[chimerax-users] VR Support

[Tom Goddard]

Hi Jessie,

  ChimeraX VR works with all the PC VR headsets including the Oculus Quest 2 and the Valve Index.  It uses SteamVR for the PC to talk to the headset and as long as SteamVR continues to support a headset it will keep working with ChimeraX.  I have not heard anything about support for HTC Vive being dropped.  That is an old headset and it has not been made for a few years now I think, but it still works fine.  Could you tell me your source about support being discontinued?  Maybe future SteamVR could require firmware updates to the headset and HTC will not produce those, and that could kill the headset.  But I think that would make HTC Vive users very mad so I doubt HTC will kill their old Vive headset.

  Here is advise for VR.   I have used Quest 2 with a cable to the PC (Oculus Link), works perfectly.  I've used the Quest 2 with their beta AirLink which connects to the PC by wifi with no cable, worked perfectly.  My Quest 2 is the lower memory model (128 GB) because I don't put a lot of games on the headset so it cost only $300.  I paid another $100 for a Kiwi headstrap that and face pad that is more comfortable, and for the link cable.  This is very cheap and the best bargain.

  I also have a Valve Index with their famous Index controllers and base stations, cost is $1000.  There are some technical differences with the Quest 2 that may make you prefer it or may make you prefer Quest 2.

  Both Quest 2 and Valve Index feel pretty horrible on my face -- which is surprising because I have many older headsets (Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S, HTC Vive, HTC Vive Pro, Samsung Odyssey) that all feel pretty good.  The Quest 2 is very heavy because it contains a battery since it is mostly intended to use standalone without a PC.  (ChimeraX cannot run standalone on Quest 2 because it does not support the Android operating system).  So comfort-wise I like most our Vive Pro headsets ($1200 or $1400 for Vive Pro 2) and use those most often.

  Besides the headset the graphics card is an important and expensive item for using PC VR.  Graphics cards are super expensive right now due to supply chain issues.  A top of the line RTX 3090 has suggested price of $1500 but you might have to pay $3000 to get it.  That is the top end.  A $400 graphics card will work well for most data.  But a 5 year old graphics card (e.g. GTX 1060) might struggle some with a new higher pixel resolution headset (e.g. Quest 2 or Valve Index or Vive Pro 2), while it might be fine for your lower resolution HTC Vive headset which is almost 7 years old now (released March 2015).

	Tom


  

> On Feb 16, 2022, at 11:32 AM, Jessie Lopez via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users at cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
> 
> I am writing an article promoting the use of VR for modelling. 
> I use an HTC Vive to access ChimeraX VR, but I have heard rumours it will be discontinued soon. The Samsung Odyssey is already discontinued. 
> With Meta dominating the VR headset market, many companies are bailing out. 
> Do you have any recommendations about which headsets should scientists invest in if they want to use ChimeraX?
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> 
> 
> -. .-.   .-. .-.   .-. .-.   .-. .-.   .-. .-.   .-. .-.   .  
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> ~   `-~ `-`   `-~ `-`   `-~ `-~   `-~ `-`   `-~ `-`   `-~ `-
> Jessie MNG Lopez Suzuki
> 
> PhD Candidate, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology
> Zahler Laboratory
> The Center for Molecular Biology of RNA
> University of California, Santa Cruz
> Sinsheimer 419
> (831) 459-5127
> jlopez99 at ucsc.edu <mailto:jlopez99 at ucsc.edu>
> (they, she or he pronouns)
> 
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