Installing the Oculus runtime

Now that we've covered the basics of VR in theory, it's time for some practice. The first thing you'll have to do is download the Oculus runtime, which is the background process responsible for handling all of the activity in your Rift.

Open a web browser and navigate to http://www.oculus.com/setup. This page will provide a download link to the Rift setup package, which includes the runtime you need and Oculus home, the central hub for browsing and starting all of your Oculus software.

Note

Setting up the Rift requires an Internet connection and about 30-60 minutes of setup time. The setup utility will guide you through the process step by step on screen.

After all of the software required to run the Rift is installed, you'll run through a quick hardware calibration step that will set up your constellation tracker, remote, and the headset itself. It will also help you set values such as height and interpupillary distance (IPD).

IPD is the distance between the pupils of your eyes, and even though it may seem like everyone's IPDs are similar to each other, significant inaccuracies can affect the way we perceive scale. Scale is everything in VR, especially when you're trying to use size to convey a mood or purpose, so ensuring your IPD is accurate is important in experiencing content exactly as it was meant to be experienced.