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#wiimote#headtracking#virtualreality

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote

Johnny Lee

36K subscribers • 1 video on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 3 people: 3 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2010 to 2021.
  • Presented by Johnny Chung Lee, researcher at Carnegie Mellon University

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

10M views18 years ago3 recommendations

Graphics and audioHardwareCreative codingEmbedded systemsElectronics

Johnny Chung Lee demonstrates how to use a Wii Remote's infrared camera to track head movement and create a 3D desktop VR effect.

Using the infrared camera in the Wii remote and a head mounted sensor bar (two IR LEDs), you can accurately track the location of your head and render view dependent images on the screen. This effectively transforms your display into a portal to a virtual environment. The display properly reacts to head and body movement as if it were a real window creating a realistic illusion of depth and space. By Johnny Chung Lee, Carnegie Mellon University. For more information and software visit johnnylee.net

Why it's here

3 people recommend this

What people say. Celebrated as a legendary and highly influential hardware hack demonstrating low-cost spatial head tracking.

slynon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Proof of Concept - See through OLED screen on a laptop”

Specifically: link to this video Check out his entire youtube channel, it is full of interesting software/hardware hacks.

DonHopkinson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Shadows and Blur Effects in Modern UI Design”

Check out Johnny Lee's awesome "Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote"! link to this video More great stuff: link

mattowen_ukon Hacker News • Recommends

On “This is what Doom looks like on a holographic display”

> link to this video I did this at the time. I downloaded his Wii app that shows the little red/white discs, and bought a battery powered Wii-bar thing that had the IR leds in it and strapped it to my head. Can confirm, the 3D effect is 100% spot on, even the smallest move of your head caused the display to adjust perspective and your brain is totally fooled into thinking the Wii display is a just a window into a 3D scene. tbh, it was the only cool thing I actually did with my Wii!

arohneron Hacker News • Mentions

On “Why 3D doesn't work and never will.”

This particular implementation will probably never work, but that doesn't mean "3D movies" in some form will never work. This guy built a stunning demonstration giving a 3d effect with a wiimote and a standard TV: link to this video

rkallaon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Augmented Reality 3d Video on iPad with Kinect ”

So damn clever... releasing an SDK for the Kinect1 was one of the smartest things Microsoft could have ever done and I think has gone a long way to contribute to it being the fastest selling piece of hardware in history2 (did anyone know that? I sure didn't, and barely believed it reading it). This reminds me a lot of what Johnny Lee did with the Wii soon after it was released with head-tracking 3D3 Part of me wants to stop using a computer and take up beet-farming because the cool factor seems so much less than what these guys are doing. Anyone on HN actively toying with a Kinect and want to share some video? 1 link 2 link 3 link to this video

wtracyon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Anamorphic Projections and the Floating Mona Lisa”

Johnny Lee's work with the WiiMote uses the same technique, and his demo is much more visually impressive. :-) link to this video

aylonson Hacker News • Mentions

On “Go Pro on a soaring eagle [video]”

…n is one of them, but really just kick in for objects nearer than you arm cam hold. For distant objects, our brain uses other hints - that's why people aiming at far objects close one of their eyes. One of the strongest is the parallax effect, specially for medium distance and relative distance between objects. If you doubt it, look at this video: link to this video Relative size and color fading works well for big distances - this is the prominent effect in parachuting videos. These are only two mecanisms, and immersion is not only about 3D sensation. Full periphery vision is of great value for this (IMAX, anyone?). Sound hints, brigthness, contrast, and a lot of other hints also help our brain making…

magicaliston Hacker News • Mentions

On “Project Tango”

"- Johnny Lee and the ATAP-Project Tango Team" Johnny Lee was the guy with the awesome Wii Controller demos back in 2007 (can't believe it's been that long). link to this video edit: here's the full set of demos: link (also, I'm assuming it's the same guy, but his site says he's at Google now)

Tepixon Hacker News • Mentions

On “A Canvas Made of Pixels”

Nice job! If you have a camera that tracks the viewer, you can also make the image it displays 3D as seen in this video from 2007: link to this video (back then it used a Wiimote to track the head position).

jordacheon Hacker News • Mentions

On “A UI Experiment with the iPhone X’s Front-Facing Camera”

Yo mark willson of co.design. Were you around 10 years ago? Let's tame the article title a bit huh? link to this video

mikeleungon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Colossal Holograms”

This reminds me of link to this video (2007) Johnny Lee's demonstration using head tracking with infrared led's and a wii remote to implement the same thing. Obviously that limits the effect to the individual's head being tracked, but its amazing its been 12 years since that demo and we're still trying to commercialize the same affect.

mdorazioon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Sony Unveils 'Spatial Reality Display' with Eye-Tracking for Glasses-Free 3D”

What's interesting about this is that the tech has been proven dating back all the way to 2007 1 and also re-implemented by enthusiasts many times over the years with better eye tracking via CV. What Sony has done here is refine it and package it in a way that's nice for end users. Personally, I'd like to see this implemented more cheaply in larger displays to act as virtual windows for indoor environments, like 2 from 2010, but with 3D video/rendering. 1 link to this video 2 link

xaedeson Hacker News • Mentions

On “Show HN: 3D-Parallax, labelfree 3D experience from a 2D image using parallax”

…visualization and very crude head tracking. The effect is damn awesome! To be able to move around in real space with the rendering adapting to it, makes it so immersive, even for my very crude tests. In my opinion the resulting 3D effect is MUCH better than viewing in stereo with one picture per eye. Here is an example from someone else from 2007: link to this video From 2012: link Obviously this works for only one person viewing it, but does that really matter? There are a LOT of use cases where only a single person uses a single monitor for viewing, especially in these times. In fact it is the standard.…

teekerton Hacker News • Mentions

On “This is what Doom looks like on a holographic display”

Cool, but, it looks exactly like watching a display with a Wii remote on your head 0, 2007. What’s so special? Is it actually 3D this time? 0 link to this video

vyrotekon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux”

…king hack never really took off because it only worked as a solo experience. But since remote work is mostly us all individually sitting at a computer I could see it working better. Combine this idea with a large dedicated monitor/tv and now you have something that would literally just feel like a window/portal to the person you're talking to. 1 link to this video…

jhallenworldon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Show HN: Parallax wallpaper engine for Linux and Windows”

You need to use the Wii remote in reverse so you can make a fake window. link to this video (can't believe this was 15 years ago now..)