The Vive Tracker is opening up a new world of physical VR experiences.
Since HTC Vive began shipping the Vive Tracker to developers earlier this year, we’ve seen everything from ceiling fans, fire hoses, and even cats tracked in VR.
In what is probably one of the more significant hardware developments in the VR space this year, we’ve been waiting patiently to see what developers dream up with the Vive Tracker now that they are finally getting their hands on it.
One of those developers is Master of Shapes, who unveiled their first Tracker demo at CES with HTC Vive. Their demo merged a mobile phone and a Vive, letting you view into the VR world with room-scale tracking. The game let you play alongside a friend in VR, but instead of wearing a headset, you could join in on the wave-based shooter using a tracked mobile device.
Now Master of Shapes is showing off their next Tracker project and it looks quite promising. Dubbed Virtual Graffiti, the Vive Tracker is attached to a 3D-printed spray can that lets you tag on a virtual wall. The best part of it all for developers, Master of Shapes has documented the entire process in a tutorial here. They’ll give you the print files needed, walk you through assembly, and how you should connect the Vive Tracker Spray Can into Unreal Engine.
And if one project wasn’t enough, there are always the LA-based mad scientists at Two Bit Circus. The wild crew that focuses heavily on location-based entertainment has decided to attach one Tracker to a Piñata and another one to a foam baseball bat. Not as fancy as a 3D printed spray can, but this still gets the job done and it looks like a blast.
Piñata Party will let you smash the crap out of a real piñata and hilariously vacuum up the candy that falls out with your other controller before time runs out. You can choose from a number of different weapons, including a baseball bat, club, or even a frozen fish. And of course, they have a tutorial up too that you can find here.
If you’re a developer working on a Vive Tracker project, let us know, we would love to hear from you. jonathan[a]vrscout.com
