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aardvarkxr / hackathon-sep20

BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License
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Handheld Camera for Steam Screenshots #11

Open Si-B0RG opened 4 years ago

Si-B0RG commented 4 years ago

Screenshots are a great way to share an experience with steam friends after the fact, but in VR they're often at the mercy of in-game options or a simple PoV capture. The solution could be a handheld, Aardvark-powered camera.

My assumption is that Aardvark can access pixels in a given app it's overlaying, but if that's not the case, then it could just act as a mask/viewfinder that activates the standard screenshot tool along with a simple gallery for saving/sharing.

Adil3tr commented 4 years ago

I was thinking a camera with a tripod would work better than a point and shoot for steering the user towards only taking a picture from a first person perspective, whereas a phone would be the worst option since they universally take selfies. Maybe a head mounted camera and the user presses a button on their head with a light haptic for a more mobile option? The current steam screenshot method isn't the best, it only captures one eye and doesn't capture overlays.

The most simple way to design this would be to have the gadget enable the steamVR mirror in full screen on the monitor (third party overlays can already do this so it can be done externally) and then literally capture the computer screen, popping it out of the camera as a jpeg. Shake the Polaroid for effect.

BOLL7708 commented 4 years ago

Just as a side note, I made a viewfinder for the built in SteamVR screenshot function, an extension if you will, it works well enough but I have some input things to sort out, like only having bindings for Index. Outside of that I expect an Aarkvard gadget to not be able to add a separate camera to any game to render any other perspective, that would have to be part of the game itself right?

Adil3tr commented 4 years ago

I think so. The only way to do it would be to exploit a game's LIV support, which allows for a camera angle separate from that of the HMD. LIV actually could allow for a lot of cool things if it is possible to be hacked or accessed right. Is it possible for Aardvark to know what program you have open? Because that could allow it to cross-reference whether the game you have supports a second camera angle, among other things.

Edit: Just realized that glasses that take photos, like the snapchat glasses, may be the best form factor for this.

JoeLudwig commented 4 years ago

Aardvark would need a way to trigger the screenshot