A few weeks ago we showed you a mesmerizing program called Boxplorer2; a fractal exploration program which recently gained Oculus Rift support. The developer has just shared with us six fractal scenes, ready for viewing with the Oculus Rift.
First, a bit of background for those of you just joining us: fractals are intricate, infinite, and often beautiful repeating patterns that are created from an equation. The topic is far beyond my mathematical comprehension, so I’ll point you to the Wikipedia page on fractals if you want to learn more.
Boxplorer2 is a program that turns math into 3D fractals. This video shows and example what 3D fractal exploration on the Oculus Rift looks like:
Different equations and mathematical rules result in incredibly diverse scenes.
Developer Marius Schilder recently added Oculus Rift support to Boxplorer2, but the program lacked a front-end interface and was thus limited to those who know their way around a command line.
Explore 3D Fractals on the Oculus Rift with Boxplorer2
Schilder has kindly pre-compiled six new fractal scenes in Boxplorer2 with full Oculus Rift support, including headtracking; opening the world of 3D fractal exploration on the Rift to the rest of us. Download the scenes here. You’ll need a pretty meaty gaming rig to get a solid framerate in Boxplorer2.
After unzipping the program, run the SensorBoxTest.exe to initialize the Rift’s tracker (make sure the value in the window title bar is changing as the move the Rift). Leave the SensorBoxTest window open, then launch any of the following fractal scenes:
- Angels-oculus
- Catacombs-oculus
- Insect-oculus
- Mandlebox-oculus
- Reflectoids-oculus
- Rrrola-oculus
Boxplorer2 Controls:
- <enter> – fullscreen.
- <tab> – switch between various points of view
- <wasd> and mouse – move
- <q/e> – roll
- <z/c> – change inter ocular distance
- <ESC> – quit
My two favorite scenes so far are Catacombs (for the creepy never-ending darkness) and Reflectoids (as seen in the screenshot above, for its incredible patterns).
What are you waiting for, go check it out!