Oculus Rift Getting
Started Guide
2|Introduction|Oculus Rift
Copyrights and Trademarks
©
2017 Oculus VR, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
OCULUS VR, OCULUS, and RIFT are trademarks of Oculus VR, LLC. (C) Oculus VR, LLC. All rights reserved.
BLUETOOTH is a registered trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the
copyright holder.
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Oculus Rift|Contents|3
Contents
Getting Started with the SDK..............................................................................4
Oculus Rift SDK Setup.........................................................................................5
Installation.......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Directory Structure.............................................................................................................................................5
Compiler Settings.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Makefiles, Projects, and Build Solutions........................................................................................................... 5
Terminology....................................................................................................................................................... 6
Getting Started with the Demos......................................................................... 7
Getting Started.................................................................................................................................................. 7
OculusWorldDemo Controls........................................................................................................................ 7
OculusWorldDemo Usage............................................................................................................................8
Next Steps....................................................................................................................................................9
4|Getting Started with the SDK|Oculus Rift
Getting Started with the SDK
Now that your Oculus Rift is plugged in and the drivers are installed, you are ready to install the SDK and try
the demos.
Oculus Rift|Oculus Rift SDK Setup|5
Oculus Rift SDK Setup
This section describes how to set up the SDK.
Installation
The latest version of the Oculus SDK is always available from the Oculus Developer Center.
To download the latest package, go to http://developer.oculus.com.
SDK versions use a product.major.minor.patch format. For example, 0.5.0.1 means Product 0, Major 5, Minor 0,
Patch 1.
Note: The instructions in this section assume you have installed the Oculus Rift and Oculus runtime
package.
Directory Structure
The directory structure of the Oculus SDK package is straightforward.
It uses the following directory structure:
3rdParty—third party SDK components used by samples, such as TinyXml.
Doc—SDK Documentation, including this document.
Firmware—firmware files for the Oculus tracker.
LibOVR—libraries, source code, projects, and makefiles for the SDK.
LibOVR/Include—public include header files, including OVR.h.
LibOVR/Lib—pre-built libraries for use in your project.
LibOVR/Src—source code and internally referenced headers.
Samples—samples that integrate and leverage the Oculus SDK.
Tools—configuration utility.
Compiler Settings
The LibOVR libraries do not require exception handling or RTTI support.
Your game or application can disable these features for efficiency.
Makefiles, Projects, and Build Solutions
Developers can rebuild the samples and LibOVR using the projects and solutions in the Samples and LibOVR/
Projects directories.
6|Oculus Rift SDK Setup|Oculus Rift
Windows
Solutions and project files for Visual Studio 2010, 2012 and 2013 are provided with the SDK. Samples/
Projects/Windows/VSxxxx/Samples.sln, or the 2012/2013 equivalent, is the main solution that allows
you to build and run the samples, and LibOVR itself.
MacOS
The included Xcode workspace Samples/Projects/Mac/Samples.xcworkspace allows you to build and
run the samples, and LibOVR itself. The project is configured to build universal binaries (x86 and x86\_64) for all
recent MacOS versions (10.8 and newer).
Linux (Experimental)
A makefile is provided in the root folder that allows you to build LibOVR and the OculusWorldDemo sample.
The code is dependent on the udev and Xinerama runtime components. As a result, you must install the
relevant packages before building. You must also install a udev/rules.d file to set the correct access
permissions for Oculus HMD devices.
These steps can be performed by executing the provided script ConfigurePermissionsAndPackages.sh,
located in the root folder of the SDK.
Terminology
You should familiarize yourself with these terms, which are frequently used in the rest of this document.
Head-mounted display (HMD) A general term for any VR device such as the Rift.
Interpupillary distance (IPD) The distance between the eye pupils. The default
value in the SDK is 64 millimeters, which corresponds
to the average human distance, but values between
54 and 72 millimeters are possible.
Field of view (FOV) The full vertical viewing angle used to configure
rendering. This is computed based on the eye
distance and display size.
Tan Half FOV The tangent of half the FOV angle. Thus a FOV of
60 degrees has a half-FOV of 30 degrees, and a tanhalf-FOV value of tan(30) or 0.577. Tan half FOV is
considered a more usable form in this use case than
direct use of FOV angles.
Aspect ratio The ratio of horizontal resolution to vertical resolution.
The aspect ratio for the Oculus Rift DK2 is 1920x1080
(960 x 1080 per eye or 0.89). The aspect ratio for each
eye on the Oculus Rift DK1 is 640/800 or 0.8.
Multisampling Hardware anti-aliasing mode supported by many
video cards.
Oculus Rift|Getting Started with the Demos|7
Getting Started with the Demos
Now that the Rift is plugged in, the drivers are installed, and the SDK is installed, you are ready to begin using
the SDK.
Note: If you haven’t already, take a moment to adjust the Rift headset so that it’s comfortable for your
head and eyes. More detailed information about configuring the Rift can be found in the Oculus Rift
Hardware Setup this guide.
After the hardware is configured, the next step is to test the development kit. The SDK comes with a set of fullsource C++ samples designed to help you get started quickly. These include:
• OculusWorldDemo—A visually appealing scene with on-screen text and controls.
• OculusRoomTiny— A minimal C++ sample showing sensor integration and rendering on the Rift (only
available for D3DX platforms as of 0.4. Support for GL platforms will be added in a future release).
Getting Started
Oculus recommends running the pre-built OculusWorldDemo to explore the SDK. You can find a link to the
executable file in the root of the Oculus SDK installation.
The following is a screenshot of the OculusWorldDemo application:
Figure 1: OculusWorldDemo Application
OculusWorldDemo Controls
The OculusWorldDemo uses a mix of standard and specialized controls.
The following table describes keys and devices that you use for movement:
8|Getting Started with the Demos|Oculus Rift
Table 1: Movement
Key or Input Movement
W, S Move forward, back
A, D Strafe left, right
Mouse Look left, right
Left gamepad stick Move
Right gamepad stick Turn
The following table describes keys that you use for functions:
Table 2: Functions
Key(s) Function
F4 Multisampling toggle
F7 Mono/stereo view mode toggle
F9 Hardware full-screen (low latency) *
F11 Windowed full-screen (no blinking) *
E Motion relative to head/body
R Reset sensor orientation
Esc Cancel full-screen
-, + Adjust eye height
L Adjust fourth view value
Tab Options Menu
Spacebar Toggle debug info overlay
T Reset player position
Ctrl+Q Quit
G Cycle grid overlay mode
U, J Adjust second view value
I, K Adjust third view value
; Cylce rendered scenes
+Shift Adjust values quickly
O Toggle Time-Warp
C Toggle FreezeEyeUpdate
V Toggle Vsync
* Only relevant in Extend Desktop display mode.
OculusWorldDemo Usage
Once you’ve launched OculusWorldDemo, you should see a window on your PC monitor similar to the previous
screenshot.
Oculus Rift|Getting Started with the Demos|9
Depending on the settings chosen in the Display Mode dialog of the Oculus system tray, you might also see
the image displayed inside the Rift. If it is set to Direct Display, the Oculus display driver manages the Oculus
Rift and will automatically display the rendered scene. If Extended Desktop is selected or you are using a DK1
and the DK1 Legacy Support check box is selected, the Oculus Rift display uses extended desktop mode. In
this case, you should press F9 or F11 to switch rendering to the Oculus Rift as follows:
• F9— switches to hardware full-screen mode. This will give best possible latency, but may blink monitors as
the operating system changes display settings. If no image shows up in the Rift, then press F9 again to cycle
to the next monitor.
• F12—Instantly switches the rendering window to the Rift portion of the desktop. This mode has higher
latency and no vsync, but is convenient for development.
If you’re having problems (for example, no image in the headset, no head tracking, and so on), please view the
Developer Forums.
When the image is correctly displayed inside the Rift then take a moment to look around in VR and doublecheck that all of the hardware is working properly. If you’re using a DK2 then you should be able to see that
physical head translation is now also recreated in the virtual word as well as rotation.
Important: If you need to move the DK2 external camera for any reason after initial calibration, be sure to
minimize the movement of the HMD for a few seconds while holding it within the tracking frustum. This will give
the system chance to recalibrate the camera pose.
If you would like to explore positional tracking in more detail, you can press the semicolon (;) key to bring the
“sea of cubes” field that we use for debugging. In this mode, cubes are displayed that allow you to easily
observe positional tracking behavior. Cubes are displayed in red when head position is being tracked and in
blue when sensor fusion falls back onto the head model.
There are a number of interesting things to take note of the first time you experience OculusWorldDemo. First,
the level is designed to scale. Thus, everything appears to be roughly the same height as it would be in the
real world. The sizes for everything, including the chairs, tables, doors, and ceiling, are based on measurements
from real world objects. All of the units are measured in meters.
Depending on your actual height, you may feel shorter or taller than normal. The default eye height of the
player in OculusWorldDemo is 1.61 meters (approximately the average adult eye height), but this can be
adjusted using the using the ‘+’ and ‘-’ keys. Alternatively, you can set your height in the Oculus Configuration
Utility (accessed through the Oculus System Tray Icon).
OculusWorldDemo includes code that shows how to use values set in the player’s profile such as eye height,
IPD, and head dimensions, and how to feed them into the SDK to achieve a realistic sense of scale for a
wide range of players. The scale of the world and the player is critical to an immersive VR experience. More
information about scale is available in the Oculus Best Practices Guide.
Next Steps
After trying the OculusWorldDemo, there are other samples and tools.
Software Developers and Integration Engineers
If you’re integrating the Oculus SDK into your game engine, Oculus recommend starting with the sample
projects.
Open the following projects, build them, and experiment with the provided sample code:
• Samples/Projects/Windows/VSxxxx/Samples.sln
• Samples/Projects/Mac/Samples.xcworkspace
10|Getting Started with the Demos|Oculus Rift
OculusRoomTiny
This is a good place to start, because its source code compactly combines all critical features of the Oculus
SDK. It contains logic necessary to initialize LibOVR core, access Oculus devices, use the player’s profile,
implement head-tracking, sensor fusion, stereoscopic 3D rendering, and distortion processing.
Figure 2: OculusRoomTiny
OculusWorldDemo
This is a more complex sample. It is intended to be portable and support many more features. These include
windowed/full-screen mode switching, XML 3D model and texture loading, movement collision detection,
adjustable view size and quality controls, 2D UI text overlays, and so on.
This is a good application to experiment with after you are familiar with Oculus SDK basics. It also includes and
overlay menu with options and toggles that customize many aspects of rendering including FOV, render target
use, timewarp and display settings. Experimenting with these options may provide developers with insight into
what the related numbers mean and how they affect things behind the scenes.
Beyond experimenting with the provided sample code, Oculus recommends reading the rest of this guide. It
covers LibOVR initialization, head-tracking, rendering for the Rift, and minimizing latency.
Artists and Game Designers
If you’re integrating the Oculus SDK into your game engine, Oculus recommends starting with the sample
projects.
If you’re an artist or game designer unfamiliar with C++, we recommend downloading UE3, UE4 or Unity along
with the corresponding Oculus integration. You can use our out-of-the-box integrations to begin building
Oculus-based content immediately.
The Unreal Engine 3 Integration Overview document and the Unity Integration Overview document,
available from the Oculus Developer Center, detail the steps required to set up your UE3/Unity plus Oculus
development environment.
We also recommend reading through the Oculus Best Practices Guide, which has tips, suggestions, and
research oriented around developing great VR experiences. Topics include control schemes, user interfaces,
Oculus Rift|Getting Started with the Demos|11
cut-scenes, camera features, and gameplay. The Best Practices Guide should be a go-to reference when
designing your Oculus-ready games.
Aside from that, the next step is to start building your own Oculus-ready game or application. Thousands of
other developers are out building the future of virtual reality gaming. To see what they are talking about, go to
forums.oculus.com. To see what they are building, go to share.oculus.com.
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