Adding headshake to VR without a motion platform

[glider1 90]

Used to love adding a bit of head shake on the old 2D pancake monitor when coming into landing to add extra immersion simulating head vibration.

Then in VR in Flyinside you couldn't do it any more and "experts" told me that you don't want it anyway because it will make you sick.

So I resigned myself to no headshake effect on takeoff and landing.

Then P3D v4.3 and Chaseplane came along into my VR world.

Flyinside was finished and I flew native VR with chaseplane from then on.

In Chaseplane there are headshake motion effects. So I gave them a go.

What I found is that if you keep the headshake level pretty low and concentrate it on y-axis only (up and down not sideways), you don't get sick.

So I got all the immersion back, didn't need a motion platform and the "experts" were wrong.

Why don't I get sick?

The answer I came up with is that I think my brain has a minimum vibration threshold where it accepts movement in the visual field without needing feedback from the muscles in the neck.

In the real world, if the vibration exceeds the threshold, the brain compensates the visual field by adding in the signals it gets from the neck muscles and you don't get sick.

But the point is, that below the threshold, the headshake in the real world and VR are much the same, there is insufficient muscle movement and the brain just adapts.

So if you are up to the challenge, add a little bit of headshake effects into VR mainly in the y-axis for that extra bit of immersion.

[kowen 64]

Absolutely agree with this. I went VR a bit over a month now and went directly into Flyinside. I notice that the headshake/bounce was not there anymore on taxi and in the clouds. I am an EZDOK guy and loved the effect without the headsets. I did not think much else on it and accepted it as maybe it was not a good idea for sickness as well. About a week ago, had to do a reinstall on my sim and Flyinside got all jacked up. Spend a couple hours trying to fix it, but decided just try native again and loved it. EZDOK was doing the light bounce effect on the runway and some turbulence in and out of clouds (I mainly do GA aircraft) and I think the immersion factor is far better. No sickness either here. 

[Guest]

If you are getting feeling of nausea or sickness in VR, thought it out. You brain will become accustomed to the new experience and it discomfort will diminish and eventually go away altogether.

I sue EZCA in VR. It needs some adjustments like turning of Horizon hold. That'a only desirable on a flat screen.