Support for Samsung browser for Gear VR?

Hi,

I've already tested it of course - and it's a great approach, but it's not (sense full) usable for krpano at the moment - today it's basically just a Chromium-based browser (unfortunately without WebGL) and VR interface on top of it. Additionally it supports the direct usage of videos for VR (but without anything custom around).

But according to that article:
http://uploadvr.com/samsung-vr-internet-app/
there might be WebVR support in future releases.

Here a quote:

Quote

We asked Gombos whether the app would add support for WebVR in the future and he said they are “working together with Mozilla and Google on the upcoming WebVR standard” and that they expect support to be added as an experimental feature “in upcoming product releases.”

And with WebVR support it could be awesome - if made well it might be possible to browse normal webpages and pano in VR and then directly switch to VR mode to view the panos. And as said 'if made well' they could use the native GearVR hardware for this - the better gyro tracking and the low-persistence display.

Best regards,
Klaus

Now that´s really interesting Does that mean that krpano could/would be controlled by the GearVR´s built in gyroscope and accelerometer?

Hi,

yes, it already works (tested yesterday) when enabling the mobilevr_webvr_dist setting, but the rendering-resolution is wrong (too low) and the performance isn't that good - but it's a great start for getting WebVR support!

I will test if manually setting a higher rendering resolution might work and for the next release the WebVR API support will be enabled automatically for the GearVR Samsung browser.

Best regards,
Klaus

Great news! Thanks for the info, Klaus

Sounds great
BTW: on the s7 the VR-tours are so smoooth...

This is a fantastic start!
Now, how do I view WebVR panos so they fill the display in the proper immersive pano manner rather than showing up within that floating rectangle in the Samsung Internet browser? I'm sure I'm missing something basic here...

The wakelock feature doesn't work for me in my own tests or the demos; the phone still dims then goes to sleep. Any suggestions?

Samsung Galaxy S6, Gear VR headset.

Just enabling the mobilevr_webvr_dist setting in the xml (which is false by default) should already work (beside of enabling WebVR support itself via ' internet:webvr-enable'), but I would recommend waiting for the next release (which should be there very soon) - in the current release internally the 'wrong' layer (because of other Android WebVR browsers) is used for the WebVR request and that can lead to instability and worser performance in the current GearVR WebVR implementation.

Just as note - WebVR in the GearVR works really well, but the browser limits the VR rendering resolution to 2048x1024 (before distortion), that means the result will be not as sharp as in the normal browser (but therefore smoother) - and there is a little problem (the 'touch-to-start' problem) with starting videos and requires an adopted UI for this.

Thanks Klaus!

The video and even the resolution issues aren't big problems for me right now; I'd like to begin by making some of my existing regular panos work smoothly in the Gear VR, then look at showing info panel hotspots. (I have an experimental research project I'm preparing that this will help with enormously.)

I can handle 'very soon'. I'll cross my fingers that it really will be very soon!

k

Here the new version with the GearVR WebVR support:
krpano 1.19-pr4

When I view one of our panos on the Samsung Internet app the resolution is terrible. I am changing the viewing "mode" to 360 2D.

I tried adding mobilevr_webvr_dist="true" to webvr.xml but couldn't see any change.

Did I miss something?

For me, Everything seems super zoomed in and there's a seam in the image. Does anyone know what's the problem here ?

Hi,

when you get the 'viewing mode' settings, you're NOT in the WebVR mode!

Make sure that the WebVR API is enabled (internet://webvr-enable).

Additionally disable the fullscreen_mirroring setting the webvr.xml - that makes problems with the latest Samsung Browser WebVR API implementation:
https://krpano.com/plugins/webvr/#fullscreen_mirroring

Best regards,
Klaus

Hi, Klaus

I did enter internet://webvr-enable and that's how I saw the immersive pano instead of a floating browser window. Then I was taken to the selection of view mode and I selected 360 2D, is that the wrong step to take ? I will also try disabling mirror setting you mentioned.

When in WebVR mode there should be no kind of viewmode selection...

Btw - what krpano version do you use?
Since version 1.19-pr5 fullscreen_mirroring will be automatically disabled for the Samsung GearVR browser.

Hi, Klaus. My version is 1.19-pr4, I searched webvr.xml and didn't find the fullscreen_mirroring setting, if i get 1.19-pr5, will it fix the problem ?