VR GUI/Menu ideas

Mowfax · May 23, 2014, 12:00pm

Hi,

I want to start a thread about the different GUI and Menu ideas people have for VR, since we can’t use the standard HUD blueprint functions in a sensible way.

Here’s a youtube video of my first draft. I wanted to get rid of buttons and timers (though I think one should implement them in a game as an option, too):

It’s all done in blueprint and I tried to keep the function and layout seperate, so I can switch to other layouts without much hassle.

Kris · May 23, 2014, 2:08pm

I’ve gone for rendering a standard UI to a plane in front of the camera based on the actors rotation, but not the cameras.

See the 1:10 mark in the following video.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mj76bTppvJ8

In this example, I have it scaled for match the screen.

For VR, I imagine the UI being further from the camera, scaled down slightly and using a larger cursor.

Aside from the unfixed location, it’d act like a standard UI.

Chillybody · May 25, 2014, 2:31pm

I thought I would throw my little weekend project in as I was also looking at HUD related things also.

Influenced by the great game lunar flight I quickly knocked up a quick test to see how easy it would be to have screens inside a mech cockpit rather than rely on standard UI, I have the mech cockpit with some placeholder screens, I apply a check to see if they are being looked at in order for the player to interact with them and then I swapped the material out to show a visual indication that the player can use them, its very simple but effective.

I will probably put some more hours into this to get more functionality into it.

Balmung · May 26, 2014, 11:32pm

Could it be that your HUD is a bit Elite Dangerous inspired?

The way to look on the Screen to use this one as active Screen is the same like in that Game. I think it is a very good working solution, but only from my imagination point of view, must wait for my DK2 to see how it is in praxis.

I also want to work later on a HUD/GUI.

anonymous_user_6bfcd0e6 · June 10, 2014, 4:26pm

Hi! nice work!
I’m really new in UE4, and i’m trying to achieve a similar thing.
It would be really nice if you can share your workaround.
Cheers!

anonymous_user_0a6a7b35 · January 28, 2015, 9:19pm

Hovercast VR Menu

I’m working on a project called Hovercast VR Menu:

You can find the project at GitHub: GitHub - aestheticinteractive/Hover-UI-Kit: Create beautiful user interfaces for immersive VR/AR experiences.

It’s currently built with Unity, with support for Leap Motion input. Although I don’t have experience with Unreal, I would consider adding support if there is interest.

In addition to new features and improvements, I’d also like to expand the project to support more 3D input devices. Which input devices seem the most suitable for a menu like this? I’d expect the menu to have some device-specific features/modes to take advantage of each device’s strengths and capabilities.

pixelvspixel · January 29, 2015, 2:43am

Man that is really, really cool. That gets me excited about the future of UI design. It sucks that the leap has so many “iffy” moments. Those particular movements seem fairly stabilized, and I think once you are in that position it would work fairly well. It’s always the bending of the fingers that screws things up momentarily.

I’d love to see something like this if you talking about interest.

anonymous_user_d9a79241 · January 29, 2015, 2:51pm

Zachkinstner very interested on this! I also tried with some stuff in Unity and it would be nice to have some UI for Unreal with Leap Motion. Looking forward to hear from you!

anonymous_user_e52c1cd1 · January 29, 2015, 3:56pm

Not sure if this the right thread, but I was hoping to be able to create an very elaborate HUD (Ironman helmet style) in After effects and use it in a semi interactive project in Unreal. Does anyone know if using video as a texture in this manner is possible? And if so, would it see the alpha channel?

anonymous_user_0a6a7b35 · January 29, 2015, 8:54pm

Thanks! I agree, I’m excited about all the new possibilities with VR interfaces and design. Not every developer likes to think about all that, though, so ideally they can drop-in a Hovercast menu, then focus on their VR experiences and interactions.

I find that lighting and computing power have a big impact on stability. In medium/dark lighting with my development machine, it tracks really well. For head-mounted display, it helps to look in a direction away from my desk/monitors.

I have some work ahead of me to get a Unreal version in place, but it’s on my list. I really appreciate the feedback!

Want updates? I’ll be posting about new videos/features on Twitter (@anonymous_user_0a6a7b35](https://twitter.com/zachkinstner/status/560539438229782528)). Re-tweets make me happy

NobleSpoon · January 30, 2015, 4:17pm

The opening of our Maze Roller trailer shows the menu system I am currently working on. The demo is available https://share.oculus.com/app/maze-roller . The next release will include menu and UI improvements like disabling auto-selection by default, adding in HDM highlighting/selecting for all menus (currently only in Level Select).

For the in-game UI (maze levels) we are moving this off the wall to be closer to the board so players don’t have to look up for this information.

anonymous_user_5d0ad7a5 · June 23, 2016, 3:36pm

Yes there is definitely interest. Leap VR integrates well with Unreal and I personally have been looking to use Hovercast for Unreal.

anonymous_user_5d0ad7a5 · June 23, 2016, 3:37pm

Yes, I can say that there is interest. I’ve been looking for Hovercast for Unreal and that’s what brought me to this.

Stocker_00 · June 29, 2016, 4:23am

Gamepad operated menu with 3d widget.

This is the widget blueprint.

I have been working on the Inventory system with gamepad control but wen its turned into a 3d widget the dynamic inventory items won’t display. I think I may need to do a 3d mesh item instead of a image and text.

The test shows it working.