Question about mounting stations to a wall and play area.

[Silenius]

I need mount these stations to a wall, otherwise view is blocked. There is in official guide: it is best, that base stations point at the center of the play area. And that's it. So i though, i will just put stations: so they are at angle 0 with a center horizontally. Each one on one horizontal side, horizontal side is 1.5m and vertical side 2m. So they will be next to me, not in front of and at back. But also saw someone had them pointed diagonally. Before i dig any holes. What works best? Or it doesn't matter? I also read they should be at 2m height.

Question about play area:
I have barely 2x1.5m of space. My cut out table is blocking like 40cm at top right corner. Which is vertical 2m side. Precisely taking 45x45cm of area. Irony is i had straight table and i got rid of it, because i wanted cut out table, so i can rest my elbow when gaming. It was before i planned VR... I also have 2 cabinets at the same side - next to the wall. Which i will have to probably move out. Also before i mount base stations on a wall, i would like to know if this 45x45cm area at top right corner could present problem. Or bottom left, i think i will play with my monitor at back. I could also go sometimes play to a living room, where is sufficient space, so before i mount these, i need to know.

[ymo1965]

Yes, censors should be pointing at each other, and point slightly downward (45 degree angle). Also keep shiny objects or mirrors out of the room. Reflective objects can mess the tracking up of VR headset and controllers.

Also make sure you tighten them properly. I have Vive sensors and didnt tighten them enough. Eventually they start to drop downward and you need to setup the area again as tracking is effected.

[Silenius]

Originally posted by ymo1965:

Yes, censors should be pointing at each other, and point slightly downward (45 degree angle). Also keep shiny objects or mirrors out of the room. Reflective objects can mess the tracking up of VR headset and controllers.

Also make sure you tighten them properly. I have Vive sensors and didnt tighten them enough. Eventually they start to drop downward and you need to setup the area again as tracking is effected.

Thanks for an answer. Good to know.

[Damsteri]

Some guy here had a great metaphor for base stations. Think them as spotlights that must lighten up headset and controllers. Base station have about 120 degree field of view, hence you need to mount them 30-45 degrees downwards, so that they can be seen if you try to pick something up from the floor that is just "under" them.

That cut out table might be a problem if you have just the minimum size 2x1.5m and its in the area. To be able to use room scale you need setup the room for at least that 2x1.5m area over that table, but then you can't see the table penetrating the area in games. Games can place item's in that table's area and you can easily hit it during the gameplay and might broke a controller or a hand doing that. It's easy to loose the orientation in VR gaming, so it might not be enough trying to remember where that table is when you can't see it. It might work better if it's one of the back corners and actually by default SteamVR set up the room so that you are playing face pointing away from your screen.

You can also mount base stations with camera clips/clamps (they use standard 1/4" camera thread) that are sturdy enough. Then their placement is easy to change if needed (reflection, blind spots, etc.). I have currently three of my four base stations (two systems) mounted with easily removable clips. With clips you can easily move base stations to living room and redo the room setup, won't take very long time.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1783061204
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1799938235

[Silenius]

Originally posted by Damsteri:

Some guy here had a great metaphor for base stations...

Yeah i was afraid of that. That 45x45cm area entering play area will be a problem. I would like to test it out carefully. I don't have place where i can put base stations, so they have vision on the floor. I read it is good to use spotter first, to get used to vr. I can't even do that, because i have to have closed door, otherwise, there is no space and base station is blocked and than other person can't spot for me. And i read, although there is a chaperone area. It may not react quickly enough, when you get close to the edges of a play area. If you lunge e.g. I will pick some game for beginner and keep that in mind and try to test moving to the edges at different speeds.

It is funny, because rumors i heard Valve VR has cameras, which shows you how far from the edge you are. And it was just rumors, that would be helpful. Also i may use something like carpet to keep track of a middle, or something.

So back to these clamps, any idea where to buy them ? It seems they are meant for valve VR, because they fit into stand for base stations. Also these planks, they are drilled into a wall right? Also i am not sure what has better field of view: if you place stations diagonally, or horizontally. I may need to find out. I also i worry about heat, since at one corner there are heat pipes, so that may not be a good idea. But i could get a shelf, or something and change angle on base station a bit.

I made need to get something temporary, which allows me test the room too. Before i drill anything.

[Damsteri]

About the physical area. Chaperone is the term for outer limits of the VR area that you set by yourself when doing room setup. You can move your controller around the area limits (default method) or just click once on each corner (advanced method). Then you have borders that are shown as a glowing grid when you are in VR. SteamVR calculates largest rectangle that can fit inside your chaperone, and that will be called Play Area. Check the second image in this article[immersivecomputing.org] if you don't know those terms. Chaperone is shown as blue and Play Area is shown as green. Note that chaperone are in that image is not a rectangle.

You could make the chaperone to follow your table's cut out and you would see that in VR as a bend in the chaperone. But.. then you would need to have at least 2x1.5m area not counting that area outside the chaperons (the extruding part of the table). You said you don't have that much room, so you need to extend your chaperone over the table to get that minimum size (if I understood correctly), so the chaperone doesn't help you to recognize the table's edge is. You might have problems playing some games, but it all depends on what kind of games you play. Different games require different movements. You will learn how you can use the space available to you best.

Like I said the base stations have standard 1/4" camera thread on the bottom, so normal camera accessories work with them. It's possible to use camera/light stand too, but those require lot of floor space. You can get different clamps, adapters and stuff locally from stores that are selling camera accessories, but prices are very high. You probably get same parts for example from Amazon for a third or a fourth of the price. Those clamps in the first image were 12 euros a pair, but then I needed 360° ball head adapters (8 euros a pair) to be able to turn base stations downwards.

Those "blanks" are curtain covers (I don't know how they are called in english). They cover the curtain rail and curtain clips. They are mounted sturdily to the wall. That was an example, you might have already something sturdy enough where you can clamp your base stations, so you might not need to drill new holes. They vibrate when operating, so it must be somewhat sturdy.