Update Highlights
Today's update features continued progress on OpenXR and a variety of dead bugs. In addition to killing several longstanding bugs in our webserver, we have a new SteamVR Home destination that showcases CT scans of actual dead bugs we found lying on the ground outside our office.
A CT scan involves passing X-rays through a subject at different angles - captured data is then processed with a computer to generate a 3D voxel grid representing density at each point. These scans were produced using an industrial CT scanner capable of extremely high resolution scans - gigabytes of voxel data being converted into simpler 3D models capable of being rendered in real-time on your GPU.
Some technical details: CT scanner was a GE Phoenix V|tome|x S X-Ray Machine with dual 240kV and 180kV tubes and the larger DXR 400mm detector, the 180kV tube being used for insect scans as they are mostly homogeneous in density, and the lower power tube produces smaller voxel sizes.
Scans processed in VGSTUDIO MAX, generating model geometry relatively close to that seen in VR, then subsequent triangle reduction done in MeshLab. Models are about 2 million triangles each.
Model vertex colours were generated in MeshLab using the volumetric obscurance filter followed by various colour adjustments - this makes interior structures vastly easier to 'read' visually while still being quite inexpensive to render.
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Full Update Notes
SteamVR:
- Update "float in world" icon to more clearly indicate its function.
- Additional fixes for webfont loading crashes.
- Several crash fixes related to Window Views.
- Fixed crash related to driver lighthouse shutdown.
- Fixed the title and icon for the controller binding menu.
- Fixed a VR server shutdown crash.
- Fixed a web server crash when requesting controller information.
- Fixed some webserver hangs/crashes.
OpenXR:
- Implemented XR_EXT_dpad_binding extension.
- Implemented XR_MND_headless extension.
- Implemented XR_HTC_vive_focus3_controller_interaction extension.
- Implemented XR_EXT_palm_pose extension.
- Fixed crashes with Unity's OpenXR plugin when using DX12.
- Fixed crash related to calling SetAppID before an action manifest is loaded.
- Fixed issue with simulating touch controller bindings for WMR that was causing touch controller bindings for primary and secondary buttons to not work.
- On Windows, whenever you accept the UAC prompt to set SteamVR as the default runtime, it will also be added to the list of available OpenXR runtimes in the registry.
- Fixed conformance issues when using xrLocateViews - return errors when application sends an invalid time or unsupported view.
- Fixed SteamVR crash when running game engine editors.
Meta:
- Reduced controller position jitter.
- Improved the Quest 2's grip trigger animation.