Knuckles, Valve’s unique VR motion controller, is already in the hands of select developers who are no doubt designing ways to use the controller’s 5-finger tracking. In the video published by Zulubo Productions, we get a better look at just what Knuckles can do.
The demo, first seen in a Knuckles developer guide, is designed to let devs understand the controllers’ tracking capabilities, and what sorts of fine manipulation Knuckles provides users in a virtual setting.
With plenty of objects to suspend in mid-air with an anti-gravity machine, the demo lets you get used to picking up and manipulating physics objects with each finger, and use your individual fingers to poke at flat, screen-based UI.
To grab something, pinch your index finger and thumb together. You don’t have to click the trigger or touchpad, or even touch the controller. When both fingers contact the object you’re trying to pick up, you’ll grab it. You can also grab things using your other fingers against your palm, but this is difficult unless the object is cylindrical.
Using a single finger to reliably pick something up may not sound like a technical revelation, but it isn’t so much about what a few extra fingers can do physically, but rather about creating greater ‘hand presence’, or when your subconscious accepts the digital representations as ‘real enough’. Check out more about how Knuckles does it here.