This article was first published in the July 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online
Virtual reality has been "the future" for at least 20 years. Although it's not yet common to see someone using this type of display, technology has advanced enough that you can build one using off-the-shelf components. College student Austin Turner (youtube.com/user/ohaple), made his own working headset using a smartphone. It took several experiments, including one made out of Tupperware, as well as a model using a webcam for tracking. Here's how to make your VR headset real.
Gather the components
To make your own custom VR headset, you'll need a sheet of 5mm-thick black foam-board, 40cm x 40cm or larger; a hot-glue gun and glue; a pair of metal-framed reading glasses; two aspheric magnifying lenses around 3cm in diameter, with roughly a 5x magnification (possible sources include binoculars, toys, or a VR lens kit); and around 120cm of 3cm-wide elastic. You'll also need a smartphone; a gyroscopic mouse; and headphones with a sturdy support in the middle. You will then need to choose your software.\Cut out the Frame
First find and record the focal length of your lenses by measuring at what distance an object comes into focus. Cut two pieces of foam board for the top and bottom in a rectangle as wide as your glasses hinge-to-hinge. Cut them as long as the new lens focal length, multiplied by 1.5 for the top, and this length plus 1cm for the bottom. Cut two side pieces the same length as the top piece and as wide as your phone's height in landscape mode. Finally, cut out a piece to cover the front as wide as your glasses in one direction and as high as your phone's landscape height in the other. Cut out a rectangular section in the middle of the front piece 5-10mm smaller than your phone in both dimensions.\Glue your Frame
Line up the top and bottom pieces of foam board, then cut a semicircle roughly the size of your face into one of the shorter sides on each. Into this semicircle make a cut-out for your nose on the longer bottom section. Glue the top and bottom to the sides with both semicircles aligned, forming an open box. Glue the front section to it, resting on the bottom's protruding edge, forming the body of your headset. Poke holes in the sides at the focal distance from the outside of the viewing window and about 60 percent of the way from the bottom. Replace the original lenses with your magnifying lenses, gluing if necessary, and feed the earpieces of your glasses through the holes. Cut the earpieces to a few centimetres in length, and hot-glue them to the outside.\Attach and Track
Attach a piece of elastic to the sides so it fits snugly over the front piece of the headset; this will be used to hold your phone in place. Fasten a second piece of elastic roughly half the diameter of your head on the sides and near the back to strap the headset to your face. To track head movements, attach the gyroscopic mouse using hot glue and foam board as necessary on top of your earphones, pointing in the same direction as your face. Turner tried attaching this to the head-mounted display unit but the extra weight was uncomfortable and tiring. \Let VR Commence
First, you'll need a game that supports side-by-side 3D imaging, displaying a slightly different image for each eye on the same screen. For games that don't support this, a piece of software (try TriDef 3D) or a game modification (like Minecrift -- a 3D mod of Minecraft) may help. You need to be able to mirror your computer monitor on a phone using a program such as Kainy for Android or Splashtop for iOS. Finally, a program to adjust your head-tracking mouse separately from your main mouse can set up your hand for larger movements, while the gyroscopic mouse is used to look around. Once this is working, insert your phone, put on your headset and escape into your own virtual world.\
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
