OpenVR - How to reset camera properly?

UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter() seems to work differently for the Rift SDK than it does in OpenVR. With the older Rift setup (Unity 5.3) the recenter puts your head at the origin. With the new system it either isn't working at all or it's resetting it to the floor. My game is a driving game so when somebody resets the VR headset I need it to pop to the driver's head. This no longer works, instead it places the feet at the driver's head and you're now standing on top of that. The camera doesn't go where I want it to in Unity 5.4, it's adding the person's height to it. That makes sense for a standing game but not for a sit down game.

Is there a quick and easy way to fix that or is resetting the camera in OpenVR going to be trouble?

 

Thanks, Ed. I must have misinterpreted what it was doing. What you said makes sense, I think it might have just been centering the rotation. The trouble is that in OpenVR my viewpoint is as though I'm standing on top of the game driver's head (probably according to my floor to camera distance in SteamVR relative to....what I'm not sure) instead of my head being positioned at the game driver's head like it worked in 5.3 (not OpenVR).

Not sure what I can do to restore it to how it worked before OpenVR where calling InputTracking.Recenter would reset the position and horizontal plane rotation to the game driver's head facing toward the front of the vehicle. Do I have to simply tell my customers to configure their SteamVR a certain way for this to work? That could potentially be a lot of extra support and frustration for them having to go fiddle with their SteamVR settings just to run my game comfortably while sitting.

I've been up for 34 hours straight so will have to look at this tomorrow. Brain is mush now.

 

Found this. Haven't tried it myself yet.

http://skydomestudios.nl/dont-let-go-and-cross-hmd-development/


----------------
Reset Seated Position
When making a seated experience like Don’t Let Go it’s often necessary to have the user Reset the Orientation / position. This is to make sure the user’s virtual and real body line up correctly.

To do this you can call the Unity Implementation like this:
UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter();

This will work on the Oculus, but does nothing on OpenVR.
So for the OpenVR SDK I used the following:

Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
Valve.VR.OpenVR.Compositor.SetTrackingSpace(Valve.VR.ETrackingUniverseOrigin.TrackingUniverseSeated);
----------------

On a separate note, am I misunderstanding the OpenVR versus Oculus lib setting in the Unity 5.4 beta? I was under the impression that the OpenVR library was for both Oculus and Vive. Is this not correct? If my title is supposed to support Vive and Oculus, do I need to include both libraries? The above post seems to suggest this is indeed the case. If so this might explain the water reflection problems I've been having in the beta with OpenVR only + Rift headset. If I include both libraries my Rift water reflection problems disappear and my head position is correct. That'd just leave me figuring out the Vive specific camera positioning per the above post by the looks of it.

 

This works!

Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
Valve.VR.OpenVR.Compositor.SetTrackingSpace(
Valve.VR.ETrackingUniverseOrigin.TrackingUniverseSeated);

However for us, After that, you sort of have to again move the camera to where it should be, that is to say the "user's" head.

So, you have a vehicle model. There is a model of the driver Sally, with her hands on the wheel and so on. Have an empty Transform with the exact desired position and rotation of the camera POV, call it SallyPOV. (So, for example on the bridge of sally's nose and looking ahead.)

Step 1: make a note of the vehicle rotation, temp = vehicle.rotation, and set the vehicle.rotation = Quaternion.identity so that the car/sally is pointing along z-forward zero (also set Sally's sitting straight ahead, if she moves around, as relevant)

Step 2: do the "Todd Wassen miracle solution"

Step 3. now set the position/rotation of the camera-holder to the same as SallyPOV. {Aside - of course, in general you have to move/twist a VR camera via a GameObject which holds the camera, you can't just move/twist a VR camera.}

Step 4. return the overall car to vehicle.rotation = temp

(note - some have reported you must wait a frame or two before the move in point 3; moves of wrappers; we found it worked without that.)

A huge THANK YOU to @Todd-Wasson.
Thank you so much.

Note that Unity's UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter(); command does nothing for Vive case.

It's really amazing this has not been widely addressed. (How can you make Vive apps or kiosks elsewise?)

Thank you so much - lifesaver.

 

Great to hear that it works, I haven't tried it yet.

 

Can it works in 5.2.2？

 

No, you must download 5.4.1p2 - or whatever is the latest patch as you are reading this in the future. 5.2 won't work.


Here's an example of us doing it...

Code (CSharp):

1.     private void DoRecenterHeadsetOnThisStation()
2.         {
3.         // essential to FIRST sit the vehicle and/or humanoid
4.         // totally straight and looking forward:
5.         // in this example the humanoid does not move at all,
6.         // so simply set the vehicle absolutely square:
7.  
8.         Quaternion temp = littleTrainTransform.rotation;
9.         littleTrainTransform.rotation = Quaternion.identity;
10.  
11.         // useless: UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter();
12.  
13.         // some say to skip a frame here. works for us without.
14.  
15.         Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
16.         // WTT Todd-Wasson Unity Forums
17.         Valve.VR.OpenVR.Compositor.SetTrackingSpace(
18.                 Valve.VR.ETrackingUniverseOrigin.TrackingUniverseSeated);
19.         // WTT Todd-Wasson Unity Forums
20.  
21.         // some say to skip a frame here. works for us without.
22.  
23.         // the point of view (pov) VR camera of course must sit in an empty Transform
24.         // (called povHandler in this app)
25.         // it's a basic of VR in Unity that you can't move the camera itself, only a holder.
26.  
27.         // AFTER the above lines of code, simply shift that povHandler to the
28.         // bridge of the nose of the humanoid model.
29.         // (FWIW we find it's actually best about 8 inches in front of the bridge of the nose)
30.         // (the call FixOrReFixNow simply moves povHandler to that point)
31.         povHandler.FixOrReFixNow();
32.  
33.         littleTrainTransform.rotation = temp;
34.  
35.         // in our system, all of the above works perfectly within a frame,
36.         // and the user does not experience any flickering or other woes.
37.         // the user just "moves to" the correct position perfectly, phew.
38.  
39.         // in this example, flash an indication that you have been centered...
40.         StationUX su = FindObjectOfType<StationUX>();
41.         if (su) su.DoXHairs();
42.         }

 

Thanks, Fattie! That works for me too (5.5.1p4 although I don't have a Vive to test it on to be 100% sure).

Here's what I'm doing now with Oculus and OpenVR libraries working together to support both Vive and Oculus. In player settings, Oculus is in the SDK list on top so it will use that if Oculus is found (it goes in order from top to bottom so make sure Oculus is on top if you want Oculus to use that SDK instead of OpenVR. This was recommended by Unity.). If Oculus is not there it'll then check OpenVR and use that.

Then I just have a simple class with a static function in it like this:

Code (csharp):

1. public static void RecenterVR()
2.     {
3.         if (VRSettings.loadedDeviceName == "Oculus")
4.         {
5.             print("Reset VRSettings.loadedDeviceName == Oculus");
6.             UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter();
7.         }
8.  
9.         if (VRSettings.loadedDeviceName == "OpenVR")
10.         {
11.             print("Reset VRSettings.loadedDeviceName == OpenVR");
12.             Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
13.          
14.             Valve.VR.OpenVR.Compositor.SetTrackingSpace(Valve.VR.ETrackingUniverseOrigin.TrackingUniverseSeated);
15.         }
16.     }

So anywhere where the camera is getting reset, I just call ThisClass.RecenterVR(). It figures out from VRSettings.loadedDeviceName whether it's using the OpenVR or Oculus SDK, then calls the appropriate functions, and if it's not VR at all (mine runs in VR and non-VR) it will do nothing.

This is for a sitting game, so for standing it'll be a little different on the OpenVR side probably.

 

Unity v- 5.5.0p1
I get a NULL Ref on Valve.VR.OpenVR.ResetSeatedZeroPose();

I have the [SteamVR] prefab in the scene and is set to tracking universal seated.

Player settings just has OpenVR in the list.

Any Ideas? Am I missing something?

 

Don't use a prefab. Unity has native support now.

 

Removed the prefab.

called UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter(); Null Ref

called Valve.VR.OpenVR.ResetSeatedZeroPose(); Null Ref

What should i be calling to center the head pos?

 

Have you debugged to see what is null?

 

Sorry, I must have run the wrong build for the test on the UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter(). It does not Null Ref, although the pos the camera before and after the call is the same.

Also, After rebuilding again with the Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose() I no longer run into a Null Ref.

Code (CSharp):

1. Debug.Log("gameobject cam obj pos = " + cam.transform.position.ToString());
2.             UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter();
3.             //Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
4.             //SteamVR.instance.hmd.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
5.             Debug.Log("gameobject cam obj pos after = " + cam.transform.position.ToString());

This prints same pos before and after the Recenter Call

Code (CSharp):

1. Debug.Log("gameobject cam obj pos = " + cam.transform.position.ToString());
2.             //UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter();
3.             Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
4.             //SteamVR.instance.hmd.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
5.             Debug.Log("gameobject cam obj pos after = " + cam.transform.position.ToString());

This prints same pos before and after the ResetSeatedZeroPose Call

Code (CSharp):

1. Debug.Log("gameobject cam obj pos = " + cam.transform.position.ToString());
2.             //UnityEngine.VR.InputTracking.Recenter();
3.             //Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
4.             SteamVR.instance.hmd.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
5.             Debug.Log("gameobject cam obj pos after = " + cam.transform.position.ToString());

This gives me an Interface not found with this log

Interface Not Found (105)
UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:Internal_Log(LogType, String, Object)
UnityEngine.DebugLogHandler:LogFormat(LogType, Object, String, Object[])
UnityEngine.Logger:Log(LogType, Object)
UnityEngine.Debug:Log(Object)
SteamVR:ReportError(EVRInitError) (at C:\Users\Curtis\Desktop\test\Assets\SteamVR\Scripts\SteamVR.cs:116)
SteamVR:CreateInstance() (at C:\Users\Curtis\Desktop\test\Assets\SteamVR\Scripts\SteamVR.cs:80)
SteamVR:get_instance() (at C:\Users\Curtis\Desktop\test\Assets\SteamVR\Scripts\SteamVR.cs:48)
test:Update() (at C:\Users\Curtis\Desktop\test\Assets\test.cs:25)

(Filename: C:/Users/Curtis/Desktop/test/Assets/SteamVR/Scripts/SteamVR.cs Line: 116)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
at test.Update () [0x0005e] in C:\Users\Curtis\Desktop\test\Assets\test.cs:25


Thanks for your help!

 

Are you trying to use the SteamVR plugin? Don't do that, Unity has native support now.

My code:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2.  Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
3.  

Yours:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. SteamVR.instance.hmd.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
3.  

 

Can you explain what you mean by native support, because I'm not seeing it. Is there a Valve namespace in UnityEngine that I'm missing? I don't have any plug-ins loaded and I'm trying to get Unity to reset the seated position. Where is this call coming from?

We have our game running in OpenVR, but don't see any way to access OpenVR in script.

I'm on Unity 5.5.2p2, the latest patch release available as of earlier today. (March 16th, 2017)

Thanks!

 

Native support means you don't need the SteamVR plugin, the OpenVR stuff is all built into Unity. It's like Oculus now where you just use a regular Unity camera without a special camera rig.

You can either call the function like this:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
3.  

Or use a using like this:

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. using Valve.VR.OpenVR;
3. //Later in some function:
4. System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
5.  

Don't call functions that have "SteamVR" in them. When you do that you're using the SteamVR plugin instead of the built in Valve.VR stuff.

 

Todd: I'm sorry, but Valve does not exist in the UnityEngine namespace anywhere. You must have a plugin/asset installed that has the Valve namespace.

Did a full search on the Unity documentation, and examined the full namespace, and Valve does not exist in either.

I would be happy to use the Valve.VR namespace if I could find it. Keep in mind I *do not* have the OpenVR SDK installed either.

 

It's not in the UnityEngine namespace, Valve is it's own namespace.

Sorry, if it's not showing up for you I don't know what else to say. I don't have the OpenVR SDK installed either. I don't recall doing anything special, as far as I know I went from an older version of Unity to a newer one and suddenly it was there.

 

Todd's solution almost worked for me. But here's what I had to do to finally make it to work(unity 5.6.x):

Code (CSharp):

1.     private void Start()
2.     {
3.         _steamRend = FindObjectOfType<SteamVR_Render>();
4.     }
5.  
6. void ResetToSeatedPose(SteamVR_Render _steamRend)
7.     {
8.         _steamRend.trackingSpace = Valve.VR.ETrackingUniverseOrigin.TrackingUniverseSeated;
9.         Valve.VR.OpenVR.System.ResetSeatedZeroPose();
10.     }
11.     void ResetToStandingPose(SteamVR_Render _steamRend)
12.     {
13.         _steamRend.trackingSpace = Valve.VR.ETrackingUniverseOrigin.TrackingUniverseStanding;
14.  
15.     }

I do also I have a question. Is it possible to, if so how to, re-orient HMD when standing (to PlayArea.forward)? What I mean is, is there a method like "ResetSeatedZeroPose()" for standing?

 

Reposition steam controller parent according eye/head to setup on origin, it's works for me.

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2.     private  Transform steamCam;
3.     private  Transform steamController;
4.  
5.     void Start()
6.     {
7.         steamCam = FindObjectOfType<SteamVR_Camera>().gameObject.transform;
8.         steamController = FindObjectOfType<SteamVR_ControllerManager>().transform;
9.         steamController.position = new Vector3( -(steamCam.position.x), 0, -(steamCam.position.z));
10.     }

 

If anyone wants to do this without importing the SteamVR package you can now use

XRDevice.SetTrackingSpaceType(TrackingSpaceType.Stationary);
InputTracking.Recenter();

in 2017.2.0f3.

 

I spent a lot of time looking for a answer on this. Tried all of the options on this thread without success. Looked like several of the SteamVR/Valve and native solutions stopped working after a recent update. Eventually wrote this script which took care of it to my liking.

This script will allow a reset of the SteamVR camera rig to align with a transform representing the desired head position in the scene. Attach to any GameObject in the scene. Useful for seated experiences like cockpits.

Code (CSharp):

1. public class ResetSeatedPosition : MonoBehaviour {
2.     [Tooltip("Desired head position of player when seated")]
3.     public Transform desiredHeadPosition;
4.     private Transform steamCamera;
5.     private Transform steamController;
6.  
7.     // Update is called once per frame
8.     void Update () {
9.  
10.         if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space))
11.         {
12.             if (desiredHeadPosition != null)
13.             {
14.                 ResetSeatedPos(desiredHeadPosition);
15.             }
16.             else
17.             {
18.                 Debug.Log("Target Transform required. Assign in inspector.");
19.             }
20.          
21.         }
22.     }
23.  
24.     private void ResetSeatedPos(Transform desiredHeadPos){
25.  
26.         //find VR Camera and CameraRig transforms in scene
27.         steamCamera = FindObjectOfType<SteamVR_Camera>().gameObject.transform;    
28.         steamController = FindObjectOfType<SteamVR_ControllerManager>().transform;
29.  
30.         if ((steamCamera != null) && (steamController != null))
31.             {
32.             //{first rotation}
33.                 //get current head heading in scene
34.                 //(y-only, to avoid tilting the floor)
35.                 float offsetAngle = steamCamera.rotation.eulerAngles.y;
36.                 //now rotate CameraRig in opposite direction to compensate
37.                 steamController.Rotate(0f, -offsetAngle, 0f);
38.  
39.             //{now position}
40.                 //calculate postional offset between CameraRig and Camera
41.                 Vector3 offsetPos = steamCamera.position - steamController.position;
42.                 //reposition CameraRig to desired position minus offset
43.                 steamController.position = (desiredHeadPos.position - offsetPos);
44.  
45.                 Debug.Log("Seat recentered!");
46.             }
47.         else
48.             {
49.                 Debug.Log("Error: SteamVR objects not found!");
50.             }
51.     }
52. }
53.  

Turned out to be simpler than I expected. Hope it can save someone else the time!

Cheers,

Gerry

PS: Running Unity 2017.2

 

Thanks so much. Just tried my project on Vive for the first time and I'm standing on my head.

Thanks for the code.

 

Thanks a lot! it worked for me with a vive visor and an xbox one controller running unity 2017.3

 

Thank you ryuhayaboosa, the SetTrackingSpaceType solved the problem of the height of the camera.
For newbies like me, add "UnityEngine.Xr." before.

 

The solution @gstarch suggested is the way to go. It works both for Room Scale & Seated Experiences.

Some things to remember though:

• An important change is that the

  SteamVR_ControllerManager

  -script isn't attached to the

  [CameraRig]

  -prefab coming with the SteamVR-plugin anymore (in SteamVR version 1.2.3 and up).
  • This also means that the variable

    steamController

    is supposed to be set to the

    [CameraRig]

    -prefab coming with the SteamVR-plugin.
    
• How Unity.XR works:
  • The function

    UnityEngine.XR.InputTracking.Recenter();

    ONLY works for Seated/Standing Experiences, ie. it won't do anything if you have set up a Room Scale-experience.

Here's our modified version of @gstarch's solution. Works with

Unity 2018.3.0b11

&

SteamVR Version 1.2.3

Hope this helps someone!

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2.  
3. public class PlayAreaController : MonoBehaviour
4. {
5.     [Tooltip("Desired head position of player when seated")]
6.     public Transform desiredHeadPosition;
7.  
8.     //Assign these variables in the inspector, or find them some other way (eg. in Start() )
9.     public Transform steamCamera;
10.     public Transform cameraRig;
11.  
12.     private void Update()
13.     {
14.         if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space))
15.         {
16.             if (desiredHeadPosition != null)
17.             {
18.                 ResetSeatedPos(desiredHeadPosition);
19.             }
20.             else
21.             {
22.                 Debug.LogError("Target Transform required. Assign in inspector.", gameObject);
23.             }
24.         }
25.     }
26.  
27.     private void ResetSeatedPos(Transform desiredHeadPos)
28.     {
29.         if ((steamCamera != null) && (cameraRig != null))
30.         {
31.             //ROTATION
32.             // Get current head heading in scene (y-only, to avoid tilting the floor)
33.             float offsetAngle = steamCamera.rotation.eulerAngles.y;
34.             // Now rotate CameraRig in opposite direction to compensate
35.             cameraRig.Rotate(0f, -offsetAngle, 0f);
36.  
37.             //POSITION
38.             // Calculate postional offset between CameraRig and Camera
39.             Vector3 offsetPos = steamCamera.position - cameraRig.position;
40.             // Reposition CameraRig to desired position minus offset
41.             cameraRig.position = (desiredHeadPos.position - offsetPos);
42.  
43.             Debug.Log("Seat recentered!");
44.         }
45.         else
46.         {
47.             Debug.Log("Error: SteamVR objects not found!");
48.         }
49.     }
50. }

 

This worked great for my app. Thanks.

I added this to the class:

public void ResetFromControllerClick()
{
ResetSeatedPos(desiredHeadPosition);
}

so that I could trigger it from a controller button push.

 

Many thanks to both @gstarch and @Paalo for the code snippets to rotate the play space instead of using the useless Recenter. Solved my problem with people running room scale, but wanting a recenter.

In the SteamVR 2.0 update, we now have a Player prefab, which includes the VRCamera. The VRCamera refuses to be rotated, but we can rotate the top level Player object. Same for position if you need it.

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2.     public Transform VRCamera;
3.     public Transform Player;
4.  
5.         //ROTATION
6.         // Get current head heading in scene (y-only, to avoid tilting the floor)
7.         float offsetAngle = VRCamera.rotation.eulerAngles.y;
8.         // Now rotate CameraRig in opposite direction to compensate
9.         Player.Rotate(0f, -offsetAngle, 0f);
10.  

 

Thank you @Todd-Wasson this solution worked great form me with the upgraded UnityEngine.XR.XRSetting.

 

OpenVR (Unity 2019.4.6f1, Steam VR 1.12.5) with a Windows Mixed Reality headset, doesn't know, even though you've selected Sitting or Standing, that you're sitting or standing. The TRICK is to TELL it you're sitting. This works (for me):

Debug.Log( "Recenter, current tracking space type = " +
XRDevice.GetTrackingSpaceType( ).ToString( ) ); <- you will see this as "Room"! What the heck?

XRDevice.SetTrackingSpaceType( TrackingSpaceType.Stationary );
InputTracking.Recenter( );