Virtual Desktop Getting Motion Control Support In Time For Oculus Touch Launch
Guy Godin revealed the next major feature update (version 1.2) for his VR desktop emulation software, Virtual Desktop. The developer is adding support for Touch and Vive motion controls to his application when Oculus Touch launches on December 6. Mark your calendars; that’s the day the beloved mouse begins to die. The mouse peripheral had a long run, but it’s days are numbered now. VR is taking over the world, and the mouse isn’t invited.
In all seriousness, the life of our most used and trusty PC peripheral won’t be in jeopardy any time soon. But as virtual reality hardware moves from a niche market (it most certainly is right now) to a mainstream household item (probably sooner than you think), the common PC mouse will fade into the annals of history. A mouse doesn’t translate well from a 2D plane to 3D space.
Apparently, Godin sees the future the way I do, but he’s somewhat ahead of the curve. With update 1.2, Virtual Desktop treats your motion controllers as mice pointers, which lets you physically point at the link or icon that you want to click and pull the trigger to select it. The application gives you access to both controllers at once, which brings features such as pinch-zoom to desktop PCs. Virtual Desktop also includes a virtual keyboard, so you can ditch your physical keyboard, too, if you wanted.
If you prefer to work with your mouse and keyboard, Virtual Desktop isn’t dropping support for either peripheral. It is merely adding support for modern VR controllers and giving you input options.
Godin also revealed several background environments that are coming to the Steam Workshop store, including the Batcave, complete with 1989 Batmobile; the study, with wall to wall bookshelves that stack multiple stories high; and more.
Virtual Desktop 1.2 is a free update for those who own the application. If you don’t own a copy yet, you can pick it up on Steam for $14.99.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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SteveRNG It's gonna be awesome to wave my arms, holding them up in front of me to select and manipulate things instead of just using my fingers and wrist. That's totally the wave of the future. A whole new era of repetitive stress injuries.Reply -
Zapin I take it this is a Rift thing since Virtual Desktop can already control the mouse just like a laptop touchpad using the Vive controllers. The desktop mode in Steam VR already lets you do the point and pull the trigger to click thing (thumb button right clicks) and it does not work well since it is difficult to click using the trigger and not move the pointer at the same time.Reply