Unreal Editor in VR - Official megathread

[SRombauts]

@Sharpfish;500021

will in VR editing be in an official 4.11 build in time for release of Vive?

VR Editor will be available in June in some early form. This would be for 4.12 release I believe.

[Teriander]

@KRushin;498237

Download and setup like a normal github build of UE4 :). So download source -> Setup.bat -> Generatprojectfiles.bat -> Compile Development Editor x64 -> win (you will see a “VR” on toolbar).
Note: Make sure to have SteamVR open and ready to go BEFORE opening UE4

Thanks for the tips! This worked for me. Though I also received the failed starter content that polemos said he encountered as well. Not sure what was causing this. But the VR Editor launched and I was able to use my Vive in it just fine. The future is going to be amazing. No doubt.

[Sharpfish]

@;500063

VR Editor will be available in June in some early form. This would be for 4.12 release I believe.

Thanks for the info!

[amirebrahimi]

@getnamo;495244

Anyone get the vr editor to work on dk2? VR Preview is greyed out and hitting the VR editor button does nothing… Do we need oculus sdk 1.0?

Edit: apparently regenerating my project files and recompiling made it work again.

How did you get it working if the plugin files are under Oculus’ fork?
https://github.com/Oculus-VR/UnrealEngine

[getnamo]

@amirebrahimi;501650

How did you get it working if the plugin files are under Oculus’ fork?
https://github.com/Oculus-VR/UnrealEngine

Just using your oculus dk2 hmd, no engine code changes apart from sliding in the hydra plugin. At first the vr preview was greyed out but then regenerating project files and recompiling seemed to re-enable it the next time I ran it.

Not 100% sure on the repro. It was more of an experimental curiosity and I’d wait for oculus 1.3sdk to hit before trying the editor IMO.

[Dark-Veil]

@JasonW;494598

Hi , great presentation at GDC! Am very excited after seeing all the new features. Things I like the most:

1. The virtual workspace being able to position the editor windows around the scene. (Not sure how the material or blueprint editor can be used in VR, except for reference)

2. Love the colored laser pointers that I assume change color depending on which buttons are being pressed. Brilliant!

Can’t wait to test it out myself! Thanks for all the hard work and putting it in our hands early!

(Just competed the survey)

Appreciate the nice feedback. Everything, especially the UI system is still really early and experimental. We learned a lot bringing the demo to GDC and watching what developers tried to do with it. For example with the UI, many users would try to grab the panels with two hands to freely resize them, similar to how we support resizing objects in the scene. Totally makes sense, but we didn’t implement it that way because we were worried about conflating intentional clicks on the UI buttons with panel resizes. We’ll probably have to find a way to deal with that though.

–

[Dark-Veil]

@getnamo;495135

If you guys use motion controller input mapping then the hydra already supports the same inputs, but if you do direct binds then it will need some abstraction.

Yeah it wouldn’t be too hard to support additional devices like the Hydra or Sixense Stem. We actually used to fully support those during the early days, but we removed support so we could focus on the HMDs with integrated controllers for now. I totally see the use case for using controllers without an HMD, or an HMD without controllers, as well as different combinations of controllers and HMDs. We’ll try to get the editor features more extensible so developers can have the flexibility the need.

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[Dark-Veil]

@getnamo;502440

Just using your oculus dk2 hmd, no engine code changes apart from sliding in the hydra plugin. At first the vr preview was greyed out but then regenerating project files and recompiling seemed to re-enable it the next time I ran it.

Not 100% sure on the repro. It was more of an experimental curiosity and I’d wait for oculus 1.3sdk to hit before trying the editor IMO.

We actually disabled the Oculus Rift plugins in the VR Editor branch, because we were targeting the Oculus 1.3 SDK which wasn’t publicly released at the time we published the source code. There is some more information about that here. We’re working on updating the dev-vr-editor branch on GitHub to be compatible with the 1.3 SDK. When these changes are completed (within a week or so), you’ll be able to activate VR Mode by default, as long as you have a Rift with the latest Oculus Home.

Of course, your experience will be lacking until you have access to Oculus Touch controller hardware (or a community plugin for a different controller device, such as getnamo’s fancy Hydra support above!)

NOTE: We have some documentation online for the VR Editor. Still a work in progress.

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[Vidious]

Got to try the VR editor at the meetup the other night.

Initial thoughts:

∙ HTC Vive seemed too low resolution for what I would need out of working in UE4. [Text in menus too fuzzy to read. Some 3D objects also blurry for me. Though it could have just been me and my eye sight.]
∙ When using both wands to rotate/scale objects, I wish I could toggle a button to keep them locked into their X,Y,Z coordinates. [The last thing I want to do when re-sizing an object is to throw it up into the sky on accident.]
∙ I’d really love to have the keyboard’s “End” key bound to the wand. It would allow me to quickly tap and put objects back on the ground if I accidentally move them.
∙ I’d like to see custom wand mapping for the touch sensitive thumb pad menus. They are currently identical on both hands. I’d love to be able to set the quick-use buttons up for my own preference.

Had a blast working with it. I think the VR tech is too new to fully support working in UE4 for me. Lot’s of low-rez fuzzy stuff. I had a ton of things out of focus, and I couldn’t see what I was doing. Though, this could get better in the future.

Personally, I’d love a giant room so that I could walk around and look at stuff, rather than have to use the wands to move myself through the space so much. But I’ll wait till we have full on Holodeck technology worked out for that.

[anonymous_user_201fe5321 (anonymous_user_201fe532)]

Building a new universal gizmo. We found that the bounding box gizmo can be difficult to use sometimes. Any feedback ?

[Riddler]

Hey cool new Gizmo…What Im wondering is if Epic has considered to take this VR landscaping tool further into an actual modeling addition to the engine? Seems like a logical next step, and as a character artist I think its the next best thing.
Imagine Sculpting in game, or poly modeling with your hands and having it all in one program, do your normals in editor too…
I see painting color and materials on a model with a virtual airbrush and I dont think it needs to be far off with the vive and occulus.
Just some thoughts

[Nubsly]

I’ve been through this guide from start to finish 3 times now and haven’t yet been able to get the VR button between cinematic and build. I’m really eager to check this out on my VIVE.

Any ideas what I might be missing/forgetting/not doing right?

Log file:

[anonymous_user_201fe5321 (anonymous_user_201fe532)]

@Nubsly;508575

I’ve been through this guide from start to finish 3 times now and haven’t yet been able to get the VR button between cinematic and build. I’m really eager to check this out on my VIVE.

Any ideas what I might be missing/forgetting/not doing right?

Log file:

Hey! If you are using the latest version you need to enable “Enable VR Editing” in Edit -> Editor Preferences -> Experimental. Btw You can also use “Alt + ~” to enter VR Editor mode.

[Nubsly]

@;508867

Hey! If you are using the latest version you need to enable “Enable VR Editing” in Edit -> Editor Preferences -> Experimental. Btw You can also use “Alt + ~” to enter VR Editor mode.

That did it! Thanks! I had a feeling it was something simple

[anonymous_user_201fe5321 (anonymous_user_201fe532)]

@Nubsly;509023

That did it! Thanks! I had a feeling it was something simple

Cool! Let us know what you think

[Nubsly]

@;509049

Cool! Let us know what you think

I think the future is a wonderful place to live in

[anonymous_user_2cf59552]

Got this built and working over the weekend with my Vive CV1 - absolutely incredible. Having a blast, and it is undeniably the future of digital environment development.

A couple of observations:

Maybe it’s my Vive controllers, but the “half press” is finicky to initiate, which means I often have to try several times to select menu items. I’m getting better at it though. Possibly it just needs some calibration for the new controller firmware.

Scaling up the menus is crucial to making them readable - I make them nice and big and place them in the sky above / behind me.

“Teleport to actor” is only working for me occasionally, although pressing the grip side buttons and pulling myself around isn’t too bad.

Seamless switching between human-sized view and table-top sized view is incredibly intuitive and useful in creating the scene.

Definitely need to be able to lock an actor in x,y,z - I’m accidentally moving things quite often.

The “half-press” sensitivity is my main issue at the moment, but it does work for me, just takes a few tries sometimes.

A huge thank you to the devs working on this!

[anonymous_user_201fe5321 (anonymous_user_201fe532)]

@sopwith;510264

Got this built and working over the weekend with my Vive CV1 - absolutely incredible. Having a blast, and it is undeniably the future of digital environment development.

A couple of observations:

Maybe it’s my Vive controllers, but the “half press” is finicky to initiate, which means I often have to try several times to select menu items. I’m getting better at it though. Possibly it just needs some calibration for the new controller firmware.

Scaling up the menus is crucial to making them readable - I make them nice and big and place them in the sky above / behind me.

“Teleport to actor” is only working for me occasionally, although pressing the grip side buttons and pulling myself around isn’t too bad.

Seamless switching between human-sized view and table-top sized view is incredibly intuitive and useful in creating the scene.

Definitely need to be able to lock an actor in x,y,z - I’m accidentally moving things quite often.

The “half-press” sensitivity is my main issue at the moment, but it does work for me, just takes a few tries sometimes.

A huge thank you to the devs working on this!

Thank you for your awesome feedback and trying out the VR Editor!

About the half press and accidentally moving object (they are related in some ways). First I have to note that I am developing a new gizmo to interact with handles that are easier to select, so hopefully that will help. and I agreed that the half press isn’t perfect and hard to understand for users, it is more a bypass for an issue instead of actually fixing the issue of selecting different types of objects such as handles on the gizmo or meshes. We discussed about having to select an object first and then you would have to select it again to do the free movement.

@sopwith;510264

Scaling up the menus is crucial to making them readable - I make them nice and big and place them in the sky above / behind me.

We are hoping to get clearer UI soon

Question for you (and others) are you using this for a VR game/experience or just for fun ? We would love to know what VR developers need to make this a more usable tool for them.

[anonymous_user_2cf59552]

Hi , thanks for the reply!

Question for you (and others) are you using this for a VR game/experience or just for fun ? We would love to know what VR developers need to make this a more usable tool for them.

I’m new-ish to Unreal, I started some UE4 development in 2014 with an Oculus DK2, but it was so much putting on and taking off the HMD that I figured I should just wait until you could edit with the HMD on. And now it’s here! Just learning at the moment, but definitely moving toward creating consumable content (on the education/historical/travel experience side, rather than conventional gaming). But just working in the VR Editor is loads of fun.

We discussed about having to select an object first and then you would have to select it again to do the free movement.

I think that would be a good solution.

Re: the gizmo, at the moment it’s hard for me to maniuplate the rotate handles unless I zoom very close to the object. The scale and translate handles work well from far away, however. Your updated gizmo is looking really good!

A few questions:

Can we hide the Tutorial menu after the first time it’s opened? I don’t need it coming back every time I bring up the menus by pressing the trackpad.

Is there a way to accurately manipulate the scale and intensity sliders on the Details panel?

Is there a way to see where lights are positioned once you’ve placed them, while still in Place mode? (This may just be my unfamiliarity with the interface.)

Keep up the great work!

[anonymous_user_6b7e2e01]

I’m having some problems setting up for VR. Following this guide: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Platforms/SteamVR/QuickStart/2/index.html I found that I don’t have “Follow HMD Orientation” in my player camera manager list, and I also don’t have the “Set Tracking Space” function. Anyone knows what’s up? =/