HTC Vive Tracker, introduced in early 2017, promises to bring almost any real-life object (as long as it fits in your home) into virtual reality. Attach the tracker to a golf club or baseball bat and create the best impression of an athlete, or attach it to a fake weapon for real tactics in real time.
To compete with the Vive Tracker, Oculus included a mount with their Touch controllers. It’s not as exciting, but in some ways gives the same experience. Officially branded with the Rock Band VR logo, it is primarily designed to work with the plastic guitar accessories required to play. In our testing, this worked really well, and it got us thinking about what other things we could track by connecting a touch controller.
- View on Vive | Vive Tracker
- View on Amazon | Oculus Touch
Oculus Touch Accessory Guide
In fact, Oculus has an official Touch Accessory Guideline file that can be downloaded from their website. It contains some of the CAD files for the battery compartment, covers and mounts and the documentation that came with them.
While these guidelines seem to be for developers, there’s nothing stopping anyone with a 3D printer from creating their own mounts to attach to various elements.
What can you connect your touch controllers to?
If you’re wondering what exactly, you can connect your Rift controllers to a non-Rock Band guitar, that’s really up to you. If a mount can be attached to it, whether with temporary adhesive or old duct tape, tracking should work to some extent.
The Vive Tracker is shown mounted on golf clubs, baseball bats, guns and wrist gloves, and with a little ingenuity you can probably achieve the same with your Touch controllers.
VR Baseball immediately comes to mind. Typically, you’ll hold one touch controller with both hands and wave away, but attaching it to a real bat just above the grip will work pretty well.
One fan of The Golf Club VR also came up with a golf club mod for his touch controller. Reddit user MrZoops’ creation includes a cut down golf club with a touch controller attached where the mine would normally be. Pretty awesome!
Thanks to RedZit user MrZoops for the creation and image.
3D printing recipes already available
Avid fans of first-person shooters have already taken up the creation of 3D models of weapons. One variant, submitted to Thingiverse by user Gurgeix, has stock and mounts for both controllers. In games like Onward, where aiming spectacle requires you to line up both controllers, this kind of promotion is invaluable.
Thanks to Gurgeix from Thingiverse for this creation and image.
