Re: Fallback for VR Mode

I think as of today, the main question would be asked on the Samsung S8,
which supports Daydream, Gear VR and of course Cardboard. Let's say the
user has both Oculus and Daydream already installed on its phone. In 2D
mode, if they launch a WebVR app on Samsung Internet Browser, then click
"Enter VR", it'll show the polyfill distortion. They can then choose to
plug the phone in the Gear VR, and it'll launch the same page in Samsung VR
browser (in flat mode though). If they do the same thing using Chrome,
it'll show an incentive to slide the phone in daydream viewer. So if I
wanted Cardboard I'd have to go into the settings (as Brandon says). On any
other browser, the polyfill will play its role, and if the user slides the
phone in daydream/gear vr, it'll launch the main lobby of each device, and
the user will have to navigate to the browser, then to its page...

In some cases the choice is obvious (desktop, WebVR-only browser, non-VR
devices...), and for the few offering different choices (mainly Galaxy S6+
and Pixel), it'll depend on the 2D browser used. So there I think it should
be more on educating the user than offering a choice. Because anyway, if
I'm using Chrome on my S7, I'll have to go to a whole process (slide phone,
select browser, enter URL, click "Enter VR") to enter VR in my Gear VR. So
the users should know that if they want an easy WebVR process on Samsung,
they should use Samsung browser, on Google phones they should use Chrome...

At least that's how things are today. Now we could think of a "preferred VR
mode" setting that the user would be invited to set at its first use of
WebVR, and then all "Enter VR", no matter the browser, would open that
mode. That's, in my opinion, the best way to go, but we'd need for all the
browser vendors to comply, as well as OS vendors...

That's for my 2cents of thought. Have a nice day everyone!

2018-01-11 23:05 GMT+01:00 Brandon Jones <bajones@google.com>:

> In general I would prefer that any user prompts are kept to a minimum, and
> in my experience they're not likely to be necessary. In a great many cases
> the choice of device is clear: Either there is no device, a single device,
> or the context of the request makes it very clear what device is preferred.
> For example: If I'm on a Samsung device that supports both GearVR and
> Daydream, but I'm in the Oculus browser launched via Oculus Home while
> wearing a GearVR it's pretty clear the user doesn't want to have a popup
> display every time they click a VR experience that says "Do you want to use
> GearVR or Daydream to view this?" Similarly on a desktop you will almost
> certainly have a single headset plugged in for
> practicality/financial/limited number of ports/bandwidth reasons. The only
> common exception is if you're a developer, but even then it's vanishingly
> rare.
>
> Still, in that scenario I would prefer a solution that provides a settings
> page somewhere that allows users to set the hardware priority rather than
> have them make that choice each time you click an "Enter VR" button. (And
> again, if you're already browsing in a Vive you basically never want to be
> asked to put on the Rift sitting on your desk.) This is already effectively
> available with Daydream, where a setting in the 2D Daydream app allows
> users to manually select if they want to use a Daydream or Cardboard
> viewer. I use that all the time for debugging!
>
> --Brandon
>
> On Wed, Jan 3, 2018 at 1:41 PM Leonard Daly <web3d@realism.com> wrote:
>
>> I originated this question in the Declarative WebVR group, but wanted to
>> get input from people here too.
>>
>> Some devices cannot go into WebVR mode (think Chromebook). There are just
>> no VR devices.
>>
>> Some devices have VR added (e.g., desktop with Vive).
>>
>> Many devices can go into VR (e.g., Pixel phones), but the user does not
>> have the appropriate device (Daydream for Pixel) to complete the
>> transition. The user may have cardboard and wish to use that instead of a
>> fancier headset.
>>
>> The WebVR JS code that THREE uses bases its decision on the existence of
>> 'navigator.getVRDisplays' having length > 0.
>>
>> What do people here think the expected/default fallback should be when
>> the device
>>
>> 1) Is not VR capable but can do stereographic display on 3D content
>>   OR
>> 2) The user wishes to use a non-VR headset (e.g., cardboard) instead of
>> the associated VR device
>>
>> I can see several answers here including required user-prompt,
>> auto-fallback, do exactly what's requested. What are peoples thoughts or
>> comments as to what they would expect?
>>
>> Thanks.
>> --
>> *Leonard Daly*
>> 3D Systems Architect & Cloud Consultant
>> President, Daly Realism - *Creating the Future*
>>
>


-- 
====================
Thomas BALOUET
Virtuleap VR Product Manager
Freelance Web&VR Creative Engineer
https://www.tbaloo.com