GravViz - An interactive and immersive VR simulation of gravitational waves

Description:

In this work we are presenting a novel virtual learning environment  (VLE) for gravitational waves using a field density representation.

Spacetime is visualized in the form of a blue density grid and objects in the visualization do not use realistic scaling. Objects in space and each (sub-)point of the grid in the representation are distorted every frame according to a precalculated density grid.

This project was developed for a userstudy and was not initially intended to be published. It is only for demonstration purposes.

Sourcecode:
 https://github.com/vyanor/GravitationalWavesVisualization

Controls:

Toggle Manual Mode (for usage without VR headset): M. This switches arrow control from earth to the "measuring device"

Important: The current immersion values are adjusted for our testing environment with a HTC Vice Pro Eye. In order to manipulate those values ingame and adjust them to your HMD use the values 1-2 and 3-4 for eye convergence and eye distance respectively

• VR controls:
  Player:
      Offset to current position with manual controls (see below). 
Binary star system:
    Change distance: Trigger + Up or Trigger + Down
    Change angular velocity: Trigger + Left or Trigger + Right

• Manual Mode (PC) controls:
  Player:
      Moving in x-z space: W, S, Q and E
      Turn left right: A and D
      Up - Down: Space and C
      Tilt up - down: Shift + W and Shift + S
  
  Earth:
      Moving in x-z space: Arrow Up, Left, Down, Right
      Up - Down: O and L
  
  Binary star system:
      Change distance: Z and U
      Change angular velocity: H and J