Virtual reality
with YASARA in Linux and Windows
Since the very beginning,
interactive molecular modeling has heavily benefited from
a stereoscopic three-dimensional view, obtained mostly
with the help of shutter glasses. While co-evolution with
the video gaming industry brought 3D glasses for everyone
during the 2010s, the shift to the more captivating
virtual reality headsets has left modelers stranded
without supply. Walking around and waving arms in a
virtual world is great, but too tiring for hours of hard
modeling work.
Since April 2023, YASARA
combines the best of both worlds. Using a popular VR
headset like Vive, Index, or Quest 2, the user sits in
front of the normal screen, which is beamed into the
virtual reality together with keyboard, mouse and chair
using the headset’s cameras and an extra tracker attached
to the seat-back. Compared to shutter glasses, this yields
an equally relaxing, but much more immersive workplace,
with the additional possibilities to take molecules into
one's hands, stand up, and walk or teleport through the
models.
Just watch the video on the
right to get an overview and introduction to VR with
YASARA. If you want to virtualize yourself, you
need YASARA Model or a higher YASARA stage. Please
see the detailed setup guide in the YASARA user manual,
which lists the pros and cons of each headset supported.
The easiest and cheapest way to get in touch with VR is
the Meta Quest 2, while the best solution is the Vive Pro
shown in the video, with an extra Vive tracker 3.0 to
virtualize your chair. Since the Vive Pro is already in
short supply, please act quickly.
Additional information:
R E F E R E
N C E S
[1] Assembly
of biomolecular gigastructures and visualization with
the Vulkan graphics API
Ozvoldik K, Stockner T, Rammner B, and Krieger E (2021).
Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 61,
5293-5303
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Figure
1: The video above shows how to get
started with virtual reality in YASARA. It proves
that the concept is so simple and user-friendly,
that even 11-year old kids can work with it.
If your browser fails to play the video, here is a YouTube link
with worse quality.
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Figure
2: These are the VR headsets we bought
and tested extensively in Linux and Windows. They
are thus officially supported, other headsets may
work with limitations or not at all. |
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