A-Frame - VR Mode mouse control / move in browser - aframe

I'm really new with A-Frame / Web VR. I'd like to ask you when I am on my mobile in VR mode how can I prevent the controll / camera move? For example when I switch to VR mode I want to use my usb mouse for moving just like in "normal mode" and not the device's sensor. Is it possible?
Thanks.

I don't think this is currently possible. Another potential issue with this approach is that it will likely cause simulator sickness:
The most important guideline in designing for virtual reality is to always maintain head tracking. Never stop tracking the user’s head position inside of the application. Even a short pause in head tracking will cause some users to feel ill.
https://designguidelines.withgoogle.com/cardboard/designing-for-google-cardboard/physiological-considerations.html
That said, if you're purpose for this functionality is for spectating on a 2d screen, A-Frame 0.8.0 allows you to add a spectator camera:
https://aframe.io/docs/0.8.0/components/camera.html#properties
There are no tutorials for this yet, but you could try adding asking another question here or on a-frame slack on how to get it up and running.

Related

Audio unable to play in Aframe unless the inspector is opened

I have been working on adding background music to a Glitch project. I followed the Aframe.io documents to create a sound component and set it to automatically play upon running, however, when I try to run the project, the sound does not play automatically on my laptop. I have to open the Aframe inspector and un-pause my project for the music to begin. For some reason, I have not encountered this issue when I tried the same project on my phone. The sound played as expected once the program is up and running. I am not sure what is causing the sound to malfunction but any help is greatly appreciated. Here is the project I am working on: https://glitch.com/edit/#!/animation-animate?path=index.html%3A15%3A23
when working with sounds natively with Aframe, I had the same problem and one of the recommendations that I can give you is to play sounds with the HowlerJS sound library, which is compatible with most frameworks and also compatible with A-Frame
I share their page and the documentation, this library is very easy to use and implement to the project
https://howlerjs.com/
https://github.com/goldfire/howler.js#documentation
Autoplay audio on most modern browsers requires user interaction before enabling audio. You can put a div in front of your scene that upon click starts playing your background audio.
Check out a related SO question / answer for video autoplay that should help:
Autoplaying videosphere from A-frame is not working on any browser(Safari/Chrome)
Another user on A-Frame discord provided this example demo:
https://aframe-autoplay-background-music.glitch.me/

Is it possible to use the GearVR trackpad to move around environment?

Hi I'm really struggling to find an answer to this, I've made a basic 3D environment which the user can move around. However inside GearVR by default it doesn't appear like you can move around the environment, only turn to look on a fixed axis.
Is there anyway this is achievable either by using the trackpad on GearVR or a bluetooth controller?
I've not tried the latest update, but check out this component --
https://github.com/chenzlabs/gearvr-controls
The set of locomotion constraints of GearVR are the same as for mobile/polyfill. Common options include A-Frame checkpoint-controls, touch-controls for teleporting via gaze or tap to move.

Creating the stereo photosphere without Unity

I'm working on a Daydream app using the Google VR SDK/NDK. To submit the app to Google Play, I need a 360-degree stereo photosphere. I've seen directions for creating this with Unity, but is there any way to create this without Unity?
I've taken a screenshot of the app in stereo mode, but I don't think that will satisfy the requirement.
Google doesn't provide any tools to capture in-app photospheres in non-Unity apps at this time. Some devs produce photospheres in modeling apps like Maya and Blender.
You could always cheat and make your "Daydream 360 degree stereoscopic image" in Photoshop. Just use the same image twice, once on top and once on the bottom.
I think others have already done this, because I have noticed a few wrong looking previews in the store. Where if I close one eye, parts of the image disappear.
If you change your mind and make one with Unity, this plugin worked nicely for me: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/38755

A-Frame: how to simulate tracked controllers when developing on desktop?

My HTC Vive is set up in a different room to my developer workstation. When developing for A-Frame, I understand I can: use my desktop monitor instead of a headset; use mouse dragging instead of motion controls; use WASD instead of room-scale tracking. However, what is the preferred way to simulate the tracked controllers?
For example, how can I move the cubes in this demo from my desktop: https://aframe.io/examples/showcase/tracked-controllers
This is not yet released, but we're working on tools to be able to record camera and controllers, output to a file, and then you can load it up any device and replay the camera and controller pose and events without needing a headset. Project is led by Diego:
https://github.com/dmarcos/aframe-motion-capture
http://swimminglessonsformodernlife.com/aframe-motion-capture/examples/
This will become the common way to develop for VR without having to enter and re-enter VR to test each code change, and to do it on the go

TV ergonomics in Flex

Im having fun toying with AIR and want to use it to create an application for my TV, but Im coping with a serious & dumb problem : TV ergonomics. Indeed, without a mouse, it is all about focus on elements and moving this focus in a natural fashion.
In HTML this is handled by the browsers perfectly, but in ActionScript Im having a real hard time ! For instance, I don't even know how to have an element on autofocus, so that when I load the app there is already something to click on (without it I just can't interact with my app at all!).
Do you have any idea on the best ways to create a listener for the remote controller arrows and OK button (should be enough) so that I never get stuck in the app ?
So whether you have already struggled with that or if you simply happen to know how to play with the focus and setFocus() parts of Flex, your help is very welcome !
I recommend you look at the Google TV Flash template. It's all about controls and navigation. I'm not sure if this works for Flex as I have not done any gtv development yet.

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