“Message in a Virtual Bottle” Oculus Go Virtual Reality App

This project reflects a student’s experience at the University of South Carolina (USC) through the use of an Oculus Go virtual reality (VR) headset. The app gives imagery and audio descriptions of student life at USC in VR; it covers a student’s journey and showcases the main areas of campus and the Columbia, SC area. The app is primarily designed for MBA students at the Darla Moore School of Business and incoming / prospective undergraduate students in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering as well as the Darla Moore School of Business. It could also be used for distance education students to give them a feel of a student’s experience at the university.

About the Developers

Demo Video (Click Thumbnail to View)

Screenshots

Installation for Development

References

• Video: How to Build an Oculus Go App with Unity
• Article: How To Build an App for the Oculus Go From Start To Finish (with Unity)

The following is adapted from the above references; it is highly recommended to follow along with the above video / article.

Prerequisites

• Clone the MVB Repository
• Download the Latest Version of Unity
• Download Android Studio
  When installing Unity, make sure Android Build Support is selected.

Setup Android Studio

• Open Android Studio and click Configure at the bottom right and select SDK Manager

• Under SDK Platforms, make sure to check and install API Level 21 - 28 or from Android 5.0 up to the latest. (Currently 7) and click Apply. Installation can take up to several hours.

• Move over to SDK Tools and select Show Package Details and install 28.0.2 or the latest.
• Make sure under LLDB latest version is installed.
• Install Android SDK Platform-Tools, Android SDK Tools and NDK
• After installation, go back to Configure Menu and select Project Defaults then Project Structure
• Save the location directory of Android SDK location, JDK location, and Android NDK location for later use. (Notepad)
• Setting Environment Variables. On a Windows machine, search for “Environment Variables”. Navigate to Control Panel > System Properties, Go to the Advanced Tab, then to the Environment Variables button in the lower right.
• In the top section, set/modify/add the following variables:
• Set the environment variable JAVA_HOME to the JDK location
• Set the environment variable ANDROID_HOME to the Android SDK location.
• Set the environment variable ANDROID_NDK_HOME to the Android NDK location.
• Add the JDK tools directory to your PATH, ie C:\Program Files\Android Studio\jre\bin

Setup Unity to Build for Android

• Go to File > Build Settings
• Select Android and then Switch Platform. (If Android support was not added when Unity was first installed, do so now, then restart Unity).
• Close out and go to Edit > Preferences then External Tools Tab ** Scroll down to Android section and set SDK, JDK, NDK paths from earlier ten close.
• Now go to Edit > Project Settings > Player
• Scroll to XR Settings and choose Oculus within the Virtual Reality SDKs box (Make sure Virtual Reality SDK is ticked).

Setup Android Debug Bridge (adb)

*This step is *required to get the app onto the Oculus Go

• Download and install the Occulus Go ADB Driver
• Unzip the file and Right click on the .inf file and **install.

Connecting the Oculus Go to Build

• Connect the Oculus Go to PC via USB.
• Run adb devices to make sure the Oculus Go has been connected.
• In Unity, go to File > Build Settings and build the scenes.
• Building will creat an APK file. Save the APK somewhere and copy the build to where ADB has been installed from the last step.
• then Run `adb install [buildname].apk
• After you see SUCCESS on the screen, that means it has downloaded onto the Oculus GO.
• Inside the Oculus Go, navigate to Library > Unknown Sources and the build app should appear.

Testing

• The Unity Test Runner currently does not seem to have much support for VR / Oculus Go testing; therefore, the tests are without the VR inputs and setups.
• The tests are located under Assets/Tests directory.
• Current test are scene switching when button is clicked and check whether the door is opened or closed.
• All tests are done through the built-in Unity Test Runner.
• To access Unity Test Runner, go to Window > General > Test Runner, then select Play Mode then Run All.
• More information on the Unity Test Runner

Developers

• Franco Godoy
• Sadad Khan
• Andy Michels
• Paolo Milan
• Kenny Richardson
• Allen Sanamandra

Contributing

• Dr. Kirk Fiedler

Acknowledgments

• Dr. Jose Vidal