Launched at the tail end of March for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive head-mounted displays (HMDs) was Virtual Desktop. Created by Guy Godin, the app has been created to allow virtual reality (VR) users to use their standard PC desktop with full functionality all in VR. Now Godin has released a new update for the software adding further features and sorting out a few bugs. Update 1.0.4 now adds support for basic mouse emulation for both headsets, so that the HTC Vive’s touchpads, and the Oculus Rift’s Xbox One controller as well as the Oculus Remote can use the feature. For Oculus users the developer has also added Mip Mapping which reduces text aliasing.
The full changelog for the recent update is as follows: Added support for rotated monitors (aka portrait orientation) Added new Mip Mapping option for Rift users which greatly reduces text aliasing on screen Added basic mouse emulation with Vive touchpads Added basic mouse emulation with Xbox controller and Oculus Remote for Rift users Fixed crash with Over Under option in some environments Reduced CPU usage and fixed leak when application is idle with Rift Using Virtual Desktop users can browse the web, watch movies, Netflix or play videogames. It also features hardware accelerated 360-degree video playback; ability to play/stream YouTube 360 videos; browse and view 360 photos. The app is also customisable so that you can choose a range of backgrounds to brighten up the experience. Some come as standard while Godin also sells five premium designs through Steam, They are Cinema, Cerebral Theatre, The Dojo, Rick’s Garage and AEV-Grand Canyon. As further updates to the software are added VRFocus will bring you the latest details.
