svillar
commented
1 year ago Some thoughts answering your questions
Do you see any immediate roadblocks in Wolvic support for the Tilt 5 headset tethered to Android devices (i.e. technically from software / CPU support or in the form factor, etc.)?
Wolvic should run on any AOSP device, so in theory no roadblock on that regard
Is adding new headset primarily a headset provider / manufacturer effort? Is the next step to have y'all connect with Tilt 5 in some way? (Asking as a Tilt 5 hobbyist / enthusiast, not affiliated with Tilt 5)
It's mainly an effort on the Wolvic side. That should come with a financial effort from the provider, otherwise our limited resources could not be dedicated to that
Is adding a new headset reasonable from community source contributions? Ideas of what that may look like to get started with a goal towards upstreaming in Wolvic?
For sure. Community contributions are always welcomed. We want more. Specially if they are targetted to support devices that we don't support ATM.
Is adding a new headset reasonable from community sponsorship? If I advocate to other Tilt 5 developers / hobbyists interested in WebXR support do you know what the scale of sponsorship would need to look like?
There is an OpenCollective to support the development of Wolvic. Supporting a new device could be compatible in scale with not that big contributions if it involves using OpenXR. For this case, which implies a complete implementation of a new backend based on their native SDK, it's much more work, and thus much more money. Also note that there should always be some level of sponsorship, otherwise we could not maintain the implementation
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I'd like to be able to use Wolvic with the Tilt 5 headset as a browser for WebXR content.
Some properties of the Tilt 5 headset that might be relevant:
Tilt 5 is a tethered headset with Android support.
The headset has an associated board that is used for the visualization surface. My perspective on it is that the headset represents an immersive VR experience with a constrained viewport. The headspace position and controller is tracked relative to the board. See Tilt 5 design considerations.
Tilt 5 has a Native Android SDK and also an Android Unity SDK. It does not have an OpenXR implementation.
As a hobbyist Tilt 5 (not affiliated with Tilt 5) user my understanding is that OpenXR support is not on the near to mid term roadmap. Not sure if that would be a requirement for Wolvic support or if direct usage of the Native SDK is possible.
Describe the solution you'd like
I'd love an Android App in the play store or side loadable that when launched can connect to an attached Tilt 5 headset and give a web browsing experience for WebXR content.
Some questions to that end:
Describe alternatives you've considered
I'm not sure of any other great alternatives for Android. Wolvic might be the best bet!
On Windows it seems like implementing an OpenXR Runtime for Tilt 5 will enable WebXR support in Chrome. But I'll admit to lack of understanding of exactly what that entails. It's not clear to me where to even start making a new OpenXR runtime for a headset. But that's out of scope for this context.
Additional context
I think Tilt 5 is a bit unique from a consumer market stand point. Has a focus on multi-headset local collaborative gaming experiences and even something like the three pack of Tilt 5 headsets is a lot cheaper than the single headset AR options coming from other manufacturers. I think it has the potential to have wide reach and WebXR support would make it accessible to a whole bunch of folks for developing their own experiences for it!