VR Scene Inspection¶

The VR Scene Inspection add-on exposes and extends the native virtual reality features of Blender in the user interface. The feature set is limited to scene inspection use cases. More advanced use cases may be enabled through further development inside of Blender.

VR support in Blender is based on the OpenXR specification and requires some set up steps. These are explained in the Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) section.

Enabling Add-on

Open Blender and go to Add-ons section of the Preferences.
Search “VR Scene Inspection” and check the Enable Add-on checkbox.

The VR Scene Inspection add-on interface is located in 3D Viewport ‣ Sidebar ‣ VR tab. Its different panels and features are described in the following sections.

VR Session¶

Start VR Session

Try to set up a connection to the OpenXR platform to share the viewport with an HMD.

Tracking

Positional: Only track rotational changes of the head, do not allow the HMD to affect the location of the viewer in virtual space.
Absolute: Skip eye offsets that are normally added for placing the viewer exactly at landmarks. This allows the tracking origin to be defined independently of the HMD position.

Use Controller Actions

Enable default controller actions for viewport navigation, controller tracking, and haptics.

View Settings¶

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_view.jpg

Show

Floor: Set visibility of the ground plane in the VR view.
Annotations: Set visibility of annotation strokes in the VR view.
Selection: Set visibility of selection outlines in the VR view.
Controllers: Set visibility of VR motion controllers. Requires enabling the Use Controller Actions option.
Custom Overlays: Set visibility of custom operator drawing (e.g. default teleport beam).
Object Extras: Set visibility of object extras, including empties, lights, and cameras.
Object Type Visibility: Set visibility of objects by type.

Controller Style

Preferred visualization of VR motion controllers.

Clip Start/End

Clipping values of the VR view, as in the 3D Viewport.

View Scale

Scaling factor applied to the VR view for fine adjustments.

Fly Speed

Movement speed of the VR view when flying around the scene.

Location Scouting¶

Location Scouting allows the user to capture camera vantage points and assess the camera lens, focus, and aperture settings while being immersed within the 3D environment.

Capturing Shots¶

Capturing is done inside the VR session using a virtual director’s viewfinder, enabled in Location Scouting ‣ Viewfinder.

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_location-scouting-capture.jpg — Capturing a shot - Scene by Daniel Bystedt.¶

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_location-scouting-playback.jpg — Playing back a shot - Hallwyl Museum - CC-BY.¶

Using the Viewfinder, the user can control the camera settings, capture shots, and play back shots, while staying immersed in the VR environment. Once captured, shots can later be converted into scene cameras or markers during review.

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_location-scouting-schematic.jpg — VR Location Scouting Viewfinder Controls Diagram¶

Live Mode Actions

Focal Length Control: Increase / decrease the focal length (zoom) by pre-defined increments.
Toggle Depth of Field: Enable / disable Depth of Field, displayed visually within the Viewfinder and stored in the captured shot.
Set Focus Point: Set the Viewfinder focus point by aiming at the target. The Viewfinder crosshair will flash blue on successful focus, and red on failure.
Aperture Control: Increase / decrease the F-Stop ratio (which defines the amount of blurring) by pre-defined increments.

Playback Mode Actions

Browse Captured Shots: Browse captured shots, switching to next / previous capture.
Preview Active Shot in Space: Enable / disable display of the active capture in VR space as a camera overlay.
Delete Active shot: Delete the active shot. User confirmation is requested before deletion.

Reviewing Shots¶

Reviewing is done from the VR Location Scouting sidebar in the desktop 3D Viewport. From this panel, users can review shots, create cameras and markers from captured shots, and modify the VR Viewfinder settings.

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_location-scouting-interface.jpg

Captured Shots List

A list view.

Remove Capture: Remove the selected capture.
Add Camera from Capture: Create a new camera object from the selected capture.
Add Marker from Capture: Create a new marker from the selected capture.
Browse Captures: Browse up/down the captured shots list.

Review VR Captures operator

This modal operator allows users to interactively review captures from the desktop 3D Viewport.

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_location-scouting-review.jpg — Reviewing a shot in the desktop 3D Viewport - Scene by Zhi Wang / Mediastorm + 4DV.ai - CC-BY.¶

Once enabled, the 3D Viewport will be set to the active capture. The user may then browse and convert captures by either using the Captured Shots List, or the following keyboard controls:

`Up`	Previous Capture
`Down`	Next Capture
`C`	Add Camera from Capture
`M`	Add Marker from Capture
`ESC`/`RMB`	Exit Review

This operator is non-blocking. Clicking the Exit Review button or leaving the active 3D Viewport area will cause it to exit.

VR Viewfinder Settings¶

../_images/addons_3d-view_vr-scene-inspection_location-scouting-interface-viewfinder.jpg

Hand

The hand on which the Viewfinder is displayed. This setting can also be changed directly from within the VR Session via controller Thumbstick Click.

Scale

Visual height / width size scale of the Viewfinder.

Display Crosshair

Whether to display the Viewfinder aiming crosshair, also used for the Set Focus Point Viewfinder Live Action feedback.

Passepartout

Controls the darkened overlay shown outside the captured frame, similar to the camera object passepartout overlay setting.

Overscan: Border size of the darkened passepartout overlay.
Opacity: Opacity of the darkened passepartout overlay.

Landmarks¶

Landmarks are used to store reusable base poses (position and rotation) for the viewer in the virtual space. In addition, a base viewer reference scale can be set for landmarks of types Custom Object and Custom Pose.

Landmark List

A list view.

The selected landmark defines which landmark’s settings are shown below the list. Changing the selected landmark does not have an influence on the VR view.

Activate VR Landmark

Activates a landmark, making it change the base pose of the VR view.

Add VR Landmark

Create a landmark.

Remove VR Landmark

Delete the selected landmark.

Add from Session

Create a landmark from the viewer pose of the running VR session.

Landmark Controls

Add Camera and VR Landmark from Session: Create a new camera and landmark from the viewer pose of the running VR session.
Add Landmark from Camera: Add a new landmark from the active camera object.
Update Custom Landmark: Update the selected landmark from the current VR viewer pose.
Cursor to Landmark: Move the 3D Cursor to the selected landmark.
Scene Camera to Landmark: Position the scene camera at the selected landmark.
Camera from Landmark: Create a new camera from the selected landmark.

Type

Scene Camera:: Follow the scene’s active camera to define the base pose of the viewer.
Custom Object:: Set an arbitrary object to define the base pose of the viewer.
Custom Pose:: Manually define a position and rotation to use as the base pose of the viewer.

Action Maps¶

Gamepad

Use input from a gamepad (Microsoft Xbox Controller) instead of motion controllers for VR actions such as viewport navigation.

Extensions

Enable additional controller bindings to ensure correct input-to-action mappings. Note that a given extension may not be supported by all VR platforms.

HP Reverb G2: Enable bindings for the HP Reverb G2 controllers.
HTC Vive Cosmos: Enable bindings for the HTC Vive Cosmos controllers.
HTC Vive Focus: Enable bindings for the HTC Vive Focus 3 controllers.
Huawei: Enable bindings for the Huawei controllers.

Viewport Feedback¶

Show VR Camera: Draw an indicator of the current VR viewer pose (location and rotation in the virtual space) in the current 3D Viewport.
Show VR Controllers: Draw indicators of tracked VR motion controllers in the current 3D Viewport. Requires enabling the Use Controller Actions option.
Show Location Scouting Captures: Draw Location Scouting capture indicators in the current 3D Viewport. The active capture is highlighted.
Show Landmarks: Draw Landmarks indicators in the current 3D Viewport.
Mirror VR Session: Make the current 3D Viewport follow the perspective of the VR view.

Preferences¶

Located in Preferences ‣ Navigation ‣ VR Navigation, the VR Navigation settings only appear when the add-on is enabled.

Vignette Intensity: Adjusts the strength of the vignette effect applied during camera movement.
Turn Speed: Controls how quickly the camera rotates during continuous turning.
Turn Amount: Sets the rotation angle applied per step when using snap turning.
Snap Turn: Toggles between smooth (continuous) and snap (discrete) camera turning.
Invert Rotation: Reverses the direction of camera rotation controls.

Reference

Category:: 3D View
Description:: Explore the 3D scene using virtual reality glasses (head-mounted displays).
Location:: 3D Viewport ‣ Sidebar ‣ VR tab
File:: viewport_vr_preview folder
Author:: Julian Eisel, Sebastian Koenig, Peter Kim, Jonas Holzman
Maintainer:: Jonas Holzman
License:: GPL
Support Level:: Official
Note:: This add-on is bundled with Blender.