Experimenting With Quest Guardian Floor Area.

Because the Oculus Quest is cable free, there is potential to take advantage of a larger floor area, therefore allowing the viewer to move around a VR gallery freely without having to teleport. In this first experiment I translated the corridor measurements outside my office into a basic VR simulation using UE4 and then set up a guardian floor area in that same location.




Image at end of simulation by Helen Kay

It worked fairly well, except that the guardian floor area did not allow me to map the whole length of the corridor. I seemed to be limited to an area that was about six meters long, so this simulation did not have the intended effect... for me anyway. However, my students loved it because of the precipitous nature of the simulation and it actually turned into a great way of introducing newcomers to the possibilities of VR technologies, e.g. the ability to enter a new type of believable space.


5.5m x 5.5m square gallery.

I used the college gallery to try and work out what the largest guardian area could be defined and it seemed to be about 6m x 6m. I built a basic gallery based on those proportions and while it was nice to walk around teleport free, it felt small and constricted and (of course) did not take advantage of the immense possibility of VR space. However, I do think there is scope for a larger guardian area that allows greater free movement within a simulation to increase the immersiveness of the experience.

If you are reading this blog and feel you can add something to my research then please comment… even if you are correcting me or don’t agree with something that I say.