Google Cardboard

Example Apps

Cardboard SDK for Android Build apps that Display 3D scenes with binocular rendering Track and react to head movements Interact with apps through magnet input

Avoid Simulator Sickness Mismatches between physical and visual motion cues. Nausea (simulator sickness) When your eyes think you’re moving, but your body does not.

Establishing familiarity Virtual reality canvas is infinite, New guidelines for guiding user focus and attention.

Enter and Exit 2D -> VR VR -> 2D Tap the headset icon. Hit the back button in the system bar Hit the home button.

More Techniques to Avoid Simulator Sickness Using Cardboard to automatically adapt your app Automatic stereo configuration Distortion correction for the specific Cardboard model’s lenses. Use Android’s Full Screen mode No 2D dialog boxes

Always Maintain Head Tracking Objects in virtual space maintain fixed positions Regardless of how you move your head, Creates perception of a virtual world surrounding you.

Avoid Slight Freezes in Head Tracking May occur when loading a new scene or pushing the capabilities of the device.   Fade the screen to black prior to losing tracking. Maintain audio feedback when the screen fades to black Help establish that the app is still running, Indicate loading new information.  

User Control of Movement Users should remain in control of their movement inside the app, Actively anticipate what they are about to see. Exception: Rollercoaster apps

Use Constant Velocity In real life, we feel acceleration and deceleration, but we do not feel velocity.  . Avoid accelerating or deceleration inside of your application.

Grounding with Fixed Objects User experiences confusion about whether he/she is moving or the VR is moving. Ground the user with virtual cockpits, chairs, or other stationary objects to explain why they are sitting – despite the fact that VR shows them moving. Include several fixed points of reference in the user’s environment.

Brightness Changes Transitioning the user from a dark scene to a bright scene may cause discomfort as they acclimate to the new level of brightness Avoid or transition slowly

Controls Place the UI controls in the user’s current field of view. As the user moves through VR, update the location of the UI controls

Fuse button Activated after the user has focused on button for a certain amount of time May feel slow and frustrating Always give the user the option to directly and immediately click on the target Visually represent the countdown to activation so that the user knows what is happening Avoid placing fuse buttons in close proximity to each other. Smaller buttons that are close to each other should require a direct click to activate.

Cardboard SDK https://developers.google.com/cardboard/android/ For Android Build apps that display 3D scenes with binocular rendering, track and react to head movements, and interact with apps through magnet input. For Unity (2D & 3D multiplatform) Create virtual reality experiences for Android and iOS apps running in Google Cardboard.

Audio Avoid text instructions Small text is hard to read. Users are often overloaded with visual information Consider text-to-speech Keep instructions brief Consider audio to make the application more realistic Use audio to draw the user’s attention to various areas of the app

Display Reticle (Visual Aid to Track Targets) Display a reticle when the user is doing fine targeting. Display the reticle only when the user approaches a target that they can activate.   Project a light source, or design obvious hover states, for objects that the user can target. render reticle stereoscopically

Immersive Image Capture LG 360 Friends Camera

Viewing image from immersive camera