Full-Body Human Motion Tracking in Virtual Reality Systems Using HTC Vive Trackers

Abstract

The topic of this thesis is concerned with using the HTC Vive virtual reality platform for full body human motion tracking in virtual reality applications using Unity3D game engine. HTC Vive is currently one of the most widely used virtual reality platforms, which can be extended by using Tracker devices for tracking real world objects. Unity3D is a game engine that has gained widespread use for developing virtual reality applications. Full body motion tracking in virtual reality allows users to connect their body movement with virtual avatars making the virtual experience more realistic and also offers many advantages for content creation in film and game industry. In the scope of the work presented in this thesis, an application for controlling the movement of virtual characters using different number of Vive Trackers was created. Using the position in space the Tracker devices are connected with the virtual avatar and an inverse kinematics based method is used to calculate missing joint positions and angles. Connected joints can be further adjusted afterwards to make the tracking more exact and thereby more realistic. The user is able to see his/her reflection in the mirror image and take different poses to test the model accuracy. Different number of Tracker devices can be used, so the user is not restricted to having exact number of devices. The model accuracy improves incrementally when more devices are added. Missing tracking points are calculated with inverse kinematics or animations where possible. The application allows users to save their calibrated profiles and load them without recalibrating with the virtual body, simplifying application development and adding possibility for quick setup for multiple users. There are numerous ways to further expand the created solution for different technical industries for example saving animations for film industry and social VR experiences.