Custom Oculus Environment (Tutorial)
Mandy He (May 2022)
Intro/Motivation
One of the biggest benefits of VR is that it offers immersive experiences. One of the most straightforward ways to create immersive experiences is through customizing your surrounding environment in VR. Whether it's scrolling through an academic journal about marine animals while sitting underwater surrounded by fish and coral or watching horror movies while sitting in a haunted house, customizing your oculus environment can allow for more immersive experiences.
Technology required: Quest 2 headset, Windows (THIS METHOD DOES NOT WORK FOR MAC), charging cable
Coding experience needed: None (Note: This tutorial shows one of the easiest ways to create a custom home environment, so no 3D modeling experience is needed either)
Turning Panorama into Virtual Environment
Step 1. Take a panorama
Take a panorama or 360 image of the space you would like to make your home environment.
You can use your phone camera or app to do this
Step 2. Quest Home Discord
Join the Quest Home Discord through this link
Go to environment-tools
Find the latest version of Quest Home Environments Converter/Builder (and Panorama Builder) or the latest version that contains the Panorama Builder
Download either the normal version if your computer has Java installed, or the version with included Java
Step 3. Open Environment Converter and Builder
Open the downloaded Environment Converter and Builder
Step 4. Upload your Panorama
Click on "Panorama Builder"
Upload your panorama (drag/drop)
Make sure the green line is in the center of your panorama
Note: You can also upload audio files!
With your headset turned on and plugged into your laptop, Click "Build Panorama"
Step 5. Select your environment on your headset
Click on the bottom left square (as seen on the picture to the left)
Click on "settings" in the upper right
Click on "Personalization" and go to "virtual environment"
Scroll down and click on the environment you just uploaded
Done!!
Your home environment should now be the panorama you just uploaded
Credits/Additional Resources:
Most helpful and in-depth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bskTulpEtto
Other helpful videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRfIqspSW7A&ab_channel=ElinH%C3%B6hler -> using Blender and the Home Environment Converter/Builder
Note: The Home Converter/Builder is quite actively updated and the quest 2 itself has it's software updating quite consistently as well, so be sure to try to find more recent videos. For instance, even when following the first linked video which was created a few months ago, some things had already changed (the parts about uploading home environments from SideQuest replacing current home environments).