Virtual and Mixed Reality Glasses

by schootstra in Circuits > Tools

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Virtual and Mixed Reality Glasses

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Introduction:
During the master course Technology for Concept Design we were asked to explore an emerging technology that suits our main project and to test this technology by making a prototype. The technologies that we chose are both Virtual reality and Mixed reality, in order to show our concepts to our client in a new and immersive way. We have seen that there are quite some DIY VR glasses on Instructables already, but we have added an essential feature in order to make these glasses work with MR, namely, a slider that allows the camera to capture the real environment. Plus, we also added adjustable lenses to make the glasses work for people that wear glasses or contact lenses. The glasses are made out of 5mm plywood, which makes it more sturdy and durable than the cardboard versions.

Get the Following Items:

Smartphone + sketchfab app

5mm plywood (dimensions)

Elastic band (60cm)

Stapler or sewing kit

rubber band x2

Plastic lens x2 (similar to this one)

https://www.beslist.nl/sport_outdoor_vrije-tijd/d0...

or you could go a bit more classy with Samsung gear 360 lenses:

https://www.samsung-parts.net/epages/Samsung-Parts...

Download the Adobe Illustrator File

Edit the diameter of the lens holes to the diameter of the lenses that you have If you want you can personalize the glasses by adding illustrations on the sides to be engraved.

Laser Cutting

Import the file into the laser cutting software, place the plywood in the machine and start the laser cutter.

Check the Wood

Check whether the lenses properly fit inside the holes. If not, re-adjust the size of the holes in the Ai file.

Assembly

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Assemble the wooden plates as shown in the pictures

Ready!

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Now it’s time to look at your 3d models in VR! An easy way is to sign up to Sketchfab and upload you models. Then, download the Sketchfab app on your smartphone, look up your model and press the top right button to view it in side by side VR or AR. Mixed reality has not yet been added at this stage, but it will be in the near future. Another more realistic way to view you models is to render your model in for example Solidworks Visualize. Here you can add realistic environments and lighting to the model, a downside is that panoramic rendering takes a long time compared to uploading it to Sketchfab. A quick tutorial to Solidworks Visualize panorama render is given below.

Create a New File

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Open Solidworks Visualize and go to file > new or press Ctrl + N

Import the Files

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Import the files that you want to see in VR and place them around the origin

Add a New Camera

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Press the camera tab in the top right corner and add a new camera

Place the New Camera

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Place the new camera at your preferred point of view by dragging the arrows along the X-Y-Z axis

Add an Environment

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Press the library tab in the top right corner and drag one of the environments into your workspace

Adjusting the Environment

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Press flatten floor and adjust the settings of the environment to fit your model(s)

Select Your Previously Added Camera

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Double click the new camera you created in order to render from that point of view (the camera can be found in the camera tab at the top right corner

Time to Render!

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Press the shutter at the top of the screen to edit the render settings (output mode: panoramic) and start the Pano render.

Done!

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After rendering the image is ready to be viewed in virtual reality