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3D images for virtual reality glasses. Google Cardboard - a cardboard virtual reality helmet

Glasses virtual reality allow owners to move into a completely different world - three-dimensional. Such glasses cost a lot of money, but we suggest not rushing to the store or ordering them in online stores, since such glasses can be made at home.

First of all, we suggest devoting a few minutes to watching the author’s video

What do we need:
- a smartphone running Android OS;
- two lenses;
- pen;
- ruler;
- carton;
- scissors.


Before starting production, we note that we recommend using lenses from an old unnecessary flashlight. Let us also clarify that the cardboard must be chosen thick so that it can support the weight of the smartphone.

Let's start by cutting out all the necessary parts from the cardboard box. In the figure below, you can see a diagram of cardboard blanks, according to which you can prepare all the parts.


Before you start cutting out the parts, you need to draw them on cardboard. To do this we will use a ruler and a pen.


When all the drawings are ready, you can start cutting them out using scissors. According to the author, if you accidentally cut a part incorrectly or inaccurately, then the error can be corrected with a glue gun.


After we have cut out all the parts, we need to assemble it all into one structure. For greater convenience and stability of the structure, you can additionally connect all the parts with a glue gun.

Now you need to insert two lenses into a separate piece of cardboard. To do this, you need to make two holes on a piece of cardboard. In principle, if the holes are slightly smaller than the diameter of the lenses, then this can be considered a plus, since in this case the lenses will be inserted into the cardboard in a very tight manner.


But in any case, you can fix the lenses with a couple of drops of hot glue.

You can go away for a while and start downloading the “Cardboard” application on your smartphone, a demo version of which can be downloaded on the Play Market. In principle, in the vastness of the network you can find an already hacked full version applications.


While the application is downloading, you can continue making glasses. We insert the cardboard with lenses into the glasses. After this we can say that our glasses are ready.

I love the guys from Google. Well done they. Properly placed enlightened brains and good motivation can sometimes squeeze everything out of a person. brilliant ideas. Simple as 3 kopecks and at the same time absolutely stunning. An example of such a brilliant, stunning idea is undoubtedly virtual glasses Google reality Cardboard.

Everything ingenious is simple - a piece of correctly folded cardboard, two cheap lenses, a smartphone with a large screen and a set of sensors - here you have virtual reality glasses. Considering that many people already have such a smartphone in their pocket, the price of the issue is only 150 rubles and 2 hours of free time for assembly and gluing.

It would seem somehow simple... But it works! And how! Games in 3D, movies in 3D, educational applications and virtual travel - please! With the simplicity, genius of the approach and the price of the issue, the Googlers have outshone all the developers of all sorts of Oculus Rifts and so on. The same virtual reality, only almost free. It may look unsightly, but it works. And appearance, if desired, it can be plastic-licked, just look at the famous Chinese website - there are a lot of analogue options, price tags from 700 rubles onwards, with different functionality, adjustments and holes for air...

Any smartphone running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and higher, iOS 7 and higher or Windows Phone 7.0 and higher, with a screen diagonal of at least 4.5 inches. The smartphone must have the following sensors: gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer (digital compass). IMPORTANT! The gyroscope and accelerometer are required for most applications to work, otherwise you will only be able to watch 3D movies. It is impossible to evaluate virtual reality without a gyroscope and accelerometer.

I recommend that everyone who has such a smartphone try this thing. Believe me, it's great. For those who don’t want to bother with cardboard and scissors, I can recommend buying Google ready Cardboard on aliexpress.com. For those who are not looking for easy ways, you are welcome here, I will tell you how you can make such a thing quickly and without pitfalls.

Currently there are 2 versions Google Cardboard. I will tell you how to assemble the second version a little later, in a separate post, but now we will talk about the easiest to manufacture - the first version. Google, like a real good corporation, did not skimp and posted general access all information on this invention.

So, what do we need to make this wonderful device:

1. Sheet of hard cardboard. It is best to use micro-corrugated cardboard, which is widely used for making boxes, containers, packaging, etc. It looks like this:

Personally, I used cardboard, from which a stationery box for papers is bent with cunning manipulations. This box is sold in office supply stores in the form of a flat cardboard sheet (it is suggested that you bend the box from it yourself). The cardboard is good, about 2 mm thick (I don’t recommend taking thicker), it cuts perfectly with a stationery knife and bends without much difficulty. Here's what it looks like:

However, you can use any packaging, even pizza. The box from motherboard, For example. The main thing is that the cardboard is dense and not thick (2-3 mm maximum), otherwise problems with dimensions will begin.

2. Cutting template points, printed on regular A4 stationery paper (3 sheets are needed). This template can be found on the Internet, or downloaded here:. This pdf file can be printed on any laser printer, the parts are cut out with scissors and glued onto a sheet of corrugated cardboard. Since the unassembled Google Cardboard is longer than an A4 sheet, the template is cut so that the cut parts need to be placed on top of each other when gluing. These parts are marked with a circle with a number. You need to superimpose a light (unfilled) circle on a filled one with the same number and make sure that the lines match.

3. Lenses in the amount of 2 pieces. This is the most difficult moment. The lens parameters are as follows: aspherical, diameter 25 mm, focal length 45 mm. The difficulty is precisely where to get such lenses. Let's consider the options:

  1. aliexpress.com - best option in price, but long in time. I ordered my second glasses there, they arrived in 19 days, this is a speed record, because usually everything takes a month or two or three. If this option suits you, look for “google cardboard lens” there
  2. Search for the same thing in the Russian segment of the Internet. The speed will be faster than China, but the price will be higher.
  3. Optical stores in your city. Yes, you can search there too. This is probably the most expensive option, I don’t know, I haven’t tried it. Optics salespeople will not understand if you say “aspherical lenses, diameter 25 mm, focal length 45 mm.” They need to speak differently. Since they measure everything in diopters, you will need to ask specifically for lenses with diopters. Now we will count them: there is a formula F=1/D, where F is the focal length in meters, and D is the optical power of the lens in diopters. Thus D = 1/F = 1/0.045 = 22.2222. In general, you need to ask for lenses “+22 diopters”. If any are found, then they can be turned there to the required diameter, or with a larger diameter, but then the template will need to be slightly changed.
  4. Stationery stores. In it we look for magnifying glasses that are suitable in size (i.e. magnifying glasses), the higher the multiplicity, the better. 10x lenses should be fine. This option is the most unreliable, because it is difficult to find 2 identical magnifying glasses so that they match the focal length. However, this option was the first one I tried.
  5. Various types of binoculars, children's toys, lenses, telescopes, peasant ragpickers in the markets, in general, we look where we can.

The first 3 options are ideologically correct, because they imply an exact match with the design proposed by Google. The remaining options provide inaccurate lenses, so they will require changes in the design of the glasses themselves. Shown more clearly in the figure:

From this picture it follows that the larger the focal length, the further you need to move the smartphone away from the lens. Thus, if you received non-original lenses, make changes to the design. This is exactly what I had to do the first time I bought lenses at an office supply store. It's not difficult, I'll describe the details in the next post, entirely dedicated to my first version of Google Cardboard.

What to do if the focal length of your lenses is unknown? Two ways: either make the design initially with adjusting the distance from the lens to the smartphone, as I did in my first version, or measure it. You can measure the focal length in a simple old-fashioned way:

Did you burn it with glass as a child? Yep, same thing. We take a lens and focus the sun into a small point on the surface. The distance from the surface to the lens is equal to the focal distance. The surface must be perpendicular to the optical axis.

So, that's all about lenses for now.

4. Magnets. This item is optional to begin with. The design uses 2 magnets that work like a button. One magnet, round flat, ordinary, made of ferromagnetic material, is inserted inside the structure, the second, ring-shaped neodymium, is molded on the outside and held there by the magnetic field of the internal magnet:

In order to control virtual reality, this non-button is used. When we need to somehow influence the virtual world, we must move the external magnet down with our finger and return it back. The smartphone must have a magnetometer (there must be a built-in compass, roughly speaking) to catch the change magnetic field and perceive it as pressing a button.

I’ll say right away - crazy idea and Google itself understood this, so the second version of the glasses already has a mechanical button, but more on that in the corresponding post. For now, I will say that you can do without these magnets, especially since this idea works so-so - people complain that not all smartphones correctly detect changes in the magnetic field of this quasi-button, and some smartphones do not have a magnetometer at all.

In general, I leave this up to your discretion; I did not install magnets for myself. When my first version worked, I made a mechanical button.

5. Clothes Velcro. Well, everything is simple here - we go to the studio and buy Velcro fastener there, they sell it in the form of a tape, by the meter, the price is mere pennies.

6. A utility knife and double-sided tape.

The process has begun!

So, we bought/picked/assembled everything. Let's get started.
1. Print the template and paste it onto cardboard.

2. Cut out the parts and make the necessary slots

3. We collect. To make assembly easier, I attach a video:

This drawing cardboard glasses virtual reality based on a sample published in the New York Times in November 2015. Updated version of DIY Cardboard lets you use phones larger size and a button to control the phone, instead of magnets.

You can download the drawing from this link.

You will need:

  1. Cardboard paper measuring 5cm by 7.5cm, thickness 2mm. I used a shoe box and a pizza wrapper.
  2. A pair of biconvex lenses with focal length 45mm, with either 25mm or 37mm diameter. There is not much difference, but 25mm is cheaper and easier to get. For example, you can order if the delivery time does not bother you.
  3. Copper foil for button.
  4. A small piece of dense foam/sponge (about 6.3mm by 6.3mm by 2.5mm), like the kind you use to package electronic devices.
  5. Cutting tools.
  6. Glue. It is better to use a glue stick.
  7. Velcro (about 7.5cm, cut into 3 pieces)
  8. Metal ruler
  9. Cutting board or other work surface.

Step 1: Glue the template and cut out the outer parts


Cut out and cover the cardboard with paper. You should have two large pieces (1 and 2), two small ones (3 and 4) and a button. Don't cut out the internal parts, such as the holes for the lenses, just yet.

Step 2: Fold

Determine and lightly mark the fold lines with a pencil, and then, holding the edge of the ruler to the line, fold the cardboard towards you, unless instructed to do the opposite, such as a moving flap with a button (see fold directions on the template).

Step 3: Adjust and customize

Adjust the pleats and cuts to make sure everything matches up. Pay special attention to the part where your eyes will be looking and the front of the glasses where the phone will be inserted.

Step 4: Cutting the Inner Holes

I suggest you cut holes in the outer layer first and make sure those holes line up with inner layer when they are folded and assembled into their final position, because depending on the thickness of your cardboard and your cutting skills, the cardboard pieces may be slightly misaligned when the pieces are folded together.

Step 5: Add a Button

The button is a “pyramid” attached to a movable flap that you can press. At the top of the pyramid there will be a sponge (for a soft touch) placed over a conductive copper foil strip to transfer a small current from your finger to the screen. If you want, you can skip this step and operate the phone manually through the nose hole. On the flap, bent inward, we glue the button at a distance of about 5mm from the place where the phone will be located.

Step 6: Color if desired

If you want to color your cardboard VR glasses, now is the best time. It is better not to paint the surfaces that you will glue.

If you don't want to paint your glasses, cover the cutout under your nose with tape, because while watching, the cardboard will become greasy around the nose and then everyone will be sure that your glasses are made from a pizza box.

Step 7: Glue the sponge and copper tape



Cut a piece of copper foil the width of the sponge and glue it as evenly as possible. Then cut a strip 5cm long and wrap it around the bottom of the sponge, over the top of the pyramid to the base. (Tip: It's best to peel off the foil a little at a time as needed as it tends to curl, wrinkle and stick to itself) Then cut another piece about 12cm long and attach it to the base on top of the moving flap.

Step 8: Insert the Lenses



Glue the inner (3) and middle (2A) parts that form the front surface and insert your lenses with the curved side forward (towards the phone screen). Then glue the outer panel (1B), making sure they fit together well when folded.

Step 9: Final Assembly


Glue part 4 inside part 1B, making sure you don't glue the button flap (in the first photo I'm pressing it loosely). If the flap does not snap into place, carefully trim the 3 loose edges as needed. The final look will be the same as in the second photo, except for the still missing part with the button.

Fold top part section for the phone, aligning it with the outer layer of this section (2A) and gluing it. Next, fold and glue two pairs of small side panels (my finger is holding the right one so you can see it).

The large side panels 2B and the phone cover 1A are not glued together as they will use Velcro to hold them in place.

Step 10: Installing Elastic Bands and Velcro


Velcro holds the front panel and foldable side panels. Basically, if you are not going to lay out the glasses, you can attach the side panels with glue. If you carefully cut out the Velcro and holes for them, they will fit flush.

The rubber band is necessary to prevent your phone from sliding sideways.
Download the virtual reality app and insert your smartphone. If desired, you can use a head strap, but for total immersion It is highly advisable to use headphones.

Today I will tell you how to do HTC Vive from virtual reality glasses for smartphone cardboard with your own hands, spending only 7 thousand rubles, while the original virtual glasses HTC Vive costs about 70 thousand rubles. The big advantage of these expensive virtual reality glasses is the presence of remote controls, but this is not a problem, since today they can be replaced with another device. For example, the same LeapMotion sensor, with which your hands will replace remote controls.

So, in order to make a helmet for 7 thousand rubles, the following devices will be needed:

  • PC with at least a processor Intel Core i5 and video card no less Nvidia GeForce 750,
  • smartphone with built-in gyroscope sensor,
  • LeapMotion sensor,
  • virtual reality glasses for smartphone cardboard
  • and preferably two USB extension cables.

    • You can use your own smartphone, you can buy a LeapMotion sensor for about 5 thousand rubles, and virtual glasses with good effect diving will cost you around 2,000 – 3,000 rubles. Thus, you will make your own HTC Vive, which will cost 10 times less than the original one.

    From software we will need:

  • and it is desirable that operating system was Windows 10.

    • First you need to install the Vridge RiftCat program on your PC and the corresponding application on your smartphone. This program will help you connect your computer to your smartphone and emulate connected HTC Vive VR glasses. To do this, connect the phone to the PC with a USB cable, go to the settings on the smartphone, and activate the USB modem mode. After which the computer and smartphone will enter the common local network. You can, of course, not connect your smartphone to your PC using a USB cable, but simply use Wi-Fi. Why did I choose a USB connection? So, you can achieve best quality images transferred from a PC to a smartphone, the picture quality will be relatively worse via Wi-Fi. Now open RiftCat on your smartphone and connect to RiftCat on your PC.

    Next, you need the LeapMotion sensor, which has already been mentioned, we also connect it using a USB cable to the PC and install the Leap Motion VR Orion Driver and Leap Motion Desktop Software mentioned above.

    You will also need to install the Steam program on your PC and create an account for yourself. In Steam, go to the “Library” tab and go to the “Tools” section, find SteamVR in the list and install.

    And at the end we install Leap Motion Steam VR Driver.

    After connecting all our devices and installing all the necessary programs, in the Vridge RiftCat program on the PC, click Play SteamVR Games, at this moment a window will appear, the emulator will start, and then it will automatically start Steam program VR and if everything is configured correctly, the icons for glasses and remote controls in SteamVR will glow green. Then you can click on the title of the SteamVR window and perform “Room Setting” by selecting a small room, and the distance from the floor can be specified as 180cm. Here we have everything connected and working. Now on Steam we launch any VR game compatible with virtual glasses HTC reality Vive. In order to start playing, you need remote controls, but in our case, as I already said, my hands will replace them. Next, we insert the smartphone into the virtual reality glasses and glue the LeapMotion sensor to the front of the glasses.

    Having launched the game, my hands began to emit remote controls. Bending index fingers, you will emit a trigger pull. There is a minimal time delay, that is, on the computer the action will occur a little later than you actually bend your fingers, but this is not scary. Also, unlike remote controls virtual glasses HTC Vive, your hands must be in front of you, within view of the touch camera. By spreading your hands to the sides, the camera will lose sight of them, and the remote controls will disappear in the game, so we recommend keeping your hands in the field of view of the touch camera. You can shoot in games by bending your index fingers. Aiming in games with your hands, of course, is not very convenient, but in principle you can quickly get used to it. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the available gestures on this site.

    I believe that this technology is suitable for those who want to get acquainted with virtual reality glasses on a computer without spending 70 thousand rubles. Of course, this scheme requires a fairly powerful computer, with Intel processor Core i5 and a video card of at least Nvidia GeForce 750. I do not recommend trying to connect the glasses to a laptop, unless you have gaming laptop. In general, virtual glasses will not work with a laptop at all, and with some, even if you manage to connect them, you still won’t be able to play comfortably.

    Buy LeapMotion sensor and virtual reality glasses for your smartphone at in this case, I think it’s possible to get acquainted with the games and the operating technology itself. Of course, you can get used to playing without remotes, but the effect will be completely different. You won't get in this option those emotions that could be obtained with virtual HTC glasses Vive. The very inconvenient thing is that with the sensor you only need to keep your hands in the field of view of the touch camera, while with the HTC Vive remotes, you can wave it as you please. If you want to play fully and save money, then I advise you to buy RazerHydra remotes instead of the LeapMotion sensor, which are well tracked in space, just like real remotes from HTC Vive. Using RazerHydra you can play as comfortably as using HTC Vive remotes.

    So, in this article I told you how to create an inferior, of course, but good replacement for expensive HTC Vive virtual glasses, saving 10 times. Buy yourself a LeapMotion touch camera or RazerHydra remotes, virtual reality glasses for your smartphone, install the necessary programs on your PC and enjoy virtual reality games for HTC Vive virtual reality glasses with us! Order everything you need on BESTVR!

    This video tutorial will show you how to make cardboard 3D virtual reality glasses. For this we need a phone, two lenses, a pen, a ruler and a cardboard box (thick cardboard). It is recommended to use lenses 5-7x, diameter 25 mm. The article consists of two parts. The first contains the basic steps for creating glasses, the second contains recommendations for improving the product and a description of applications for 3D games.

    Buy ready-made cardboard glasses you can in this Chinese store.

    From cardboard you need to cut out all the parts that will be needed to create the glasses. To do this, it is very convenient to use the diagram, which you can download from the link. It will make everything much easier to do. You can download this drawing for printing on a printer.


    Now, according to this diagram, you need to draw out all the details on cardboard and cut them out using scissors. Next you need to collect it all, which is, in principle, not difficult to do. In all places where there are bends, you need to bend the cardboard and connect everything using hot glue. Next you need to insert two lenses.

    If you made the hole a little smaller than the lenses themselves, then you can simply place them very tightly and they will not fall out, but just in case better a couple drops of hot glue.

    Now we need to download an application called cardboard to our phone. There's a lot in it different games for 3D glasses and videos. You can download the demo version from the Play Store.

    Let's finish the 3D glasses. We insert the cardboard with lenses and we are all ready!

    Go to the cardboard program. There are two sections here. There are many different games and videos here. We launch the one we like and insert it into our 3D glasses and enjoy virtual reality.

    Since the phone has a built-in accelerometer, we can move our heads and the picture will also move.

    There are many applications for these 3D glasses on the play market. Make these glasses or buy ready-made ones. In general, this cannot be explained, it’s very cool! Until you try it yourself, you won’t understand what it all looks like.

    How to make a reality simulator for a personal computer

    Next, we will show you how to make a reality simulator for a personal computer, these are virtual reality glasses like the Oculus Rift. To do this, we need straight hands and a well-functioning head and motivation to create homemade products. If you do not have any of these qualities, but have money, then it is better to immediately buy ready-made virtual glasses.

    We will need a virtual reality helmet, which you could make using the video tutorial above. The current version adds larger lenses, head mounts, and Velcro to help the phone hold better. In general, this craft is assembled more carefully.

    Where can I find lenses? You can take from the magnifying glass which contains two lenses that are perfect for these virtual glasses.

    We will need a more powerful computer and a telephone with good characteristics so that all programs work stably and do not freeze.

    You need to download a program called droidpad to your computer or phone. This application will help us use our phone as a virtual joystick. Namely, use the phone’s accelerometer itself. This application supports two types of connecting your computer to your phone: using USB and WiFi. We don't need it using usbi, because the phone will be inserted into the virtual glasses. Therefore, we will use the wi-fi method. It is desirable that the Internet speed be good and stable.

    Now we have the most difficult work ahead of us. We need to calibrate the accelerometer of the iPod phone to our computer. After installing this program, the phone will be used by default as a virtual phone in games. Certainly not all games will be supported. Instructions for calibrating a phone with a computer are available on the 4PDA website.

    After we have calibrated according to the phone instructions for the computer, you can go into any game and test your magic glasses. The mechanism of this application is that using the phone's accelerometer, when you turn it, the screen rotates. It turns out to be a replacement for a computer mouse. Additionally, we need a program called cardboard. This program is needed to make the phone screen split in half. There is a special function, be sure to find it and configure it correctly so that everything works for you. Check that the phone screen is correctly divided not only on the desktop, but also in other programs.

    Finally, download the latest program called Splashtop. This is a program so that we can view the computer screen through the phone. How to set up the program, instructions are also available on the 4PDA website.

    After we have downloaded the program to the computer and phone, we need to launch the droidpad program to control the accelerometer, the cardboard program to divide the screen in half. These two programs must be running in the background. You need to open the Splashtop program and check if everything works. Launch the game on your computer and enjoy.

    There is one caveat - the higher the pixel density on the phone, the clearer the picture will be. Besides games, of course, you can watch movies.

    Everything voluminous is becoming fashionable, and many people want to have it in their home for creativity.