Minimizing Playspace Drift with Quest Standalone and Lighthouse Tracking

 

When connecting your Quest device to your PC and having a Tracked camera, you'll eventually encounter drift.  It's unavoidable but here's some tips to reduce the effects and frequency of occurrence.

 

Quest device, specifically Quest 3

  • Good lighting throughout filming area
  • Lots of tracking points for headset - no plain walls. If on a green/blue screen, create unique shapes with appropriately colored tape on any plain walls/floor/ceiling
  • Handle headset with care; don’t cover cameras with hands, clothing
  • Don’t let headset turn off or sleep, under any circumstance, as Quest re-establishes the playspace coordinates each time it turns on
  • Set Quest playspace center and direction with Meta/Oculus button once in Quest home environment at start of session, and never press it again.
  • Set guardian boundaries well beyond filming area, so that headset can never leave it during session
  • Check floor height and adjust in Quest settings if necessary. Recommend setting floor height approx. 10mm above real world floor. 
    There’s 2 reasons for this; it helps in some edge cases solving foreground issues and have minimal issues when interacting with objects near the floor.
  • Set headset to the longest possible sleep interval.
  • Cover proximity sensor between lenses with Blu-Tack to ensure the headset remains on when not being worn
  • Keep headset moving and tracking room throughout session. Headset will still sleep and reset playspace center if it stops moving for even a short period of time.
  • Use Quest Pro controllers, which are self-tracking, instead of standard Quest 3 controllers which require constant line-of-sight to the headset, and are generally less accurate.
  • Disable Hand Tracking in Quest settings
  • Use dedicated WiFi 6E, with Virtual Desktop optimized for low network latency, and low GPU utilization.

SteamVR optimizations

  • Use 4x Lighthouse 2.0 base stations, with a solid mounting solution that won’t be subject to vibration. Ensure they never move once installed.
  • Mount Lighthouse base stations high, typically in the corners of a room looking down. Optimize their coverage for any area the camera may move in.
  • Use 2 Lighthouse trackers:
  1. Virtual Camera tracker, firmly mounted to Real Camera
  2. Dedicated playspace calibration tracker, firmly mounted to Manfrotto Super Clamp
  • Do not use Bluetooth dongles, instead connect via USB using active extensions or optical cables
  • Ensure both trackers maintain clear line-of-sight to all Lighthouse base stations as much as possible

OpenVR Space Calibrator

  • Before calibrating playspaces, put one of the Quest Pro controllers in the Manfrotto Super Clamp, making sure the controller’s cameras are not occluded. 
  • Hold clamp so that both tracker and controller track optimally throughout calibration process.
  • Use “Slow” or “Very Slow” calibration process
  • Perform Tai-Chi-like moves with the clamp, slow and steady, including rotations and vertical movement, while moving across a wide area of the playspace. It is important to maintain perfect tracking throughout this process.
  • Once complete, check calibration by moving clamp around space and looking for any significant drift. Place a controller against the camera tracker to confirm calibration. Repeat calibration process if necessary.
  • Clamp the calibration tracker somewhere with optimal Lighthouse tracking, and leave it there until a recalibration is required. This will help maintain the Lighthouse playspace in case the camera tracker becomes momentarily occluded.
  • Calibrate the LIV camera after space calibration
  • The calibration can be checked for drift during the session by placing a controller on the calibration tracker. If necessary, repeat the space calibration process and then re-calibrate the LIV camera.
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