All ModeVR setup is serious business.
Valve has started shipping developer kits for its Vive VR Headset made by HTC. We covered the Vive previously here and talked about the Lighthouse tracking solution here.
And Valve includes an entertaining instruction manual for setup.The leaked manual is both informative and entertaining.
Carefully Make Room for your Virtual Reality Setup
Unpack Your Dev Kit…All Over the Floor
Don’t Hurt Yourself, Or the Hardware…Mostly the Hardware
They’re not concerned about your well-being. Just about the well-being of the precious dev kit. And rightfully so.
15 Feet Between Lighthouse Tracking Stations. NOT 15 Feet Square Play Area
There has been some confusion on the part of the VR community about exactly how big the tracking area is expected to be. It is clarified in this frame where they tell us that it’s 15 feet diagonally not 15 feet by 15 feet of play area. Regardless, this is a very big space to play in virtual reality.
The Washing Machine Is Not a Good Spot for Installation
This does bring up the subject of the difficulty of installation. The Vive is not exactly plug and play, and many mainstream consumers may find the setup tricky.
But I don’t think this poses an insurmountable problem for Valve. I would say the difficulty is easier than setting up a home-theater. And we know that this is a common thing found in households everywhere.
I suspect that that virtual reality systems will become easier to setup; just think about your average consumer PC in the 80’s compared to nowadays. And further, installation may become a standard service when purchasing a VR system. Nowadays, when you buy a large flat-screen TV, they will usually deliver it and set it up for you.
Enjoy VR
After you finish setup, you can finally get down to the business of virtual reality!
Note that the person who did all the work gets to rest. While the white-coffee-mug person gets to play.