Today I found a one year old Zeiss VR One in the office. Everybody thought it does not work with Google’s cardboard app because it is missing the input button – what makes it useless.
So I had a look at Google’s low cost cardboard. There is not much to discover: 2 cheap lenses, an RFC tag and a small magnet which is moved when the button is pressed. It seems to me the cardboard app is using the magnetic sensor to measure changes in the magnetic field and detects if the button has been pressed.
So I went home took the largest magnet from the fridge put my iPhone into the Zeiss VR One and downloaded cardboard app from the AppStore. I configured the app with the Zeiss VR One QR Code and started the demos. Each time I had to press the button I moved the magnet on the side of my glasses. You will not believe it works!
To get a little more comfort you can buy a flat small magnet and stitch it to the inner side of your glasses and the small round magnet to the outer side. You now have constructed a magnetic button – don’t have to hold the magnet all the time.
With Google VR SDK for iOS you can develop your VR or AR tool if you are familiar with OpenGL or use the Unity SDK if you are not.
