it was breath taking. Then, if you were in VR for a good amount of tine, when you took off the headset the real world felt… weird. Not right. Something odd about it. That feeling …
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I’m building a VR art gallery for Lena Gorelick, a local artist whom also happens to be my wife. Here is one of the interactive displays. Experimenting with fluid mechanics in VR.

A few days ago I had the opportunity to grab a TPCast and install it on my home office Vive. Here are my thoughts: Lots of parts, clunky. Battery+holder, receiver, transmitter, router (why?) Setup was easier than expected. Pretty much plug in everything, install the TPCast software. Had some issues that went away after a …
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