Head-mounted Display

Owned by Marc Lievin
Jul 24, 2023
1 min read
Vortex® Studio supports head-mounted display (HMD) devices in order to run simulations with virtual reality (VR) headsets.

The following procedures can quickly turn any Vortex Studio-based simulation into a VR experience.

HMD Installation

Vortex Studio uses Valve's OpenVR interface to support SteamVR and other head-mounted display (HMD) devices, such as the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift.

Note For general information about working with SteamVR, consult the SteamVR knowledge base1.

Follow the manufacturer's instructions for plugging these devices in and installing the SteamVR libraries, as well as setting up the provided sensors.

To install the HTC Vive:

Installing the HTC Vive headset is done in three main steps.

  1. Install the Steam application.
  2. Create a Steam account.
  3. Install SteamVR within Steam.

The complete instructions are available in the official SteamVR Installation Guide.

To install the Oculus Rift:

  1. Install Steam and SteamVR (following the instructions above).
  2. Following the steps described in the Steam Support article SteamVR + Oculus Rift3.

HMD Setup

To use a headset in Vortex® Studio, you must configure an HMD extension in a Setup file (*.vxc).

To set up HMD in Vortex® Studio Editor:

  1. Create a new Setup file if not already done.
  2. In the Setup file, add an HMD extension at the desired location in the Explorer panel.
    1. In the Toolbox, select Display.
    2. Double-click Head-mounted to add it to the Explorer panel, and specify its parameters (see Display Extensions).
When using an HMD and the quality of the shadows in one eye appears worse than in the other, increase the value of the Texture Layer Count field found in Graphics Extensions > Adaptive Feature Controller.If you notice distortions in your simulation while using a headset, disable Enable Motion Smoothing in your SteamVR settings, as this may solve the issue.