VIVE Ultimate Tracker - Top Tips for Developers

VIVE have always been at the forefront of tracking technology, whether it's in our headsets, or our accessory trackers, such as VIVE Tracker 3.0 and our VIVE Facial Tracker. Our goal is to give our users the best hardware possible for your Virtual and Mixed Reality applications and to help create less friction with fewer complex setups. With the new VIVE Ultimate Tracker, we’re introducing “self-tracking” technology which makes the set-up and usage easier for users.

VIVE Ultimate Tracker - Full Body Tracking without Base stations

This is a standalone tracker with two high FOV cameras that can identify its own position in the world, either connected to a VIVE XR Elite or VIVE Focus 3. (We plan to support more headsets in the future, including non-VIVE headsets)

5 Trackers can be connected to a single small USB-C dongle into a VIVE XR Elite Headset as a standalone device to track objects in the world or function as full body tracking, strapped and sync’d to your limbs.

For PCVR you can use VIVE Streaming via Wi-Fi or Cable to connect a VIVE XR Elite to your PC. This would make the VIVE Ultimate Tracker compatible with SteamVR and act as VIVE Tracker.

If you would like to do PCVR using the VIVE Ultimate Tracker with a headset other than the VIVE XR Elite, we will be supplying a beta app in the coming weeks. We'll mention more on this later.

The VIVE Ultimate Tracker implementation into Game Engine’s is based on existing functionality and is compatible with OpenXR as well as our WaveSDK. Each Tracker can be implemented as a Tracked Game Object the same as you would track an HMD, Controller or Tracker Accessory.

Apps at Launch

For the VIVE Ultimate Tracker, we have worked with the teams at VRChat, Rebuff Reality and Rezzil to incorporate support for their standalone mobile VR applications VRChat, Dance Dash and Skillshot respectively. Existing PCVR apps such as LIV, Blade & Sorcery, Final Soccer, and more that support VIVE Trackers will also be compatible.

We will also release the 3D CAD for VIVE Ultimate Tracker itself so developers and tinkerers can build their own customised accessories.

Technical details on the VIVE Ultimate Tracker can be found below:

• Weight: 94g
• Battery life: Up to 7 hours
• Connectivity: Proprietary low-latency 2.4 GHz, and 5 GHz Wi-Fi
• Range: up to 10 meters operating distance
• Tracking: 6DoF inside-out tracking

Developer Integration

We built VIVE Ultimate Tracker to be incredibly robust and versatile – perfect for developers to experiment with in countless use cases.

To make it as easy as possible for developers to integrate VIVE Ultimate Tracker has full support for your favourite game engine via our Wave SDK as well as OpenXR support. This means that apps and games with existing PCVR tracker integrations should work straight out the box.

And for when Developers want to do something more complex, VIVE Ultimate Tracker has a pogo-pin system on the bottom for developers to use to send various button inputs and receive haptic data for customised accessories. This includes simulating input buttons like grip, trigger, trackpad press, and menu buttons as if you were using a standard VR controller. We have more details on this in our developer guidelines, linked at the bottom.

The new quick-release mechanism makes it super simples to install and swap. We included a 1/4”-20 UNC mounting plate for compatibility with more off-the-shelf accessories. This is the same standardised screw mounting design you find on cameras and speakers.

And to make it super easy to design with or for VIVE Ultimate Tracker, we’re releasing two 3D CAD Files. The first is a VIVE Ultimate Tracker 3D Model. And the second is for Mounting solutions. This means Developers can download our CAD files to design, prototype, and build VIVE Ultimate Tracker mounting solutions to fit bespoke projects.

3^rd party PCVR headset support is coming! In the coming weeks, we will release a beta update that will enable VIVE Ultimate Tracker to connect directly to a PC via the wireless dongle. This will allow VIVE Ultimate Tracker to communicate directly with SteamVR, enabling it to be used with third-party PCVR headsets. Similar to VIVE Desk, we’re running this as a closed beta initially, so be sure to check out our Discord if you’d like to be involved.

Official OpenXR support for VIVE Ultimate Tracker is still pending certification from the Khronos Group, but you can find a Release Candidate for the SDK on our developer site if you want to work on it ahead of certification. In addition, we have a beta version of WaveSDK as full body tracking use case with VIVE Ultimate Tracker proprietary algorithm to empower more immersive social activities.

What do other Developers say?

To make it as easy as possible for developers to integrate VIVE Ultimate Tracker has full support for your favourite game engine via our Wave SDK as well as OpenXR support. This means that apps and games with existing PCVR tracker integrations should work straight out the box. VRChat is launching on VIVE XR Elite, with full body tracking support integration for VIVE Ultimate Tracker. VIVE XR Elite will be the first standalone VRChat device that will let you see your body movements with pinpoint accuracy.

Jesse Joudrey, CTO, VRChat, says, "The VIVE Ultimate Tracker is a fantastic solution for those seeking an extremely flexible and standalone layer of full-body tracking in social VR. With the Ultimate Tracker, HTC Vive has developed a way to bring a new immersive world to so many people."

Dr Thomas Day, Head of Innovation at Rezzil and Lead Developer on the Skillshot app tells us about the ease of use of developing for the VIVE Ultimate Tracker from their PCVR app Rezzil Index which is a soccer training and rehabilitation software for Professional and Grassroots soccer schools, teams and academies.

“We’ve used the last few generations of VIVE trackers with some of the biggest football clubs around the world, but these have been PCVR based so a lot of kit to carry around. With these new Trackers it means we can take a VIVE XR Elite and the VIVE Ultimate Trackers in a tiny carry case which now makes it easy to transport to football clubs, academies and schools. This has reduced set up time drastically. Because these trackers run on OpenXR we’ve not even had to do any custom development to get them working, they just work as any other tracker on any other platform.”

Roadmap and Third-Party support

We have ambitious plans for VIVE Ultimate Tracker, we hope to expand its compatibility wider in the future – stay tuned!

Available to order now