Starting out in VR development it’s easy to think you’ll spend the earth on special hardware to get going. The reality is that’s just not true. The below 360 images (which I took with the google street view app on iOS) is fairly rough as 360 images go. The room was a mess as I was in the middle of a fairly ugly hardware transition. The stitching isn’t very good, so there are lots of bung parts to it, but you get the idea of the space and gear I work with.

Until recently I was using a late 2009 Mac Mini and was managing just fine on my Udacity VR developer course. Well, I was managing, not sure about the fine part. So I upgraded to a late 2012 mac mini, still 5-year-old hardware, and I’m going gangbusters doing google cardboard development with it.

Here are a few more details on the hardware setup I’m running in the 360 image above:

Hardware

Displays – Two second-hand 1080p displays I purchased on Trademe for $300 total. The one on the left is in portrait orientation for my code editor. The one on the right in landscape for the Unity editor. Both are on this monitor stand I purchased from PB tech for around $100.

Input devices – There’s a bunch of keyboards in the shot but the one I’m actually using now is a Logitech K380. I managed to get a refurbished one on 1-day for $40 shipped. Honestly, it’s such a good keyboard I’d be happy to pay retail for it. Logitech claims 2 AAA batteries will last 2 years. Far better than the 2 months I was getting out of my Apple keyboard and a fraction of the price. For a pointing device, I’m using a stock standard magic mouse. I’d prefer a Logitech MX Master 2S, but it’s a nice to have rather than a must.

Computer – I have two in play now. My development machine is a late 2012 Mac Mini I purchased on Trademe for $500. Even though it’s from late 2012 it’s actually the fastest model of Mac Mini ever made, the quad-core i7. I’ve put 16GB of ram in it and replace the spinning disk with an SSD. I’m really happy with its performance. It does everything I need for Unity development, especially given the contrast of my other machine the late 2009 Mac Mini. That machine is now running as the server for the house. I’ve modified it a bit adding 4.5TB of storage and 8GB of ram. It can no longer run the latest version of MacOS but it’s doing a great job as a cache and Time Machine server.

Future plans

Audio hardware – Something I’m really aware of with VR is the impact of audio. Obviously, visuals are important in VR, but good quality audio can also have a huge impact on immersion. It’s also very useful in directing the users’ attention. I’ve got a few bits of hardware on order to support creating more of my own audio for various projects. The main bit of kit is a USB audio interface, or more specifically a Focusrite Scarlett Solo (2nd Gen). I got mine via Amazon as it actually worked out a bit cheaper than buying local, even with the shipping costs via youshop.

I’m trying to play a longer game with this purchase. It’s likely better than I need at this stage, but it will last me 15 years or more.  With the budget in mind, for the rest of my audio gear, I opted for a cheap XLR mic, arm, and pop filter from Aliexpress. I’ll upgrade those later when I have more funds available and other parts of my setup mature.

360 camera – At the moment I’m just using my iPhone 6s and various 360 apps. Over time I’m expanding my capabilities as I need/can afford them. I’m in the market for a 360 camera, likely something like the Ricoh Theta S or a 2017 Gear VR camera. I’m hoping to purchase one of these in the next 3-4 months.

Mac Pro and a 6DOF VR setup – Ultimately I want to replace my Mac Mini with a far more powerful setup so I can expand into more immersive VR development. I’m aiming for a new Mac Pro when they become available later next year. I’m also delaying the purchase of something like a Vive or an Oculus as long as I possibly can. It’s such early days in VR hardware and I’d prefer to wait to buy when there’s gen 2 or even 3 out. I suspect 2018 is going to be an expensive year.

The thing to take away here is you don’t need to spend the earth to get started with VR. Some second-hand hardware and a drive to learn will take you a long way before you need to invest more.