ISS Experience in VR
Austin Tate, 15-Dec-2015, Revised 20-Jan-2016

ISS-VR.exe is a Windows 64-bit executable version of the ISS Experience which will work on a flat screen,
or work in VR if you have an Oculus Rift attached (using Oculus SDK 0.8 or later). You can move the
astronaut using the arrow keys, page up and page down. If you have a game controller attached, the left
stick should move the astronaut, and the right and left bumpers will move you up and down. You can quit
the experience using either the "q" or "esc" keys.

See http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2015/12/15/virtual-reality-experience-in-10-minutes/
and http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2016/01/01/vr-spacewalk-at-iss/

Using Open Source models...

1. Create a new Unity Project (or use a suitable base project ***)...
   which usually adds a main camera and directional light.
   I add in a solid plane at 0,0,0 to act as a physics base so avatars do not drop through to infinity.
   Add Standard Assets for Characters and add in a Third Person Controller such as the standard Ethan avatar model.

2. Add a suitable 3D model of the International Space Station. I used a detailed FBX version from
   http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/iss placed, say, 50m above the solid plane. The solar panels on this
   model can be selected in the Unity editor and rotated appropriately to face the directional light
   (acting as the Sun). The heat radiators should be in shadow or faced away from the sun for realism.

3. Replace the avatar visual model with an Astronaut in Extravehicular Activity (EVA) mode. E.g. using
   3D Astronaut Nr 1 (Collada .dae format) by Byr2008 or the Extravehicular Mobility Unit 3DS.
   http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/emu
   Add this as the visual model for 3rd Person Avatar Controller (e.g. Ethan) and then scale and position
   it appropriately. Turn off the normal avatar visual model. You may need to turn off the "Mesh Collison"
   component for all the 3D parts within the EMU model to avoid any reported rigged mesh issues for the
   avatar in Unity 5.

4. Add appropriate crew transfer and supply spacecraft as addons.
   Soyuz https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=6eb4c556c1f836c3567d8125dd72cc4e
   Progress https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=73e28da6ef96ca9f49b01c4ab3a844cd
   E.g. using the Collada downloads via the 3D Warehouse https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/

5. Add a Cygnus Supply Vehicle. e.g., by manboy and nebarnix .stl format file converted to
   .dae or .obj (e.g. via http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/) and resized to 0.025.

6. Also included is ESA's Jules Verne ATV by Nickvet419 standing off the ISS, even though this
   supply mission was earlier than the scene depicted.

7. Add a suitable Skybox to the Main Camera via, e.g., Free Earth Skybox – Hugo Peters,
   http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/released-earth-planets-skyboxes-free.381460/
   Downloads of the unity packages (v1, v2 and v3) are available at:
   http://www.pilottycoon.com/assets/SkyboxSpaceDemo/skyboxspacedemopackage.unitypackage
   http://stagit.mobi/demo/skyboxes_demo/stagit_earth_planet_skyboxes.unitypackage
   https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/53752

8. To add light flares use Assets -> Import Package -> Effects to bring in the Unity Standard Assets.
   Add an empty Game Object and name it "Flare" and to that add a component for Effects -> Light Flare.
   Drop the "50mmZoom" standard asset light flare onto it's flare slot and perhaps make the colour a
   pale yellow for the sun. Carefully align the lens flare to the directional light, so they behave
   realistically. I set the directional light and light flare to originate from the opposite side of the
   ISS to the daytime lit Earth disk, ensuring that the ISS solar panels face towards the light source.

9. Added background sound, e.g. from http://soundbible.com/143-Astronaut-Breathing.html
   Astronaut Breathing recorded by Mike Koenig.

10.By default a gamepad or joystick controller or joystick will act as an alternative for movement of the
   avatar. But gamepad/joystick up and down control may need to be added, e.g. on the left and right
   "bumpers" which for an Xbox 360 controller are "joystick button 4" and "joystick button 5". See
   http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/ConventionalGameInput.html

11.To use the Oculus Rift, remember to go into Build Settings -> Player Settings and tick
   Virtual Reality Supported". That's all that is needed to enable the use of the Rift for a VR Experience.

*** Footnote: E.g., see "Project Base for OAR Converter Projects" section in
    http://blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2015/08/30/opensim-oar-convert-to-unity-scene/