An unconventional use of Unity Remote with Razer Hydra: Recording cutscenes!

News & General Discussion
1

Thought I’d post this here in case anyone needs something similar.

I needed a shake cam for a cutscene I’m working on. I was originally using a Razer Hydra to move the camera around in Unity to record a cutscene, which worked pretty well. This is simply parenting the camera to the Hydra hand (disabling geometry), and writing a few scripts to handle zooming and other camera functionality.
Here’s Mark I:

However, I get slightly better results (not yet uploaded) by doing the following:

  • Go to Android settings, change to landscape (while keeping the selected platform as Standalone!)
  • Enable Unity remote in Editor Settings
  • Attach my Note4 via USB
  • Attach my Razer Hydra controller to my mobile phone (using my girlfriend’s hair ties!)
  • Open Unity Remote and hit play in the editor.

This is what the bodged-together shake cam looks like… I’d normally hold both the left and right side, and use the buttons on the Hydra:

2448×3264 871 KB

This allows the Note 4 screen to be used as an actual viewport into the game world - with accurate rotational - and most critically - positionally tracked too!

The buttons on the Hydra controller can also be assigned to other camera and cutscene controls - field of view, focus (DoF), starting/stopping the cutscene, etc.

I’m pretty pleased with the result, and using a Note4 with the Hydra attached gives a more natural feel to the movement. It’s as if you’re actually holding a camera and moving around inside the game world.

Next up:

  • Record the movement, and save it to be reused.
  • Stick the code on GitHub.
  • Impatiently wait for my Sixense STEM to arrive so I can get it working with that.
  • Possibly 3D print an attachment for the STEM modules to connect it to my phone.
  • Buy a longer USB cable for Unity remote to run on my phone.
2 Likes
2

Really cool, good job!

3

I can’t do that because I don’t have a girlfriend.

Anyway nice work! :smile: Would allow making some realistic cinematic videos!

Is it possible to soften the camera movement?

4

Thanks! In that video I’m just using the Hydra controller on it’s own, and these things are so light. When it’s attached to the Note4, I’m also using both hands, so there’s extra weight and extra stability - that appears to help somewhat.

5

That is pretty cool :slight_smile:

6

Thats very cool!

Now, I want to try this out myself.
Would you like to share the scripts for controlling the camera?
Have you considered a way to record the animation keys?

7

@Kemonono , not yet - see “Record the movement, and save it to be reused.”

I’ll share the scripts when I’m happy with them, but for now, just download the Hydra controller and attach the camera to the Hydra hand, and disable the hand geometry. Very quick and easy.

8

Very cool, I’m gonna try that once I’m done with work. Haven’t found an excuse to use my Hydras in ages.

9

Same here. I bought them for use with Oculus, and did a fair amount of work with them back then, but I just don’t like the wires! Waiting for the STEM to arrive, which I backed on Kickstarter… which may well be outdated by the time Steam releases Lighthouse + controllers :confused: