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So the DecaMoves are out now, I was asked some times if it would work with VaM.
My answer is: I don't know exactly, but I think it won't. It is because of the way it works.
So if you are about to buy the DecaMove especially with the idea to use it in VaM, you should maybe read the full text.
Thesis:
In VR first person shooters, you are usually aiming with the controllers and looking around with moving the headset.
So far - so simple. For direct movement (no teleportation) there are mostly two options if you are pressing the movement-thumbstick forward. In some games you are moving in the direction you are pointing the weapon (controllers), in other games you are moving in the direction you are looking (Headset).
The third theoretical option to move in the direction you are pointing with the thumbstick independently from the pointing direction of your controller is not that precise or intuitive (running 45° backwards while shooting, for instance).
The idea behind DecaMove is - wouldn't it be a great thing to have a true third intuitive axis that is easy to understand in all situations? What if you could move simply in the direction your body (hip) is pointing and aiming your weapon and looking around independently from each other and from the moving direction? An extreme example would be to run straight forward, to fire your weapon to the right and to look to the left, all at the same time.
To have such a third axis in games would normally need the implementation of an SDK into each game that wants to support this.
As the past has shown us, this would only be done by a handfull of companies and the device will most likely fail on the market.
The small company behind DecaMove has found a genius way of doing this for (maybe) all games without the need of an SDK or official game support.
Principe of function:
Warning! This is maybe not that easy to understand. I will choose the option of moving in the direction the headset (!) is pointing (you can choose that option on the DecaGear software), because it is a little bit more simple.
Now think of looking from the top down at the player. His hip is pointing to the front (0°), the right controller is pointing 20° to the right, the headset is pointing 20° to the left side (-20°).
Normally, if you put the movement-thumbstick to the front, the player would move 20° to the left (direction of the headset). OK?
Now you put the DecaMove on the players hip.
The DecaMove can now measure the plain angle between itself and the headset... the result is -20° in our example.
The electronic, that directly communicates with SteamVR, will now simply add 20° to the movement direction.
As a result, the player is moving to the front at 0° in the direction the hip is pointing.
Simple but geniously.
Now think of this simple example in movement. The player moves around his head and his hip, but the DecaMove will constantly measure the difference and will change accordingly the movement direction in a way, so that virtually it seems like a real movement in hip direction.
DecaMove and VaM:
As the gentle reader would (maybe) have seen: the DecaMove is only measuring the angle in one single axis (one DOF), it can't read the other axes in a 3D space!
This means, the DecaMove IS NO TRACKER in the common sense.
So, VaM is usually no first person shooter where you will run around, the DecaMove has more or less no function as it can't find the exact position in the 3D space. Maybe there will be a future plugin to do something useful with the DecaMove, but unfortunately it will simply never replace a full Lighthouse Tracker or a third controller, as someone could maybe think.
Source:
The inventor has patiently explaned it to me in the Deca Discord. Thank you for the patience @Chanchana!
My answer is: I don't know exactly, but I think it won't. It is because of the way it works.
So if you are about to buy the DecaMove especially with the idea to use it in VaM, you should maybe read the full text.
Thesis:
In VR first person shooters, you are usually aiming with the controllers and looking around with moving the headset.
So far - so simple. For direct movement (no teleportation) there are mostly two options if you are pressing the movement-thumbstick forward. In some games you are moving in the direction you are pointing the weapon (controllers), in other games you are moving in the direction you are looking (Headset).
The third theoretical option to move in the direction you are pointing with the thumbstick independently from the pointing direction of your controller is not that precise or intuitive (running 45° backwards while shooting, for instance).
The idea behind DecaMove is - wouldn't it be a great thing to have a true third intuitive axis that is easy to understand in all situations? What if you could move simply in the direction your body (hip) is pointing and aiming your weapon and looking around independently from each other and from the moving direction? An extreme example would be to run straight forward, to fire your weapon to the right and to look to the left, all at the same time.
To have such a third axis in games would normally need the implementation of an SDK into each game that wants to support this.
As the past has shown us, this would only be done by a handfull of companies and the device will most likely fail on the market.
The small company behind DecaMove has found a genius way of doing this for (maybe) all games without the need of an SDK or official game support.
Principe of function:
Warning! This is maybe not that easy to understand. I will choose the option of moving in the direction the headset (!) is pointing (you can choose that option on the DecaGear software), because it is a little bit more simple.
Now think of looking from the top down at the player. His hip is pointing to the front (0°), the right controller is pointing 20° to the right, the headset is pointing 20° to the left side (-20°).
Normally, if you put the movement-thumbstick to the front, the player would move 20° to the left (direction of the headset). OK?
Now you put the DecaMove on the players hip.
The DecaMove can now measure the plain angle between itself and the headset... the result is -20° in our example.
The electronic, that directly communicates with SteamVR, will now simply add 20° to the movement direction.
As a result, the player is moving to the front at 0° in the direction the hip is pointing.
Simple but geniously.
Now think of this simple example in movement. The player moves around his head and his hip, but the DecaMove will constantly measure the difference and will change accordingly the movement direction in a way, so that virtually it seems like a real movement in hip direction.
DecaMove and VaM:
As the gentle reader would (maybe) have seen: the DecaMove is only measuring the angle in one single axis (one DOF), it can't read the other axes in a 3D space!
This means, the DecaMove IS NO TRACKER in the common sense.
So, VaM is usually no first person shooter where you will run around, the DecaMove has more or less no function as it can't find the exact position in the 3D space. Maybe there will be a future plugin to do something useful with the DecaMove, but unfortunately it will simply never replace a full Lighthouse Tracker or a third controller, as someone could maybe think.
Source:
The inventor has patiently explaned it to me in the Deca Discord. Thank you for the patience @Chanchana!
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