The feature is still clearly in development and right now doesn’t properly enable a passthrough view, but we can be almost certain it’s meant to be a passthrough playspace setup because the user needs to be able to see the room around them in order to safely create their playspace boundary from within the headset.
Unexpected Update Brings New Content to SteamVR Home And where on Quest users trade their playspace boundary with a controller, the hidden SteamVR setup has users ‘push’ the boundary walls away from them to expand their playspace to the correct size. Similar to what we see on Quest, the setup procedure has users reach to the ground with their controller to establish the floor height. Unlike the platform’s existing playspace setup feature, this one guides the user through the process while they are actually wearing their headset. VR YouTuber Brad Lynch recently discovered a hidden playspace setup feature that was contained in a beta release of SteamVR. The feature significantly streamlines the playspace setup process compared to looking an another display (like a computer monitor) while trying to create your boundary.ĭespite having their own on-board cameras, SteamVR headsets like Index and others have yet to adopt this convenience, but that could soon change. This when you outline the boundary of your playspace while actually wearing the headset and using its cameras to look at the room around you.
Users of Quest or Rift S will be familiar with passthrough playspace setup. A recent SteamVR beta release included a hidden feature that allows the user’s playspace boundary to be set up in a passthrough mode which could eventually be used for existing SteamVR headsets or a future headset from Valve.