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The Cal Poly Humboldt Library is your spot to delve into Virtual Reality! We have headsets that you can borrow and use at home or anywhere you have a WiFi signal and we have the VR Station, where you can try it out and work on the computer to develop your own VR experience with the Unity game engine.
Located outside the Makerspace on the second floor of the library (room 205), the VR Station has 3D sculpture building apps and games already loaded as well as the ChimeraX chemistry app for molecular visualization.
The Meta Quest headsets provide full-featured VR experiences without the hassle of cables and connecting to a computer. The Library has the Meta Quest 3, Quest 2, and the original Quest headsets. The requirements for these three headsets are all the same:
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Click the link below to find more detailed information about which versions are available.
The three versions we have are all great for exploring VR. The original Quest and the Quest 2 are quite similar with some improvements in quality with the Quest 2. The Quest 3, however, has augmented reality (AR) capability which means that you can see the real world around you while wearing the headset. This allows for games that are played within the real world -- aliens might be attacking and coming into your bedroom, even hiding behind furniture! But it also means that the Quest 3 and AR experiences may be a better place for you to start if you are prone to motion sickness or are feeling a bit hesitant to try VR.
The Quest 3 has improved features to accommodate glasses. While the other headsets often work with glasses (tip: place your glasses inside the headset before putting it on your head) and while some glasses-wearers can adjust the headset to accommodate their vision, the Quest 3 is your best bet for wearing glasses.
Scroll down for more information about each version.
The Meta Quest 3 provides the same full-featured VR experiences as the previous Quest headsets, but also has augmented reality (AR) built in. This headset is entirely standalone and can be checked out for up to 72 hours. It requires a smartphone to connect the device to WiFi.
The Quest 3 is a mixed reality headset, meaning that you can experience VR (an entirely digital viewing experience) or AR (where digital content is interacting with the real world). AR experiences create entirely new opportunities for these types of headsets. Take a look at the Meta promo video below to see some of the practical and entertainment-based experiences.
If you want a room-scale, fully featured VR experience without being tethered to a computer, this is the premier standalone option. With just a smartphone, you can access a huge range of games and apps! Requires a Facebook account. Perform a factory reset on the headset before you return it to remove your personal info.
The headset is fairly simple but still requires a few important considerations:
Charge the headset via the USB cable and wall adapter.
The controllers require AA batteries (included).
A smartphone with the Meta Quest iOS or Android app is required to set up and run the headset.
A WiFi connection is needed for setup and app downloads
The Oculus Go is a standalone VR headset and controller you can check out to explore VR and 360 photos/videos. To use the headset, you just need to download the smartphone app (Google Play or iPhone App Store) and set up an Oculus account (you can use a Facebook account if you already have one). You will be prompted to do both of these when you first use the Oculus Go headset.
The headset is fairly simple but still requires a few important considerations: