Why Virtual Reality (VR) Development Should Matter To Your Company

Virtual Reality (VR) technology is still evolving and will continue to seep into the mainstream as it becomes more widely adopted. Industries such as construction, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, entertainment and education are taking advantage of virtual reality’s ability to immerse users in realistic experiences. As the world becomes further connected through technology, VR enables companies to improve different customer and employee experiences. The result is greater customer engagement, employee satisfaction, additional revenue, and immense cost savings.

If the advantages of virtual reality interests you, you may consider building your own virtual reality application. Understanding the capabilities of the Oculus Quest and it’s potential for enterprise VR apps can guide a company's VR development strategy. In this post, we will discuss how your company can prepare to use the Oculus Quest for your own virtual reality applications.

Understanding the Oculus Quest Basics

The Oculus Quest is a portable headset with hardware integrated in the headset. Before you begin virtual reality (VR) app development, it is important to understand the hardware. Let’s take a look.

What’s In The Box

The Oculus Quest consists of a headset,  a set of controllers, a charger, and a glass spacer. Follow these steps to secure your headset.

Wearing Your Oculus Headset

• Loosen the side straps and then the top straps.
• Place the headset on your head starting from the back. Ensure the back strap cradles the base of your head.
• Once in place, adjust the side straps followed by the top strap. The straps should not be too tight, but should keep the headset secure to your head.

Wearing Your Oculus Headset with Glasses

• Before you begin, insert the glass spacer that comes included with the Oculus Quest.
• Once you have removed the lens rings, remove the facial interface foam and insert the glass spacer by gently pressing it in place.
• Once the glass spacer is set, press the facial interface foam and lens rings back into place.
• If you wear glasses, you’ll need to place the headset on your head starting from the front instead of the back.
• Adjust the side and top straps to ensure the headset is secure and comfortable.

Adjusting Your View

Should you need to adjust the headset view, use both hands to hold each side of your headset and slowly move the Oculus Quest up and down until the picture is clear. 

Using The Oculus Quest Touch Controllers

The controllers allow you to interact within virtual reality, even giving you virtual hands you can see while in a virtual environment. The controller has standard control actions:

• Trigger, A and X buttons: Press to select things.
• B and Y: Press to go back to the previous screen or menu.
• Thumbstick: Use the thumbstick on the left controller for locomotion within the VR environment. Thumbstick on the right controller can allowed teleportation within a VR scene.
• Oculus button: Press to go back to Oculus Home or press and hold to reset your controller orientation.
• Grip button: Press to grab objects or make a fist when using your virtual hands.
• Menu button: Press the menu button from Oculus Home to bring up the menu.
• Press any button to wake the controller after you turn on your headset.

Setting Up The Guardian Play Area

The Guardian is a boundary system designed to prevent accidents or injury while using the headset. When the user gets too close to the edge of a Guardian boundary, a translucent grid is displayed as a layer that is superimposed over the virtual reality game or experience.

Setting Up for the First Time

When you set up The Guardian for the first time, you can follow the on-screen instructions. There are two Guardians settings you can choose from.

Stationary Guardian
Use this guardian if you prefer experiencing virtual reality while sitting in a chair.

Roomscale Guardian

Use this guardian if you prefer experiencing virtual reality while standing.

Guardian Sizes

When setting up The Guardian, we recommend setting up a minimum of 6.5 ft x 6.5 ft play area.

Maintaining The Quality Of Your Oculus Quest

We recommend you keep the Quest out of direct sunlight to avoid damaging the lenses and display screen. If exposed to direct sunlight, your headset can experience permanent damage. Additionally, we recommend you keep the headset away from sharp objects to avoid scratching the lenses. When adjusting your headset or straps, you should be gentle to avoid damaging them. Never wear your headset while connected to the power adapter or while charging. When you aren’t using it, keep the Oculus Quest in a safe place away from pets, small children, heat sources, and food.

Adding Your Virtual Reality Application To The Oculus Quest

Oculus has an app store similar to Apple’s and Google’s app store. This is where you can find popular consumer Oculus VR applications like Beat Saber and Superhot. However, enterprise applications must often remain closed off to the public and are therefore not available through the Oculus Store. Instead, enterprise VR applications must be installed directly onto the headset.

Pair Headset with the Oculus App

To get started, you must register a developer account on the Oculus Developer Dashboard and install the official Oculus app on your mobile device. Open the Oculus app and sign in with your account information.

Pair the Oculus app with your Oculus headset. Do this by navigating to the “Settings” tab located at the bottom bar of the Oculus app. Look for the “Pair New Headset” option and select it. From the available options select “Oculus Quest”. Go through the in-app instructions to finish pairing your headset.

Enabling Developer Mode

In order to install virtual reality applications outside of the Oculus Store, you must enable the Developer Mode. Within the Oculus app, click on the paired Oculus Quest headset icon and select “More Settings”. Select “Developer Mode” and toggle to activate Developer mode. Once completed, you must reboot the Oculus Quest.

Installing and Using SideQuest

SideQuest is a great platform that allows you to download an app or game that is not on the Oculus Store. SideQuest is specifically designed to host virtual reality applications that may be early access builds or closed applications.

SideQuest is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. You can download the latest version using this link. Follow the on-screen installation instructions and launch SideQuest. 

Installing New Apps On Headset Using SideQuest

Within SideQuest’s top bar, click on the down arrow icon to select “Install APK file from folder”. Your file browser window will appear and you can select the appropriate APK file from your local computer. Once SideQuest confirms that all tasks are completed, you can try the latest version of your virtual reality application.

Casting Your Oculus Quest

To demonstrate your virtual reality apps you must cast the Oculus Quest to an external monitor or device.

Casting from Oculus Quest Headset To TV / monitor

As we mentioned earlier, in order to cast you must have a Google Chromecast-enabled monitor or a Chromecast device. If you haven’t set up Chromecast before then follow these instructions. You will need to install Google Home app on your phone for configuring your Chromecast device. Make sure that your Oculus Quest and Chromecast device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

If you would like to start casting to your TV or monitor, you must have the Oculus Quest headset turned on. From the Universal Menu, select “Sharing”. From the “Sharing” menu, select cast and choose from the list of available devices. Select “Start” to begin casting your virtual reality gameplay to the external monitor. On your mobile device, select the notification to open your Oculus app and begin casting.To start casting to your TV / monitor:

Casting From Oculus Quest Headset To PC Using SideQuest

If you don’t have a Chromecast-enabled device available, you can cast to your PC using SideQuest. Before you begin, make sure that your Oculus Quest and PC are on the same wifi network. Then connect Oculus Quest to your PC and open SideQuest application on your PC. Once connected, select “Enable Wireless Mode”. A popup window will appear showing the device’s IP address. Verify the IP and click on the “Connect” button. Next, you must click on the “Stream From Your Headset To Your PC” which will open a popup window. Click on the “Start Stream” button to start casting your Oculus headset to your PC. 

Casting to your phone using the Oculus app

If a PC or a TV monitor are not available, you can still cast to your phone using the Oculus app. Open the Oculus app on your mobile device and select the casting icon on the top right side of your screen. Under “Cast From”, select the headset you would like to cast from. In this case, it will be the Oculus Quest. Under “Cast To”, select “This Phone”. On the bottom of your screen, select the “Start” button and put on your headset to accept the in-VR prompt to start casting.

A red dot in the upper right corner of your headset view will indicate that you’ve started casting. To stop casting from within the headset or from the Oculus app, select the back button in the top left of your casting screen.

How To Start VR Application

Put your headset on and create a Roomscale Guardian. From the Oculus Quest home screen, click on “Library” using the Oculus controller. Select the “Unknown Sources” option and choose the application you would like to start. Have fun!

Conclusion

Understanding Oculus Quest’s capabilities and relatively lower costs can help companies benefit significantly from their VR initiatives. We’ve helped companies create interactive VR environment and safety training simulations using Quest VR headset. If you are interested in virtual reality development, learn more about how Invonto’s VR app developers can help turn your VR vision into a realistic VR experience.

Read full version of “How to begin VR app development for your company with Oculus Quest” article on Invonto website