Virtual reality: performance and lighting issues

[Houska]

I'm playing around with Virtual Reality on HD Pro 2024, walking through a house design. In a way, it's super impressive; in a way, it seems struggling to keep up.

 

I don't have top-notch hardware, but within minimum specs (though not recommended ones): Creator-type laptop with NVIDIA RTX 3050 Ti w/4GB, Intel i7-11850H w/16GB.

 

I can get renderings and walk through my plan with modest jitter. However, while lighting is fine at my initial starting point when I go into VR, as I move around, things look very flat: no ambient occlusion, and lighting seems to not update as I teleport around, even as I press the manual update lighting button on my controller (Y/B). In particular open-shelf (i.e. no door) cabinets don't really show any modeling inside, and it's hard to see clearly where ceilings and walls meet.

 

Should I be trying to tweak settings (and any recommendations which ones?) or realistically, this is all I can expect with hardware like this? In other words, is the stuff missing because I've accidentally turned something off, or because it's barely keeping up and these "bells and whistles" are the first things that go?  

[CarrieS]

VR is very subject to the hardware you have and the scenes you're displaying. You have to keep in mind that we're rendering the scene multiple times, one for each eye and on screen. Camera views can be hefty by themselves let alone 3 times (or 4 if you're showing both eyes on screen).

 

You can sometimes increase performance by simplifying the scene like turning off shadows, reflections, and bloom, as well as Ambient Occlusion. Ambient Occlusion particularly can be a hog on resources.

 

All of these settings can be found in the Camera Specification.

 

The Rendering Technique used can also affect performance. Physically Based is a lot heftier than Standard.

 

This article has some additional considerations you might review: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-03092/virtual-reality-and-chief-architect-products.html

 

There is an "Update Lighting on Teleport" setting in the VR dialog that you might double check if your lighting isn't updating as you travel around.

 

As for if the trouble you're seeing is due to Hardware or Project? You could send a copy in to Tech Support and see if we get the same performance on our side with different hardware. 

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

Carrie