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VR – The New Frontier For the Comic Book Genre

Domagoj Bakota
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VR – The New Frontier For the Comic Book Genre

Virtual Reality has come a long way since its beginnings and has in the meantime revolutionized many industries. Medicine, education, engineering and many other fields have utilized the power of VR to achieve great developments. Currently, every new day brings with it new and exciting ways in which people use VR. And who would have said that the comic book industry will see a new dawn in the realm of virtual reality?

Comics have come a long way since their beginnings as a cheap entertainment paper, bought at the traffic stores in bulk, and have since then become more of a collectible item, and some issues are even seen as investments and status symbols. Not to mention that the current trend in Hollywood is almost completely focused on comic book heroes, for which we are grateful.

But, no one can argue that the future of comics will be as bright as it was in the last century when the paper was the main medium of idea transfer. The world wide web has completely pushed newspapers and books aside as a medium through which people consume ideas and entertainment.

Luckily for the comic book industry, there is no shortage of enthusiastic comic book lovers who wish to breathe in new life to the medium, and are working hard to bring comics to VR, so here we bring you the three most promising comic book applications!

MadeFire

MadeFire, the most promising startup on our list received almost $6.5 million in Series B funding and has developed a VR application that allows artists to convert their comic books into a full-fledged 3D experience.

Now, using MadeFire app any artist can distribute his comic for free. The app changes the way comic books are read, or in this case, watched. Rather than showing one page at a time, the app shows you entire panel at a time. An image that could be the only couple of inches big in print can now we enlarged and remastered to fill your entire field of vision!

By deciding to show one panel at a time the people at MadeFire have completely transformed the comic book experience. When you have skimmed in a couple of seconds a page from a comic, now you can savor the details more deeply.
You are truly seeing a moment, frozen in time.

Not only that they have added a third dimension to the comic book reading experience, but have added a fourth one as well – time!

Pages that have a lot of dialogue, which can be a bit confusing at time, now show a natural progression of action. Dialogue bubbles that appear in timed sequence now help readers to follow the progression of events more concisely. And for fast paced fight scenes, the timings of the bubbles can mirror the action.

To achieve this, MadeFire uses a trigger system in which tapping your headset or controller leads to a specific action in one or more layers of the comic. An action can be simply fading out the panel in question or something else, whatever creator wanted them to be.

But the two main factors that make reading comics in VR so amazing are motions and sounds. When you view the comic, every panel shows an animation of the scene, also at key moments, a sound will play that increases the immersion, such as a gunfire shot or a scream.

MadeFire has a partnership with both Marvel and Magic Leap. Marvel comics are released on their mobile platform, while with Magic Leap, they will be releasing an AR version of the app with their headset.

There is no doubt that they will only increase in popularity with the passage of time.

Project Hikari – Square Enix

Another promising project by Square Enix shows in which direction VR comics can develop. It is not so much a virtual reality comic, but more a 3D VR animated film framed as a comic.

Project Hikari is fully compatible with Oculus Rift and Vive and is focused on bringing manga to life.
The visuals work to bring a 2D world of manga into a 3D VR experience by allowing you to interact with the environment and thus allowing for a more intimate experience.

For example, in the opening scene, the viewer starts in the backyard of an apartment building where two main characters live. The viewer is given the opportunity to freely look around the apartment as if he is living there until the action progresses to a new scene.

Square Enix uses what they call „live panels“. Shaped and used like ordinary comic book panels, they are also used to frame and place shots of the scene without the viewer moving at all. But inside these panes, everything is three dimensional.

Project Hikari is also fully voiced in Japanese but followed with dialogue bubbles with English translation, so the viewer can feel as though he is inside the manga itself.

While there is no consumer product that can utilize this amazing technology, it is only a matter of time until some other artists pick up on where they left off and grace us with new and amazing comics.

Magnetique VR

The third entry on our list of amazing new ways in which comic books can come alive in VR is Magnetique VR
It is one of the first storytelling apps that gives users 360-degree vision by placing them inside the comic book so that the viewer feels as a first-person character inside the story.

Unlike MadeFire, all the action happens around you, not in panels in front of you.
While unfortunately only available for Gear VR, we can hope that soon it will be released for other platforms as well.

Regarding the artwork, environments, and characters, nothing bad can be said. They are done simply beautifully. Just like MadeFire, there is audio during particular moments which only increases the immersion.

These three exciting applications serve as a window into the future, a bright new future for the comic book readers who will see VR as a new comic book medium. There are ample of possibilities to change that vision of the future into something else since only the imagination of future creators is the limit.
We surely live in exciting times, where we can see how old art forms are being transformed and new ones are being made.

How to Record and Stream VR Gameplay on Twitch and YouTube?

Domagoj Bakota
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How to Record and Stream VR Gameplay on Twitch and YouTube?

So you have read our previous articles on Twitch VR streamers and want to join the ranks of gameplay producers, but don’t know where and how to start? Are you enthusiastic about this new platform that is just starting to grow in popularity, with a growing player and consumer base but technicalities scare you? Well, fret no longer my friends since you have stumbled upon a perfect resource to ignite that fire burning inside of you and give you all the necessary knowledge to become a producer and influencer in this amazing new field.

The world needs more people like you who are willing to share their enthusiasm and personality with the world, so let the preparations start, prepare the rocket, soon you are heading into space, to the stars of VR.

Technical requirements

First and foremost, we need to build you a strong computer rig that will be capable of producing and encoding content at a favorable quality for your audience.

The best way to go about this business is to make yourself two computers, one is for playing the game, and another is for encoding. Although you could cut corners and play and encode video on the same computer, you would have to be aiming for a pretty powerful setup to ensure that the process runs smoothly.

Gaming PC setup

This setup is for those of you who don’t want to cut corners when it comes to their gaming platform. This kind of setup will ensure that you will have no problems achieving 90 FPS in just about any current or upcoming game in the ent year or so from now on be it for Rift or HTC Vive.

The components will provide you with a high-quality gaming performance for getting high FPS at max settings but will provide you with a cool, quiet, reliable and stable rig that will help you in your vision to VR stardom.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
GPU: GTX 1080
Motherboard: MSI B350 PC Mate
OS Drive: Crucial MX500 500GB SSD
Storage Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB HDD
Power Supply: EVGA 850 G2
RAM: 16GB DDR4
Case: Corsair Crystal 460X or Enthoo Pro
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S SE-AM4
Operating System: Windows 10

Streaming setup:

The other part of the equation is the streaming rig whose only job is to encode content and ensure no glitchiness, high-quality video to connect with your audience. While the final cost may prove to be pricey when taking into account the cost of the gaming rig, investing in this setup will prove to be more than a good decision when you can pride yourself on high quality, seamless content which will blow all other VR streamers out of the water.

Video Capture Card: Elgato HD60 Pro
MotherBoard: MSI X99A Raider
CPU: i7-5820K
GPU: GTX 1050
Memory: 16GB DDR4
OS Drive: Sandisk 240GB SSD
Storage Drive: Raid 1 3TB WD Reds
CPU Cooling: Corsair Hydro H100
PSU: EVGA 650
Case: Corsair Carbide 540

Accessories

Camera: Logitech c930e
Wireless Mic
1/4 to 3.5mm audio cable

If you are looking at this list and scratching your head in wonder, do not be alarmed! Here is a wonderful video of a VR streamer we covered in our previous article, TribalInstincs, who will walk you through the process of assembling this streaming setup and will provide you with a detailed explanation behind each piece of hardware:
And here is a graph that connects all of these parts together.

Required software:

OBS – streaming/recording software

Open Broadcaster Software is a long time favorite of many streamers everywhere. It is completely free, the source code is available on GitHub. The added benefit of OBS is that it uses GPU-based capture to lower the resource costs, meaning you will not be needing a separate computer for video capturing (although it may be beneficial for added performance). The video is recorded in either MP4 or FLV file-types and the video can be streamed straight to Twitch and YouTube.
This is a low-resource recording software that is a simple must for your streaming needs.

For a free, low-resource recording program that’s available for everyone, consider checking out Open Broadcaster Software.

OBS OpenVR-Plugin – a VR compositor capturing plugin

As everyone knows, VR content is not the same as regular 2D content, so getting this plugin is an absolute necessity. You see, by using just regular OBS software for capturing video, you cannot capture the direct video you see from your VR headset, but the video that is projected on your computer. Obviously, that will not do, so OBS OpenVR Plugin comes to save the day.
This plugin provides an input for 64-bit OBS that allows capturing directly from OpenVR/SteamVR mirror surface in full resolution.

Cropping can be configured in the plugin properties, with some presets provided for the HTC Vive. The presets take into account the OpenVR mask to provide a maximum capture area without any black borders. However, some OpenVR games still render these mask areas so with those games cropping is not necessary.

Here is how to install it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56vO5-xqvKY

Chatty – a twitch chat client that has audible notifications for join/leave/message alerts

Getting to know your audience is an important part of your career as a Twitch streamer, since growing and maintaining a connection with your audience is of paramount importance.
So here comes Chatty, a Twitch chat client for everyone who appreciates a dedicated desktop application (similar to a classic IRC client), but doesn’t want to miss out on Twitch-specific features.

4. OVRDrop: a desktop window for displaying Chatty or another chat feed in VR ($15)

In their own words:

“OVRdrop is a Utility Application for SteamVR that can mirror a Desktop Window, an entire Monitor, or a WebCam into a Cross Game SteamVR Overlay. OVRdrop works on SteamVR and should be fully compatible with any SteamVR headset, though you will need tracked controllers for many of the features.”

But what does that mean exactly to you? To put it plainly, you can use this software to clone an application right into the VR space with you, be it chat application or anything else for that matter. It is an absolute necessity that is of tremendous help for any streamer and is well worth the price.
Not to mention that you can use it to watch your favorite anime or movies while waiting for that long load times whilst playing Elite Dangerous.

Alternative to OVRDrop: OpenVRDesktopDisplayPortal –

If you are a bit short on monetary resources, you can go with a free version from the same developer, but since it is no longer updated you will most probably run into a lot of issues. Still, it does a fairly good job.

Stream Labs – good for getting alerts, chat feed and much more into your stream output display

Another necessity for any professional streamer or one who is aiming to become such, Stream Labs is an application that will make donations, alerts and other notifications much easier to manage. And it’s completely free!
For a very detailed review click here.

Here is a nice review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeIsGKg8oV4

Stream Labels – good for having dynamic information displayed in your stream output such as animated follower list etc. –

Another thing you will need is a:

A Twitch account! (duh!)

Making an account is completely free, and be sure to customize it, add a custom avatar, banner and a description that best captures your personality and intent.
If you would like to archive all of your broadcasts for later viewing, go to Settings > Channel & Videos > Archive Broadcasts.

How to build yourself as a VR streamer persona:

1. Build yourself an audience

Twitch is a platform that allows for many to make a stable income broadcasting, but not only because they play the latest games or have a gaming setup that is an envy of many – but because they are entertainers in the full sense of the word.
Building and maintaining an audience is key here, do not forget that you are in fact in the entertainment business so treat your audience as stars of the show.
If you grow big enough, which you surely will when abiding by this guidelines, Twitch will offer you a partnership, which will allow you to get a cut of broadcast revenue and offer you exclusive perks in exchange for a monthly subscription fee.

2. Be genuine

You don’t have to jump all around the room to be entertaining, nor do you have to speak rapidly in a high pitched voice to get any attention. Just be yourself and let your personality shine. Play and stream games that are in accord with your inner character. If you are more of an RTS fan, so be it.

Amaze your audience with your diligent planning and flawless execution of strategy which leaves your opponents in the dust. Are you an FPS fan? Great, show your fans how good you are at headshots, heck you might as well suck, but still be quite fun and entertaining while playing.
You don’t have to copy others, and you probably shouldn’t, because people can sense when someone is being genuine and when someone is just faking it.

In whatever color, form or shape your personality comes in, trust me, just be yourself.

3. Be consistent

When people log onto Twitch and start watching other people stream, it’s quite similar to when you turn on the TV to watch your favorite show.

You would like consistency, wouldn’t you? It would confuse you or simply irritate you if the show you’re watching come at random times, so mimic than those who have succeeded in making a name for themselves.

Consistency and persistence is another form of applied faith. If you want to succeed and if you believe you will succeed than you will persist. There may be months or even years before you make your big breakthrough, but when that moment comes, and come it will, you will have your discipline and consistency to thank to.

4. Become friends with other streamers

There is no better and cheaper way to promote yourself than to become friends with other people in whatever category of entertainment you’re interested in. So in the realm of streaming, become friends with other streamers.

You see, money follows attention, so the greater the number of eyes fixed onto you the greater the number of zeroes that will follow the first digit on your bank account. It is simply so.

When you make a name for yourself with other Twitch or YouTube streamers you will have a ready supply of followers before you even start your own channel. So, be sure to offer a helping hand to other streamers, and they will be more than willing to return the favor.

5. Interact with your audience

Young Man with a Guitar Performing on a Beach Concert

This would be one of the most important, if not the most important point in this list. In contrast with other forms of entertainment, the audience is an always a part of the experience and maintaining a quality interaction is key.

All Twitch streaming comes with a chat room and the better you are at making your audience feel as though they are right next to you, sitting on a couch, the better you will be and more successful you will be as a streamer.
Fortunately, with the aid of the software above, you will have no problems maintaining the interaction with your audience, so be sure to utilize it!

For a final conclusion of all the points mentioned above, be sure to watch this video of a popular streamer Trump who has condensed his philosophy and outlook on streaming in this short 10-minute video:

Hopefully, with all the information laid out in front of you in this article, you will have received a necessary push which will help you make your first steps on the road to VR streaming stardom.
Be sure to have fun along the way, everything is so much easier when you have fun while doing it, but also keep in mind all the advice mentioned here and success is virtually guaranteed!

Where to Watch Free VR and 3D Movies?

Domagoj Bakota
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Where to Watch Free VR and 3D Movies?

With the virtual revolution in full effect in the past few years, the availability and sheer volume of 3D and VR content have increased exponentially. But, as with most things in life, the vast majority of content for your VR headset is paid. Luckily for you, there are some high-quality applications that have secured a niche for themselves by providing users with high-quality FREE VR content.
So, if you want to enjoy the full experience that your VR headset can provide, without breaking the bank, read on.

Where to watch free VR video content?

Littlstar

This magnificent little application has found its way into many of our articles, namely useful for watching VR movies on PSVR as well as for watching adult entertainment videos on the same platform. But, not only does it provide PSVR users with the possibility of watching VR content readily available and downloaded to your USB drive, it has its own stream of content.

If you’re looking for something more than user-generated video content and photos, Littlstar is the right place to start your VR video search.
It is home to popular titles like 50 Shades Darker, My Brother’s Keeper and many others with few games thrown in for a good mix.
It has lots of categories for you to choose from, like Sports, Travel, as well as the bread and butter, Movies and TV.

You should definitely check it out.

Jaunt

Proudly presenting themselves as being the global partner of choice for worldwide distribution of immersive virtual reality, augmented and mixed reality content, Jaunt is slowly rising to the top of the list of applications which you can use to watch free VR content.

There are movies like Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, as well as popular TV series Mr. Robot in Jaunt’s library. You may find that most of the content on Jaunt and Littlstar is the same since media corporations usually give the same kind of licenses for free content to such third party sites.

Unlike Littlstar, however, you can find some extremely high-quality experiences made specifically for your VR headset, the likes of which are too many to enumerate, so you should just dive on in and experience them for yourself.
With Jaunt and LittlStar as the head of our list, you will find yourself immersed in many hours of content and never get bored.

Within

Within is another website abundant in high-quality VR videos that range from exhilarating experiences to heart-wrenching stories about refugees and the environment.
The applications are available for all major VR platforms, such as Oculus, Vive, and PlayStation VR and have many videos to offer.
You will laugh, you will cry, but you will never get bored.

Discovery VR

If you’re a sucker for natures documentaries, Discovery has an entire VR section dedicated just for you. Dive into the open space of the oceans and swim with the whales, experience the thrill of standing toe to toe with the majestic felines such as tigers and lions or pet some of the natures endangered species.

If you’re more of a peoples person and are interested in lives of those living on the other side of the planet, you do not need to book a flight to African planes or the Tibetan heights, you can just strap on your headset and head to the Buddhist temple yourself.
The application is available for mobile handsets such as Gear VR and Daydream, as well as Oculus Rift and Vive.

So, download the app and totally immerse yourself in these numerous experiences.

360 Rize

Unlike other application on our list, which is focused mainly on premium VR content, 360 Rize is more of a user-generated collection of thrilling and exciting visual experiences.
360 Rize is focused on activities that will spike up your adrenaline such as jumping off cliffs, airplanes or speeding at high speeds on a motorbike that will leave you gasping for air.

YouTube Official VR Channel

While it is not primarily a platform for providing full-length VR videos, YouTube VR channel is a platform that is widely considered one of the best places for finding virtual reality content anywhere on the web. There are videos being added daily, so you will not have to worry yourself for exhausting the platform for content.

There are videos of varying degrees of quality to be fair, but for an avid searcher, finding high-quality videos and experiences will not be an issue.
You will find videos in as many different categories that you can think of, such as nature videos that will rival those of Discovery VR, high-octane videos that will make your chest pound or theatrical videos that will leave you pondering on its meaning.
And the best part of it all is that the platform is completely free!

Facebook 360

Another popular platform for sharing user-generated VR and 3D content is Facebook 360.
Although Facebook has poured large amounts of money into the Oculus Rift, it is readily available for users of all major VR headsets.

Like YouTube 360, you will find countless hours of entertainment by scouring through this website, the layout of which is pretty much the same as the social network we all use.
Another great thing about Facebook 360 is that you can find loads and loads of amazing 360-degree photos, which have been captured by world-class artists around the world.
So, if you’re looking for any sort of VR and 3D content, Facebook 360 will have something in store for you.

So there you have it guys. With these websites under your belt, an entirely new universe of high-quality VR and 3D movies has been opened unto you. There is something that will suit anyone’s taste, be it adrenaline-spiking daredevilry, stunning documentaries from Africa’s savannah or movies made by acclaimed studio houses.

Whatever is your pick, you will never be bored again.

How to Make a Cheap DIY VR Headset?

Domagoj Bakota
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How to Make a Cheap DIY VR Headset?

With the advent of the first virtual reality headset, Oculus Rift, a whole new universe of possibilities has been opened. In the meantime, a lot of DIY enthusiasts have decided to take matters into their own hands and have produced HMD of impressive quality. But not one of them is so easily available and easily made as Google’s Cardboard VR, the template which is available for the public to use. Even though the plans are readily available, the instructions are so detailed that they might get confusing. With that in mind, we have made a complete step-by-step guide which is easy to follow and will reward you with a final product worthy of mentioning.

How does VR work?

Virtual reality is a technology that brings users into a virtual world quite unlike anything else experienced in front of a flat 2D monitor. VR has developed in such a way that it will not be a surprise if it starts to incorporate all of our senses, including vision, hearing, touch and even smell.

The only current problems are the availability and the price of such hardware, meaning for the best possible experience you have to spend a significant amount of monetary resources.

Luckily, Google has taken head-on that issue in an effort to increase the availability of VR technology to the wide populace with its Cardboard and Daydream ecosystem, of which we shall be using Cardboard as a means of ushering into the land of VR.

Virtual reality, in essence, tricks your brain into believing that you are in the real world. The main way VR technology does this is by using stereoscopic display.

You see, each of our eyes receives a 2D picture of the surrounding area from a different angle, and our brain works to complete them into a 3D representation of our world.
Stereoscopic imagery works in the very same way. Two slightly different angles of the scene are displayed for each eye, thus simulating a depth effect. Combined with the fact that farther objects relative to you move slower and shading works to create an almost lifelike experience!

The way stereoscopic screen look varies platform to platform as each headset displays images in its own unique way. More advanced VR headsets such as Oculus or Vive, use two feeds sent to LCD displays, one per each eye. There are also lenses which are placed between the eyes and the rendered image, which help to focus the picture for your eyes.
The lenses also reshape the picture for each eye by angling the 2D images to mimic better how each of our eyes views the world. Try closing your eyes, one at a time, and focus on a distant object to get the idea behind it.

The example of a stereoscopic image

Now, when you know a bit behind the technicalities of it all, we shall start with our guide to a DIY VR headset. By using this tutorial you will be able to make yourself your very own VR headset with no cost to you at all if you have some cardboard, plastic bottles, and magnets in your home. Velcro strip comes as an added benefit. You can practically build this headset with recycled materials, and consider yourself an ecological activist in the process.

The lenses are maybe the trickiest part of this tutorial since Google recommends you buy one which will be the costliest item on the list, but a very good solution is to make ones yourself using clear plastic. The lenses used in VR help reduce the least distance of distinct vision, since your eyes can’t focus on something very near to you, thus allowing you to see the screen of your smartphone quite clearly only a few centimeters off your face.

What you will need:

– Scissors
– Exacto knife (stencil cutter)
– Glue
– Quick dry epoxy
– Clear plastic bottle made of PET (Pepsi cola does the trick
– Velcro or rubber band (optional)
– Glue stick and a glue gun
– A small piece of dense foam
– Google Cardboard template

1. Cutting lenses

Find a bottle, preferably a large Pepsi cola bottle and cut away all parts of the bottle you won’t need. All you need is the top part of the bottle next to its neck.
Take a cork and draw circles of 25mm diameter and cut out 4 circles with scissors.
It is especially important to use bent plastic next to the neck as it is the perfect shape for the lenses.

2. Making the lenses

Now when you have 4 circles, glue two by two together, but leave a small air cup between them. Use hot glue to glue them together. Once glued, fill the lenses with water and press them a bit so there are no air bubbles inside of them. Then fill the hole with more hot glue.

Let them dry for a couple of minutes. Then test them if they’re magnified by placing them above a page with small printed letters.

Keep in mind that as the diameter of the lens increases, the magnification power of the lenses decreases. That is the result of the amount of curvature in the lenses since magnification power is a function of curvature. As the lens site increases, the curvature decreases, making for a lesser magnifying power.
That is the reason why higher magnification lenses are generally smaller than lower magnification lenses.

3. Make an enclosure for your DIY headset using Google’s Cardboard

This step is pretty simple, all you need is to make a box slightly bigger than your phone, and about 5 cm shallow.
– Download the template and print it on a large piece of paper in landscape mode
– Cut the template
– Attach the template to a cardboard (you can use a pizza box)
– Cut out the template
– Assemble it

4. Attach the lenses

Now for the delicate and important part. Place the pair of lenses you made earlier onto the eye-slot of the assembled Google Cardboard Headset and glue them so they fit tightly.

5. Make a soft mask

Believe it or not, you are almost there. The hardest part is well behind you and now for some finishing touches. Now you need to cut out a piece of foam so that you make a mask that will fit nicely with your face. Cut out the foam by making a place for your eyes, forehead and make holes for the eyes, then glue it onto a finished VR headset.

To box/unbox your mobile phone while inside the Cardboard you can put some Velcro strips or a simple rubber band.

Believe it or not, you are finished!
Test your final product by turning on some Virtual Reality app on your phone, or a 360 video and place your phone in. Enjoy!

If you would like to watch some videos of people assembling the headset, there are many available, but this one goes nicely with our guide.

Riftcat Gear VR Guide

Alex Phoenix
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Riftcat Gear VR Guide

This RiftCat Gear VR guide will help you through the process of using RiftCat with the Gear VR.

If you already have a reasonable gaming computer, but don’t have the wherewithal to buy an Oculus Rift, RiftCat lets you make your entry into virtual reality by using your Gear VR with your PC, allowing you to play the best Oculus games cheaply with a mobile headset.

As the use of virtual reality spreads and virtual reality games get more diverse and ever more interesting, the only fly in the ointment is the fact that high-end headsets, along with the extremely powerful gaming PCs needed to run them are still expensive and out of the reach of the average gamer.

Everyone would like to play higher end VR games on a cheaper virtual headset like the Gear VR.

RiftCat, and its associated app VRidge, allows you to do just that, moving games meant for the Oculus Rift onto the Gear VR. 

04 Riftcat Gear VR Guide

System Specifications

You’ll need a Windows 8 or higher operating system, as RiftCat is not compatible with Windows 7. You’ll also need an NVIDIA graphics card, a GTX 650 or higher, or an AMD Radeon 7750 graphics card or higher. You’ll also need a 5GHz band router, preferably one of the NOAC type. It goes without saying that you’ll need a Gear VR and a compatible smartphone.

Getting started with RiftCat

To get started with RiftCat Gear VR, you have to sign up for the RiftCat program at riftcat.com. Once you register, you’ll get the option of downloading the client software, which you will then install on your PC. Once you have RiftCat up and running, you’ll have to download VRidge for the Android.

This might be rather obvious, but you need to ensure that both your smartphone and your computer are connected to the same network.

Launching an Oculus game

The RiftCat client offers a selection of Oculus compatible applications and games. You’ll need to choose and download the game you like. The game will install in the background the moment the download is complete. Now launch VRidge on your smartphone. After this, start your game on your computer. This is the point where you’ll insert your smartphone into your Gear VR headset.

Launching a game downloaded outside RiftCat

It’s also possible to play an Oculus Rift game that you don’t download through RiftCat. For example, you can play a compatible game downloaded on Steam.

To do this, all you need to do is start up the RiftCat client and then go to the VRidge tab. Start up VRidge on your Android smartphone. In the RiftCat client, click ‘play from hard disk’, and then search for the location of your game via Windows Explorer.

After that, all you need to do is put your smartphone into your Gear VR headset, and you can play your game.

Some things that are essential for RiftCat to work properly

What RiftCat does, essentially, is stream a game to the smartphone that is actually running on your PC. This doesn’t require exceptional bandwidth, but it does require a steady connection, which is why it becomes imperative to use a WiFi connection that’s maintained at 5GHz. Bluetooth is a source of interference and must be disabled on the smartphone. If it’s at all possible, no other device using this system should be turned on in the room during the streaming process.

If you use a controller, it must be connected to the host PC. This is all it takes to use RiftCat to connect your Gear VR to your PC. Now you can enjoy all the latest Oculus Rift games on the market.

If you find yourself unable to set up a reliable WiFi connection, remember that a USB connection is something that can be used reliably, but adds the inconvenience of wires.

Just make sure that the connection that the RiftCat connection between your mobile phone and your computer is running and stable before you fire up your favourite Oculus Rift games.

Adding in tracking

If you’d like to make your VR experience more interactive by adding in tracking, you’re going to need a leap motion controller.

Just attach the leap motion tracker to your Gear VR, and connect the cable to your PC. If the cable isn’t long enough to allow you to move around to some extent comfortably, you can use an extension to lengthen it.

Once you’ve got the hardware in place, installing Orion Beta will do the rest. If you’d like wireless tracking, this is done with a gyro mouse. As with the leap motion tracker, the gyro mouse will also have to be placed on your headset. You’ll have to attach it as best you can.

Once it’s in place, tracking should be operational

You might wonder why you have to do this when the Gear VR has its own tracking system. This is because when you’re running Oculus games using RiftCat, the Gear VR is essentially not running off of your Android phone, but off of your PC. Since the Android phone is simply streaming information from the PC, your tracking systems have to be geared to the PC instead of the phone.

This is all it takes to set up a RiftCat Gear VR connection to link your PC with your mobile phone, allowing you to run the best VR games on your PC while using a Gear VR headset as your virtual reality device.

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