SteamVR

General Remarks

ELITECAD uses the SteamVR runtime, due to its technical advantages and the possibilities to use many different VR devices. SteamVR/OpenVR is a vendor independent runtime that allows to control various VR devices like Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows mixed reality devices. Furthermore, it offers many additional features, for instance the use of VR gesture controllers like Oculus Touch or HTC as well as all other Windows Mixed Reality input devices.

Note

Oculus Rift S users have to install SteamVR runtime in addition to the Oculus runtime.

Installation of Steam

Before we can start with the installation of the SteamVR runtime, we first need to install the Steam software and create a Steam account. Let’s download the software from the website https://steamcommunity.com/steamvr and start the installation of the steam software.

After we have installed the software we create a Steam account and now are able to use the Steam platform.

Installation of SteamVR

Start Steam using the Desktop icon .
Then go to the section STORE and enter SteamVR in the search bar and choose the suggested result.

Select the button Play Game in order to install the software.

Follow the instructions on the screen and install SteamVR.

Start the SteamVR application using the desktop Icon . By launching the SteamVR application the Oculus software will be started as well automatically. The software displays the detected devices and if the symbols are active, this indicates that they are connected and ready to use. If the symbols are not active, it means that the devices are in stand-by, and they can be activated by moving the device or putting the headset on.

Configuring SteamVR

In the SteamVR application we set the application resolution to 100%, so the images are calculated exactly in the resolution which can be displayed in the headset natively. This setting leads to better performance, since the required computing power will be reduced. Using the standard settings, depending on your graphics card, a higher resolution is calculated and the images are downscaled to the native resolution (super sampling), which leads to better anti-aliasing effects.

SteamVR Performance Test

In order to make sure your PC environment is suitable for VR applications, it is recommended to do the SteamVR performance test. This application can be downloaded from the Steam platform for free. In the STORE section you will find the application SteamVR Performance Test. Please install the application.

After installing the tool, you can start it.

After the system is analysed and all tests are done, the results are presented to you. In the bottom part of the dialog, the results are described and details can be found.