OptiTrack's Tracking and Self-Calibration Makes Arcade VR Truly Social

OptiTrack showed two important elements in their wide-area VR tracking system at SIGGRAPH 2017, aiming to improve the quality of arcade, or 'out-of-home', VR experiences as well as the usability for single and multiple site deployments.

First, Optitrack's full-body motion tracking accurately follows the movements of free-moving avatars for the participants in a multiplayer VR game, supplying data defining every player’s position, orientation and skeletal pose across the entire playing area in a low latency, real-time stream. Once rendered into the video that participants watch as they play, this data makes it possible for participants to see other players through their VR head mounted displays. It also makes multi-user experiences more social, a sticking point for companies wanting to gather groups of customers to compete or share entertainment.

OptiTrack Active pucks are attached to the participants' hands and feet, delivering real time animation data for each player present in the experience. The pucks measure only 3.75in x 3.75in, weigh 3 ounces, use rechargeable batteries and are tough enough for crowded VR Arcades.

Second, to reduce the operations, expertise and training required on-site to run VR arcades, OptiTrack has developed a continuous calibration system that makes in unnecessary to buy and use the calibration wands normally needed to run motion capture and tracking systems. No calibration maintenance is required following initial installation - the accuracy no longer deteriorates over time.

OptiTrack has been aware that the lack of a full-body tracking system in group VR experiences has been a problem both for their clients and for consumers who may see no avatar at all or only an approximate animation of other players' activity around them. Optitrack's human tracking system achieves appropriate accuracy while needing little extra hardware on each participant.   optitrack.com