WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED
The key elements to consider before you get creating
01 A VR HEADSET
Clearly, to create in VR, a VR headset is a must. There are a wide range of choices to suit a comprehensive variety of budgets. There are also different types of VR headsets; some use Windows Mixed Reality, which allows the user to see through the headset, which is more like a vizor. Most headsets, however, are fully enclosed, and use cameras to see the world beyond. Headsets also vary by their visual acuity, which is a mixture of screen resolution, the field of view and frame rate. The technology of the screen can also vary, as can the quality and size of the controller.
Headsets can either be standalone with the computing power within the headset itself; alternatively, most headsets are tethered to a PC either via a long physical cable or by wireless communication. It’s best to take time to consider which type of headset suits your creative needs.
02 A PC
If you want to maximise the creative potential of a VR headset, even if it can work as a standalone device, it is best to connect it to a PC with a dedicated graphics card. Most gaming PCS created in the past couple of years will handle most VR tasks with ease, and even high-end gaming laptops (if they have a discrete GPU) can make excellent VR (and portable) solutions when coupled with a headset. Hooking a VR headset to a PC enables the maximum graphics power to be harnessed, as essentially the VR headset becomes a monitor for the PC.
03 A ROOM
Having a room with a clear floor area of around 3m by 3m allows the best VR headset experience. While VR headsets can work well when seated, physically walking around a 3D creation in VR is like no other creative experience. Also, some VR headsets require wall-mounted sensors for the VR headset to be tracked properly. These sensors require a clear line of sight to the headset, so placing them in the corners of a room give them maximum coverage.
04 A GOOD INTERNET CONNECTION
VR depends on a decent internet connection, as many of the collaborative features in some of the top creative VR tools depend on decent broadband. As a rule of thumb, if an internet connection can stream Netflix at 4K, everything should be fine.