Oculus Rift Getting
Started Guide
Version 0.8.0.0
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
Compiler Settings.............................................................................................................................................. 5
Makefiles, Projects, and Build Solutions........................................................................................................... 5
Getting Started with the Demos......................................................................... 6
Getting Started.................................................................................................................................................. 6
OculusWorldDemo Controls........................................................................................................................ 6
OculusWorldDemo Usage............................................................................................................................7
Next Steps....................................................................................................................................................8
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.
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.
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.
6|Getting Started with the Demos|Oculus Rift
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.
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:
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
F5 sRGB toggle
F7 Mono/stereo view mode toggle
Oculus Rift|Getting Started with the Demos|7
F9 Hardware full-screen (low latency)
F11 Performance HUD toggle
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
OculusWorldDemo Usage
Once you’ve launched OculusWorldDemo, you should see a window on your PC monitor similar to the previous
screenshot.
8|Getting Started with the Demos|Oculus Rift
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 tracker 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 tracker 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 green when head position is being tracked and in
red 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
Oculus Rift|Getting Started with the Demos|9
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.
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,
cut-scenes, camera features, and gameplay. The Best Practices Guide should be a go-to reference when
designing your Oculus-ready games.
10|Getting Started with the Demos|Oculus Rift
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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