Usage
The layer will automatically launch in the background when a compatible OpenXR application is launched. When the layer is active, an extra menu button for the settings overlay is added to the SteamVR Dashboard. If there are many buttons from third-party overlays, the menu may be accessible from an overflow button instead.
If the application supports native OpenXR passthrough, it is now able to control the passthrough. For applications that don't support passthrough, the override modes in the settings can be used instead.
If the button does not appear, it may be caused by several different issues:
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The layer is not installed or enabled. Refer to the installation page.
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The application does not use OpenXR, or has not started an OpenXR instance yet.
Generally the application needs to be visible in VR for the menu to appear.
- The application has disabled support for OpenXR API layers.
The layer supports three different projection modes.
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The 2D Room View mode is the legacy mode used by the SteamVR room view. It projects the view onto a cylinder centered on the HMD, with the bottom of the cylinder set to floor level. It does not properly handle fisheye cameras such as the ones on the Valve Index.
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The 2D Custom mode is an improved version of the 2D Room View mode. It does proper fisheye lens compensation, but otherwise functions the same.
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The 3D Custom mode is a full stereo depth estimation mode using the OpenCV library. It has many different settings that can be tweaked from the Stereo menu.
The HMD may have an inaccurate eye pose calibration (this is known to affect the Valve Index). The Depth Offset Calibration control can be used to adjust for this. To use it, the Projection mode needs to be set to 3D Custom, and the passthrough needs to be active visible.
To calibrate the eye offset, stand up and look down at the floor in front of you. Adjust the slider until the floor appears at the correct height. Activating the SteamVR chaperone may help with determining the height. Match the bottom of the chaperone grid with the floor, and verify that the floor stays aligned to the grid while moving your head.
The overrides menu allows setting up passthrough for OpenXR applications that do not feature passthrough support, or force different settings for applications that support passthrough. This is limited by the information the application exposes to the runtime. Some applications submit depth buffers which can be used to blend passthrough by distance, but otherwise it is limited to chroma key masking and additive mode.
Enabling Force Depth Composition will blend the passthrough with the application by the distance to the objects in the scene. To use this properly, the 3D Custom projection mode needs to be set, otherwise the passthrough will be blended by the projection cylinder. Even though application may submit depth buffers, they might not have the correct data, so expect artifacts.
The way the passthrough is blended with the application view can be overridden here.
- Alpha Blend - Uses the alpha channel provided by the application. Generally only works with applications the support passthrough.
- Additive - Adds together the views. Works the same way as the transparent SteamVR Room View mode.
- Opaque - Draws only the passthrough. This can be combined with the depth composition setting to only use depth.
- Masked - Chroma key masking. This can be used to pick a color either in the application or passthrough view to replace with the other.
- Chroma Range - How close a color has to be to the picked one to be blended.
- Luma Range - Hove close does the brightness have to be from the picked color.
- Smoothing - Adds a smooth transition.
- Invert mask - Flips which way the blending is done.
- Chroma Key Source - Choose whether the color is checked from the application or the camera views.