See us experiment with the Vuzix VR920 virtual reality headset and Track
IR and an inexpensive Chinese motorcycle helmet to make this awesome
flight simulator virtual reality helmet.
IR and an inexpensive Chinese motorcycle helmet to make this awesome
flight simulator virtual reality helmet.
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DIY Virtual Reality Helmet
This is a flight simulator virtual reality helmet. The pilot sees a virtual
world through two computer monitors in front of their eyes. As the pilot
moves their head, the corresponding view changes in the virtual cockpit.
The idea of virtual reality has captured our imagination for a long time, but
the technology to make a truly immersive experience still eludes us. We
decided to experiment a little with virtual reality to see if it could apply to
flight simulator. I’ll take you through the process of starting with a stock
VR headset, and ending up with a custom VR helmet.
This experiment started with the VR920 virtual reality headset from Vuzix.
It has three main components, the display, the view tracker and the ear
bud speakers.
The first thing we did was throw away the extraneous speakers. Our
simulators already have speakers.
The view tracking system is much like TrackIR because as you move your
head, you see around your virtual cockpit. However, the VR920 works with
different technology, so you can actually turn your real head around to see
over your real shoulder. You can’t do that with a TrackIR.
The view tracker in the VR920 works with internal magnets, but they just
don’t work that well. Often times the view would become stuck and need
to be re-centered. Now ,the TrackIR has a hotkey to re-center the view, but
the VR920 does not, so you would actually have to shake your head like a
dog to re-center the magnets.
We quickly disabled the VR920’s view tracker, and just used our existing,
reliable TrackIR.
Next, the display system. The VR920’s tiny monitors appear to have little
fresnel lenses to make the images appear larger in front of the pilot’s
eyes. Very cool. Unfortunately, the monitors only have 640x480
resolution.
That resolution is too low for air combat, and too low for civil flight
simulators because you can’t read your instruments, but we tried it
anyway.
Light from around the edges of the headpiece can make the screens hard
to see, so Vuzix sells a snap-on shroud to help block the light. That helps
with the light in front of you, but that doesn’t totally solve the problem.
Light from behind your head can also washout the image.
What do to? We needed to block out light in front and in back, like a hood
or something, but I didn’t really want to wear a hood. Well, what is
something that pilots might wear on their head? A helmet!
The first thing we did was chop off the uncomfortable ear pieces, and find
a lightweight hockey helmet.
We needed a way to suspend the eyepiece in front of the eyes, so we
attached this face shield, painted it black and held the eyepiece in place
with Velcro.
We originally had three TrackIR reflectors, and later used just one.
It worked well, but looked like something the police would wear to a riot.
So, how can we do this with a real fighter pilot helmet? Those things are
expensive, about $400 or $500.
The answer was Ebay. We found these Chinese motorcycle helmets for
about $40. I wouldn’t trust my life to a $40 helmet, but it’s great for a flight
simulator.
We painted the visor black and cut a square hole to accommodate the
VR920. Again we secured it with Velcro.
This is the reflector for Track IR.
The chinstrap was awful, so we replaced that with Velcro too.
We were planning to use this outside in a hangar and it’s warm in the
summer, so we drilled ventilation holes in the top.
NOTE: Wear safety glasses and a dust mask whenever you’re drilling
fiberglass.
We wanted to make the helmet somewhat adjustable for different head
sizes, so we removed the liner and replaced it with these foam insulation
inserts. Use one insert for big heads, and both inserts for smaller
heads. We have hygienic bouffant caps so a lot of people can share the
same helmet.
Finally, we covered the big Red China star with a red stripe and added
some Roger Dodger decals.
The best thing about the VR helmet is that it looks crazy awesome.
The drawbacks are that you can’t see any real-life buttons on your
instrument panel because your view is blocked. This means you’re
somewhat limited to flying with your hands on the throttle and joystick,
which would be fine for dogfighting, but there again, the screen resolution
is too low for air combat. If the resolution was just a little better, even a
modest 1024x768 would be a great improvement. Also, the headpiece
was awkward for pilots wearing glasses.
What we ended up with was an interesting experiment, that worked pretty
well and we had a lot of fun in the process, and that’s what it’s all about.
This is a flight simulator virtual reality helmet. The pilot sees a virtual
world through two computer monitors in front of their eyes. As the pilot
moves their head, the corresponding view changes in the virtual cockpit.
The idea of virtual reality has captured our imagination for a long time, but
the technology to make a truly immersive experience still eludes us. We
decided to experiment a little with virtual reality to see if it could apply to
flight simulator. I’ll take you through the process of starting with a stock
VR headset, and ending up with a custom VR helmet.
This experiment started with the VR920 virtual reality headset from Vuzix.
It has three main components, the display, the view tracker and the ear
bud speakers.
The first thing we did was throw away the extraneous speakers. Our
simulators already have speakers.
The view tracking system is much like TrackIR because as you move your
head, you see around your virtual cockpit. However, the VR920 works with
different technology, so you can actually turn your real head around to see
over your real shoulder. You can’t do that with a TrackIR.
The view tracker in the VR920 works with internal magnets, but they just
don’t work that well. Often times the view would become stuck and need
to be re-centered. Now ,the TrackIR has a hotkey to re-center the view, but
the VR920 does not, so you would actually have to shake your head like a
dog to re-center the magnets.
We quickly disabled the VR920’s view tracker, and just used our existing,
reliable TrackIR.
Next, the display system. The VR920’s tiny monitors appear to have little
fresnel lenses to make the images appear larger in front of the pilot’s
eyes. Very cool. Unfortunately, the monitors only have 640x480
resolution.
That resolution is too low for air combat, and too low for civil flight
simulators because you can’t read your instruments, but we tried it
anyway.
Light from around the edges of the headpiece can make the screens hard
to see, so Vuzix sells a snap-on shroud to help block the light. That helps
with the light in front of you, but that doesn’t totally solve the problem.
Light from behind your head can also washout the image.
What do to? We needed to block out light in front and in back, like a hood
or something, but I didn’t really want to wear a hood. Well, what is
something that pilots might wear on their head? A helmet!
The first thing we did was chop off the uncomfortable ear pieces, and find
a lightweight hockey helmet.
We needed a way to suspend the eyepiece in front of the eyes, so we
attached this face shield, painted it black and held the eyepiece in place
with Velcro.
We originally had three TrackIR reflectors, and later used just one.
It worked well, but looked like something the police would wear to a riot.
So, how can we do this with a real fighter pilot helmet? Those things are
expensive, about $400 or $500.
The answer was Ebay. We found these Chinese motorcycle helmets for
about $40. I wouldn’t trust my life to a $40 helmet, but it’s great for a flight
simulator.
We painted the visor black and cut a square hole to accommodate the
VR920. Again we secured it with Velcro.
This is the reflector for Track IR.
The chinstrap was awful, so we replaced that with Velcro too.
We were planning to use this outside in a hangar and it’s warm in the
summer, so we drilled ventilation holes in the top.
NOTE: Wear safety glasses and a dust mask whenever you’re drilling
fiberglass.
We wanted to make the helmet somewhat adjustable for different head
sizes, so we removed the liner and replaced it with these foam insulation
inserts. Use one insert for big heads, and both inserts for smaller
heads. We have hygienic bouffant caps so a lot of people can share the
same helmet.
Finally, we covered the big Red China star with a red stripe and added
some Roger Dodger decals.
The best thing about the VR helmet is that it looks crazy awesome.
The drawbacks are that you can’t see any real-life buttons on your
instrument panel because your view is blocked. This means you’re
somewhat limited to flying with your hands on the throttle and joystick,
which would be fine for dogfighting, but there again, the screen resolution
is too low for air combat. If the resolution was just a little better, even a
modest 1024x768 would be a great improvement. Also, the headpiece
was awkward for pilots wearing glasses.
What we ended up with was an interesting experiment, that worked pretty
well and we had a lot of fun in the process, and that’s what it’s all about.
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