Basic Usage

Basic setup and usage

Oculus Rift

Note to Oculus Rift users that you must start the Oculus App before anything else.
I have found that if SteamVR is launched before the Oculus App nothing will render to the HMD until the computer is restarted!

Startup

Start Reality Blender from Steam.
You should see Reality Blender and SteamVR launch on your desktop and in VR.

Camera

Press escape to open the UI.

On the Camera tab select the camera you wish to have displayed in VR.
The HTC Vive camera has extra setup steps

There are two libraries available for accessing camera hardware.
The default is AVPro that should be compatible with more hardware and video modes.
You can also switch to the legacy Unity library to access the camera if you have problems with AVPro. If your devices isn’t listed it isn’t supported by the current library.

Available as part of ImageFX DLC

Distortion correction - Apply correction to correct any fish eye/barrel distortion from your camera lens. Adjust the K1 value for inner distortion and then K2 for outer distortion.

Chroma-Key

Available as part of ImageFX DLC

Select the Chroma key mode.
Standard with one key colour or if you have difficulties with getting even lighting the 3 colour mode can be helpful.
Aim the camera at your Chroma key backdrop and select the colour dropper from the colour selector and pick the key colour.

Increase the Range and Hue Range settings to begin keying out the colour from the image.
Getting a good Chroma key effect is not simple and a subject in itself.

The main keys are to have:
Good even diffused lighting.
Flat creaseless clean backdrop material.
Choice of colour, Blue or Green are best.

Google “Chroma key tips” any tips for improving Chroma keyed video in any other post video effect software will be applicable to Reality Blender.

Edge sharp modifies how sharp the edge will be between an keyed out area and anything in front of it.
Opacity sets the transparency for the entire image and will normally be left on full.

Limited backdrop

The limited backdrop feature is helpful if you do not have the space or means to completely surround yourself in a green screen cave such as one described in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y7UVVr51bs

It will allow you to position a flat plane in front of you in VR space that maps to the location of your Chroma key backdrop in real world space so that the keyed video image will only be shown in that area. It is only compatible when Track with HMD is enabled if you have a static camera crop the image instead.

Once you have setup your partial Chroma key backdrop and the overlay position and size enable the Limited backdrop option.
Again it is much better to position and size the backdrop with shortcut keys as it is really just a matter of tweaking the values until you find what works.
It is also best to not have Chroma keying applied while positioning the backdrop so turn the Chroma key range down to zero.

Press CTRL-SHIFT-B to toggle backdrop editing.
Use they keys listed here to position the backdrop

Adjust the size and location until you only see your Chroma key backdrop while looking around in VR space. Make sure to change the FOV value with Page Up and Page Down while looking around in VR to match your cameras FOV to VR as close as possible. Note that due to camera distortion and difference in perspective it is impossible to perfectly align movement between the virtual and camera space however with trial and error it is possible to get very close.

You may notice that as you look left and right the virtual backdrop tapers greatly to one edge due to the fact we are mapping a 2D image into a 3D stereo image. To counter this enable Taper correction and adjust the value while looking to the left or right until the tapering has been compensated for on your setup.

[samueleumas]

it need to have green screen set up for it to work? well if so no way..i am not going to build a "green fit room around it"!

[samueleumas]

on meta quest 3 the screen is all black..like cameras ore off

[PyrofrogStudios]

It’s says as much on the store page and at the bottom right underneath those controls you were trying to use (maybe your window went off screen). Seems people don’t like reading much these days then get all angry when their assumptions are wrong. Steam doesn’t have a free to test webcam listing for apps hence all this being written in the store listing.

[Skytrill]

You are just telling me that I've wasted 20 minutes trying to figure out why the sliders are not working, to let me know here that you need to purchase a DLC to have 'em working? You app is laballed as Free to Play, not Free to Test Webcam. Nowhere in the app it says you need additional DLCs, it just doesn't fucking move. Now I get all the negative reviews about this.

[PyrofrogStudios]

App is free to try to test camera compatibility and latency. To use effects purchase DLC.

[Skytrill]

I choose the right color with the color dropper but the sliders at the bottom of the window like Range and HueRange aren't functional. Same goes with the K1 and K2 on the left. CTRL+Shift+B doesn't seem to change anything.

[PyrofrogStudios]

As long as it runs in SteamVR it should work?

[SIA_Tailspin]

wont start with Odeysey plus ?